A Day in the Life of My Human Psyche

I Read the News Today

Yes, Mr. Lennon, I did read the news today and oh boy! The Turkish army is invading, so much political garbage, water unfit to drink, hundreds of thousands without power. Some may be able to hear or read the news and move on but not me. I internalize it. I cannot help but empathize with everyone who is suffering and that can make life very difficult for me.

The Homeless

Seeing someone who is homeless, sifting through garbage cans looking for a meal, I buy them a meal but ultimately, I end up walking away. I’ve done something to help another but feel it’s not enough. That’s when I begin to daydream of having trillions of dollars. I would buy all the empty buildings and provide sanctuary for those in need.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Kurds

Watching Kurdish families run for their lives as the Turkish army invades with aircraft and ground forces, I want to bring all those families here to live with me. Don’t they deserve a safe place to call their own? I imagine how I would feel if I were in a similar situation. There I would be building my life, enjoying my home and then suddenly having to abandon everything without any idea of where to go or what to do. It’s difficult to fathom yet this is happening to a group of our fellow humans.

Contaminated Water

Reading that people can’t use their water because it’s contaminated, I would once again revert to my wish of having the type of money needed to fix it. As an aside, this is a tremendous pain point for me. I loathe how corporations treat our water supplies and I am of the general opinion that anyone who knowingly contaminates water should be imprisoned.

The Environment

Don’t even get me started on the environment. BUT, I have to say, I was given a bit of hope on that front. I watched a very inspiring Nature documentary film last night on PBS titled The Serengeti Rules. “The film explores the discoveries of five pioneering scientists—Tony Sinclair, Mary E. Power, Bob Paine, John Terborgh, and Jim Estes—whose decades of research laid the groundwork for modern ecology and offer hope that environmentalists today may able to “upgrade” damaged ecosystems by understanding the rules that govern them.” (description from Wikipedia). If you get the chance, I encourage you to watch it. As I said, it provides hope in what appears to be a hopeless situation.

What Can Be Done

With all these atrocities plaguing our planet, what can I do? No, really, what CAN I do? Certainly I cannot solve the world’s problems. That much is true. I do help locally but I feel that’s not enough. Should I turn off the television and pretend none of these problems exist? That would certainly be easier.

At this moment in time, I can only make small differences. I try to embrace the ideology of making a difference locally and expand my efforts from there. I am only one person but what if all seven billion of us did the same thing? Each individual in each community across the globe could very well do one thing or many things and THAT my friends has the potential to make a difference.

Don’t Despair

Why should I care about the Kurds? They are half a world away. Why care about those Californians who are without power. Power is flowing into my house just fine. Why care about the environment when anything I do doesn’t impact the larger problems?

It’s so easy to fall into these pitfalls of despair. I don’t have to think about any of these things… at all. I could turn off the news and turn on Friends or my favorite Three’s Company instead. I could sit in my beautiful garden, close my eyes in my favorite chair and simply think to myself: “Well, thank God it’s them instead of me”. Because, let’s be honest, deep down it is easy to adopt this stance when we hear of the tragedies “somewhere else”

I can’t do that. What I can do is write to get all these things out of my head. It is my sincere hope that the words I manage to string together inspire in some way. You know…. WE, all of us, together CAN do something. It just takes one person doing something and then another and then another. Good can overcome. I truly believe that.

Thank you for reading and I would like to say welcome to my new recent subscribers. To everyone old and new, thank you for being here. I most humbly and sincerely appreciate your presence. I know I usually write something Halloween related this time of year. I will work to get something up before that day has passed. Thank you once again and many blessings to you and to everyone.

Ways to get involved:

** Give to the International Committee of the Red Cross
** Contact your local homeless shelter and ask for opportunities to help
** Write to political officials asking them to think of the people not the corporations

Even the little things help spread good. You could simply pay for the drinks of someone waiting in line behind you at the local coffee shop. We’re all in this together.

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