new dawn

the world seems to be a very sad place for me today. try as i might, i can't swim out of the blue that surrounds me. i am looking at a card on my desk right now that talks about the hope that we can all have if we simply believe. that "one small candle" is about to be extinguished in me. trouble everywhere i look. home front; tough times. work; important as ever but very dreary. i am tired but not the kind of tiredness that a good vacation will cure. this is tired of living in the cesspool of global warming, rampant corruption in business and government. i am tired of reading the paper and hearing about shootings or stabbings. i am tired of reading about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. imagine what life would be like if we heard about the famine in Africa and the brutality of dictatorships in places our press chooses not to report from. i am tired of hearing about abortion and abortion opponents killing, lying and hurting each other. i a frustrated because we all think we are doing the right thing. we each hold a piece of the ELEPHANT sitting in our minds and living rooms. we are thoroughly convinced that the ear is the entire elephant. what happened to dialogue and discourse? when will we start listening to each other? how many more have to die or be maimed before we become unglued from our collective snobbery and realize that we share the same DNA and ultimate fate?

i can't simply be grateful that the sun is coming up each day. i am no longer happy just to have the newspaper waiting for me when i awaken from my comfortable bed. it is too much to have to see that organizations that seek to assist our less fortunate are constantly having to beg for donations. yet we can rant about our large screen TVs and ever-increasingly large homes. more and more i am seeing that more is really less. less time to commune with neighbors and friends. less time to read; less time to see a beautiful sunrise or to experience a glorious sunset. less time to smell the roses. less time to listen to the sound of one hand clapping.

i can't make the world a better place. i can make my place in the world less detrimental to the air, water and environment. i can choose organic produce and meats. i can drive one day less or maybe two. i can share my hopes for a better tomorrow (without GE). i can spend a few minutes actually seeing the person next to me as another infinitely unique individual who is deserving of the same that i want for myself.

fewer news items to hear. less toxicity and more simple joy.