“I will be waiting here….For your silence to break, for your soul to shake, for your love to wake!” Rumi
“Soul, if you want to learn secrets, your heart must forget about shame and dignity.
You are God’s lover, yet you worry what people are saying.”
“Brother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun.
Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way a thorn expands to a rose.” Rumi
News stories everywhere are so wild that one would question their honesty. The strangest part is that so many people read or listen to these events while on the train to work or munching their cereal or eating popcorn in their favorite chair. That is perhaps as surreal as the stories. Without a doubt, we have lost our sensitivity to the happenings surrounding us. It is just another typical day, so we think.
Put things in perspective
I have wondered how long we can continue along our path of destruction, without seeing the cliff before we fall off. That perhaps sounds a bit over the top, but all you have to do is put things in perspective and listen to the news for the day. I heard of one story detailing a baby of a year old, having 28 broken bones when he was rushed to the hospital and later died. The stories are so similar except for the way the kids and babies have been beaten, tortured, neglected, disrespected, dehumanized, and at long last killed.
Listening to the number of people killed in battles, drug addictions, suicide, alcohol, and bad habits derived from too much stress should probably register a wake-up call. Sometimes it appears that we are the sleep-walker, oblivious to the reality around us. the environment and home lives are upside down. It is time to stop kidding ourselves that it is the fault of the other person over there. What we are seeing, if we open our eyes, is chaos and uncontrolled people.
People are not bad
No wonder we have addictions of all kinds and anger in every situation. Stress and anxiety from within and without, are controlling our words and actions. If we continue to value peripheral objects and fail to notice the treasures standing in front of us, then we are traveling down a paved road to disaster. I don’t say this lightly. I don’t believe people are evil, incorrigible, mean, or unkind by nature. Many forces permeate our psyches and hearts. Perhaps we begin to value the wrong items, trust in the perverted ideas, and follow the egos of others. The sad thing is that we end up in the same pitiful place.
Living on the brink of disaster
All is not over or lost but we certainly seem to be living on the brink of disaster. Finding time to reflect on what we are valuing, saying, and doing is vital. Most of us myself included believing we are off of the hook in our beliefs as long as we have a sense of allowing everyone to follow their road and thoughts. What we must question is at what point do we think it necessary to contemplate what is happening around us. One can say I wouldn’t do it, but it is up to each individual to decide for himself or herself. The next person can alleviate their conscience by stating it is their right to do what they want, even to the extent of harming others. How far is this going to be carried, before we question how ridiculous?
Desensitized
Aborted babies are being used for tissue transplant and other medical procedures, some of which I don’t understand. The hard bit to digest is how unlucky is the baby who is ill-fated to be unmercifully yanked from its mother’s womb, to serve another life. Its own life has no value, so it appears. No one has a problem distancing such topics while having coffee. How desensitized have we become?
Using animals for experiments has always caused a commotion, and the users have always said well; it helps us to develop medicines for people. How do we explain using people to help people? Are we limitless in what we do and in what we will accept? Will privilege give some people a step up?
Misguided unthinking observers
Again I don’t see bad people but instead misguided unthinking observers who are too stressed out to conceive of the damage they are doing. Most of us would rush to help another individual. Yet we only shake our heads at the craziness surrounding us. Unless more people come forward and disagree with what is happening, no relief or solution will be found. Medicine breakthroughs can be discovered in other ways.
Kids are beaten and neglected every day. All of us feel helpless. If we believe we are helpless, then nothing will be changed. The law recently passed in Massachusetts that allows spanking to be legal. The other definitions in the dictionary are far more disturbing. I guess if we said thrashing, whopping, or beating, people might cringe a bit more about that law, but spanking sounds acceptable. The word beating is defined as a spanking. We simply turn our heads away, washing our hands of the outcome to numerous children.
Pick up the ball
Perhaps it is time we understood that it is us that needs to pick up the ball. Honestly, we are good people, but we have ignored the cries of the unfortunate for too long. Babies and children deserve consideration. Our world can be a better place. If we learn how to respect each other as well as all life that we see, we will experience a renewal of love and beauty. Perhaps the shadows will lift from our eyes and allow us to view a compassionate, loving world. There would be no need for rules if everyone cared about each other.
Hear feel-good stories
The time we spend on nonsense items should be called to our attention. We have so much to be thankful for. There is so much beauty inside of us and surrounding us, but we shut it out. I have reached my limit of listening to the negativity permeating our world. I want to hear feel-good stories of heart-warmth love and empathy. It is not old-fashioned to wish a happy, caring place to live. Leave the meanness to the dream state, and wake up to a genuinely empathetic world. Value your relationships. Make integrity, honesty, empathy, tolerance, and kindness universal. Value what counts and find peace.
“There’s no one with intelligence in this town except that man over there playing with the children, the one riding the stick horse. He has keen, fiery insight and vast dignity like the night sky, but he conceals it in the madness of child’s play.” Rumi
