"She's going to save the world."
My number one supporters, family and friends, have said this of me so many times that my overactive imagination sees myself, complete with super-hero cape, charging through the world accomplishing anything and everything I put my mind to… And I want this. I want to save the world. Save the animals from cruelty and extinction. Save our waters from pollution and mistreatment. Save our people, ALL PEOPLE, from hatred, violence, disease, and from themselves…
I have upended my household, nagged my family and co-workers, and downright chastised my friends, who are all in-tune enough to “know better.” If education is the key, then I talk (maybe not well) about the horrors of sugars, the nasty chemicals found now in our "fake" foods, the true nightmare on earth and by sea that is plastic, that judgment ,no matter what your belief, is not your job. No one was put on this earth to be a deity of any kind nor to step-up in false representation of such. Your job is to love. That’s it.
Mostly, I know, my words go unheeded and unwanted. However, I continue to speak. Why? I care. I love our planet. I love our animals. It’s nice to have air and water...in fact, it’s sort of necessary. And why on earth, when we’ve come so far in increasing longevity in our ever-so- short lives, would anyone continue to consume poison when it’s proven to be bad for you (aka as oil-polluted sea waters)? Worst of all, how can you condemn someone else to the fate of indifference and uncaring?
“She’s going to save the world.”
How? How do you fix the horror that happened in Orlando last night or any of the countless horrors happening all over the world? How does one even begin to address such pointlessness? How does one face hatred and come out with love?
In an effort to find some sense of balance after the latest bombardment of tragedy dished out to us, I began contacting all of my friends early this morning. “Hello. I love you.” Because all of my friends and loved ones… they are all DIFFERENT: different races, different religions, different sexual orientations, different political parties. Some are vegetarians, some vegan, and some are hard core "must-have-steak-ivores". Some are dog people, some are cat people, and some are kids people. There are musicians, artists, therapists, accountants, military, etc. and so forth… Some are into sports. Some are into Broadway musicals.
I have a false sense of pride for getting the chance to know and love all of these individuals, at having so much diversity in my own life. It would be nothing short of boring if I all of my friends and family were like me. How would I ever learn anything? How could I ever grow if there were no new ideas to learn?
“She’s going to save the world.”
Maybe, but I don’t know how -- not yet. Yet, I continue to search for the answers, and I hope that others do, too. Never should people anywhere be afraid to live their own chosen life. Animals should not be hunted to extinction (not even those dreadful, awful spiders I detest.) Food, products, clothing, etc…should not be poisoned with chemicals. We should not be afraid to buy something for fear that it will be the trigger that causes dreaded cancer or some other horrific affliction. Stop littering. You are polluting your own home when you do so. Everyone has to live here. We have to breathe the air that is being polluted by oversized vehicles and unchecked industry and drink the water that frankly is no longer clean enough to properly hydrate us.
Am I going to save the world? Not by myself, I’m not. No one can do this alone. It will take everyone to banish this darkness we’ve brought on ourselves and find the light. It will take everyone shifting their ideas to inclusion and respect. We must learn to listen and to do. We must learn to do the one thing we always search for, the one thing that always starts within us, but seems so hard to find. We must learn to love.
Nothing can be solved with hatred. Nothing can be solved with ignorance. Nor can anything be solved by willful ignorance.
Love and action are the answers. Caring is the answer. And knowing that it will take everyone, no matter what their beliefs, where they come from, what they are into to truly effect change in our world.
I have a whole list of quotes that I’ve thought out to add to the list by many of the great minds who’ve blessed our world with their thoughts and ideas...but I’m left with one famous quote by Maya Angelou tonight… “When you know better, you do better.”
We HAVE to do better.
