Festivus for the rest of us - yep! Let's air some grievances.

Where do I begin? I'm afraid once I get started I will never start. What kind of photo do you use with a post like this? I have so much on my heart. I try to keep a lot of hope in my heart, AND I am trying to believe that people are doing the best they can, but also, there are just so many things I wish would change. I know it is overwhelming the amount of things that are wrong with the world, humanity, the planet, our water, the environment, as well as the things that scare me in my day to day life. Here is my place to just list what is concerning me today. This is by no means an inclusive list - but I don't want to leave this post utterly depressed and not able to function. 

People who do not believe they are loved - hurt everything around them. I am both sad for them, and want to try and fix the root cause of this and don't say grow thicker skin - BE NICE to people. BE KIND, even if they are not. Someone has to show the love. 

Climate change - hello people, we are a globe of people on a planet that is doomed to burst into flames. YES there is a climate crisis, if you are still on the fence about this - GO LIVE SOMEWHERE that is currently submerged in water...check out the ice caps in the Arctic. Don't talk about it unless you are scientist or have actual scientific evidence to the contrary. YES, there are fluctuations in temperature but polar bears are losing their ice! As someone who lived near the rising KING TIDES - it is something!! Maybe rethink your idea of beach front property.

Garbage and recycling - does it help? Sometimes it does. But at the end of the day - QUIT buying stuff you do not need to fill a void in your heart. You can only fill that with other humans and love - so start making real and honest connections with the people around you, or if they suck, find your people. Also, find out how to recycle responsibly - it COSTS money to recycle responsibly so look into your area and find out what they do. Did you know that some places just co-mingle the garbage and the recycling because people aren't doing it right? It is sad but true. 

Plastic bags - I see them everywhere now that I am back in Ohio - on the side of the highway, entangled in bushes and trees, why can't they find their way into a trash receptacle? Oh, I know, because NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO THROW AWAY THEIR GARBAGE!! Really people? Do we want to live somewhere covered in garbage? Maybe it is more honest than sending to a land fill, covering it with soil and building on it 30 years later. 

QUIT BEING SCARED OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOU!! What makes the world so amazing is how different and diverse we all are. Imagine how boring it can be with everyone who looks the same, believes the same, and acts the same. Oh, well, we almost did that - hello white culture, white privilege, patriarchy...let's keep what works and discard the rest. Try some new ideas. Listen to new voices - or let's dig out the old voices that NO ONE LISTENED TO! 

JUDGEMENT - hello all of you fellow judgers out there - myself included. Quit reigning down judgement on things and situations that are not yours. Yes, people make mistakes, yes, there are some awful people out there, but EVERYONE is worthy of redemption. I am not saying not to hold people accountable, but also let them come back into society otherwise the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats. How do you start your life over after a horrible mistake if no one will let you forget it. Would you like to be judged for your worst moment? How many of us get away with our bad behavior?

And, I will just add this last one in. We are all humans and we live on this world together - let us be more all of us rather than us versus them. Think about the things that could be solved if we worked together rather than fight each other for the scraps. I think John Lennon said it best in Imagine...

Imagine there's no heavenIt's easy if you tryNo hell below usAbove us, only sky
Imagine all the peopleLivin' for todayAh
Imagine there's no countriesIt isn't hard to doNothing to kill or die forAnd no religion, too
Imagine all the peopleLivin' life in peaceYou
You may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will be as one
Imagine no possessionsI wonder if you canNo need for greed or hungerA brotherhood of man
Imagine all the peopleSharing all the worldYou
You may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will live as one
 - John Lennon

What do you need to air? I don't air these grievances because I'm perfect - in fact I am far from it, but I think I need to let some of this out today of all days. I include myself when I'm speaking because I need to be reminded of it too, this human shit is hard! Until next year...


Peace

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