It's Not All Right

 


I try to be an optimist.  I'm pretty much always a realist.  However, right now, no matter what I am, I'm not okay.  Overall and in general, things are NOT okay.  I'm not sure what to do about it, other than state the obvious:  things are NOT okay.

It's not that anything horrible is happening in my personal life.  I still have a job and my family is healthy.  (Let's knock on wood for that.)  But the strain of life is getting me down and I am feeling "out of sorts."  I'm definitely discombobulated.  (I really like that word.)  I'm uneasy.  I'm uncomfortable.  I'm unfocused. I feel like I just can't get a handle on anything.

I don't think I'm alone in all this.  We are in a time where everything is topsy turvey.  Negativity seems to be the new norm; across the board.  And while I understand the anger and frustration that we are all feeling, I feel like constancy of it has eroded my soul.

Make America Great?  What is so great about where we are right now?  How great is the constant lies and deliberate rumors? (I'm not talking about a political party here; I am talking about "We the people" as a whole.)  America the beautiful?  America, we are NOT beautiful.  We are UGLY.  Our rhetoric is ugly.  Our behavior is ugly. Our collective face is ugly.

What is devastating to me is that we ALLOWED this to happen.  We have accepted this norm.  We have embraced hate speech; cloaking it in a tangled web and calling it "free speech."  The right to free speech was a hard earned one; we should be honored to have the ability to speak freely and we should honor the right by choosing our words carefully and not just flinging them around like fecal matter.

Anger can be a valid emotion.  (It is not always...we need to remember that.)  Hate is not.  Hate is a feeling that corrupts the soul.  Hate kills...and not only the target at which is it aimed.  Hate takes away innocence.  

Why are we allowing this?  Why did we give up on decency and understanding? 

We don't have to.  We can chose to turn away.  (And that's not always easy.)  We can chose to distance ourselves from it.  We can speak from our hearts and listen with it as well.

Bitter hatred and ugliness will not just disappear, but it CAN fade away.  We can make positive choices.  We can react in love and turn away from hate as often as we can.  We can make a conscious choice to let go of the negative and embrace the positive whenever we can.  We can redirect our time and energy to things that are beneficial to ourselves and to our world.

As for me, writing this has helped.  I still feel a little "off," but I am hopeful that if I redirect my focus and avoid what negativity I can, I will "balance out."  Maybe I won't feel great, but I do believe that I will feel and BE better.

How about you?  (And you can respond with comments that disagree with everything I wrote, but please do so in a respectful and considerate manner.  Thanks.)

Comments

  1. bfthOctober 22, 2020 at 6:26 PM

    test

    ReplyDelete
  2. CuzOctober 22, 2020 at 8:32 PM

    I solved the problem with my last night's attempt to comment. Needed to sign in with Google.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We Have Taken America Back

Image
Back to a time when all men (and women) are not created equal.  Where women's healthcare is determined by men's laws and not by medical professionals. Where education tells only the "winning" side of the story and truth does not matter.  Where banning and burning books is a social event.  Where people who are "different" than those in power can be mocked, shunned and hurt with no real consequences. Where lies are acceptable and integrity is  just a word on a page We have moved into a time where rage is the rage.  Where hate is not just normal, but accepted and even cheered. Where leaders can ask to have their "enemies" killed and no one will bat an eye.  Where it's "funny" to see someone struggle.  Where felony is applauded. Where compassion is not shown and caring for others is looked down upon. We have taken America back to a time of pain and suffering for many.  Back to when the "haves" can have and the have nots don'...
Read more

It's Not About Starbucks (or is it)?

Image
  About a block and a half from my home in a major intersection.  At the southeast corner (which is nearest to me), is an empty building.  Back in 1995 it was a Bank of NY (I remember this because they didn't shovel/de-ice their parking lot well and my husband fell and broke his ankle one Monday morning.  I recall this clearly because we were not yet married and it was the first day of a new job for me.  I had gotten on the bus to work and he was catching a later one; only he never got there.  Instead he ended up laying on the ground until an employee came to open up the bank.  Then he had them call an ambulance AND my mother who took control of the situation until I arrived home that night blissfully unaware of what had happened that day.)  It eventually became a Chase Bank; the second one in my small little town.  It eventually closed.  I'm not sure when but it's been empty for quite a long time.  (I do know that it was open in 20...
Read more

As Is

Image
  Today I want to discuss what I think it is a relatively simple concept, but may be difficult for some, even an attorney who might have once, over a decade ago won a  prestigious award  for young lawyers .  That term is "AS IS." As you may know, I volunteer in a thrift shop.  Everything we sell, from all the donations we receive, is "as is."  The items are not brand new.  They are not perfect.  That doesn't mean they aren't any good or worth something. They are sold "as is."  Buyers should go in knowing that. (After all you are shopping in a thrift shop!)  In some cases, particularly when we are offering higher end products, we will actually write on the price tag, "as is." Such is the case of two designer purses that I purchased from there this summer.  (I'm a purse-aholic!  Don't look in my closet.)  They were reasonably priced (especially when you consider the name brand), but each had an "as is" clearly marked o...
Read more