It's way too early in the morning for me. Mom is still asleep in Tristan's room. I'm still asleep at the keyboard.

Just sitting here pondering the thought that I know I'm going to get slammed for, but I can't help thinking it...How can we, as a society, get up, shower, get dressed, have breakfast, go to work, have lunch, leave work, go shopping, eat dinner, do errands, go to the movies, read, watch tv, go to bed, dream, etc... How can we, basically, live a normal (?) life while the day to day happenings of the world seem to pass us by?

How come I can't read or listen to the news (Pacifica, Democracy Now, thank you very much) without feeling like I've been punched in the stomach? How come I can sit here and *think* about what it might feel like to be in "so and so's shoes? To lose a child in a war? To have my husband stolen from me? To have my family ripped away from me? To have my home, my world destroyed? How do we, as a whole, go about our daily lives as if nothing is going on while people around us are in so much pain and suffering?

It's just that the world seems entirely different, or maybe it's just me. When I listen to the old radio shows it seems *everyone* was involved in the war. They were taught to save, recycle, reuse, etc...They KNEW that a war was going on. But here in 2006 we're encouraged to "spend and shop" to help. To help whom? Haliburton? It just seems people are in a whirlwind rush around me at times, completely oblivious to what is happening in the world.

Slow down.

Pay attention.

If you're not upset, you're not paying attention.

Comments

Oh dear, you've just hit on something that I wonder about too... often. I think we've been taught, on some level, that if we ignore "it", "it" will go away. We've been taught to think that we are powerless, and to leave "fixing" things to the "big" folks; we little people can't accomplish anything by ourselves, don't you know. It's unsettling, isn't it? By the same token, though, don't deny yourself the JOY of what you have, because you *are* fortunate. It makes you all the more grateful for the good things. But... there is definitely something wrong with the world today; I can feel it on a gut level... and yes, I wonder, always, what I can do to make it better for others, too. And then I get caught up with living... making a living... cleaning and cooking and taking a load off... and paying bills and such... and I'm so flattened by the time I'm done that I have little energy to fight the big fight... I think it's a conspiracy... ;) Hugs, AG
Kelly Kilmer said…
I agree, AG, it is a conspiracy ;)
Keep the "little people" down: keep 'em busy...keep 'em overworked...keep 'em tired...keep 'em in debt...keep 'em watching the latest and "greatest" thing on TV...keep 'em interested in anything and everything except what's happening around them.
Amazing with all of the "new" technology that we "little people" work more then we've ever worked as a society...-K

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