Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sun beams through the smoke.

Eff it I'm posting again. I really shouldn't, but I am because this is a rantish post but in a good way. It's for positivity. For keeping your head and heart up even when you feel like everything is falling down and it won't stop for anything.

Like I've ranted many times to my family before, there will probably always be badness in the world. We're only human. Not everyone thinks straight, and, well, those ones cause pain and heartbreak and fear to swell and crash. But there will always be goodness. There will always be sun beams peeking through the smokey haze after a disaster, you've just got to search them out. There will always be happiness and hope, but sadly, for every free-thinker and do-gooder and selfless volunteer or donation or patron or nonprofit there are 10 or 15 other idiots screwing everything up and telling people that there isn't a chance at happiness for them. Wow, that was a really long sentence.

There's always a silver lining. Always. It may not seem like it, but life moves on. You can still be happy. Open your eyes. Look at the world around you, the people, the beauty, the wonder, the reasons for everyone to live, the reasons for you to live, the love, the hope, the opportunity for happiness and the chance to thrive. We can't let the darkness swallow us whole because how will we ever escape? We've got to keep going, moving forward into a brighter future. We've got to make things happen for ourselves and for others, if that's what will make you happy. Nothing is insignificant. Like Ghandi said, "Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it." Yeah, that's confusing, but I think it's more sardonic and wise rather than literal. Like, maybe people will never notice that you recycled that one can or that you gave that one crying kid a band-aid or that you snuck that one drink into the movie theater, but you still do it. Everything matters, even if it really doesn't. Confusion, confusion, yeah, yeah.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." Now, that's a big one. Very important to me. I got it from my English teacher last year, who is a wonderful person, and it really "speaks" to me. I feel the urge, the need, the growing hunger to change the world. To save humanity from collapsing in on itself. To show people that once we set everything that makes us different aside, we're just people. Status, wealth, race or ethnicity, culture, age, gender, size, language, sexuality, religion, we're just people. We're all the same on the inside. We're all one, but in truth, there will never be another one like you or me. Nobody will ever say the exact same things as you and nobody will ever do the exact same things as you or like the exact same things as you. We are all different, and we bond over similarities. Yet we use our differences as weapons. Religion should be something that holds people together, that opens our eyes and enlightens. We can never truly say one religion is right or wrong, that there is one almighty god or there are many gods or one god saved us or one god punished s or if there is even a god at all. That's why we have faith, that need to believe that there is something greater than ourselves out there that has a hand in humanity and that will provide eternal peace if we do things for the greater good, benefit others as well as ourselves (but only enough to be happy). Or we have the belief that we are people, and nothing more. No one can say anyone is wrong or right. The holy writings were written by us mortals, and for all we know it's just a bunch of lies, or it really happened. We should connect over shared beliefs and learn from each other through differences, but we don't and we generate fear and blame and therefore hate, which will be the end of us all.

How do we expect ourselves to survive if we're killing each other, just dropping like flies and acting as though we are expendable? What if the person that just died was going to find the cure to cancer? What if that person being put in the ground was going to create a masterpiece so moving that people would weep at the sight of its beauty? What if the person that dies in the next 30 seconds was going to find a technology that will prevent Global Warming, that will reduce pollution, that will make it easier for people to stay healthy or get clean water or grow crops or just survive? Why can't we set the weapons down, take a good, long look at each other and accept? It's called agreeing to disagree for a reason. Why do we have to have disputes over power when we're all equal? None of us have super powers. None of us have done some insanely monumental thing to prove that we are superior to other humans. As far as I know, the only reason we have dictators and people in places of power that ruin countries and lives is because we're afraid to speak up, and for good reason. We need to educate the world. To show everyone how to live their lives instead of hating others'. To be tolerant and learn and accept. We throw around the phrase "The children are our future" so much, but they really are. We could create an entire generation that is completely unbiased when it comes to race and religion and sexuality and is willing to learn about the lives and beliefs of others and embrace the things that make us unique.

And people. We do not choose our race. We do not choose to be homosexual or heterosexual. We just are that way, and you can read the Bible or Koran or whatever you want and think that everyone was straight, but I guarantee you, there was some "blasphemous" thinking going on. We do not need any more extremists, no matter what kind they are. The word terrorist has a root, and that root is terror. They elicit fear in others and make people cower so they can take advantage of them. A terrorist isn't just the stereotypical kind, either. Like I just said, it's someone who uses fear to gain power, and anyone can be a terrorist.

So even though we see those daily broadcasts of war, fear, death, and poverty, we've got to stay positive. And you can't just sit back and say "That's a shame" if you really think it is. There's not always going to be someone else who's going to take care of the dirty work. We've all got to try. Start from the bottom and work our way up, or dive right into the nitty-gritty terrifying and tough cases, like Darfur or Africa in general or the slums in Asia or the ghettoes in lower-class America or the poverty all over the world. Anywhere you are, anywhere you come from , there are always the shocking and heart-stopping situations that need help, or even the more mild ones that still can't be ignored, and as long as we have people who are willing to put themselves aside for just a moment and help others who need it so much more, we will always have those sun beams shining strong through the smoke. Because you know what the crazy thing about sunshine is? You can shoot at it, throw punches, try to set it on fire, bomb it, whatever you want to try to destroy it, but it's unaffected. It'll still be there after you open the shades and it will rise every morning, set every night, but be right back up there no freaking matter what.

See the love, be the love; be the change, see the change.

Yeah, I came up with that all on my own, floozies. You can quote me on that.

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