Lately, the news has been full of human cruelty. There are those who would spread fear and hate by harming innocents.. There is a word for people who walk that path, but I won't dignify them with a label, even a bad one.
Like most people, I've been talking to others and reading social media, to get different perspectives. I even read the words of one individual who's solution to it is literally nuking those who believe differently than him.
I've watched people on Facebook "defriend" and block those whom they considered friends, because they have different views of recent events(It's usually one with a kinder view deleting those with harsher ones)
I spoke to a man who's solution was/is loaded firearms in his home, just in case something happens here. This is a nice man, just scared. I asked another person who has family in Paris, if his family was safe and fortunately they are, even though they live blocks from where so much tragedy took place.
He is one of the nicest people I know, but the look in his eyes when he spoke of recent events was fear and hopelessness. He said; "We are powerless, and there's nothing we can do to protect ourselves".
That look in his eyes has stayed with me for days, and got me thinking of what I can do in the face of so much hatred, fear and violence, how do I protect myself and the ones I love?
I guess, I could have loaded weapons in my house, or I could discriminate against those who believe differently than I do(just in case)... I could panic when I get on the bus, and see someone dressed differently than me, or even be rude and disrespectful to them, because they are somehow "different". I Could do all that and more, and just maybe, I would be safer.
I would not however, still be ME! I would be someone else, a darker crueler version of "me", and that may make me safer, but on the other hand, I don't really believe I would be worth saving. I would have in fact, become part of the cruelty in the world that I am so against. Effectively, the damage to Me, to who I really am, would be far worse in my opinion than any one could do by physically harming me.
So instead, I choose a different path, one that values the essence of who I am, more than the physical person that is me.
I Choose to Love, and Hug with my whole heart, so the people in my world can feel it.
I Choose to show the people in my life how important they are.
I Choose to as much as I can, have a few extra loonies in my pocket, so when the man on the street corner asks for change, I have something to give him.
I Choose to buy an extra jar of peanut butter and drop it in the food bank hamper.
I Choose not to live in fear, but instead to live in kindness.
I make these choices and more, because I know something that the dark forces in the world do not. I know that Kindness and Love Always wins... Even if I'm not around to see it, even if it happens in my Children's life time, or my Grandchildren's..
And in the end, whether I live to a ripe old age and pass in my sleep, or that's taken from me in some act of violence, "They" will not have won because my essence, my soul, or whatever you choose to call that force within us, will still be intact, it will still be "Me".
And THAT is a trade off that I can live with.
Peace Kiddies
PS, a kind friend allowed me to use her painting for this entry, you can find more of her work at selfproclaimedmuse.com
