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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Awake August 2016 - Second


From my Small Stone challenge:

Monies came
Monies went
How quickly is
A payday spent
We sweat and toil
And get tired feet
All for shelter
And food to eat
No time for joy
Or quiet walks
In our world
Money talks
~Ellen Apple 08/02/2016

the cat growled 
the thunder rumbled
my personal weather alert system
without air horn sound effects
‪#‎awakeaugust‬

From my Mindful Journeys writing group:

My mother-in-law carries scars I will never know, and secures them behind vitriol and fanaticism in her diminishing mental capacity.
Prompt : Attachment Unavailable

Today's Thoughts:

In September of 2000, I packed everything I could cram into a Ford Crown Victoria and drove away from a 17 year relationship. I had become acquainted with someone who lived in upstate New York, a small lakeside village called Sodus Point on the shore of Lake Ontario. For the next seven months, I healed, and found me again. This picture I share today is of the lighthouse at Sodus Point. I walked along the shore, I watched the light at night, I wrote snippets of thoughts on scraps of paper, I tried new recipes and met wonderful people. 

When I returned to Virginia from New York, I was me again. The compromises and tradeoffs were a thing of the past. The meek acquiescence was harder to banish - I was well into my relationship with my current, and best, husband when he asked me to please stop apologizing for everything. You see, I had learned to take full for everything. And accept all blame. The wrong way to try to live. 

I have this vision of a healed Earth. A world where compassion and personal responsibility are in balance. A society where any teeny tiny little misstep is not seen as being the way in which we learn and grow but rather is attacked with such vile vitriol that lives and reputations are decimated. Everyone immediately becomes judge, jury, and executioner. 

There is no-one, anywhere, who has always said and done the right thing. All of us have made bad decisions, failed at tasks, acted in a dishonest or unethical manner. It is called being human. We bemoan the dearth of qualified competent politicians and public officials and all the while wait in the wings like packs of rabid dogs. 

We judge and find wanting all others, then are hurt and feel persecuted when we are on the receiving end. There are poor and hungry and needy persons on the street corners and we judge them for their circumstances, demand restrictions on benefits, and deride them for minimum wage jobs if and when they secure employment. In our plenty we do not share, and in our glass houses we parade about in the Emperor's new clothes.  We gorge on fine meals, and want to decide how a pitiful few dollars is spent and on which foods when an EBT card is presented at the checkout. We snicker when clothing is tattered and body odor is foul, and toss our gently used items in the trash with no compunction. 

Many times a kind word, a helping hand, a smile would make all the difference in another's day and we are miserly with even that which cost nothing. 

Miserly>>>Miserable
Generous>>>Genuine

Think about it. 

2 comments:

  1. I always enjoy your midnight ponderings! Lovely that despite all of the busy days in your life, you still find the time to share them.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Evi. I write because I must, truth be told. Before blogs and the internet, I filled notebooks and scrap paper. Your sharings are special to read as well.

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