This may sound insensitive, but I am grateful for this pandemic. I am grateful that it is forcing people to stay home and ease the burden on the rest of nature for a time. I am hopeful that this pause allows people to settle into themselves and reflect on what is working and what is not. I have faith that this time will be used to redeem people’s lives and help them turn around those things that aren’t working. I may have a utopian view of what the world could be, but I’d really like to see some positive change come of this.
To be honest, I can’t stand greed and corporate machines. I would love to see some of them topple placing more power in the hands of the people. I want to see full liberation of each soul on this planet… animals included. I don’t want life to go back as it was, where most people are enslaved in the corporate machine for hours on end being robbed of their purpose and potential. I don’t want to see people spend that time away from what matters in favor of “earning a living” while failing to honor the lives that are closest to them.
I feel that this is a good thing. This time is a really positive time. It’s the labor for the birth of better times to come. We are giving birth to something new right now. I’m hoping that the Spirit of consciousness is working within each of us to reveal what’s true. I’m praying that eyes are opened to the damage we’ve been doing to this place we call our home. I’m praying that individuals are pondering how they can be of greater service when this quarantine ends and even while they are currently quarantined. What is it that you can give to this world? How can you heal what’s hurting? How can you make the world more beautiful for having allowed you to live here while sustaining you all the while? How can you give back in gratitude?
As I walk around my neighborhood to get fresh air while social distancing, I’m saddened by some of the trash I see floating around and I live in a pretty “good” neighborhood. I’ve been feeling a nudging to order some trash pick-up sticks from Amazon and start taking a bag out for trash collection when I go for these walks of mine. My daughter is fully on board for picking up trash and cleaning up the neighborhood. As I think about doing this, I wonder if it would catch on. Imagine if cleaning up your neighborhood while going on social distancing walks went viral? However, even as I think about this, my mind goes down the rabbit hole of, “Would it really even make much of a difference? After all, much of it would still just go to a landfill or dump and then take forever to decompose anyway. Is this even helpful?” It’s interesting how sometimes our quiet instincts to do good and be of service are thwarted by “logic” and “rationalization.”
The idea came while walking and then, subsequently, my daughter was assigned Miss Rumphius as a reading assignment this week, which we read together. It was about a woman who was told when she was a little girl to do something to make the world more beautiful. She traveled the world and then injured her back on one of her travels. As she lay in bed she realized that she had yet to make the world more beautiful. While looking out her window she realized that she loved admiring the lupines that sit just outside her window. When she later recovered, she ordered lots of lupine seeds and sprinkled them everywhere she went creating beauty for others to enjoy. The moral of this story for me, “If we don’t create the beauty we long to see in the world, who will?”
This begs the question, “Am I creating the world that I wish to see? Am I creating a better world for my daughter to grow up in?” While I like to think of myself as a “good” person, I am not doing everything I am capable to ensure that she grows up in the world that I believe could be with just a little more effort on each of our parts. How much more effort would it really be for me to pick up some trash that others seem to have carelessly tossed? How much would it cost me to donate just a bit more of my income to those battling hunger and other injustice in this world? As much as I hate capitalistic greed, I realize that it is simply a reflection of what we value as a collective society. We value entertainment, politics, and convenience as evidenced by the wealth in these areas. What if we changed our values and recognized that we are creating the world that we want for ourselves and our children with every dollar we spend? What if we showed our feelings about immorality with our wallets?
The messages I see online during this pandemic are glorifying some of the less glamorized and also lesser status professions right now. Honestly, it’s about time we recognize what matters, yet I wonder how long it will last. Yes, nurses, doctors, and other medical health professionals are important. Yes, your local waste management employees are crucial. Yes, your grocery and delivery personnel are key to your survival. However, when you look at their salaries, is the money telling the same story? Are we valuing those concerned with the well-being and survival of others enough? I think not.
I’m tired of living in a world where people glamorize the fake and fail to bat an eyelash at what’s real. Awhile ago I wrote about social media and what/who gains followers and it disturbed me then that it seemed value was being placed on trivial entertainment and inflated lifestyle rather than those who are working for the betterment of this world. When will we start to care? When will we start to shift our collective mindsets, put our money where our mouth is, and use this transformative energy for some positive transformation that will shift the way this world operates for the good of humanity?
When you go, will this world have been made more beautiful for having you? Think about the impact you are leaving behind. If everyone were just like you, what would this world look like?