Extreme Crisis…

“Walking in the footsteps
Of society’s lies
I don’t like what I see no more
Sometimes I wish that I was blind
Sometimes I wait forever
To stand out in the rain
So no one sees me cryin’
Trying to wash away the pain”
– “Keep the Faith” - Bon Jovi

Everyone has moments of hopelessness, despair, disillusionment, or even simply being lost. There are lots of things in our world today that compound those feelings and make them last longer than they have any right to.

Firstly, let me say that those feelings are NORMAL. The human spirit moves in cycles and waves. We all experience highs and lows throughout life. Again…that is NORMAL!

The problems come when we start to spend an inordinate amount of time at any one extreme. Yes, even spending all your time at the extreme of happiness is NOT good for you or your spirit. Life is meant to be a flow, a give and take, that will bring you through and help you to be a whole, well rounded person.

The danger of our world today, is not in spending all our time on the happy-side…it’s spending all our time on the sad-side. We have a great amount of anger, despair, sorrow, pain, etc, in our world. It seems that everyone is affected by it to some degree. Hell, we’ve generated a multi-billion dollar industry just servicing all the new pills to try to keep people away from the “Dark-side”. Damn…where’s Obi Wan Kenobi when you need him! :-)

Now...does anyone in the crowd believe that taking more pills is the answer to this situation? Good. See…the medications DO help. And I’m not taking anything away from the meds themselves. I actually think that they can and are a god thing. We have, however, become a culture that is more focused on medicating the symptoms, rather than treating the actual problem.

So…what IS the actual problem? And how can we treat it?

Those are the 100 Million dollar questions right there. Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a variety of answers. Even from all the supposed “experts”. There is simply no consensus on what the hell is going on with people.

How is it that a suburban soccer mom can quietly and calmly snap and drown all of her kids? Or, seemingly normal people pull out guns and start shooting people before turning the gun on themselves? Or, perhaps the 12 year old that’s delivering her 12 year old boyfriend’s baby?

This isn’t a normal crisis that people might have the skills to deal with. This is a crisis of the Heart and Spirit. And we as a people are woefully unprepared to deal with that in any way.

We almost seem to have lost the capacity to “Love one another”. The most common responses are anger, frustration, rage, and even violence. And even IF the response is love, compassion, empathy, then it’s not usually received at all. It’s almost as if we can’t accept those feelings from another person. We’ve been SO hammered and beaten by all the “Dark” emotions that they have become our norm!

It’s amazing what a person can get used to, isn’t it?

We have example all over. The abused spouse that stays with the abuser. The level of injustice that is accepted by some people. The loss and need that goes unmet for LOTS of people.

I really can’t give you a total package solution. I wish I could. All I can give you is the way I believe we, as individuals, can work to make things better.

I believe that it all comes down to love. Plain and simple. I’m not talking about love for your immediate family and a few close friends. I’m talking about love for EVERYONE. From your immediate family to the random people that you meet every day. Express love for EVERYONE. Whether it’s a smile and a friendly “Hello”, a warm hug, or maybe a kiss at the end of the day, express love.

We have become so mired in the shit. We are deluged with it all the time, newspapers, TV, radio, it’s everywhere. Goodness, love, happiness, joy…these things DON’T sell. You won’t find many uplifting stories reported by ANY news agency. Tragedy and misery are the money makers.

That leaves it up to each of us to take the stand and make our small slice of the world a brighter place. If each of us could make our part of the world a loving, accepting, caring place, then the Spirit of the world could be changed. I’m not saying that it’ll be easy. You’ll be going against the norm for just about everyone. It might take a while for people to see that this is how you’re going to treat them and figure out how to respond in turn. It’s a slow process, but they WILL learn to respond. And by teaching them, you’re expanding your circle of love in the world.

Don’t be dejected if someone tries to take advantage of your love and compassion. Some people will always try. Just smile at them and let them go on their way.

So, I’ll leave you today with a simple thought that’s hard to pull off…

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi