I haven’t posted a blog post in many months. It’s not that I haven’t been writing. I have. I haven’t wanted to share my thoughts these days…it’s a strange world right now.
As an ol’ white lady that has lived quite a few years, and witnessed plenty of hatred through those years, I sit on my back deck listening to the birds chirping, the slight breeze whistling thru the trees, and think “what a sad world we are living in at the moment”.
I am beyond blessed to sit here with the luxury of a MAC computer, an iPhone, wifi, the stereo playing, the ability to work amongst the comforts of a home, a husband who loves me for me, a daughter and grandchildren, family, good friends, business is good, and so much more. But today, my heart is breaking…and I hear “All we need is Love” in the background…
I was raised in a predominately white, middle class neighborhood with grandparents who lived down the street. My grandfather had served in WWII, was involved with the Red Cross, and Director of the YMCA. My grandmother served Sunday dinners and bible readings in the morning before school. Mom was stay at home, keeping the house and yard pristine. My brothers and I walked to elementary school after breakfast with Mamo and Papo. Life was pretty good in the 1960’s…
I remember my high schools years in the early 1970’s – being locked in at high school because “those” people were moving in, there was here all around, gangs were forming, Black Panthers were raging. Hell’s Angels rode the streets. Riots in Los Angeles. There were gas shortages, the Vietnam war was finally coming to an end, Nixon and Watergate were headlines, hippies were preaching peace and love, and the economy was suffering.
However, there was no Pandemic. We were not loosing 100,000 souls to a virus called Covid-19. No lock down of states. No shutting down of all our local businesses. There wasn’t 40 million people out of work, or riots or the burning of buildings, or a President who tweets trash. We are now in a world turned upside down with this nasty virus. The news is terrible, the social channels are filled with mean people. The hatred these days feels SO much worse with everyone’s ability to spew so easily behind a keyboard….so sad.
As I sit here – I pray that we wake up and see that we ALL realize we are all the same. We are humans. Skin color or ethnicity does not change that we all have feelings, emotions, and families. We all have the desire to live life in a world without the hate. It is hard enough to get up every day and to keep going for so many people in this world. Life is not good for many people right now. I’m sad.
Are you contributing good or are you adding to the hate? Think about it the next time you share something, or type something, or treat someone. We need to be kind to one another. We need to love one another. We need to reach out and help those that are struggling. We need to have hope that the world will become a better place as we move forward day by day.
The Beatles sang in 1967 – All You Need is Love and today we need as much love in the world as each of us can give to one another. Call someone, text someone, drop a note, make sure your friends and family are doing okay. Give more love out to the world, help make it a better place.