When bad things happen all lumped together like they have over the last few weeks we start to feel nostalgic for the good old days when things like this didn't happen...when there was no terror, mass shootings, suicide bombers and the like.
But we are romanticizing the past and under-appreciating the present. I am not going to say that these events didn't matter. They matter because every life matters. My heart is certainly with the families of the Beirut and Paris victims. It is also with those involved in the many mass shootings and terror attacks on this continent at Planned Parenthoods and schools and other public places.
But the world is filled with both Dark and Light and both horrific and miraculous things are happening all over the world every day.
I took a brief absence from the blog in order to deal with the negativity and sadness spreading across the internet in the aftermath of these events. I meditated every day. I struggled to understand why it is that it seemed we are so full of horror in this day and age. And in that week where I didn't look at facebook every day, and didn't look at twitter (because as I pointed out in a previous post, I have deleted my twitter account) and the only news I got was from my daily hour of Democracy Now, the world didn't seem so dark. I spent time with my handsome, amazing VOMD, and cuddled with my cats, and played with Tobi the bunny, and did research for my thesis, and drank lattes from a local coffee shop, and went to a vegan potluck with a bunch of fantastic local folks. I signed a couple email petitions, yes. I still handed out a couple dollars here and there to the homeless people I encountered in downtown Hamilton. But I didn't dwell in the sadness. I didn't dwell in the negativity. I didn't dwell in the horror. I saw the beauty in the world that we miss when we spend all of our time on the internet.
Please, shut off your smart phone for a couple hours. Put it in your sock drawer and go for a walk with someone you love. Close your laptop for a day, and play a board game with some friends. Quit tweeting for an hour and go volunteer as a dog walker at your local animal shelter. Cuddle with your kids (whether they be animal or human), make some art, bake a cake, listen to some joyful music, go dancing. Be happy. Don't let the internet become your life. Don't be part of the spreading terror by sharing ever picture of bombed buildings, sad starving children, emaciated animals, tortured government detainees. Do you really want to beat the terrorists, the animal torturers, the mass shooters? Then be joyful, live your life, do good things for others whenever you can, and have a little fun now and then. Do your part, but don't let it consume you.
Be happy, my friends.
Happy Monday!
-J
But we are romanticizing the past and under-appreciating the present. I am not going to say that these events didn't matter. They matter because every life matters. My heart is certainly with the families of the Beirut and Paris victims. It is also with those involved in the many mass shootings and terror attacks on this continent at Planned Parenthoods and schools and other public places.
But the world is filled with both Dark and Light and both horrific and miraculous things are happening all over the world every day.
I took a brief absence from the blog in order to deal with the negativity and sadness spreading across the internet in the aftermath of these events. I meditated every day. I struggled to understand why it is that it seemed we are so full of horror in this day and age. And in that week where I didn't look at facebook every day, and didn't look at twitter (because as I pointed out in a previous post, I have deleted my twitter account) and the only news I got was from my daily hour of Democracy Now, the world didn't seem so dark. I spent time with my handsome, amazing VOMD, and cuddled with my cats, and played with Tobi the bunny, and did research for my thesis, and drank lattes from a local coffee shop, and went to a vegan potluck with a bunch of fantastic local folks. I signed a couple email petitions, yes. I still handed out a couple dollars here and there to the homeless people I encountered in downtown Hamilton. But I didn't dwell in the sadness. I didn't dwell in the negativity. I didn't dwell in the horror. I saw the beauty in the world that we miss when we spend all of our time on the internet.
Please, shut off your smart phone for a couple hours. Put it in your sock drawer and go for a walk with someone you love. Close your laptop for a day, and play a board game with some friends. Quit tweeting for an hour and go volunteer as a dog walker at your local animal shelter. Cuddle with your kids (whether they be animal or human), make some art, bake a cake, listen to some joyful music, go dancing. Be happy. Don't let the internet become your life. Don't be part of the spreading terror by sharing ever picture of bombed buildings, sad starving children, emaciated animals, tortured government detainees. Do you really want to beat the terrorists, the animal torturers, the mass shooters? Then be joyful, live your life, do good things for others whenever you can, and have a little fun now and then. Do your part, but don't let it consume you.
Be happy, my friends.
Happy Monday!
-J
Oh, and if you are in the Hamilton area, check out Cowspiracy, streaming at Democracy on Locke St. tonight at 8pm!
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