Tag: fires

One Small Act…of Kindness

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Hello…it has been a while since I have written anything. There has been so much going on in life, in family, in country and in the world. Maybe it’s just that it feels to be a little more than overwhelming. Maybe I’ve been uninspired to write. Maybe I’ve not been intentional with making the time to write. Maybe it’s all of the above! We all know that the past 2 years have not been easy. It has been plagued with disease, fires, floods, death, mayhem and not just natural disasters, but human disasters as well and the list goes on.

How do we process and deal with the suffering that is happening all over the world? It’s so overwhelming and I know that I sometimes feel so helpless. I ask myself, what am I supposed to do? I’m one person. There are so many homeless, there are people that have lost homes due to wildfires, there are people still sick and dying from Covid and the floods in Germany, and here, in our own United States. What are we to do?

It’s not an easy answer and as I pass by the homeless man sitting on the ground as I walk into Starbucks, I’m sad, but ask myself, what is it that I can do to make his day a little brighter and to at least let him know that he has been seen? The most immediate thing I can do is buy him something to eat and drink. There is no greater satisfaction that I get than when I give of my own resources and see the smile that comes across his face as I hand him his food and drink. It’s not the food that changes his day, it’s the fact that someone acknowledged him, spoke to him, made him feel human, and didn’t just walk by without even looking. Everyone wants to be seen and acknowledged.

The only thing I know to do that will bring a little bit of positive change, is to continue doing the smallest acts of kindness when the opportunity presents itself. No, I can’t go fight fires…but I can give to the fire fighters fund, or make some cookies and take it to my local fire station to thank them. Maybe I can take a trunk full of donated clothes and shoes to the local homeless camp and let them take their pick. Perhaps I can house a family that has been displaced because they have been evacuated or their home just burned down. There are so many ways we can help and bring a bit of sunshine to someones life and to their day.

I am not ashamed to say that I am fortunate to have everything I need to live comfortably, not extravagantly, but comfortable. So, I can’t very well sit by and watch the suffering going on around me. The way that I can suffer with them, is to talk, to acknowledge, to assist, to fund, etc. in whatever way I can to make a difference by one small act of kindness. If every one of us could do this…the world would change!

How do you make a difference? I would love to hear!

Someone to be the Greatest Love

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We all know how 2020 started! It started out with the promise! The slate had been cleared of all 2019’s mistakes and regrets. A new year always gives us fresh hope, new perspective, new goals and desires. At the end of that year we look back and we can see if we were successful with our goals, and if our perspective on life changed at all. Little did we know that the year 2020 would literally be “the year from hell”.

Now as we hit October 2020 we have seen this year our nation has been catapulted to a place we’ve never been before. I, as I’m sure you, can remember when COVID-19 hit. We watched it rapidly spread all over the world. We have had over a million deaths, but thank God, also several million recoveries. We have seen the world basically shut down. Businesses close, schools close, airlines grounded, unemployment skyrocketed, suicide rates have risen to an alarming amount, domestic abuse cases rose, teenagers going crazy at home being separated from friends and our essential workers exposed and taking great risk on a daily basis. We have had to set our personal opinions aside and follow the direction of our government leaders to help protect each one of us, while they navigated the murky waters of this virus.

Beyond the pandemic, we have seen more land burned in one year than any other year in history. As I write this, it stands at over 4 million acres. Our forests have continued to burn with more fires starting on a daily basis. Is it climate change or is it the failure of our federal and local governments to take care of our forests? It’s both!! Our firefighters are exhausted and we are tired of the destruction, tired of the loss of life. We are tired of the relentless smoky air that penetrates the lungs. The amount of lives, homes, businesses, and the beautiful wineries lost in the Napa Valley is devastating.

As if these were not bad enough, then we had the killing of George Floyd. This began the racial protests in cities around the country. The rise of violence increasing in these hot spots has our police on edge, because they are the ones being protested against. They have become the enemy instead of our protectors. Mothers and fathers have lost children, and children have lost fathers and mothers etc.

To top the year off, we have a presidential election happening. Oh my God, are you freaking serious? Need I say anymore?

Daily we ask ourselves, how much more can we take as people, and as a nation? The world is wracked with grief from this pandemic, and our nation is reeling from racial violence, social injustice, destructive wildfires, lockdowns and a presidential election in the midst of a reign of chaos.

What do we do? How do we become a conduit of change? How can we continue in this seemingly never-ending chaos?

I suggest we look at the bigger picture, but yet a more refined picture. We see the world and what is currently happening. How many of us, stop and look at ourselves? I don’t mean look at what suffering we are going through and what is against us, etc. But, let us look at what who we are!

Deep down, in our true being, beyond our surface and superficiality, we are resilient people. We are strong. We are fighters. We are determined. We have all been victims of something, but we are also survivors. We are passionate. We are compassionate. We are people that care. We are a benevolent people. We are a people that know how to rise from devastation. We are a people that can rise above the destruction, the lofty ideals of mans ego, and rise above the chaos and know that this, too, shall pass. Why? Because we were all born to love. Yes, we can love those that disagree with us. We can love those that cause the violence, devastation and destruction.

My heart breaks for this country. For my grandchildren! What is the world going to be like when they become adults? This is my greatest fear right now. Will they have the freedoms we have now? Will this nation succumb to control? Will this nation stop caring about the climate, our forests, our poor and homeless etc.? There is much to be done to leave this world to our grandchildren in a much better place than it is now.

The only way to begin again is…to love!

To end this, I leave you with a few words from a song by James Blunt, The Greatest. These words are for our children and their children after them. But also, those of us who are still alive and kicking, well, it’s for us as well!

Be the young, the brave, the powerful

‘Cause the world is standing waiting

For someone to come and change it

Be the young, the brave, the powerful

‘Cause we need a soul to save us

We need someone to be the greatest love