A Lot of Hot Air

Although I'm totally in favor of the good things in life coming around again - things like birthday parties, puppy love, and twilight stars - I'm not in favor of things coming around again that are hurtful, harmful or deadly. That seems to be what's happening in our nation now, and it's painful. Everyone is on edge, walking carefully around each other and fearful of confrontation or even interaction. Shootings continue to populate the news, and the standard response from those in charge is "We'll take care of it." Yeah. Right. That's an empty promise. 

Here's a lovely turtle with some beautiful
markings. I doubt he's concerned about
gun rights or who's in political office. He
wants to find his next meal and return to
his cozy nest. 

Maybe it's time to turtle in our personal lives. Time to pull into our shell and close off the outside world. Maybe it's time to become hermits, only coming out for groceries and the occasional pizza. Maybe it's time to focus on self preservation. 

The way we're going right now, it won't be too much
of a stretch to become another Cambodia and create
more killing fields. I'm always amazed at what mankind
can do to itself. 

But can we afford to do that? Can we afford to ignore the world around us, the events happening, the words being said, the distrust being sown? If we ignore these things, if we don't attempt to make things better one small step at a time, we'll return to fields that have altered from fallow to deadly within a few months. 

The rhetoric and speeches from politicians from top to
bottom provides enough hot air to fill a hot air
balloon (or several hot air balloons). It's spiteful and
vindictive and useless. 

I know there are people out there who are playing turtle. They are being sucked into the whirlpool of their lives without fighting the current. Can we afford to do that? I'm not so sure we can. After the shootings over the weekend, stricter gun laws will be bounced back and forth yet again. Nothing will happen - just enough hot air to launch a balloon or six. Nothing will happen, That's the tragedy of our current world. 

It's just as easy to brighten someone's day as it is to
darken it. Why not come to the bright side? 

So, a bit of a depressing post today, sorry about that. Despite the depression, I urge you to reach out to someone, brighten someone's life in one way or another, and leave the day just a small bit happier than it was when you awakened this morning. We need that sunshine to offset the darkness. I'll be back tomorrow.