ellen This is not a plant post, but rather some thoughts I had after getting up early and running through my daily garden and dog tasks:
It’s June 2020, and things are overwhelming. I live in Puerto Rico. We have just in the last two weeks been able to go to the beach to exercise. Since Mid March, we have had varying degrees of lockdown. At the strictest point, we were only allowed to travel depending on the last number of our license plate being even or odd.
I have chosen to live in a remote spot, in El Yunque, the rain forest here in Puerto Rico. I’ve gone through some of the feelings of loneliness and “what the fuck”-ness of being so distant from others. I left Chicago with my boyfriend and dog. We had an insanely wonderful group of acquaintances and friends there. We were immersed in a group of artists, thinkers, and doers. But doing this takes time, over 17 years in Chicago for me. That is as long as I lived with my parents. Anyway, moving to national forest is very different than living in a city of ideas. For example, the road to our house has been neglected for over 10 years. Throughout those 10 years, people have petitioned the mayor to repave the road with no luck. I, personally, have written a letter, visited the office, and even shown the dude the road. NO DICE. It’s dumb. It makes you feel bad. You wonder why a civil servant wouldn’t help out with a civil matter. They don’t and it seems they won’t. You think, “should I take legal action?” But you just can’t seem to understand why they won’t just fix it?
AND WOW! This is what is happening everywhere and with most levels of government.
Not that my little road is anything compared to the atmosphere of today, but it is a small, itty bitty, tiny metaphor.
How have we, US citizens, gotten to this point?
Why are people not treated equally? Why is there no leadership? Where are our civil servants?
Money, privilege, greed, fear. These basically explain it. I wish I could write like Shakespeare and provide this awe inspiring moment where the story relates to these base archetypes, but I’m not certain I can.
$….it makes the world go round. It does and people feel power when they have it. With power , they have the means to dictate things, hire people, do jobs, influence, and make things happen. This leads to privilege. This leader does this for this group/individual, that group/individual feels special (which we all like), but that’s privilege. Then, this privilege hurts feelings of other justly deserving groups/individuals. Fear/sadness arises. When the privilege can’t be explained, it turns to anxiety. Then maybe it explodes?!
I see this path in most things, and I wonder…
Why can we not be treated fairly? Why can’t government be civil servants? Why can we not have leadership that encourages and tries it’s damnedest to be fair?
Our society (world wide) is in a monumental spot right now. We have gone from complacent to anxious to anger with everything going on right now…virus, lives, equality, economy, government.
I have never been one with answers. Not sure they exist. But a means, a way, to start to be better is there.
We all need to treat each other like a child lost in the supermarket. Fearful in a world of pant legs, we need to find someone to help and love us. We can all strive to be that love and help. How you do it is up to you. Don’t let the internet and posts dictate it. Just…
Be Kind.
Be Helpful.
Be True.
