We've heard a great deal lately about three active wars, the reduction of troops in Afghanistan, the War Powers Act as it pertains to Libya, the slipping and potential failure of the American economy (unlike the Goldman Sachs, we are NOT too big to fail), and riots in foreign, developed nations that have rejected austerity measures in the face of disastrous overspending, Greece for example.
It would appear that the World is on the brink of utter and total chaos, and yet, people everywhere, good people, are recycling, and fostering relationships, and taking responsibility for their actions, and creating art and positivity wherever possible, and even trying to die with dignity while the world is killing each other.
"So, Pompa" you ask, "where the hell are you going with this, and why do you get all heavy on us, particularly after such a round of lightweight questions?" Well, I read the beginning of a brief article this morning, about fathers, and a few anecdotes of the many ways in which fathers (biological and otherwise) and father figures, have taught us through education, ethics, responsibility, familial knowledge, hare learned guy stuff, and all other ways of how to be a strong, kind, caring, sensitive, and at times, a mean son of a bitch of a dad. So, with all of the nonsense happening in the world in conjunction with reading this article and latching onto something the author John Corrigan said and thinking about what we could do 'at home' with the money we should be spending here instead of Kandahar, I started thinking about what I could do to make the World just a little bit better.
What more could I do? I ride my bike, I use little fuel, I recycle and re-use almost everything that I can. I cook for myself and my family, with my family, using whole ingredients. You know, the kind of shit that won't give you cancer, or a third arm, or hyper thyroid. We use reusable bags, like stinky hippies, excepct without the stink. We don't use air conditioning. I fix my own clothes, and can do a helluva an improved job now that my wife just bought me a sewing machine. We try to shut off the lights when not in the room, with varying degrees of success (women can do many things but apparently have some strange disorder with respect to turning off light switches). We don't run the water when we brush our teeth. We even use cloth diapers for Christ's sake. Have you ever sprayed baby shit off of cotton into a toilet? Come on over, I'll show you how pleasant it is. We don't want a pat on the back. We don't do it because it is easy. We do it because it is important to us that our kid be able to go outside and play without getting asthma, not have to live on a landfill, and not stare into an ocean of garbage on future beach vacations. We do it so our kid can enjoy a spring and an autumn instead of what global warming appears to have recently given us which is two seasons, unbearably fucking hot, rainy, tornadoey death time and bone-chillingly fucking blizzard season where we have to have shovels and augers to get to a grocery store. We are not judging anyone that doesn't, I'm sure you've perfectly good reasons. We will however, help you get started if you'd like to do more (take a look here...http://www.reuseit.com/).
Nevertheless, I am forced to ask myself "what am I doing to help people, what am I really doing to impact a life for the better?" It all comes back to me thinking about what we are going to do with all this money we throw at war when we are done fighting and pondering this article that I mentioned (http://theweek.com/article/index/216401/what-my-father-taught-me). In the article, Corrigan quotes his father as stating, during one of his simple lessons, “You should help one person each day.” What does he mean? Teach someone something? Maybe. Seems a bit judgmental unless done with tact, a trait I've found most people lack, sometimes myself included. Does he mean to hold a door open for a delivery person? Help a person with mobility issues accross the street? Perhaps. That is always a nice gesture. I don't know what he means, but I need to start trying harder, whatever the hell it is. I ask if someone 'would like' help, rather than 'needs help." Many people don't need anything, or at least don't think that they do. What I believe Corrigan means is simply to be a better person. Pick up that stray piece of trash, help the lady with the bag, hold the door for the delivery person more, yes, this is what I believe he means.
But even more than that, I think that in my own way, Corrigan's father is telling me, "don't be a selfish asshole," and that pertains particularly to me. I try not to be, but the god damned world gets me down. It gets you down too. It gets most people that are not self medicated to a catatonic state into a tizzy. That is why we have car horns and cigarettes and whiskey. Have you ever thought of that? What the hell is happy hour? If you're not on vacation, boozing for fun, happy hour is therapy for the working world. It is a psycho-therapy bitch fest to complain about your two-faced boss, your jack-ass clients, the shit-for-brains at the D.M.V. that talks to you like you've never seen a vehicle, let alone operate one (author's note: I am not condoning the use of alcohol or drugs, but whatever you need to not burn down schools or beat women, maybe the Korengal Valley needs more booze). What we do after we've had the shit day and drank the drink is what really matters, whether we get over it and seize our time and leave the troubles where they belong is what matters. And just like us, the other person on the street, scowling and skulking and kicking dirt needs a smile sometimes. Those people, just like you, want to get home to their kids and their spouses and their buddies and their girlfriends and their dogs, jesus christ do they ever want to get home to their dogs, because no matter how pissed off everyone is, the dog just wants to give you some snuggles and get a belly rub.
So, what the hell are we going to do? If we bring these soldiers home from this Afghani war and we free up all of this money (we shall see) and start making jobs and building bridges and helping people, are we going to fight homelessness, are we going to feed all of these hungry kids on the streets and in the projects and in our little mountain towns? Are we going to try to cure cancer? Are we going to find alternative fuels that don't rape our planet? Are we going to try to talk to our neighbors and build community gardens so that people aren't so fucking depressed that the only thing that our medical system can do to prevent these people from throwing themselves off of skyscrapers is to get big-pharma to dope em' to the gills on zoloft, paxil, xanax, and oxy? I don't know, but I am going to start by spending more time with my kid, spend more time talking to my friends, even if it is on facebook, start walking more and sitting less, start doing more art and exercise and living and stop making excuses for not doing whatever it is that I should be. Maybe I'll volunteer at a soup kitchen. Maybe I'll help start an organization that helps homeless people get new training and get a resume and get a job. Maybe I'll start a venture capitalist firm that helps develop beneficial technologies to fight disease and hunger. Maybe I'll start a website that matched philanthropist to micro loan applicants. I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something. What would you do to help people? What does this mean to you?
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