Subversive

I’m going to say something here that might seem a little odd at first. But bear with me.

I’m awfully proud of the world I live in.

These last few months have been just downright horrible, and the last few days particularly so. We’ve been through drought, floods, lost homes, possessions. My own hometown was inundated by unprecedented rainfall, resulting in unprecedented flooding, and unprecedented loss of homes.  Soon after, another hurricane hit Florida. The entire island of Puerto Rico is still dealing with the aftermath of a massive hurricane, with no power little clean water, failing food supplies, all the while being told that it’s not a “real catastrophe”.

And just a couple of days ago we’ve collectively experienced  the loss of 52 lives at the hands of one man who was apparently possessed by some evil. These people were having a wonderful time, laughing, dancing, singing… and suddenly the shots rang out, and lives were gone. We may never know exactly how, or why the shooter was so motivated to do what he did. It’s been hard. We all feel drained of emotion. We question how we can continue to live in such chaos. Is evil taking over?

But I repeat: I’m awfully proud of the world I live in. Despite what the news says, (and I mean all the news channels) in MY world I’m surrounded by love. In MY world, my friends do good things every day. Every damned day. In MY world, people hug one another just because they are genuinely happy to see each other. In MY world, I don’t need a super hero, because in MY world ordinary people fight injustice with powerful weapons; intelligence, compassion, humor, and passion. Every. Damned. Day. In MY world people DO, people ACT, people ACHIVE. In MY world, people take on challenges, and collaborate with one another. In MY world people respect the Big Picture. They read, they create, they help, they cooperate.

No, I don’t live in a self-created delusional Utopia. I live in Baytown, TX, USA, Planet Earth. And Baytown, TX, USA, Planet Earth has real problems.

Ok, sure. I live in the same world as everyone else. And yes, I see the people who bitch and moan, and decry, and argue, and sap our energy with rhetoric and self-serving sound-bites. I see people who troll, and destroy, and build walls of isolation, and seem to exist to serve no one but them selves. But in MY world, people are good, loving, creative, passionate, compassionate, helpful, inclusive…

I guess I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who want to change the world for the better. And for all of us, not just the few.

I’ll bet that if you look around, pay attention, you’ll find that you, too, live in a world that’s full of good.