Open Your Mind

I was messing around with blogger and this is the format I got stuck in. I can't decide on what I want so I will leave it as is for now. I am also playing around with the idea of removing the comment section for a couple of reasons. I am still pondering that. We shall see.

Being caught in this odd funk this past year has driven me to watch tv a lot more. I was never really into it before. I have been on this documentary kick lately. Netflix has some good ones and a couple have tapped into a place I haven't thought much of in a very long time. I like that and it has given me a little shake. A wake up call if you will.

I have mentioned before how much I used to love to travel. It was always so exciting to explore a new place, see beautiful landscape and talk to different folk. I would get the biggest kick when someone living in a different part of the country would ask about my accent. There is so much to see and experience. I feel a little sad when I think I might not be able to do it again but you never know. I have been lucky enough to see a bit of the U.S. and it's fun to look through old pictures and remember those experiences.

Two documentaries I really had a ball watching. The Long Way Round and the The Long Way Down. The Scottish actor Ewan McGregor and his best buddy did the most amazing trips on motorcycles. The first was a trip from London to New York. They went through places like Siberia and Mongolia, to name a few. So many interesting and intriguing places. I was practically clapping my hands at all their adventures.

The Long Way Down was the second trip they took a few years later. From the top of Scotland (John O' Groats, is that a great name of what?) all the way to Cape Town, South Africa. I was glued to the screen. Africa has always been such an intriguing place for me. Where the forgotten children are. Places like Rwanda and the Sudan....man, it reminds me of just how lucky I have it. It also makes me very angry.

Such tragic and horrible circumstances some of those babies have lived through. Ugly things that we can't possibly fathom. My heart aches to take them all home and love them. Many people prefer to ignore things like that. I can also grow weary of the sad and terrible pictures but to ignore it completely is more terrible. They all deserve to have their story told, to have their picture taken and have the lucky people take a few minutes and think of them. If they can smile and welcome a stranger after having an arm chopped off then surely I can spend a minute thinking about them. We all have such strong opinions and quick judgments about how the world should be. I just shake my head sometimes.

Another one I watched recently was called I Am. It talked about how we are all connected, people, animals, trees, all living things. I think they might have stretched the science just a tad but I still took so much from it. From the butterfly to the elephant to the human being, we all belong to each other. It opened my mind just a bit more and I certainly appreciate that. When you aren't willing to examine these things a bit, it's like giving up on life. The idea that genetically man was never meant to kill.....WOW. What a concept. They spoke of a shift coming in the next 200 years. It's doubtful I will get to see it in my lifetime but I wish it for the coming generations.

All of these movies have a few disturbing pictures. One in particular that will stay with me is a little black child, maybe 7, holding what looked like a newborn baby. The baby was crying and had no clothes. I wanted to grab them both and make them safe. I can't do that of course but I will do them the honor of thinking of them often and hoping someone saved them. I will also be grateful for all that I have.

All of our lives are touched with sorrow and joy. Some more than others. Very few of us worry about being killed in our sleep or going hungry. My horizons have been expanded a little more. I really hope that happens for me over and over again. I wish it for all of you too. Please don't dismiss the planet as a lost cause. PLEASE! And please don't decide you already have enough information. Trust me, you don't. There is much to be done and so much to learn.

The best part of my day is when I open the back door and find bunnies happy to see me. Nina runs into the kitchen talking up a storm and Sophie races around downstairs in excitement. They make me happy and sad sometimes too. That's life.

Monday Mantra

            "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference"

Elie Wiesel