Do you remember the first time you heard something so fresh, that it was almost like water to your thirsty soul? Many people talk about those moments in their lives where they’ve had a moment of inspiration, of asking, ‘what-if’s’ and of realizing that sometimes, something bigger than we could ever imagine is at stake.
I call these moments my ‘Matrix’ moments. Do you remember seeing the movie for the first time? The thought that nothing was real, and everything pre-destined, and somehow- we became what we originally thought we controlled- mindless, sleeping, robots. I think the movie put thoughts into our heads of wanting to break-away, to be –un-ordinary. To create thoughts of only our own.
It’s been a while since the Matrix. Since anything at all, really. We’ve become disenchanted, financially disfigured and morally bankrupt through currency, and the dissolution of the hopes we once held so high.
I asked a friend of mine recently, “Who are you voting for?” He stated he did his, ‘homework,’ and decided to vote McCain. As I love him very much, and respect his beliefs, I decided to ask why, instead of anything else. His answer stated he didn’t want to pay for schools his non-existent children weren’t going to use, and roads he’d never take, and he didn’t want to be taxed because he was in the 2% income percentile of the wealthy. I looked around my modest home- with my daughter sleeping in her little bedroom, and the hand-me-downs/craigslist/castaways I had made my own- and I thought- You. Don’t Get. It.
This isn’t just your
I have very little, but in what I do have- I find deep pride. There is a beautiful little girl that sleeps in the room beside me, clothes in our closets and food in our cabinets. I have friends that have been over almost every night- supporting and loving me- and in all honesty- no matter what I’m missing materialistically- I have everything anyone could want. Sure, my tv doesn’t work- and it’s as small as most people have in their kitchen, but it’s mine- and the power I feel from looking at something so small, and knowing that you are coming over and looking at it too- having fun even… it is magical.
There is a man who is promising way more than he need promise. I worry everyone is placing him on a pedestal and setting him up for tremendous failure. I see the things other world leaders are saying about him: (Here) and I worry- for his safety, and the hope we’ve placed inside all that he is. When we put such promise in one person- to fix something greater than us- we’re doomed to failure, we’re doomed to striking out- because he is ONE man- A great man- but only one.
Somehow- along the way, we’ve made Barack Obama our Messiah. I’m as guilty of it as anyone else. When I heard the news yesterday, I took the deepest breath I had in a long time and prayed, for the first time in a long time- to let this man have a chance to create what he sees. There are stories of great men and women doing amazing things. I worry for his safety, and his family- his girls, who just want their daddy, and his wife who needs more than anything- his presence and love. I have no doubt he will continue to deliver to his family, whatever they need- and no doubt he will create much change, and great things- I just hope that his life and his hopes remain intact.
People have been whispering. It’s almost like he’s a pitcher of water to the parched masses. When he speaks- you can see his passion- his heart in the words. When he connects with people- you see they are forever changed. I truly believe a great person not only causes change outwardly- but in people’s hearts. But for him to do his job- we must do ours.
Do you remember what we were told as children to do if we ever found a piece of ourselves on fire? Stop. Drop. Roll.
This is what we need to do. We’re all on fire- some of us with passion for change, because we’ve become do disillusioned with the greedy, fatcats, or the pain we see around us. Some of us hold pure resentment and anger- we don’t know who to blame or where to place it- but we’re walking around with internal time-bombs. We’re waiting to explode at anything anyone does. The rest? We’re silent, but deadly. We’re ignoring everything around us- spending our paychecks and are another example of adding to the situation at hand. We’re so focused on what we’re owed, “Our Dreams,” there’s no room for anyone else- we’ve become materialistic, pathetic, robots- essentially everything we’ve hated to begin with.
Stop. We need to stop believing we are owed anything because we simply, ‘are.’ What great things have we done for those around us – to be worthy of everything we want? We blame our children for being greedy, and self-involved- but we grew up in a generation of ‘precious snowflakes,’ too. Our ‘individualism’ was commented on as if we were wonderful and superior simply because we were of this generation. That needs to cease now. Our homes are being taken away, we can’t afford our bills, and our children are not learning the basic skills of loving and caring for others. Mine. Mine. Mine.
Drop. It’s time to tell Big America, we’re sick and tired of having a merit-less ‘dream’ shoved down our throats while those around us are suffering. We get bigger houses, but we are not correcting the bigger problems. People are still beating their spouses, and harming their children. The homeless rate has skyrocketed and our schools are suffering to a point of closing. What has happened? We’re competing for Coach purses and job raises, but we’re refusing to give to the very system that created who we are to begin with. The teachers that toil and sweat over No Child Left Behind do so, without complaint- and with very little income. Look at any teacher’s salary, then look at the salaries we want to make. How have we deserved this? Because we went to college? Because we are ‘entitled’ for whatever reason- how we look, the place in which we came from, our own selfish ideals?
Roll. It’s time, isn’t it? We can keep what we want in our closets- (I’m as guilty of wanting more as anyone else,) but we need to fill who we are inside, now. We need to roll out of a cycle that we’ve been a so-called, ‘blind’ participant to. We need to stop blaming Bush, (although the man is the devil-incarnate,) and we need to start slowly- rolling into something different- and off the pedestals in which we’ve placed ourselves.
Am I a bleeding liberal, now? I don’t think I’m liberal, but I am bleeding- dry, even. You are too. We are too busy filling our lives with filth and greed, and expecting one man to fix it. And this man- however good and pure of heart he is- isn’t going to be able to fix a fundamental disconnect with what we truly need. We elected someone amazing- WE DID IT. But now? It’s time to do our part- and support our choice, and give him the partnership he needs to do his good works. It won’t be easy standing up to Congress- a system of such disarray, and standing up to our re-elected politicians who forgot to open their mouths about us falling down- because their hands were too busy being stuffed with payoffs and power. Maybe we start small- we start squashing the racist jokes we hear, and the lies about others. Maybe we listen- and stand up to the hate against homosexuals, and anything other than the so-called, ‘American Norm.’ Maybe we empty ourselves of the selfish pride we never earned- and start filling other’s stomachs and hands with the gentleness of a new kind of neighborly love.
Maybe, we look beyond everything- and when we roll our eyes to words that a 27-year-old woman writes that you think is ‘crazy bullshit,’ and ‘liberal’ to see- I don’t have much. But I have hope. In you. In us.
Do you have hope in me, too?
