Care

* I started this post in July, and finally finished it today. Interesting how not much has changed in the news cycles.*

Recent political events have been on my heart lately. You see, I say, on my heart, not on my mind. Because in this oppressive, greedy, "me-first" America that we live in, too many people are thinking but not enough are...caring.

You know, during the election I often wondered, do people realize just how dangerous the "us vs them" rhetoric can be? I pondered, do people not think that history can repeat itself? I stewed over, how can people interact with you on a daily basis, but in their hearts and homes support a new American dream of divisiveness and harm. And I didn't come up with any answers, but that did not stop me from...caring.

So then the election came and it went. And I personally stopped tuning in to politics. I felt like I was both getting dumbed down and horrified. And I just turned my attention to more local matters, and using my small influence for good. And so it's been for about 2 years. And all the while bullying speech has been lauded from the highest office in the land. Untruths have been hurled like grenades, leaving nothing but ruin and confusion in their wake. And those on both sides have jumped into the festering cesspool  of ignorance and anger that some call "politics" but in reality is some of the worst "civilized" and "accepted" and "expected" behavior that I have heard of in a long time. The taunts, the jokes, the ridicule, and truly soul clenching hate that has been very thinly disguised and even cheered. It is disgusting, and the opposite of...caring.

And now enter in the border and the continued games of using people as pawns in what for us is just "news" but for them is their very life and death. And so my heart has been beating lately for those fleeing persecution. And I don't mean the "Americanized", they won't bake me a cake stuff. I mean, they burned my fields and crops, and threatened to come back next for my teenage daughter, if I don't sell them what is left of my familial property. Real life, gasping, bleeding, real life. And it gets chopped down to fit a news segment, and it gets looped with lightning speed but also in the rush, comes mistakes in reporting. And because everyone is so suspicious,  it feels like we have stopped...caring.        

Caring is defined as feeling or showing concern for or kindness to others. Well, if it is true, that our actions are a reflection of our heart (and that is true), then right now I live in a county of such promise but such abyssal showing of caring. And in times such as these, I have to remember to kind of shake it off, the bruising blows of pop culture, the selfish, unkind threats of politics; and pick back up my light and shine it with...caring. I have to listen to people, and carefully watch my words, that they would be genuine and...caring. I have to look ahead to a New Year, and remember that if a bunch of "I's" get together and don't give up, our...caring, just might change the world.