Had to share this video that my DIL shared earlier today...
And also some things on my heart...
It's not that I don't love my country, but I am so very disappointed in it. In us.
I've had several conversations with people, with more and more frequency, about the views and truth of the statements in this video... the world doesn't have to change for our lives to be better - WE have to make conscious changes within ourselves and within our own country to once again see America strong, or even see us truly make any lasting difference at all in our world.
We are falling extensively short and farther behind in equal morality, education, compassion, health, and quality of life here - as well as leaving a positive mark on the world.
If only we would ALL decide as individuals to band together to do the necessary things to ensure true equality in every possible way here at home, and stop expecting the next group or person in local/national government office to "fix things". What would everyone's lives look like if we could each stop thinking that any of us deserve more than another? If we quit basing our outreach efforts outside this country on ONLY REACTING to the crisis instead of arresting it where it begins? If we quit attaching a string to much of our aid/assistance that those we help then do things the "american way"? What if we instead focused more energy and funds to find ways and resources to help educate those in need to sustain themselves in ways that work best in their own culture and match up more easily with their natural resources? And most importantly they might honestly think it a good thing to let us help if it was evident we had successfully lessened or eliminated our own hungry, our own down trodden and outcasts, our own destitute, our own have nots.
But we say the "caste systems" in other countries are an outrage, while we are ok that a pretty similar one exist right here in America in so many ways.
And we're ok with the fact that our military are continually put in harm's way to defend another country from treating select groups as unimportant and less, while we watch the same thing continue to happen here daily as if there is a difference. The quote "where you live shouldn't determine whether you live or die, and where you live shouldn't determine your access to the simplest of things that mean the difference between living or just existing" should hold water here too.
I agree, we USED to be the best country in the world when every man and woman did their personal best to give back, to stand alongside, and to personally invest in their own neighbors and communities because they kept a compassionate eye on the bigger picture. We were more selfless as a whole. Being an American was more about how we treated one another instead of what we could consume.
Until we are moved collectively to change the circumstances of those down the street, in the next town, or in another state, we have no business touting ourselves or our country as being the greatest, or the ones qualified to show any one else how to better live... we can never truly make the difference we should anywhere else until we put every effort into making sure this is really the land of equality and freedom it was intended to be. Until we can honestly say we are about EVERYONE here having equal access to a solid education, healthy food, to not die of diseases that are treatable except that the health care and medicines they need are only available to those who have a high paying enough position to afford a better health care plan, until all are living without the daily fear of not knowing how they will clothe and feed their children, and having the injustice in all lives receive the same attention and help - to not base their level of protection or aid on where they live or how much money they make.
The truth of America is that we are still full of our own poor, that we have let achieving the "american dream" become a warped sense of what success really looks like, that we put what we think will make us happy above what the dream was really about in the beginning: that everyone have the exact same basic opportunities, that we impact others in positive ways with what we have - not staying focused on how much we can purchase or consume, when nothing achieved created bragging rights, that it was quite simply about how much good we did for others, and what we could accomplished together verses alone would better everyone's life.
Instead America is: still full and spilling over with our own disadvantaged and hungry, allowing human trafficking to thrive in our own back yards, letting abuse of our children still happen every day, not taking collectively any real moral stand on anything, letting not making anyone angry or causing a possible law suit take a front seat to doing what's right, turning a blindeye to injustice, expecting our government to right the wrongs we as a people have let happen and that we still create every day by choosing not to act, not living by the golden rule (which would literally fix every single problem that exists), and we frankly refuse to accept that the weight of our individual responsibility for one another goes way beyond our own families.
#thelanguageinthisclipisnotwhatitypicallypost#buttheimportanceofthemessageoutweighsafewwordsused
#dontthrowthebabyoutwiththebathwater
It's not that I don't love my country, but I am so very disappointed in it. In us.
I've had several conversations with people, with more and more frequency, about the views and truth of the statements in this video... the world doesn't have to change for our lives to be better - WE have to make conscious changes within ourselves and within our own country to once again see America strong, or even see us truly make any lasting difference at all in our world.
We are falling extensively short and farther behind in equal morality, education, compassion, health, and quality of life here - as well as leaving a positive mark on the world.
If only we would ALL decide as individuals to band together to do the necessary things to ensure true equality in every possible way here at home, and stop expecting the next group or person in local/national government office to "fix things". What would everyone's lives look like if we could each stop thinking that any of us deserve more than another? If we quit basing our outreach efforts outside this country on ONLY REACTING to the crisis instead of arresting it where it begins? If we quit attaching a string to much of our aid/assistance that those we help then do things the "american way"? What if we instead focused more energy and funds to find ways and resources to help educate those in need to sustain themselves in ways that work best in their own culture and match up more easily with their natural resources? And most importantly they might honestly think it a good thing to let us help if it was evident we had successfully lessened or eliminated our own hungry, our own down trodden and outcasts, our own destitute, our own have nots.
But we say the "caste systems" in other countries are an outrage, while we are ok that a pretty similar one exist right here in America in so many ways.
And we're ok with the fact that our military are continually put in harm's way to defend another country from treating select groups as unimportant and less, while we watch the same thing continue to happen here daily as if there is a difference. The quote "where you live shouldn't determine whether you live or die, and where you live shouldn't determine your access to the simplest of things that mean the difference between living or just existing" should hold water here too.
I agree, we USED to be the best country in the world when every man and woman did their personal best to give back, to stand alongside, and to personally invest in their own neighbors and communities because they kept a compassionate eye on the bigger picture. We were more selfless as a whole. Being an American was more about how we treated one another instead of what we could consume.
Until we are moved collectively to change the circumstances of those down the street, in the next town, or in another state, we have no business touting ourselves or our country as being the greatest, or the ones qualified to show any one else how to better live... we can never truly make the difference we should anywhere else until we put every effort into making sure this is really the land of equality and freedom it was intended to be. Until we can honestly say we are about EVERYONE here having equal access to a solid education, healthy food, to not die of diseases that are treatable except that the health care and medicines they need are only available to those who have a high paying enough position to afford a better health care plan, until all are living without the daily fear of not knowing how they will clothe and feed their children, and having the injustice in all lives receive the same attention and help - to not base their level of protection or aid on where they live or how much money they make.
The truth of America is that we are still full of our own poor, that we have let achieving the "american dream" become a warped sense of what success really looks like, that we put what we think will make us happy above what the dream was really about in the beginning: that everyone have the exact same basic opportunities, that we impact others in positive ways with what we have - not staying focused on how much we can purchase or consume, when nothing achieved created bragging rights, that it was quite simply about how much good we did for others, and what we could accomplished together verses alone would better everyone's life.
Instead America is: still full and spilling over with our own disadvantaged and hungry, allowing human trafficking to thrive in our own back yards, letting abuse of our children still happen every day, not taking collectively any real moral stand on anything, letting not making anyone angry or causing a possible law suit take a front seat to doing what's right, turning a blindeye to injustice, expecting our government to right the wrongs we as a people have let happen and that we still create every day by choosing not to act, not living by the golden rule (which would literally fix every single problem that exists), and we frankly refuse to accept that the weight of our individual responsibility for one another goes way beyond our own families.
#thelanguageinthisclipisnotwhatitypicallypost#buttheimportanceofthemessageoutweighsafewwordsused
#dontthrowthebabyoutwiththebathwater
Here's to being the 'more' joy in someone elses journey ;)
Marisa
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