A Call To Caring!

(*If you are easily offended, please chew on your thoughts and read through to the bottom. We need all of your help so grin and grow as we all learn.*)

The cars obey the commands of their masters as they travel the road home from work. Their windows are up and the air conditioning is on full-blast. They are not the problem here.

Boy, this 80 degree weather sure seems hot. Didn't 80 degrees seem cooler a few years ago? Ahead on the same side of the road a man is walking wearing funny colored shorts and a straw hat. He looks disjointed from the world around him. I wonder what his thoughts are of...

Look at this trash. Every piece I walk by adds circumstantial evidence to the growing pile. We humans are pretty much doomed; aka fucked. Sure, oil will one day be a commodity of the past - a tribute to a world of privileged people, leaning towards their self-focused center - but maybe it won't be the only tribute we imprint...

The small things, often literally, we pass-by now will come around again to condemn us to our doom.

Many would laugh at the notion that negating trash along our public highways and by-ways will be our society's undoing, but what messages are we sending by leaving it where it lays? If it is a struggle to pick up a simple item such as a gum wrapper or a fast food restaurant cup off the sidewalk or road, then how can individuals of this privileged, first-world society be expected "to come together" to fix the shit they let go awry? It is a bold yet negative question, but it is being asked aloud; in print; in front of your eyes as you read this.

Such a small, simple item...such a large, complex impact. Think about it; as you do, more trash continues to fall discarded. Will you care...?

Even the simple message of a single item of trash, to me, communicates an inability to comprehend the large impact that this habit of 'just throw it away' has on the place we call home: Mother Earth.

Puzzle me this: if we throw away an organic (definition: characteristic of, pertaining to, or derived from a living organism) item, where does it go?

The most generally accepted answer would be the landfill.

Now, what are landfills designed to do?

Contain the "trash" regardless of it's derivative nature (inorganic or organic).

So, if our organic materials are contained within these landfills, how do you suppose they will reintegrate back into the environment, the life cycle at large?

Hmm, what a question this man poses. Perhaps the commanders of these cars, these beasts of the road running on a decaying element are unaware of this observation as they go about their short drive home. Home to what? A place of residence made originally, in its most basic form, from organic materials. BEEP BEEP BEEP. Time to wake up folks; no snooze button on this alarm clock.

OK, time-out with the soapbox. Are you turned off by my words? I apologize if you are but perhaps it is because you actually do care. Permit me to be truthful, I do use a gasoline car and throw trash out too, just like you. I am still human and not some ranting robot. Though, how often I do such is what I choose to scrutinize and question in my life.

How can I reduce my impact; how can I choose to better accommodate my lifestyle to fit in with the big picture? To be in more one-ness with a) those around me, and most importantly b) the orb blob we call HOME. We only get one chance at this and the fractures are forming.

Suffice to say, I am quite bothered by the goings-on. I am angry, disappointed, disbelieving, negative, and hopeless about our future. I could cry. There needs to come about a wake-up call. The borrowed time we are skimming by on is indicating a call to caring!

We need to shift outside of ourselves. You really don't matter as much that you should come first. I am sorry. Seek a manner to change your perspective - if that is difficult, then walk in another's shoes for a comprehend-able moment. You might be surprised to discover the things outside of the me first mentality.

The borrowed time is looming closer to the tipping point. We must change.

It can't be just a few people who care and love; we need the large majority. Only with that can we begin to shift, to grow, to love, and to care!! It's possible, but the way things are going currently, unlikely. The negative thoughts in me, evidenced by what I see day-to-day, says enjoy what semblance of normality you have now. We always seem to tune-out into our selfish worlds with little notice or mind for the problems at our feet anyways.

Do yourself and others a favor though, look in the mirror, hold your stare and tell yourself that you don't care. Then take a moment of thought and commit to something necessary and outside of your one-self focus. The cliche says: The day is now, not tomorrow or next week. Once this is done, you, or someone you love, will be glad you did.

Thank you.