I'm often accused of being un-realistic, of being un-informed and of hiding my head in the sand. The fact is, I've made a conscious choice. I've decided to focus on things in life that I can either change, live with, or enjoy. I have two children. I don't want those kids to grow up being bitter hopeless people. I want them to know that there is beauty in the world, and there is ugliness. It's a choice what we focus on.
I am very active and vocal about recycling. I am extremely outspoken about environmental and human rights issues. I'm not a pollyanna who pretends that there is nothing wrong with the world. I do, however, choose to focus on things I can change. I often think about a quote I read a lot time ago in Mother Earth News. It was something like Our homes will be saved by people who want to save the world, but the world will be saved by people who want to save their homes. I'm know I'm committing some serious e2 no no's here by not only writing a gtky wu, but by putting in a quote that I can't attribute to anyone, but...oh well...I can handle some downvotes.
If I'm angry and bitter, I can't make anything positive happen, and I can't show my children how to be positive and make a difference. That's one lesson my kids taught me. Before I had kids I was pretty radical and intellectual and I was pissed off most of the time. I didn't want to pass that on to my kids, so I made a choice.
"Past the seeker as he prayed, came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them...he cried, 'Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things, and yet do nothing about them?'...God said, 'I did do something. I made you.'" -Sufi teaching story