Once More, The World, with Feeling
Yes, I completely recognize the problems of the world. We've got people
suffering from major natural disasters in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Texas,
Florida, all across the Caribbean, in the Pacific Northwest, in
Bangladesh, in India, and elsewhere. We've got people suffering from
major man-made problems in Myanmar, the Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Palestine. Somalia, Nicaragua, and the USA, among other
places. It just stinks. Why the freak can't we humans get our stinking
act together? There is so much to go around. There is a boundless amount
of food, and the water you piss today will become rain that waters
someone's crops that you will eat tomorrow. You don't need to hoard
money because you're going to die without it. If you didn't hate,
perhaps the other guy wouldn't respond with hatred. Damn, I feel so
helpless. I try to help a little with my singing to the universe; I try
to help by recycling what I can. I try to help by being a good dad and a
good friend. I'm sure I fail all the time, but I'm trying. I bite my
tongue most of the time when I feel like screaming at someone. I resist
the urge to honk my horn at some jerk who cuts me off--heck, maybe he or
she is having a bad day, or simply had a brain freeze for a second, and
my honking is not going to fix anything.
To help me through, I
have occasional meetings at my house for former guests of mine in the
Amazon. They're more than former guests, they're friends. And I love
having them in for a weekend or so. Of course, I have to get ready.
Today was a get ready day: Bought six new large, good quality towels
that I think were made in the USA. I bought 8 drinking glasses because
mine are at my kids' and ex-wife Chepa's house. I bought four new dinner
plates for the same reason. I also cleared, washed and gave away two
large bags of good clothes and stuffed animals that have been sitting in
the washing machine room for months. While there I consolidated all of
the stash of fireworks into two boxes, to help clear a table. Last week I
painted the bathroom and scrubbed the ice box. On Monday, my oldest,
Italo, finished laying a new floor in my kitchen. My daughter Madeleina
and her boyfriend Adrian cleaned the back porch and my friend Dave and I
made two or three runs to the dump to get rid of all that had
accumulated there. I've since bought four all-weather chairs to put out
there for the guests who like medicine outside. I had two guys come in
and cut, then spray, all the poison ivy I had, thousands of stalks of
it. So I'm getting there, little by little. Still need 4-5 more air
mattresses, but that's not hard.
By the time the guests arrive
in a couple of weeks, the place should be okay. I'll still have the two
spots in the house and one on the front porch where it drips when the
rain comes, but I can't worry about that. Just call them
water-art-installations and I'm done with it.
Now, if you could
tell me how to apply the same "let's get this one done" approach to the
problems we create for each other, I am on board with you.
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