Lately, I’ve been really disappointed with Substack, my fellow citizens, and myself.
Substack and fellow citizens for using what was a really cool place to express nothing but bitterness and diatribe over an election, and myself for my lack of prayer and patience. The only thing I wrote after the election was a flow poem titled “345, 426, 571.” That’s approximately how many people live in this nation.
Will any one man or woman deliver us from all of our woes, fulfill every need? The answer is a hard no.
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26
I miss my dad and I miss Substack’s “Coleman.” He disappeared over humility, and my dad died with his in tact. These are the kind of humans you actually need in your life. The kind that don’t really want to be popular. The kind that will tell you like it is and move on. They are convicted in truth.
Dad used to say, “Buck up your ideas and get on with it.”
Coleman said, “It all starts with you. Everything’s your fault.”
Seems no one can take responsibility for themselves anymore and I just about went there (again) this morning with my elderly mom. It's about thinking. I was ready to blame her for a minor catastrophe in the kitchen (broke a favorite mug, chipped the countertop and realized 30 minutes later I was bleeding from my finger). I took a deep breath and realized that I didn’t need to attend to a request immediately, as some of us seem to do, in order to control our environment or control the entire universe and the little ball that spins incessantly around the roulette table. This was my fault.
You see, mom can barely see. It’s an intricate and ever-changing delicate balance that circles back into a tunnel of what can seem like madness, sadness and a loss of her livelihood, little by little. Her very precious life. Not mine. Although I am acutely aware it is inevitable.
Some call this the “Sandwich Generation.”
For many who scream about losing their rights, mom is an inconvenience. After all, nothing we see happening in our society, from large open concept airports, with an entirely digitized self-serve experience and lengthy gate walks, to an app for this, an app for that, an app to communicate vs. a real voice, is not inclusive, nor feels “right,” in her world.
Blindness is not an option for those who are not going blind. So why try it when you have eyes that can see?
Fear is also not an option for those who are not going blind.
Spiritual blindness, however, is a state of being unable to see, understand, or believe in Christ, his teachings, and his saving message. It opens the door to selfishness, self destruction and negative choices. This is the point of no return as you try and control what is not in your control.
It’s an unwillingness to calm the heck down and look in the mirror.
Nope, I am a big star, influencer that didn’t get my way. I will scream to the world that I have a ton of money which will enable me to escape to another country, purchase my second or fourth home, where all my emotions will be resolved as I eat Cicchetti served with a glass of Spritz, while staring at a real life painting of the seaside. I will then tell everyone in my cozy private enclave how horrible half of America is.
No. It's not America. It's “insert star’s name.”
When I was a teen in the entertainment industry I thought that one star’s yearly salary could save a third world country from starvation. That was in the 70’s. I quit like Coleman. No way did I want that kind of responsibility or possibility of losing my mind to myself.
Every single day most of the world just wants to wake up, go to work and make it home. That’s it. They want to pay the bills, feel safe, find special time for their family, elders and deal with all the big and little intricacies of life. A child with special needs, or a deadly food allergy. A disabled parent. Single parents, parents who have to work and pray everyone survives. Elder care, childcare. How will a small business owner afford cancer treatment on catastrophic health ”care?” The best the “affordable healthcare system” can do for the “liability of independence.” Who will keep things running? When can my spouse retire? “70,” he says. He’s 62 and works unGodly hours, like he did as a 21 year old. “Maximum social security,” he says.
How does a young person dream? afford a car, a home, insurance? Rates are rising 20% a year. No one can open new item packaging without losing their mind or a finger . The great domino effect of the get-rich-quick litigious society we live in.
We are the problem.
Every election season whenever a president has been announced, we go back to work, whether the person is our choice or not. We never put our faith, hope, and ideas into one person who does not know us personally, nor should anyone. We will never, ever threaten, un-invite, toss out, wear wrist bands to identify why we are mad, shave our heads, or deny each other love.
We will pray for our new president. Every four years. For those four years. And for our family, friends, and our neighbors.
We want to keep our sight just like my mom. We want to be wide awake to the Holy Spirit which guides and shapes our character.
What we are experiencing is a “spiritual revolution.” When we were restoring our home in 2019, I told my husband, in November, I felt a premonition. I said, “what if this restoration was given to us to work something through. To grow closer.” Four months later darkness. The world turned upside-down. Our family fell apart.
No one came out unscathed.
What has arrived, in the aftermath, is much bigger than government or sides.
The collective wars of the world will always be about the spirit. Wars will always exist, but we can minimize the small ones among ourselves.
We are presently being called to turn away from idols, influence, popularity and toward authenticity. To stop the attitude of “shamefully undone,” but become unglued to corrupt systems of power, where only the elite prosper. We must leave each other alone to our God-given uniqueness and drop out of the uniform kicklines. Start noticing the captives of greed and power around us. From human to animal experimentation. Follow the money.
We need to be proud of our heritage, use it to guide us, study it, appreciate it, share it and write about it for the generations to come. We need to thrive and teach empathy to young children about human beings in other countries who do not know true freedom, especially women. We need to teach our children about God's innocent creatures. They are not for destroying, selling or buying.
Teach the young compassion away from all the screens.
America has been a dream for many. It was the land of opportunity for my dad, arriving with his young family, from another country in 1960, eyes wide open with hope for a better life. He never stopped creating, or re-creating himself and marched to his own beat. America was still hope for Coleman, who after years of incarceration, laid the blame upon himself. Although he was just a kid, when he was locked up, he came out shunning a “system” who wanted to teach him to blame everyone and everything, rather than take responsibility for himself. He knew, in the end, this would cripple his chances of making it on the outside. He and my dad succeeded despite who was our president.
We work harder.
I do have some hope in “the effort” towards a healthier nation.
It's up to us to “see” what's happened. Drugs and medicine versus real food and exercise. An enormous ship to turn around. Ironically, WW2 radically changed the course of eating when simple processed foods were invented to feed soldiers. From there, a downhill slide of realized profit off the people.
War and drugs.
Short list of examples: Corn Flakes - 1894 Red Dye - 1907 MSG - 1908 Spam - 1926 Chicken Nuggets - 1950's High Fructose Corn Syrup - 1957
It’s all war. It lies down, curled up on hard concrete every day around our nation. It dies there. It's hidden behind closed doors. It's criminal. I pray justice and dignity for real stories. Especially after these last four years. The struggle is in the grief of human bodies, caged and dumped animals, oceans and forests. We have been sold down a river for decades.
There is no holier-than-thou here. I’ve been sold down that river, in my life, landed on an embankment and said never again. I have stories.
Not left or right
It's sight
that’s killing us
So what’s the fuss
lets buck up
wakeup, catchup
seek humility
and reverie
Get on with it
down to the grit.
It’s all our fault.
Be light and salt.
My two cents
common sense
realigned, humankind
on being blind.
I was just thinking about Coleman this morning. I wish he would come back.
This is a beautiful article. I have so much to add but I don’t even know where to begin. Thank you for writing it.
Weary not in well doing. Seek the Father and know His voice. He will give us the peace in the storm. Thank you for your candor. This is the time to sift out our purposes and callings. Be faithful to where you are placed, is what He is showing me. Be blessed. Folks need your encouragement