A Good Friday Wish

I've been having a bit of a hard time lately. I'm one of those people that really absorbs other peoples' pain, and lately it feels like pain is really beating the pants off of pleasure in the world. It took me ages to stop freaking out over 9/11 (and I'll still bawl if I really get talking about it or see old footage), until my brother finally said one day, "If you don't stop, people aren't going to want to hang out with you." That helped. I like to hang out with people. But lately, it's like everywhere I look it's anger and frustration and sadness and pain, and I really don't know what to do about it.

More terrorism in Turkey and Belgium. Innocent people killed while waiting to travel home to loved ones. The awful violence at political rallies, and the actual (public) re-emergence of the KKK?!?! I really thought we had made so much progress when we elected President Obama, and now it's as if we've back-slid as a country like 50 years. I can't stand it. So I freak out inside. I cry. I rage. And then I go for a walk. Natural beauty is often the only thing that helps.

Today is Good Friday. A time for us to pause and reflect and hope for a better future, with the hope and promise of Easter coming right up. I was consoling myself with thoughts like that when I saw a fuzzed up dandelion, and did the only thing one can do ... picked it up, blew, and made a wish.

A wish that love will conquer all. That everyone can just stop, breathe, collect ourselves, and look at the big picture. The picture that includes social justice for all, equal rights for all, good health and education for all, but most of all, LOVE FOR ALL. No matter where you come from or who you are, you love someone, and someone loves you. Everyone is like that, so why would anyone ever want to hurt someone that has love in them? I realize that this is a tall order, but I also realize that it's pretty much everyone's common goal for themselves. It just needs to be turned inside out to include the whole world. Seriously ... what is so hard about the very simple Golden Rule?

As if to reinforce this message I was thinking, I passed by a quaint wooden gate door, where someone had chalked a heart right across it. There you go. We can do this.

Happy Easter Weekend, to everyone! May all of our wishes come true.



*I just read a quote from Jack Kerouac that said, "Have faith and wait." So I am doing both.