Rambling

As I haven't posted here in a while I thought I might ramble on a bit about various things.  Bits and pieces of things that run through my mind as I go through life.

Most people truly, deep down, do not care about other people.  If those people do not directly affect them they do not care about them plain and simple.  I see it everyday working in a high school and it is definitely not just the kids.  Words like hopeless, worthless, rotten, criminal, stupid, bad, dumb, loser are used on a regular basis.  Yes, dealing with high school kids is difficult in many instances.  Yes, some of them bring what happens on themselves through bad choices.  But if you believe they are hopeless, worthless, bad, dumb, losers then they will believe it too.  We become what people say we are if they say it to us enough.  People are selfish, rude, uncaring, jaded, stressed, tired and they just don't want to deal with other people's problems. Most of them cannot even deal with their own problems.  The very same kid who heard all those words is homeless, with no parents, the only food they get is at school, very few clothes, and has suffered physical and mental abuse.  But they are just worthless right?  Why not find out a little more about them before the words come out?  And many of these people claim to be Christians.

Stop posting fake news all over the Internet likes it's true.  Take 2 seconds to check it through sites like Snopes.com before you hit share.  Why make yourself look ridiculous by posting false and very often inflammatory things?  No, an entire town in Texas wasn't shut down because 5 people have Ebola.  No, the "alleged" cure for Ebola does not only work on White people because of the melanin in Black people's skin.  No, a Wal-Mart gift card or free iPhone or free X-box is not real.  Come on, two seconds to find out if it's real.  Stop it.

We have become a mass of shallow asses.  When what a Kardashian is doing, or if Lindsay Lohan is wearing underwear, or the next episode of Duck Dynasty is more important than character, or kindness, or love, we have devolved into mindless, heartless media whores.  What do you look for first online, what do you watch on TV most, what is the main topic of conversation with others?  I sincerely doubt it is anything worthwhile.  How do you spend your free time?  Doing something for others who who can do nothing for you?  Not hardly.  We are consumed by what someone who is just famous for being famous is doing every moment of the day that we cannot see someone who needs our help, our kindness, our love right in front of us.  Shallow asses.

So, can you find 5 minutes to find someone who can do nothing for you who needs some kind of help be it financial help, daily needs help such as clothes or food or toothpaste or a coat, someone who just needs someone to talk to that might actually care, a homeless kid who needs food...and don't just throw money at them...do something.  Take 5 minutes out of being selfish, stop posting fake Internet crap, bypass the latest "reality or famous person news" and do something for someone else without expecting anything in return.  Find your local homeless teen organization and go take some soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant.  Find your local women and children's shelter and take some things for both the moms and the kids.  You could change someone's life....even your own.

Too Busy For Love

On Saturday, my husband and I were out shopping in between a movie and dinner plans.  We were in the store just picking up a couple of last minute things.  The store was very busy as you would expect.

As we were standing at the register to check out, we were talking about different things.  What else we needed to get.  What we were doing the rest of the holiday.  Not paying much attention to anything as we waited in line.  As we got to the check out, I noticed for one brief second a store employee taking away a cart that was in front of us.  It had supplies for Christmas dinner, a turkey and all that goes with it.  I didn't see a customer with it.  My husband said that there might have been some problem with the person's card.

In that moment, I was struck by several things.  One was that I realized that I was so caught up in my own plans and self that I didn't even notice that this person had an issue in front of us.  I had become so caught up in the trappings of Christmas that I was too busy to see something that Christmas is really all about.  The second thing was that we should pay for this person's groceries because THIS is what Christmas is about.  Love, sharing, caring for others, giving of yourself and your time and your money so that someone else feels loved.  By the time both of these things sunk in, the cart was gone, the person was no where to be seen and I was left feeling like I had missed an opportunity to share the real meaning of Christmas.

Too often, and not just at Christmas time, we get caught up in our own lives and business and forget that our greatest calling in this life is to share love with others.  To share that love with ALL others.  It is because we, as a people, have stopped sharing love that our society is in such chaos.  We are too busy.  We are too selfish. We only want to love those who are like us or those who we feel deserve it.  We exclude some from love because they are different.  Because they don't look like us, believe like us, live like us.

The true meaning of Christmas is that love is for ALL.  Perhaps if we all were to stop living our own lives for just a few minutes and found a way to love others, this world would be a completely different place.  We can't wait for someone else to do it.  We must do it within ourselves.  I do it, you do it, someone else does it and soon everyone is doing it.  It will change not only someone else's life but your own as well.

Take the time so that we are never too busy for love.