What Have We Done?

The beauty of all of the universes' creatures on Earth. Empathy. Love. Kindness. What did we do to it? Someone along the line looked at this Earth and decided "war, famine, insurance, poverty, capitalism, cruelty". Humanity had the opportunity to do so much more, to be so much more. Instead, here we are paying health care premiums, buying basic goods for far more than we can afford, and seeing fellow humans homeless on the corner.

Someone called the animal rescue I volunteer at last week. They caught a baby fox on their property as they found the family living under their storage container to be a nuisance. They were educated to let the kit go back to their parents if they see the parents on the property. And if you don't want them living there, make sure they're gone and fence off the area or use ammonia to make the area smell bad, they'll leave on their own. Instead, the husband calls us back and states "either we shoot it or bring it to you". So guess what baby is joining us at the rescue to grow up. How can humans see a defenseless, sweet, three pound baby fox and think "meh, I'm killing it". Somewhere along the way compassion, empathy, and love was lost. Humans stopped seeing the world as a collaboration and more so a "dog eat dog, fend for yourself" fight.

Two days ago I saw a homeless man signing on a busy road. I had a dollar that had been sitting in my cupholder for weeks, so I gave it to him, he needs it more than me, its been sitting there for weeks and I haven't needed it - even though things are tight for me too. Later that day, the Chipotle worker gave me my chips for free. Yeah, it probably sounds dumb, but I believe the more good we put in the world, the more good we get back. The more warmth we can share, the more warmth we receive. Maybe that's how people turn cold - they give none and, in return, get none, and that cycle can make people start to believe there is no warmth. And so the cycle continues.

What if we made a collective effort to love more, be more empathetic, and spread more kindness. Unfortunately, a lot of things in our capitalistic world are too far gone. My wages are taxed, the goods I buy have tax, and I pay tax yearly. My medically necessary medications are very costly. Global conflict will continue. BUT -- on a small scale - we can change the world. You see an elderly person in line alone at the coffee shop - buy their coffee. Maybe they're lonely and talking to you brightens their week. You see a homeless person on the sidewalk and have an extra protein bar - give it to them. There's a dog you don't recognize running in the street - you stop and call it over and call the owner from the nametag. Put love into the world. What if we could count on our neighbors to do the right thing, we trust in our community to have our backs - because we have theirs.

It may be too late to go back and get rid of so much systemic BS, but we can make the world we have a little better for those around us - and in turn - ourselves