This year feels – different.
Or perhaps it’s just me who is different.
Or a bit of both.
But some things remain the same – for me.
Driving home from the store, I had the radio on, playing holiday music.
Remember that group, Band Aid, 1984 – the song they put out – It’s Christmas Time?
Even if you aren’t old enough to remember, chances are you’ve heard the song on the radio during this time of year. They only play it a kabillion times (although it’s much better than having to hear Mariah Carey’s piercing voice, imho).
There won’t be snow in Africa. Their greatest gift is life. The unimaginable levels of poverty and hunger – this song – inspired by the famine in Ethiopia. I remember hearing it for the first time – and reflecting. Crying.
Yeah, my teenage mind questioned, we do have this world of plenty. Why do some have to go without? It isn’t like they choose to.
Well, that was just one small step in my ongoing awakening. But the concept that sparked awake in me was poverty and the injustice of it. And most importantly, the unnecessity OF it.
I reflected on that again tonight. Having just returned from the store, where I had to walk away from items I would otherwise want to buy but couldn’t due to the cost ($36 for SOCKS?! and $70 for a basic winter vest jacket?!), I thought about this plan, how it’s been allowed to play out, the world as it is now and how poverty has only increased and spread like a wretched virus since that song was put out in ’84. Extra funds go to food these days followed by toiletries followed by supplements for health. I was angry I couldn’t afford to just buy what I wanted – and what was needed by others in the house.
Angry that, almost 40 years later, there’s still poverty (more than ever) and when, as the dang song says, “in a world of plenty”, it’s an issue that can literally be solved in a snap. Give people money. Without a home? Give the people a home. Hungry? Give ’em food.
Aside from playing my part in this process, as well as the roles I play in my little domicile, my one heart-felt desire remains the same as it has since it busted open back in 1984: ABUNDANCE FOR EVERY ONE OF US.
It’s doable.
It’s just.
It’s the right thing to do.
Love. In. Action.
Anything outside of that energy ain’t for us.
Love,
V.
******
