for what it's worth, my two cents...

there is a lot i have to say about our nation's latest disaster...the initial one lobbed down by mother nature and the subsequent one created by the failure of every. possible. level. of our nation's government...

but i am afraid i am far too emotional to be clear...and as there are people far more knowledgeable and insightful and politically savvy than i taking part in on-going dialogue, i will spare you my personal opinions in that respect...

but tragedy inspires reflection, and i do want to say this...it's something that i try teach my own sons...

i tell my boys that in this world there is always the potential for heartache, pain, accident, disaster (natural and otherwise)...always...it's a beautiful and wondrous world to be sure, but uncertain as well...situations and people have the capacity to be as wonderful or as cruel as they can be...

so that when they tease and taunt each other, hit and trip one another, exclude and ignore each other that they aren't just being "kids" or "brothers" or "boys"...they are, but they are also just being cruel...

and in a world that can be so very cruel we should create and maintain a safe haven in our own family...

that we must protect and cherish one another...

i emphasize that this must also extend to their friends and family and community...

at the risk of sounding like someone who overdosed on the little white pills, i think that there is an incredible need for more love and community and humanity in this world...starting with our own little corners of the world...

there is a significant shift taking place in the world right now...a shift that could go either way...and if we don't direct this shift, then we will be directed by it...

and the time is now...because while each day brings new possibility, time does run out...

we need to love one another more...we need to cherish and honor one another more...we need to close our mouths and open our hearts to one another more...

we need to be a shelter for one another...

we need to release judgment and embrace possibility...

and as the world's biggest cynic and hypocrite believe me i fully understand the challenges of this...

it's about love and it's about intention...simple in concept, but two of the very hardest for us to grasp and commit to as individuals...even harder to as a global community...

i want to be able to rise to the occasion...whatever the occasion...i want my sons to be able to do so as well...and i would like to think that when the shit hits the fan that there are others that would stand beside and behind me...willingly...that i will be able to lift up those who need it, and inspire others to do the same for me...

and even when it's not a matter of survival as it usually is not, but just of living the day to day, i want to live a life that inspires others to want to seek me out, and me them...a life where the people who matter most to me choose to be together, rather than accepting it as what needs to be done in light of whatever occasion...

but this is not automatic...it is a culmination of every day that we live, the interactions and reactions we have...each day brings to us an opportunity...it's what we do with that opportunity that determines the course of our life, and as our lives pool into one, ultimately the course this world does take...

in every story there are heroes and villains...there are those who rise and those who fail...there are those who make it and those who do not...

but it's the journey that matters most...and if we travel with love and intention, speaking kindly and carrying a big heart, we take great first steps towards shaping and directing the shift and ultimately the outcome...

listen when all of this around us will fall over
i tell you what we're gonna do
you will shelter me my love
and i will shelter you

x.