SHED OFF THE I - ME - MY - MINE OF LIVING

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"We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet..." ----  (Stephen Hawking)
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Allow me some thoughts on this....
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We are so often told that life is all about us. And that is what media, business, schools, entertainment etc is doing to us. Yes but to a certain point. Then we must learn to shed off the -  'I'  'ME'  'MY'  'MINE'  - of living. The lessons become very difficult now because habits die hard.
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Lest we forget, our job on this planet is no longer to live for ourselves alone.  We live for others too if we want a better world and planet.  We stand connected like it or not. What we each do, good or bad, will definitely affect the next guy or people down the line and beyond ... as it also will affect our environment.. our world.
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So it behooves us to better our selves to enable us to serve others and the world with the best of who we are and what we have. If we can do it in a grander scale so much better for the world... but the little that we do in our everyday lives and even if it's for just one person.... will suffice as long as the noble intent is there.  Small is big when the motive is for the better good or for the greater number of people you can reach.
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God himself says..... to 'love one another'.  Am I my brother's keeper? Yes! Because we were not created to live solitary lives,  by Divine design. We need each other.  No man is sufficient to himself.  Even Mother Nature needs our human care and nurturing. That is how God created the world each dependent on the other .... to co-exist in peace and harmony .... being blessed and blessing one another with blessings received.  Let us remember who we are and our Divine purpose.
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God bless you!!
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(Thanks to the internet for this lovely image.)

WHY DO YOU CARE?

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A friend in the blog told me something which made me think and think twice. ----- 'Why do you care?'

I replied ----- 'Why should I NOT care? Seriously, why NOT?'

This is not a life or world meant for solitary exclusion..... even if it looks that way as each goes his or her own business living it. We all stand connected, like it or not. If the people next door to you are wasteful or inconsiderate or mean or selfish, those actions or thoughts will create a ripple that will eventually touch your part of the human pond and even more creatures as the ripple travels down and on.

If it were good ripples, then you are so blessed by it. Otherwise, your life in the pond will be as miserable as that who has caused the bad ripples in it. You cannot escape it because you live in the same pond.

So I care what happens on my street - in my neighborhood - in my community - in my city - in my country - in my world! My ancient achy legs may not take me there to where the action is but I can write about it. If the writing makes at least one person think or be nudged into awareness ----- then the writing has served its purpose. The ripple of good shall move along as it will by its very nature of movement.

C-A-R-E. Care for millions of children hungry in Africa or the girls taken away from their families and homes. Care for the poor in our own slum areas. Care if justice is slow, unfair, or denied. Care if you see your government officials enriching themselves with our tax money. Care if you feel that our streets are no longer safe from bad people and even bad cops. Care if prices are rising unreasonably high and higher. Care if you hear of mismanagement issues of Yolanda donations. Care if media is feeding our children with crappy news. Care if things go wrong because of somebody's neglect, or some organization, or some official, or even of your president.

Care because that is what we are here for.... to care for one another. Use your God-given talent to show or promote peace - awareness - hope - faith - love - and care in whatever way your talent leads you. Use your talent to care. Our God-given job is to build up and not tear down nor destroy --- to care and not ignore.

Incidentally, the message in yesterday's homily (St. Therese of the Child Jesus Shrine and Parish): Two things: Love God with all of your heart... and .... love one another. ----------- Love and care come in together side by side. Doesn't that look like the blueprint of our earthly lives?

So to you my friend in the blog, try caring and see how much life can be beautiful or made beautiful with it.

Have a pleasant and blessed Monday, friends.