Change for a dollar

A friend of mine shared this video with me, and it was so touching, I thought I'd share it with you.

I love things like this.  Sometimes we give and go on with our lives, and have no idea the good it does.  Sometimes we don't give, because we only  have change, and it's not enough.  Or we don't want to engage, or to slow down a minute to hunt for said change.  Or because it's uncomfortable to look someone wretched in the eyes.  It is a firm belief of mine that in actuality we are all wretched, some of us are just better at hiding it.

Life is energy.  As I said in my last post I have been giving a lot of thought lately as to how I spend my time. I also think about how and where I spend my money.  Money, is interesting.  There never seems to be enough.  We trade our life for money.  An exchange of energies.  As time goes by I find I have less and less energy.  And more and more places I would like to use it.  From time to time I think about things like what exactly is 'enough'.  Why are peoples 'enoughs' so different?  If I did have 'enough' what would I do with the extra?

It's Christmas and the shopping season is in full swing.  Everywhere I look there are advertisers screaming look here, look what we've got.  You know you want it...   do I?  Maybe.  But do I need it?  Does anyone need any of this stuff??  How has life become so complicated, so full of stuff, so much expectation.  Do I really want to use my energy to add to the coffers of the people for whom there is never 'enough'?  To trade my life for a few baubles, or things someone else tells me I need?   No.  This country was  founded on that.  And I for one will play along no more.  I will buy this bill of goods no longer.  Subscribe to someone elses idea of what life should look like no more.  Look where that's gotten us so far...

I have precious little energy left in this life.  How do I really want to use it?

Love is the Movement

Life is not a fairytale.  There is no 'happily ever after' I'm learning.  I have learned this, the hard way.  There are always ups and downs.  Sometimes there are even bottom places where we land and have to look for help.  For me words help, art helps, music helps. I think these are true for a lot of people.

I think I have always known the struggle and the pain with which many suffer.  I thought it was just that I was a melancholy person.  I tried everything I could think of to get out of the pit I was in. Looking for help out from a bottom place once I stumbled upon Renee's story.  Her story touched me so deeply. This was the first time I'd heard of such love. From mere mortals. I was convinced this did not exist.   To Write Love On Her Arms is a group, or a movement I found one day graffitied on a college bench where I sat with my son and a friend from Art class- The name intrigued me and I had to know what it meant.  To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.   I read Renee's story and was so moved by it, by the fact that there were such loving, caring people out there.   People who would give everything to help a total stranger who was suffering.  It touched me so much I had Love tattooed on my arm by a great guy named Turbo at Goodfellas tattoo.  A daily reminder that there is hope, there is love, there are people who care, and I am not alone.

This is a group that has been very near and dear to my heart.  A cause I gladly support.  There are many people in this world suffering with depression and loneliness.  It breaks my heart to hear of children taking their own lives because they had reached their end, and felt there was no hope.  I know that place well.

I'm not sure what inspired me to write about this, this day.  I can only imagine someone needed to read this.  If you are suffering I am here.  You are not alone.  I have found that love helps, and caring friends help.  I know they are hard to come by.  But this group reminds me that they do exist.

photo credit ©2009-2010 ~Siluriformes

Please love.  There is enough pain in this world.  Here is one of my all time favorite quotes



"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
Philo

and be kind to you.  It's a tough lesson to learn sometimes, but a necessary one.  It all starts with love.











Love is the Movement!