A Dis-Eased World
Oct. 26th, 2011 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
Beyond what we need to survive, to better ourselves has come to mean having as much as one can store, and as such has turned into an addiction in our modern world.
I looked around me today and saw all manner of people hurrying too and fro, not even pausing to give each other the time of day. I hear today from a friend who is being treated like shit at work, and from another who is facing uncertainty because of governmental funding cuts… and I wonder just what in the world happened to us as a race that we must treat each other like shit; climb on each others' back to get ahead, and general act with inhumanity toward our fellow man? It has really troubled me today.
On the other hand, I heard from a friend I haven't spoke to in a while, and have the chance to reconnect with her, and completely out of the blue Kay messaged me from NC, (must have been her break or something) using Facebook. It felt as if the Universe was trying to remind me not to lose heart, that there are still some good people in the world… there are still those of us that have time for each other.
I'm not trying to say I'm perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, I don't always act altruistically and without regard to materialistic concerns, but I do try to be a decent human being, and so it bothers me when I see others around me not doing so. It's like... let me ask this. How many people would step around someone that suddenly trips and falls, and how many people would lean down to try and help them up, or at least ask them if they are okay. I frame the question that way because it happened to me once - where I was the one that had fallen. I'd had an operation, just by keyhole surgery, but it was abdominal surgery, and after a week convalescing at home, I was supposed to be fit enough to take a short journey to a friends house to spend the day with her, and as I was going stir crazy, this seemed like a good idea. It was two bus rides... one into the city, and one out the other side... and between the two bus rides, a short walk from stop to stop. During that walk was when I tripped over a kerb-stone, and fell to the pavement (sidewalk). I couldn't immediately get up, because I had knocked the wind out of myself, and the number of people that simply changed path and walked around me, really was quite disturbing and upsetting. Finally a frail little old lady shuffling along with two walking sticks changed her path to bring her /to/ me, to help me up and check I was okay... a lesson in humanity for all of us there, I think.
Just because someone trips and falls, don't assume that they are in any way a bad person, drunk or an addict (as I'm sure that's what the others were thinking). It really might be a simple accident and they might need our help.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
--Lao-tzu
Beyond what we need to survive, to better ourselves has come to mean having as much as one can store, and as such has turned into an addiction in our modern world.
I looked around me today and saw all manner of people hurrying too and fro, not even pausing to give each other the time of day. I hear today from a friend who is being treated like shit at work, and from another who is facing uncertainty because of governmental funding cuts… and I wonder just what in the world happened to us as a race that we must treat each other like shit; climb on each others' back to get ahead, and general act with inhumanity toward our fellow man? It has really troubled me today.
On the other hand, I heard from a friend I haven't spoke to in a while, and have the chance to reconnect with her, and completely out of the blue Kay messaged me from NC, (must have been her break or something) using Facebook. It felt as if the Universe was trying to remind me not to lose heart, that there are still some good people in the world… there are still those of us that have time for each other.
I'm not trying to say I'm perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, I don't always act altruistically and without regard to materialistic concerns, but I do try to be a decent human being, and so it bothers me when I see others around me not doing so. It's like... let me ask this. How many people would step around someone that suddenly trips and falls, and how many people would lean down to try and help them up, or at least ask them if they are okay. I frame the question that way because it happened to me once - where I was the one that had fallen. I'd had an operation, just by keyhole surgery, but it was abdominal surgery, and after a week convalescing at home, I was supposed to be fit enough to take a short journey to a friends house to spend the day with her, and as I was going stir crazy, this seemed like a good idea. It was two bus rides... one into the city, and one out the other side... and between the two bus rides, a short walk from stop to stop. During that walk was when I tripped over a kerb-stone, and fell to the pavement (sidewalk). I couldn't immediately get up, because I had knocked the wind out of myself, and the number of people that simply changed path and walked around me, really was quite disturbing and upsetting. Finally a frail little old lady shuffling along with two walking sticks changed her path to bring her /to/ me, to help me up and check I was okay... a lesson in humanity for all of us there, I think.
Just because someone trips and falls, don't assume that they are in any way a bad person, drunk or an addict (as I'm sure that's what the others were thinking). It really might be a simple accident and they might need our help.
