Stop Listening to the Noise
"That's all noise, Mom. Just ignore it," my son advised this past summer when I was in the midst of trying to sort out benefits for my mother, listening to one government official, then another--seldom with two of them agreeing about what was really about to happen.
I tried to take his advice, and it worked. At least, helping me get a better night's sleep. As it turned out--the outcome, that is.....well it was better than I could have imagined. Despite all the naysayers, telling me I was spinning my wheels for something that was impossible for me to win on the part of my mother, I succeeded. Got the money coming in each month to meet her needs while I am able to sit back and sigh with relief, only concentrating on making trips to the airport, as I am today, going down to see others who are providing TLC and some who will help me celebrate her 92nd birthday! What joy!!
My daughter, who is at the bottom of the totem poll economically, in many ways, as an under-valued day care owner, is one of those feeling the heat of the present. She's having a hard time ignoring the noise from local and state people who are running around looking at the trivia instead of the larger picture of children's needs. Yet, she's determined to listen to the music in her life, not the noise. I'm proud of her and of my son, too.
Today, I find it impossible to ignore the noise going on in Washington, however. Not when I've seen unprecedented nonsense going on in the middle of the night. And this time, I'm not talking about using power to satisfy the "official needs" of a government official at the expense of another individual.
This time it's a whole host of people, scribbling notes in the middle of the night while I lay sleeping, choosing to ignore the noise that I personally could not control.
It's not that WE together can't do something, though. We, as Americans, certainly can. Make no mistake about that. We, as individuals, cannot control it all--no, not at all, but we can make a huge difference by what we choose to tweet (after all the Tweeter-in-Chief, powerful as he seems to be at the moment, is only one person, and even all those in Congress, with powers beyond ours, are like the middle management). If only we would learn that we, at the bottom of the pyramid have the power, provided we all stay tuned and vote with highly-educated guesses that require not academic degrees, but our commitment to believe that we, as individuals can make a difference if we listen with wisdom, then do something. With that, the tide will turn.
Stay connected folks. America can go the way of Germany, when most all the citizens threw up their hands in despair. Or we can keep one ear tuned to what's really going on, as best we can, and not consider it all noise.
Pollyanna? Maybe so, but that's how I've always operated my life, as I've lived and worked on two continents--one (Africa) where neither the noise or the Truth was easy to discern, far worse than it is in America today.
I tried to take his advice, and it worked. At least, helping me get a better night's sleep. As it turned out--the outcome, that is.....well it was better than I could have imagined. Despite all the naysayers, telling me I was spinning my wheels for something that was impossible for me to win on the part of my mother, I succeeded. Got the money coming in each month to meet her needs while I am able to sit back and sigh with relief, only concentrating on making trips to the airport, as I am today, going down to see others who are providing TLC and some who will help me celebrate her 92nd birthday! What joy!!
My daughter, who is at the bottom of the totem poll economically, in many ways, as an under-valued day care owner, is one of those feeling the heat of the present. She's having a hard time ignoring the noise from local and state people who are running around looking at the trivia instead of the larger picture of children's needs. Yet, she's determined to listen to the music in her life, not the noise. I'm proud of her and of my son, too.
Today, I find it impossible to ignore the noise going on in Washington, however. Not when I've seen unprecedented nonsense going on in the middle of the night. And this time, I'm not talking about using power to satisfy the "official needs" of a government official at the expense of another individual.
This time it's a whole host of people, scribbling notes in the middle of the night while I lay sleeping, choosing to ignore the noise that I personally could not control.
It's not that WE together can't do something, though. We, as Americans, certainly can. Make no mistake about that. We, as individuals, cannot control it all--no, not at all, but we can make a huge difference by what we choose to tweet (after all the Tweeter-in-Chief, powerful as he seems to be at the moment, is only one person, and even all those in Congress, with powers beyond ours, are like the middle management). If only we would learn that we, at the bottom of the pyramid have the power, provided we all stay tuned and vote with highly-educated guesses that require not academic degrees, but our commitment to believe that we, as individuals can make a difference if we listen with wisdom, then do something. With that, the tide will turn.
Stay connected folks. America can go the way of Germany, when most all the citizens threw up their hands in despair. Or we can keep one ear tuned to what's really going on, as best we can, and not consider it all noise.
Pollyanna? Maybe so, but that's how I've always operated my life, as I've lived and worked on two continents--one (Africa) where neither the noise or the Truth was easy to discern, far worse than it is in America today.
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