Right Foot/Left Foot-Just Keep Walking

Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter-Stan Vincent/Five Stairsteps

I was hoping to write something profound with my 100th post, but it turns out to be something mundane and personal. Its taken me a long time to get to 100 and I thought I could make this post about some big issue, but its not. Nevertheless, I think there is some value to what I have to say. I'm not some crazy optimist or a Pollyanna, but I do believe that we are in for a fight in this country and optimism and a proper perspective are essential elements needed to succeed in any struggle.

I was laying in bed last week and it was a really unsettling night. The windows were open and it was warm and humid. The wind was stirring outside. I had a knot in my stomach that wouldn't go away and my mind was racing. I've been out of work for almost a year. My dad was in the hospital having just undergone major cancer surgery. All I could think about was what was wrong. All the work my house needs. New tires for the car. How was I going to pay for my kid's college tuition in three months. The list of things going south just seemed so long and so overbearing. I thought my head was going to explode.

I got out of bed and walked into my kitchen and looked out of the window. There was lightning flickering somewhere out to the west. A storm was headed our way. Then the quiet of the night was broken by a siren going off. It was the siren for the local fire company/first aid squad and it sounds like an air-raid siren. It went off for what seemed like minutes but in reality probably was only about 30 seconds. Then it stopped and the quiet returned. I took a deep breath and went back to the bedroom.

On the way I stopped off at my youngest son's room. He was sleeping peacefully, as was my older son who will soon be headed to college. As I got to my bed, my wife of 25 years was snoring away (which she would steadfastly deny) and I laid back down. In the silence of the night the only other sounds (other than the sawing of wood next to me) were the spring peepers and wood frogs calling from the swamp behind my house as they probably have done for a thousand years. Then there was a rumble of thunder in the distance. It was just a pretty spring night in rural NJ. I could feel the tightness in my chest relax and the burning in my stomach go away. I started to think a little differently. Everything was going to be alright.

The siren that had gone off wasn't because of a tsunami warning. It wasn't the tornado signal. It wasn't because there was an air raid that was about to happen. It wasn't sounding because the flood waters were rising dangerously close. You see the siren was going off because someone in my town needed help and there were volunteers getting out of their beds to go and help. Whatever was going on, somebody was going to try to make it better. In comparison, just that day, a siren going off elsewhere meant all of those other bad things were about to happen to other people in other places. There were people facing very real and very deadly events that made my concerns seem trivial.

I have a wife who loves me and has stuck with me in good times and bad and the next morning we would be getting up and delivering food to people in my town who couldn't feed their families. I have two smart healthy kids who are turning into really good people. My dad's surgery removed all of the cancer from his body and he will likely recover and go on live many more years. I have a roof over my head and I'm in good health. I will find a job soon and I will be able to go out and make a positive difference in the world. Could things be better for me right now? Sure they can. But they also could be a lot worse. I got up the next morning to continue to plug away at everything life was throwing my way.

I like to be optimistic about the future and I concede that there are many things right now that are testing that outlook. However, things really can always be worse. (I'm starting to sound like my mother!) There is always something that can be done by people to improve the world. For all of the terrible things that are happening, there is something that can be done about most of them. As long as I breathe today, I am going to try to make a difference. The Koch brothers, bad politicians, a Republican Congress trying to dismantle our society, environmental degradation, corporate greed-all things that can be taken on. Child's play compared to the ravages of nature that have affected so many people. These are fights that can be won. These are fights that will be won.

No matter how difficult things may seem, people can make a difference. It may take a long time. It may take a lot of effort. Most things that are worth accomplishing are both hard to accomplish and take perseverance. When I take my kids on a long hike and they start to complain I just tell them right foot/left foot-just keep walking and we'll get where we're going. If you walk five miles-if you walk ten miles-there's just one way to get there. When we're up on top of that mountain looking at the view and eating our lunch, it will all be worth it. It may sound trite, but that same philosophy can be applied to the issues we're facing today. Keep pressing. Keep working. Things will change. Things will get better.

Someday, we'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Someday when the world is much brighter