Thursday Muse...or Perhaps I Should Say Rant

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results. 

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Last night I grew bored.  It doesn't happen often; it seems I can always find something to occupy my time, but last night, nothing held my interest for very long.   I read a few chapters of a book I am re-reading, 'The Mist-Filled Path' by Frank MacEowen and Tom Cowan and then realized that I had forgotten to charge my Kindle. And while I waited for it to charge, I discovered there was nothing that I wanted to watch on television. I'd already used up all the free tokens for the bingo games I play on my Android, so I turned to Facebook to see if anything interesting was going on. 

In all honesty, I only have Facebook because there are two games I love to play...and it helps me to keep up with my two active sons and a few friends, both online and offline. I do follow a few news sites as well as some television shows I enjoy. I never post anything there.  Seems I never have anything to say, but I do love animals and I follow a site that posts photographs of cute animals.  This I share with friends...and that's about it.  And I never read comments...until last night, that is...and I am sorry I did.  What negativity in this world!

Take the animal site I love.  They had a picture of the sweetest little kitten you ever saw, and most of the comments were so positive and loving.  Then, I come across "I hate cats".  So, who cares?  This is a site for enjoyment, a site to warm the heart. If you don't like cats, that is your business.  Why spoil the good feelings of others?  But, that's only the tip of the iceberg, a minor negativity.

On another site someone had shared with me, there was a debate going on about our government, but this debate was far from healthy.  On it I found talks of hanging, firing squads, etc. our government officials. And those making the comments were calling each other the worst of names, belittling each other's political beliefs,  and  poking fun at each other's writing skills.  It was so dreadful that I felt the need to interject and comment on the need for all this negativity, I was told to 'crawl back under my rock'. 

What really got to me were the comments about a news report.  I don't know if this news is countrywide or not, but a little over a week ago an autistic child was allowed out of school and has not been seen since.  He is unable to speak and take care of himself. A massive three-state search is on and good Samaritans have kicked in funding for a reward with a total of $70,000.  As time passes, I more and more fear the worst for this child, but I continue praying for his safe return as do most of the commentors I the news story.  But, there was one man who said, "If I find him I am going to tell them to give me the reward in one dollar bills.  Teehee"   Sorry, but I fail to see the humor in this. (Probably a troll)

I think the worst of it, though, was the woman who wrote, "I am sick of hearing about this kid.  What's so special about him, that he has special needs?  There are lots of kids missing and we don' t hear so much about them.  I dare anyone to call me cold-hearted."  That one hurt so badly that I had to lash out.  "Let me be the first...you cold hearted witch." Didn't make me feel any better though.

I guess what I am getting at was reading these comments was a real wake-up call for me.  There is so much negativity out there--anger, hate, resentment, ignorance, rage, and fear.  People are naturally afraid of what they don't understand and don't bother to take the time to learn.  Too many people just don't care about each other anymore.  Their negative emotions control them, and it rubs off onto others.   My stomach was in knots.  I was sick at heart from what I read and deeply concerned.  We speak of peace in the world, but if we, as a society, cannot respect each other, then how can we expect anything different from our world neighbors? 

If we ever hope that peace will come, we must experience a change of heart and mind.  These narrow-minded beliefs that I am right and you are wrong are only holding us back.  And, it is just not in the comments I read last night.  No, I have even seen it here in Blogger in posts that, when speaking of political beliefs which, in essence,  say,  'I'm right and you are wrong'. There is no middle ground. And what about those whose beliefs include "What's mine is mine and I don't care what happens to you." 

I remember long before I found out about Blogger, I was big into Yahoo groups.  Even had a few myself. Well, one of my members was into a survivalist group and spoke about it every chance she got, so I decided to check it out. My goodness, survivalists they weren't.  They were  more like 'hoarders' who were hell bent on taking care of theirs and the hell with everyone else. For example, if a hurricane was on its way, and there were 20 gallons of water and that was more than they could possibly use,  they'd make sure they got them all anyway, and 'if anyone tries to take what's mine, I'll blow their head off.'  Needless to say, I crossed that negativity off my reading list very quickly.  

So, what's the answer when everywhere we turn, there is violence,  hate or  prejudice?  Today I choose today to stay away from the negative and not allow it to gain any control over me.  I will  focus on the good in the world. The choice is mine, and I choose goodness over evil.  And next time I am bored, I will definitely NOT read the comment sections.  I will simply turn off all the lights, light a candle, and focus on love and peace. Thanks for letting me share today.

"There are millions of human beings who live narrow, darkened, frustrated lives - who live defensively - simply because they take a defensive, doubtful attitude toward themselves and, as a result, towards life in general. A person with a poor attitude becomes a magnet for unpleasant experiences. When those experiences come - as they must, because of his attitude - they tend to reinforce his poor attitude, thereby bringing more problems, and so on. The person becomes an example of self-generating, doom-fulfilling prophecy. And it's all a matter, believe it or not, of attitude. We get what we expect. Our outlook on life is a kind of paintbrush, and with it, we paint our world. It can be bright and filled with hope and satisfaction, or it can be dark and gloomy - lugubrious."

Earl Nightingale