There's Nothing You Can Do

I've never been much for television.  And when The Girl came along, that didn't change.  We would spend our days at home in the relative quiet that can exist with one child and her mother going about the business of living.  From time to time, however, I would turn on the television to check the news; to see what was happening in the world.

It was October, and one afternoon I did just that.  I remember being so startled and saddened to learn that 33 Chilean miners had been trapped below the earth for 69 days.  I don't think I'll ever forget those numbers.  When I worked in the mortgage business, I was on top of the news.  I knew what the Fed was planning to do.  I knew which politicians supported which interests.  I knew what governments were doing in other countries and how that would likely affect my customers and my pocketbook.

But here I was, voluntarily trapped in my own cave.  So shocked to learn that others had been holding their proverbial breaths while rescue efforts persevered for months.  The Girl was about a month shy of 1 year.  I remember telling a man, a family friend, how awful I felt to have been so oblivious to the world.

My little cave

He said to me, "There's nothing you can do.  You're in your little house changing diapers and nursing a baby."  He went on with a few other thoughts, likely to try to make me feel better, but those words were piercing.  I have heard those words, his voice, so many times.  "There's nothing you can do."  "There's nothing you can do."  "There's nothing you can do."

So much nursing....

So many diapers....

I'm not really sure why, but that just doesn't sit with me.  I have always had a very hopeful spirit.  Maybe it's because I always had so many opportunities to help others.  When you're doing something to help others, it's easy to see that there's something you can do.  When I went away to college, I felt the most hopeful.  So many opportunities to help others, but there were also so many people helping others.  And not just people helping others, but so many stories of people helping others.  Locally, and around the world.  Stories from peers, and stories in books.  Stories of helping people in need, and stories of helping people avoid need.

And then I got wrapped up in the working world.  Not really paying much attention to the needs of others or what I could about it.  I still did plenty of volunteer work and was involved in civic organizations that helped others, but I was primarily focused on work (and a little play).

Soon enough I found myself consumed by the demands of a new life and the planted idea that "(t)here (was) nothing (I could) do."

Until a few weeks ago.  I slammed my fist down on the recording that said, "There's nothing you can do."  Picture me laughing maniacally and yelling, "I AM DOING SOMETHING! I. AM. DOING. LOTS. OF. THINGS!"  See, in this little house, I'm rearing children who will go into the world and do things.  And I'm rearing them (hopefully) to want to do it.

The way I see it, though, is that I don't have to do anything to make them want to do things.  I just have to stay out of the way and keep from crushing the spirit they already have.

Fly, little bird!

Never before have I been more hopeful.  When I hear the things these children say, when I see the things they do, it feeds my hope.  I'm writing this at a time in our country when some people are saying, "I'm scared for the world my children are growing up in." Perhaps I live in a bubble, but if living in a house with children doesn't make a person the most hopeful ever, what else could?

These little lights of mine, I'm gonna let 'em shine....

Yes.  There are hateful people in the world.  Yes.  There is evil in the world.  Always has been.  Always will be.  But you know what else?  There are really wonderful people in the world, and there is good in the world.  And I choose to believe that there is more good than bad.  And I'm going to do my part to keep it that way.

Peace, Friends.  And, hey, stay out of the way of people who are doing things.