A challenge for those who really want to love where they live...or Embracing "the Golden Rule"

This idea of mine is really still forming, but it is how I have been thinking about life for a while now. I don't want to get all political. I vote, I encourage people to vote and I sometimes am idealistic enough to believe that it makes a difference. (See, the cynicism is always there, trying to find a way to get me down.) BUT, I want to issue a challenge to each of the 3-5 people that read this little blog:

Stop waiting for someone else to start it, WE need to MAKE our home/community/state/country/world someplace that WE would like to LIVE.

OK, so it sounds a bit vague, but let me flesh it out for you. I am really tired of being fearful about the world that my kids (and myself) are living in. There is only so much that I can control, and the things that I can control are these:

1)The way that I treat people. (They can be rude or whatever, but if I respond in kind it ends up making me feel even worse.)

2)The way that I see people. (I am a mom, I love my kids...other people are parents too, hey, I bet they love their kids too. That there is some common ground that I think WE can build upon.)

3)Speaking up when I see things that are great and speaking up when I see things that are not right. (It may seem cliche, but a smile and a genuine "thank you" at the grocery store/coffee shop/drive-up/where ever is only going to make someone feel better.)

I want my kids to grow up in a community/country/world where if we get separated and they are scared that some nice mom or dad is going to help them find me.....so you know what I am going to do....if I see a crying child, I am going to help them get safe. I am going to encourage my kids to be polite to people and say "please" and "thank-you" because I like it when people are civil to each other. Also, when I am at the park with my kids, I talk to other kids like they are real people not "just kids", because I think that my kids deserve that as well. I think that we all do.

So, this is not some totally "designed" manifesto, it is raw, but there are so many little things that we can do every day to make our surroundings better, not only for ourselves but for our neighbors and our children.

JMB

**Note to you cynics who want to write me off as some "Pollyanna-type"**

I know that there are Bad Bad things and Bad Bad people out there....I read the paper and watch the news...but there is more good, it just doesn't get publicized. Let's not take it for granted, let's not perpetuate apathy in future generations. I am challenging you and all of your friends and friend's friends to get out, enjoy your community, treat people like you would like to be treated.

DON'T WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE, DO IT FIRST!

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi