because forgetting is so easy

"If people cared about people, there wouldn't be any hurting in the world.

I can't believe that just came out of my mouth; it was so cliche; but it's true."

A friend reminded me of this simple truth in conversation at a coffee shop this morning.  And it is painfully cliche, and painfully true.

Painful only because we tend to care about so many other things instead.

We care about our jobs, about making ends meet, about keeping the status quo, about moving up at work, about doing what we're supposed to do and always have done.
We care about what other people think of us, or, more regularly, the terrifying question, "What would they think?"
We care about labels, the ways we've come to define and relate to other people, be they groups of people or individuals we may or may not like.
We care about doctrine, about rules, about formulas, about beliefs, about sneaky circles of words that go around and around us without our knowing, though we know, oh do we know.
We care about being safe, secure, steady, stable, so we stay stuck sticking in the life and rhythms and habits we've set or sunken into, never stopping to realize that we don't much like them anyway.
We care about feeling okay, so we go home at night and medicate: we drink beer, we eat sugar and gluten and dairy, we watch television or play video games or numb out to a computer screen, or watch porn or have flippant sex or masturbate, we take pills, we recite the words of our soothing creeds and rituals.

We do it all and never realize that if we took the time to stop, to care, to rebel against our rhythm into the abyss of being - of being with a person (be it someone else or just ourself) - we may arrive at the end of the day feeling okay simply being.

If people cared about people, there wouldn't be any hurting in the world.

If I care about people, my world will have less hurting.

I can care about people.

I have time.  I have energy.  I have resources.

I will have in abundance equivalently to how much I care about people.  I trust this.


Mmmm. Reminders.