I Am Tired

I am tired. Very tired. My soul aches.

I am tired of everything that is wrong with this world.

I am tired of watching members of Congress rape and pillage our country to line their own pockets. I am tired of Congress taking benefits from middle and lower class Americans to line their pockets and those of their rich friends and corporate benefactors. I am tired of watching the president-elect attack good people -- people who have accomplished so much more than he ever will -- simply for disagreeing with him. 

I am tired of state legislators in my state wanting to solve the ongoing budget shortfall by again taxing food and getting online companies to collect sales tax on purchases, despite the companies having no physical presence in the state. Raising taxes, whether sales, gasoline or new taxes, hits hardest those who can least afford it. Whatever happened to living within one's means, whether one is an individual or a government?

I am tired of having to fight to keep our public lands from being sold to mining or logging companies. I am tired of having to fight to protect our wildlife, especially our predators, from being hunted to extinction for 'fun' or 'sport' or to placate the cattle ranchers. I am tired of watching our planet -- our one and only home -- be destroyed by humans, whether through overpopulation or climate change or greed or massive amounts of garbage and other pollution.

I am tired of divisiveness and hate crimes and misogyny. I am tired of innocent people being murdered while shopping, doing homework or going to church. I am tired of elephants and rhinoceros being slaughtered to feed the insatiable demand for ivory trinkets.and rhino horn magic potions. I am tired of people being insulted or discriminated against because of their religion or race. I am tired of religious fanatics of all faiths trying to force others to live according to the fanatics' belief system. I am tired of wars and attacks on innocent people trying to get on with their lives.

I am tired of species after species being pushed to the brink of extinction. I am tired of cruelty toward animals being acceptable. I am tired of women leaving their infants with their boyfriends to abuse and kill. This has happened repeatedly in New Mexico. The mother goes to work and leaves her baby with the boyfriend, who kills or severely abuses the baby. I am tired of women having to fight to retain control of their bodies, to choose what course is right for them in their unique circumstances.

All these things that make me so emotionally tired don't have to be that way. Abuse, killing, pollution, greed -- all these things don't have to happen. We as a species should be -- can be -- better than this. There are enough resources to support everyone if we use them wisely and fairly. We don't need another shopping mall or coffee shop or development in what used to be wilderness. We don't need to build more gigantic houses. We don't need ivory trinkets or magic potions made of keratin. There is room enough for bison and wolves, elephants and giraffes, to exist in the lands they have occupied for millenia.

I am tired of feeling powerless. Please join me, find what makes you angry and tired of fighting for, and join the fight to make this world a better place. As the late Mother Teresa said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html