Our Sick World

I think that all of us have had the same thought at some time or another this week.

What a sick world we live in.

Our world is sick.

So very sick.

No amount of cynical or inspirational posts with #lovemorehateless or #PrayForVegas will change that.

I can hardly process it all, I just keeping thinking of how sick our world is.

I feel stuck on that point, and as it goes round and round in my head my mind wanders to how we got here.

Lately I've been thinking perhaps we've become sick because we've lost touch with the effort it takes to remain healthy.

Just like the human body cannot maintain health simply with good intentions or a quick fix but rather requires sustained quality care, we must recognize that our society is a living-breathing organism that requires consistent care.  

We became complacent, gave up or hyper-focused on ourselves somewhere along the way.

We now find ourselves enduring horrific symptoms of neglect.

It's brutal out there and brutality beats complacency every time.

It’s no wonder we feel like we are losing the fight of our lives.

We've become too quick to click, share, post and then just stay seated.

We need to rise up.

We need to stand united.

Take our health back.

All the isms, racism, sexism, terrorism, classism, you name it, are eating away at us like cancers.
We are dying here. 

Sure we're good at labeling our issues but that's the equivalent of a diagnosis without treatment.

What are we willing to DO about it? If you take being active away from activism it's just another deadly ism.

If we use just words without action we will never get any closer to healing.

We form our opinion on the problem. Shout it. Share it. Click it. Like it. Argue it.

Our response is the equivalent to that of a terminal patient WebMding their illness but taking no further action for a cure.

Let that not be us.

Let us be willing to step out and do something about what keeps us sick as quick as we are to simply magnify it with words.

What breaks your heart?

I bet if I searched your social media accounts I'd find a few hints.
But if I checked your calendar, your online banking statement or looked inside your home, would those things reflect the same causes you claim to stand so passionately behind?
Are you putting your time, energy and money where your mouth is?

After all it's easy to click, share, post.

It's much harder to show up.

In times like these, when as a nation we've seen far too much tragedy as of late.

While we are all raw and hurting it's easiest to diagnose our problems, we are feeling the symptoms as one.

Collectively hurting.

Let us not stop there.

Let us become part of our own treatment team.

While your heart is broken wide open I urge you to look inside of it, think long and hard about what truly breaks your heart and then run towards that symptom and ACT.

Don't just sit and read another post about a brutal crime and not let it motivate you to go donate blood, volunteer with the mentally ill, mentor an at-risk youth or join a local crime watch.

Don't share another post about how you kneel at the cross and stand for the flag without also making sacrifices to spread the gospel, support our troops or represent our country well as a humanitarian.

Don't share another post about how you are against all injustices without finding ways to work within marginalized communities right outside your front door.

Do something, anything, now to further a cause near and dear to you.  

Don't just comment on what's happening over there to someone else and then go back to your comfort zone.

That's how we stay sick.

That's how we stay too far removed from tragedy to engage in it.

What good are our opinions on matters without action?

Complacency kills.

Compassion moves.

When I sit back and think of where that has led us I can’t help but think that opinions + loud divisive stances + inaction = a very sick world.

Maybe our nation is in an orphan crisis because we got so caught up in the pro life/choice debate we have lost sight of the children already voiceless and abandoned in our very communities.

Maybe we are dealing with brutal violence because we got so caught up in the arguments about politics, rights and amendments we lost sight of raising souls that simply respect life.

Maybe we are sick because we focus on the fight for the sake of winning and forgot the importance of keeping our community and relationships healthy.

Let us not simply find the causes for our sickness and point fingers at what's to blame but strive to act more and be part of the cure.

Little by little I think we can turn our health around.

Then again maybe not, perhaps we are terminal but I for one would rather go down in a good fight, and not just one full of empty words but one of action.

Opinions + respectful dialogue + action = HOPE for a healthy world