Living the Simple Life

Have you ever asked yourself, "Why do I complicate myself?".   Every once in a while (for some it's a bit more than once in a while) life gets complicated and then here we go and make it even more complicated.  How do we make it a bit more?  Easy we simply loose our temper over whatever, whenever or whoever!

It's so much easier just to get darn mad at people, at life, at God, or at anything!!!!!!

Because people do get mad even with their chosen deities, you know because not everyone is a Christian.  By the way to tell you the truth we're like dinosaurs in route towards extinction.

Things are going to happen to us if we want it or not.  That's life, some will say we have a story already written, others will say we have a say in our story, and probably some with say something else.  Nevertheless, the unavoidable will happen, something called life.  How many people do you know who have lived perfect lives?  Well, I haven't met one yet!  (Sorry for using so many exclamation marks it's that I  do them !!).

via flicker

My grandfather lead a simple life, he worked (actually to be able to put food on his table) literally speaking because he was raising a family of (12 children) there were no food stamps or welfare, so basically if you didn't work,  you didn't eat.  He walked by foot to work in a construction site that the Army was building in Ramey Base in a town called Aguadilla.  He lived in a little piece of land of about three and a half acres where he would raise chickens (organic by the way), a few cows, and coffee trees.  My grandmother sewed and embroidered beautiful gloves she never got to wear and basically they were happy, or if they weren't they seemed content.  My grandparents were actually no- nonsense people who accepted, worked and moved on no matter what was happening around them.      

via morgueFile

Now a days with the globalization and all that and the expectations we have it's harder to keep it simple.  We tend to overspend and sometimes we want things we can't even afford and we buy them anyway.  We are the children of gratification, the now is what's important, not the when.  The bad news is the when comes pretty fast and the now.

Wouldn't it be easier just to go back to a simple life?  Wouldn't it be nice just to work, eat a great meal and rest, and throw in a little fun from time to time?  Wouldn't we lead stress free lives?

Probably the first thing we need to do is accept our circumstances and then move on to making life simpler. More than anything come to terms with the fact that we are not eternal and that sooner or later time will come when our story comes to "The End". 

photo credit: http://feelgoodeating.com/2013/05/thank-you-the-end.html

I don't know how many of you like to see the all the names of the people who participated in the making of a movie and all the remarks of appreciation,, and all that?  I do!  I like to read all the names of the producers, of the assistants, staff, stunt men, landmarks, etc, etc, etc.  I've always imagined when my life does comes to an end, that my post "The End" film footage be full of the names of the people I've loved, helped, and lived with along the way.  I wouldn't forget to include the names of the people that I've hurt along the way to state that it wasn't on intended, and of my life landmarks.  But above all, what I've like the most is just keeping it simple, enjoying my life, working to be able to put food on my table, and enjoying any moment I  can get a hold of because if you think about it, "Where does the rat race take us anyway?". 

A New Thread of Terrorism: Crime

Much is said about terrorism  and how it affects all of us.  Many want to link it to specific people and causes, but we’re not aware of a new thread of terrorism.  It’s called crime.  Crime is faceless, unmerciful, knows no creed, or follows no rules.  We’re up against something almost impossible to fight, because it’s wide spread all across the United States, Puerto Rico and the world.   

 

Image credit: toonpool.com

You can say, “Well, this lady is nuts because terrorism is  not about crime, it’s about politics and people who hate the United States.”  Terrorism is more than that, it’s about being coerced into a way of life,  in this case one that  we don’t want for ourselves.  It’s about being afraid to even go out to your own front or back yard because you just don’t know who can be lurking around your house.  It’s about having to purchase a gun to protect our family, it’s about losing our faith in our government, it’s about feeling vulnerable, and most of all feeling we’re up against anybody or everybody.

Terrorism is about having to purchase a gun to protect our families..

More than a year ago, my sister in law suffered a home invasion.  Thank God they weren’t there, and the criminals got in and out taking with them all they could.  I was home, but not feeling well that day, so I really didn’t see or hear anything.  To top things, someone seemed to be using a weed trimmer, and the noise these gadgets make is pretty deafening. So it kind of mumbled the noise they were making when they broke open her windows.

That unsettled all of us! To think that complete strangers barged into her home,  felt like a violation to her life.  Just thinking about all the things they touched or looked through, or just simply by being inside,  gave me the creeps.   We didn’t sleep much that week, just listening to the sounds of the night.  We were terrorized about someone gaining access to our home with us inside.  If that’s not terrorism, then I just don’t know what terrorism is.

Bottom line, I really don’t know what to say.   All kinds and sorts of terrorism will strike again and again, and we have no way of really protecting ourselves.  We don’t know from where or when it will through us a blow.  Because that’s how terrorism works, yet if we succumb to our fears they have won.  They’ve accomplished their purpose, we are living in fear.