Inspiration v. Despair

I love messages that are inspiring and full of hope and leave me feeling positive
It's why I'm fascinated by A is For and Occupy and No More Page 3, and V-Day
And all the A-Z of organizations who in their own way
Are just trying to make it better, easier, nicer
For people.
Because that's what we all are in the end
Whether we're writers or artists or bankers or plumbers or dentists
We. Are. People.

It's why I love artists like Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
Not just artists
Writers and composers and historians and entrepreneurs and builders and all the souls just trying to make a difference.
People who say,
Let's make this better
Let's make this nicer, more beautiful, more inspiring
A less harsh place to live in.
Like Eve Ensler, like Martha Plimpton, like Anne Summers.

It's why I loved reading Obama's book.
He has the audacity to hope for something better
A time, a place, a now that doesn't tread on people
And why is it so audacious to want hope?
Shouldn't it be utterly audacious to only see the bottom line, to hurt, to lie, to steal, to see a world devoid of beauty?
Imagine a world where people were actually nice to each other.
Imagine such a thing
"Hippy" John Lennon.
If you believe in peace and love and nicety, you're a damn communist.

We are a rock revolting.
There is so much anger and hate and sadness,
But it can be different.
We must speak out.
We must appreciate each other.
We must not be afraid.

I've been afraid.
I am afraid
Of my own voice.
So afraid I haven't written, I haven't sung, I'm scared of dancing in public.
I'm scared of my own body.
Because the people who speak out
Are laughed at, trolled, vilified, shot.
People are miserable, living on the street, dying horrifically.
God, it can all seem so awful.

And I shift between total inspiration
And total despair.
What can I do?!
Breathe. Just breathe.
And trust that it all gets better. That change IS possible.
And get on with what I have to do.

The end.

Go West

Imagine Two-years-ago-me
Sitting in her room
In suburban Sydney
Wishing hoping for something different
And following Amy Krouse Rosenthal
And being inspired by what she had to say
Her interactive works of art
And flashmobs and acts of kindness and moments centered around
The Bean, Chicago.
And finding
Today Me
Sitting on the grass opposite
The Bean, Chicago
And feeling like
Oh. My. Goodness. Look where we have come!

And sitting in the public park
On a glorious late summer's day
And people watching
There's a family on a picnic blanket
Mom and two sons
All reading books,
There's a grown-up mother and daughter
Just lounging on the grass
Looking up at the sky, the clouds, the shimmer of trees
The mother has white hair and permanent wrinkles around her mouth
The daughter has brown hair and similar, though less pronounced wrinkles,
And every so often the daughter turns her head to her mother.
There's a mother and baby,
The baby is old enough to sit up on her own, but not yet old enough to be forming words
She can hear the band in the distance, but can't quite figure out where the sound is coming from.
The music excites her and she points to the sky and smiles and exclaims,
"Oh!"
She toddles around on the grass, smiles shyly at strangers who smile at her, and occasionally stops to bop along to the distant music-
She is distracted by another baby, a boy a few months older than her,
He is oblivious to her existence but she smiles and waves at him anyway,
"Look at us! We. Are. So. Clever!"

And then finding Today-Me
Sitting in a car
With a patient, loving boy
Driving across the vastness that is America
And seeing all the corn and soybeans and giant billboards
And literally driving into the most glorious of sunsets
Where the sun is an impossible giant orange ball

And suddenly you are in Colorado
And there are mountains in the west
And the streets are wide
And the sky is so incredibly blue
And bands are playing in the small parks
And the lady who sells chocolate honey at the farmer's market is an actual witch
Who knows how to brew concoctions that taste like heaven
And the man from the winery is willing with his samples
And the fruit tastes so good you can't believe you ever lived without it
And you breathe in the warm dry air
And you wonder
What is next on the adventure?

The end.

Friends

Once upon a time I lived in Sydney
And I knew many people there
And I studied in many places
And worked in many places
And played, and sang, and danced, and
Lived a life
That now seems far away and distant

And in this present day life
I am a person I always dreamed of being
Living in the lands of overseas
And traveling
And performing
And meditating
And eating delicious food
And being a grown up
Who makes her own decisions
About how her life is going to be

And today I met up with a friend
Who I hadn't seen in quite a while
And he was still the same lovely person
He was a few years ago
Softly spoken but with a glint in his eye
And he made me remember
All those friends
From that Other Life that once I led

And it's funny how people
Float in and out of our lives
And Amy K.R. once wrote about how
Maybe the word "end" is in the word
Friendships
Because sometimes friendships
Just end in the middle

And I just wanted to say,
To all those people
From a distant time, a distant life,
Whether we're actually still in contact or not
To all those people I've sat under bright blue skies with
And drunk beverages with
And shared meals with
And sat beside ponds and stared at geese with
And laughed in offices with
And trained with
And studied with
And sang with
And danced with
And gardened with
And traversed a bit of time
On this globe
Together with

I'm thinking of you
And wondering how you are
And hoping you're happy and well
Really and truly
Happy. And well.
And sending you love from across the universe.

The end.

Bits of Lovely

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a Chicago based American artist, author, and all round inspiring lady. I've been following her blog for the past couple of months, and much like the beautiful Superforest, can always be trusted to inspire beauty, joy, and lightness in the world. Her recent video Train of Thought made me smile this morning. 

Another bit of lovely inspiration is Amy K.R's "7 Things" (listed at the top of this post), shared at an independent TED Talk, TEDxWaterloo.