Dreaming In The Clouds

Do you ever sit outside and gaze off at the mountains or the beach or whatever is near you and find yourself lost in dreams. I do and I can get lost in the clouds dreaming. What do I dream of?  I dream of a world where there is peace…..where people no longer hate or try to harm others…..where people are honest and do not steal of take thing that are not theirs to take…… where neighbors still talk across the fences and help each other….a place where people see others in need and they go to help…..a place where they still do house raising and barn raising and come to help the ones in trouble by filling in for them or doing their work….a place filled with love.  I realize that it sounds sort of like Heaven.

I believe we were so much better off when we still heard the news sitting around the big ole radios and none of this throwing death and fighting and murder and mayhem in our faces 24 hours a day. I remember as a child, we did not have cell phones. I used to be caught up in the cell phone craze and texting and then one day I thought….is what I am saying is so important that it can not wait until I get home or am able to see the person. I looked at all the text messages and thought…some of these are just down right silly and yet I spent hours a day texting and talking on the phone and sitting in front of the computer. I think we were so much better off without these innovations. To me, they actually keep us from being with family and loved ones face to face. They keep us from more constructive things and I see people…young people with a cell phone in their hands all day long or talking on the cell phone where in our day, we were out doing things and learning things.

What has happened to creativity?  What has happened to art form. So many things are no longer being done and the art and skill will soon be lost because everyone is busy texting, fighting, hanging out on the internet. So many talents and they are hidden and may never be reached because it seems no one cares. I look at what my ancestors learned…besides learning hard work….they learned how to build just about anything they needed for life. And today, most young people….many adults..could not take care of themselves if the power were off for a month at a time.

Today people just buy instead of make their own. It is so much easier but is it better? So many of our ecological and environmental problems stem from our over abundance of the quick and easy. Disposable seems to be the word. Our animals die from the plastic bags and other things that they get caught in. People get sick from the wrong kinds of plastic on our drinking bottles. And yet we still opt for disposable.

I look at our world and our country and wonder when did politicians quit caring about us?  When did we become the least important thing on the agenda and when did “personal interest items” become the most important thing?  I hate to see it but I understand the anger that so many have at a country that has disappointed them. I love our country but I am disappointed in the actions of those that lead the country…from both parties.

I hear people talking about progress and all the progress the country and world has made. Is this progress? To me it is just a big jumbled mess where priorities got shifted and things have gone way off track. Is it progress when so many have lost their homes? Is it progress when so many are jobless? Is it progress when banks have been allowed to misuse our money? Is it progress when getting into school for a young person is harder now than ever before?  Is it progress when people are going without much-needed medical attention? Is it progress when there is so much hate and anger going on?

And so, I continue to gaze at the clouds and dream of a world of peace. I am the proverbial Pollyanna and believe that it is still possible. I think all the storms and natural tragedies are just warnings to us to straighten up before our world is gone. So, I dream and pray for change…the kind of change that takes us back to a better time.

But in spite of all the things going on in our world….to me..It’s still a wonderful world…just one that needs some change and direction.

video by ARTLENGEL