Bigger Than Us

“It’s no good going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” Alice in Wonderland.

A new year, a new direction.

I feel like I am coming out of my Mummy bubble and into the real world.

Maybe a little known fact about me is that I have a Social Science degree.

I once majored in politics and history and spent my working hours summarizing the news for companies and headed up the political division of the media reporting agency in our WA elections.

Perhaps it was burn out or an incessant dislike for how the news was reported, re-ported, and re-run over, but I chose roughly ten years ago to stop watching.

We are in control of how we choose to feel in any given moment and I didn’t want to follow news stories that just incite fear without an anti-dote (I mean, can we help? Who is doing something about this? Why is this happening? What is the follow-up).

But, I have since realised, that we can’t close our hearts, minds and souls to information. What we can’t do is ignore what is happening in our world, our country, our city or community.

I was extremely naive to think or want to think, that human rights violations stopped with Hitler. That terrorism was the great evil of the 21st Century.

It is easy to be that ignorant when we tailor our own news feeds and views of the world.

But some things can just shock us out of our complacency.

After Trump won the election people cried, thinking that this reflected an America  that was filled with more hate, racism and fear, than love and hope.

How?

How did an educated, westernized country make this choice?

And the real question – what information am I missing that would skew the results so resoundingly in Trump’s favour?

My husband pointed out to me that people distrusted Clinton. That people were not necessarily voting for these things that Trump represents, but against things they had heard about Clinton, like her alleged involvement in arming terrorists.

Completely unaware of these things I did some research. Then some more.

As I started to research and gain an understanding of the politics behind the decision, I realised that the world is so much bigger than me and that knowledge and education beyond my own bubble, is sorely needed in my life.

Maybe this sounds like something that would bore you to tears but researching this was fascinating. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, there was just more and more craziness and it was almost like fiction.

And it made me wonder…..

Do you want to know more? Do you want to know what is out there in the world? If someone was talking about Syria – would you like to be informed enough to contribute to the conversation?

As Mummy’s we talk about schooling and teachers and our children endlessly but Í think some of you might want to talk about bigger issues than this? Yes? Go deeper?

So I thought and thought about where to go with this?

If I could summarise, succinctly, into a blog post  – issues that are important, making them as relevant and timely as I can – would you read it?

Would we get past obsessing over the size of our asses, how perfect our parenting needs to be or about the material goods we don’t have, if we were consciously focused on issues of a larger nature?

If we could stimulate our compassion, tickle our intellects awake and educate our consciousness – would we be better people?

Do you ever think about others? Do you have questions about world issues but are too embarrassed to admit you don’t know what references mean?

“We don’t want another Rwanda.”

“People don’t trust Hilary because of those email leaks.”

I do and yes, I don’t know what Rwanda means.

But I want to find out.

We as educated people, have a responsibility to find out what is happening to other humans on our planet. They are sharing our earth and we can’t ignore, forget or deliberately not know.

 

I’m going to ask you to share my posts. I am going to ask you to talk about them. I am going to ask you to ask me questions. Send me emails. Tell me. Let me know.

What else do you want to know about? What should I research and write about?

How can we cultivate our compassion, knowledge and empathy whilst increasing the joy and appreciation for our own lives?

Being of service, caring about others and taking action will make a difference to how you feel. It will give your life new meaning.

Let’s get started.