SLEEP IS NO MORE, DREAMS ARE NO MORE

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       “Rivers do not drink their own water, trees do not eat their own fruit, the Sun does not shine on itself, flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other, no matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy but much better when others are happy because of you.” Pope Francis.

         For many, success is difficult to measure in a constant struggle chasing material goals. People who are cherished receive less love. Life becomes a game where the goal is not to lose. 

Waking up in the morning is greeted with less than a smile. The setbacks of such a life foster anger hurting those dear and close. Surrendering and complacency overwhelm. 

        People feel small and put down. Misery weighs upon life. Today is spoiling the future. Survival is your life, your total life. Your body, your mind, your soul, everything about you becomes tired. You live day to day with a sense of no power to make things better. 

         You see a world of plenty for other people living well but no place in this world is there a place for you. That which was told to you by people of trust such as America being a country of fairness for the one working hard is a fairness excluding you. Fairness is something for others. 

          We are told of a country with abundant resources, but the worker lives without resources and dwindling opportunities. The mental and physical of everyday life suffers. Poverty is seen as the norm. Children grow up thinking this is the way it was meant to be. 

            Housing, hunger, poor childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, under sourced schools bring on cognitive, emotional and health related issues. Affected is behavior, school progress, social functioning. Even the brain develops in ways, not good.

           Man cannot pursue his earthly destiny, let alone his heavenly destiny, when he struggles each day to make ends meet.

           In life, always working to pay the rent or the mortgage, worrying about grandmother’s failing kidneys, fearing the future of a child in a substandard school, dreams die. 

           Sleep is no more. Dreams are gone. Relaxation is a distant memory. Baseball games are not for you. The American Dream is not on your horizon. Your children are disappointed in you. The peace and solitude of the church experience have no place in your world. 

           All due to a failing Material Pillar. But we can do better. We can imagine doing better. We can make that imagined real. 

          The will within waits to be used putting us on the road to joining the rivers, the trees, the Sun, the flowers, living for others consistent with the Rule of Nature, being born to help each other, no matter how difficult it is.

           “Life is good when you are happy but much better when others are happy because of you.” Pope Francis.