Daddy on the Edge of the End of Bliss

I knew someone, years back, that wouldn't watch Braveheart. Too much violence. There were a whole host of movies - great movies, epic films, that were never to be viewed in her presence... because people got hurt in them. It upset her tender sensibilities to be exposed to such brutality, so she chose the path of blissful ignorance; the art of happily willful unknowing.

Barbara Bush, former first lady, said of her sons impending war in Iraq; "But why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or that or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Again, blissful ignorance. If I don't know about it, or if I refuse to allow my mind to acknowledge it's reality, it's very presence in my universe - then, on some level, in some bizarre rationalization, it's not really happening. Not in a real, concrete way that I have to deal with, anyway.

How convenient.

Oops; there I go, throwing rocks in my glass yurt. Don't get me wrong - there are some things that Daddy is happy to be blissfully ignorant about. I love sausages, but do not ever need to watch them being made. I know that I was born, and therefore my parents must have engaged, at least once, in some activity that brought that whole event into being, but I do not EVER need to imagine what such an event might have entailed. Never. Ever.

Ever.

I also understand how sometimes this world makes you want to just stick your head in the sand. You figure that, even if the whole damn planet is going to hellinahandbasket, you'll just concern yourself with your little place in the universe - your little corner of the sky. Daddy was thinking that way for a while. Daddy was seriously thinking of going off the grid - unplugging - just dropping out of society, leaving the rest of the world to it's own devices.

For whatever reason though, I can't quite let go; can't bring myself to make that break with society. We're all here...for something. Whatever the reason for our existence, I have to believe that the end goal is to make things better. We are all in this together. All of us; each and every human who breathes air on the planet - we are all connected. When we help each other out, we help ourselves. When we lift each other up, we each are lifted as well.

Conversely, when we do harm, it benefits no one. When we destroy, we destroy ourselves in kind. And when we turn a blind eye, we practically invite the same to be done to us one day.

The following video is not easy to watch. This is why it needs to be watched. It is not, as they say, for the faint of heart. But then, neither is being a real, contributing member of the Human Race. Violence exists. Brutality exists. To put our heads in the sand and deny their existence is to give our tacit acceptance, and that is simply no longer acceptable. Please watch;




I'll Be There,

Daddy