dream

I dreamt last night that I was in the bush (the way they say thick forested area in Africa) and I was hearing gun shots all around me. machine guns. In my dream we weren't that scared yet because the gun shots seemed far away. As they got closer, we ran and we hid, at one point jumping into a ditch and covering ourselves with leaves. We lay there quietly, barely breathing, hoping to not be found. It reminds me of how Harriet Tubman laid in a potato hole for days, days people (!), when she was being searched for on her journey to freedom. I awoke several times throughout the night and each time I went back to sleep, the same dream revisited me again and again. Weird. Maybe it's the book I am reading on the war in Congo. Maybe it's all the research and writing I did last year on the war in Darfur or that 15 pager on child soldiers. Whatever the reason I dreamt it, I awoke to find it not my reality yet knowing full well that it is reality for some and that is unacceptable.

J has the most awful sounding cough. He's ok. I have medicine here for him. We have clean drinking water, healthy food and access to doctors if needed. So much of the world has no such opportunity. Over 24,000 children die each day to preventable causes (UNICEF). I want to throw a fit about it. I want to scream at the world "What the HELL are we DOING?!" But that won't help. Looking on with judgement at those who have far more than they need won't help. Bitching about it won't help. Even as I sit here and blog about it I wonder how this post can be productive. It is informative, but I don't spew this depressing information so you can sit on the other side of the screen feeling more depressed after reading. I want to bring awareness, yes, but also solutions. I don't have all the solutions.

Food, water, and medical care are basic human rights. Period. As humans, we have much to work out. In my opinion, securing safety, nutrition, and medical care for children the world over is essential. What can I, one person, do? Not much, but not nothing. I have to share this awareness because it's burning inside of me and awareness is the first step (isn't that what they say when one is trying to change a behavior?).
I do what I can, always striving to do more. I often feel that what I do isn't near enough, but it's something. We each have the ability to make choices that are better for the whole.

Even though we are all so, so tiny in this massive universe,  in this big world, that we have the ability to make choices that can speak volumes. If we can impact one person, that's big enough. If we go about with the idea that we cannot make a difference and it doesn't matter, it will ripple out. If we go about with the idea that each choice counts, it will ripple out.

I dream of a better world. It really does begin within.