Earth Hour Journal

So it is Earth Hour. It's hard to sit in the dark, only using candlelight, when I know that electricity is only a flick of a switch away. I know that I am not alone, and there are millions of others around the world today doing the same. As I walked home tonight, arriving in the middle of Earth Hour I saw a hotel with it's lobby lights turned off, and they had a violinist in the lobby playing by candle light. I smiled when I saw it. Even a business can realize the power and importance of this moment. All around the world human kind is coming together, as as single race...no race, no religion, no national borders, no politics, no class or wealth...we are just one single human race. A single species which in order to ensure our survival, has come together putting all of our differences aside to say "We care".

It is quiet, apart from the noises of the city. I hear sirens, the sound of the rain falling, horns honking, people coming from the local bar shouting. All the while I am in my home on my couch writing this by the light of only a few candles. It is quiet...so quiet I hear the loud purring of my Siamese cat as she sits contently by my side. I can't help but to think about how at one point in the world, before we had electricity, before cell phones, before computers, before the internet...that this is how we lived. Humankind would gather at night, the only light by torch, candle, or fire...but nevertheless always a flame. It's is very interesting to me how amazing a simple flame can be when you watch it. They flicker so magically, some slowly others fast and wicked. Some tall, some short and barely there....yet all share one thing in common, that gentle shimmering glow. So beautiful and underappreciated, except when we wish to set a romantic mood.

The gentle glow changes things as we know them by daylight. Shadows cast their patterns on walls and ceilings, my lamp for example makes an image which very strongly reminds me of a mandala. The orange tint of the flame causes my silvery greyish feline companion to look golden and black, as the flickering flames reflect in her deep dark eyes.

Saving our planet is important. I am proud to be a part of this global event. I feel strangely connected to the millions upon millions around the earth that are doing just as I am. I do not know these people, yet in this single shared moment we are a family...bound together by our hope that we can save our home....Earth.

I wonder what my friends are doing at this moment, what thoughts they are having as they partake in this event. I wonder what my girlfriend is Hawaii is thinking right now, who she is talking to....what the air smells like there. I wonder what the light of the tiki torches look like upon her mocha skin. I wonder what the skyline of Chicago must look like with all of its magical concrete towers illuminations stripped away against the moon and the cold rain. It is particularly cold tonight.

I feel peaceful...a strange comforting peace which I rarely feel. The feeling that only accompanies an action greater than one's self. Together as a single planet we set out to collect one billion participants in this event...to say to leaders of the world, that we must save our planet. I hope more than anything, we did it. We must save her...Gaia. She is our only home, and without her we will surely perish. She deserves better than this. More than just a single moment, we should remember her this way all year, like Scrooge after his three ghosts. We should take to heart Dickens lessons and apply them to ourselves, realizing that if we do nothing....in the end nothing is all we shall have. An empty barren wasteland of a planet which will no longer support us, but instead be wrathful and vengeful...attempting to destroy us so that the natural balance and order can be restored. I am not crazy....the planet is alive...as are all things in nature. There is a natural balance, and we have created the greatest imbalance in the history of our race. No longer can we afford the pollution, the mindless consumption, the massive amounts of waste produced, or even to carelessly leave a light on when we are not in the room.

We must make a change in our lives. I'm afraid of what will become our Big Blue if we don't. Can the Earth survive another 10, 50, or even 1,000 years at the rate we are destroying it? Surely, I shall not be around to see, but I hope for the sake of my children to come and their children and their childrens children that along the way somehow we come together as one and realize the errors in our ways and begin to protect our planet. Perhaps only history knows the answer, but maybe, just maybe tonight could be that night...the night when we came together and stood as one, to tell all of the world...save our home...our planet....Earth.

Invisible Citizens

So today I am walking home from work today and had thus far been having a good day. All of a sudden I realize that there's' an ambulance and fire truck outside of a retail store. Normally, this would just be a scene that you would look and pass by never thinking twice about. However, I frequently pass this retail store and know that the spot in question was where a lot of homeless/addicts ask for money. I couldn't help but to stop and to witness if the person was one of the street people whom I knew. Sometimes in Chicago the "local help" can do less than a favourable job of responding in these situations.

As I stopped to watch the scene unfold, I also noticed how many people walked by and didn't look more than once as soon as they saw it was a homeless person. Let it be known I can't stand when people walk by street people and pretend as if they do not even exist. The people who do this dehumanize these citizens of our world, and place them categorically into a realm of non-existence. It's as if they have become invisible citizens, no longer able to be seen by every day people, though they are constantly in front of us pleading for help.

As a student studying to become a psychologist I can't help but to chew on the concept of the invisible citizen. In the wealthiest nation on the planet (thought that certainly is questionable nowadays), there exists among us a class of citizens treated as if they do not matter, and are less than human.

According to blogger "AnAmerican" from the website www.wanderingvets.com "homelessness in America isn’t a topic that is widely publicized. When you look at the mainstream media, homelessness certainly doesn’t get top billing like the news of our political foibles or the latest tabloid tales of celebrities. I’ve often thought that homelessness is treated as a dirty little secret that is hidden from most Americans." ...I couldn't agree more.

I suppose what really bothers me about how we treat the homeless is how people are very rarely willing to stop and think about circumstances that led the person to down the path to where they are now.

In another blog from the website WBGH Lab several co-authors state the scenario perfectly.

"You’ve always been the model citizen. Been involved in community affairs. Supported your local politicians. Voted in every election, local and national. Then, suddenly, you lose your job and your home. You become a statistic, instead of an individual. You pack up your wife and children, along with the few possessions you have left, put them into the family van and head west seeking to re-establish yourself. You’re now living the life of a nomad. Even when you reach you destination, you are forced to live out of the van. Occasionally you can find a spot to sleep or shower in a shelter. Each day is a struggle to feed your family. You look for work, but there is not enough to sustain a roof over your family’s head."

This is a very likely scenario, especially for the newly homeless under the current economic situation we live in. It is also important though to know that a lot of homeless suffer from drug, alcohol, gambling, and other addicitions as well as various mental health issues.

So, what exactly am I getting at? Well I suppose its that the way we view the people who need our help the most is exactly dead wrong. We walk by them, damn well knowing that a random string of events could turn us into them. Perhaps that's what it is that we do not like...being reminded how delicate our lives really are and how volatile our living statuses really are.

We need to start reminding ourselves that these are REAL human beings, most with serious psychological issues or addiction problems. It's not as simple as them just getting a job. It's not as easy as wanting to change. These problems are deeply psychologically and physiologically rooted. They won't be able to change these patterns overnight even if they try. They will falter and need support...and that's exactly where the problem as I see it lies.

We treat homelessness with a patchwork approach. We attempt to provide them with mininal shelter, clothe them, feed them. Sometimes, if they are lucky mental health professionals will volunteer to help them. Otherwise, though they are only left with the first level of Maslow's hierarchy met. Their physical needs are met, but what about their human needs?

What about their need to socialize? Typically they are left so socialize with each other and form impromptu communities for survival and to feel connected to someone who understands their struggle. The problem with this approach, however, is that if your at the bottom, you need the support of someone who isn't to look up to and to help you to reach higher.

I'm not sure what else to say about this issue really. So I am going to just close with this thought. You can see how we need to consider they need someone to simply acknowledge they exist when they walk by. Maybe you can't help them financially, but you could at least say something to them. Humanize them by NOT pretending they don't exist. Stop wishing they would just go way, because you could be them in no time at all.