Choose

My boy gets it.  He just gets it.  He gets angry at injustice.  He bristles at blatant lying and the selfish entitled behaviour that seems to predominate the media lately.  That's my boy. 

I got en email on Mother's Day weekend from a teacher at his school.  Not one of HIS teacher's mind you.  It seems my boy routinely holds doors, offers to clean up messes that others have walked away from, pushes in chairs, and is regularly considerate to those who might not even notice, let alone acknowledge it.  The email's intent was to make me aware of his actions, and to thank me for raising such a great kid. 

As much as I'd like to take credit for the great people my babies have become, all I did was give them tools.  They picked them up and built their characters into masterpieces, and I could not be more proud of them.  They are the best projects I've ever started.

I read tonight a Facebook post by my boyfriend Bernie that stated that the 5 wealthiest people (men) on earth own more wealth than the bottom half of the world's population. Combined.  Just one of these 5 men is worth more financially than 750 MILLION people.  More than the population of the entire United States.  Plus Canada.  Mexico.  Central America.  Brazil.  and Peru.  One. Guy.  That's not right.  Daniel asked how we can fight that kind of imbalance and I responded that we can't.  We can't make those 5 men share, they have to come to that place by themselves.  What we can do, though, is reject the easy acceptance of small injustices.  We can stand up to the little bullying and the small slights that we see every day.  Our voices can speak the words of the silenced.  Our actions can build, not tear down.  We can choose to be our better selves.