SOMEBODY TOLD ME THAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH A HARD TIME RIGHT NOW. REALLY?? BUT DOESN’T EVERY ERA HAVE ITS “HARD TIME”? IT SEEMS TO BE THE HUMAN CONDITION TO ALWAYS BE FACED WITH CHALLENGES. WE WANT DIFFERENT THINGS IN EACH ERA AND WE ARE PRESENTED WITH DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO ADAPT TO. WE HAVE TO REINVENT OURSELVES WITH SURVIVAL SKILLS AND CONTINUE THE LAWS OF EVOLUTION.
TWO AND A HALF MILLION YEARS AGO WE HAD THE ICE AGE. CAN YOU IMAGINE THE DRAMA? I CAN. DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA! NOT MANY SHOES TO WEAR – OR CLOTHING – OR THE ARSENAL OF MAKEUP THAT I USE! I CAN PICTURE MYSELF SNAPPING AT MY HUSBAND FOR BRINGING MAMMOTH HOME FOR DINNER AGAIN. I STARE AT HIM STANDING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAVE AND NAG AT HIM, “MAMMOTH FOR DINNER, AGAIN?”
I BET IT WAS PRETTY STRESSFUL FOR THE EARLY HUMANS TO NOT KNOW WHEN OR WHERE THEIR NEXT MEAL WOULD COME FROM. DON’T YOU THINK THAT WOULD STRESS YOU OUT?! THEY ALSO WERE LIKELY FREAKED OUT ABOUT WHETHER THEIR CAVE WOULD BE TAKEN OVER BY WILD ANIMALS WHILE THEY WENT OUT HUNTING. I WONDER WHAT COPING METHODS THEY USED? THEY MUST HAVE HAD SOME. OF COURSE, MUCH OF WHAT WE DO IS INTUITIVE, RIGHT? FOR INSTANCE, GIVING BIRTH . . . HOW DID THEY KNOW WHAT TO DO? DID THEY MIMIC ANIMALS? HOW DID THEY KNOW HOW TO CUT THE UMBILICAL CORD? WHEN IT CAME TO ILLNESSES, WHAT DID THEY DO ABOUT IT? BUT IN THIS INSTANCE, I CAN RELATE. YOU CAN HAVE INSURANCE AND STILL NOTHING IS PAID FOR.
THE STRESS IN MY LIFE IS NOT THE SAME AS THE STRESS IN YOUR LIFE. ONE OF THE REASONS I LOVE LIVING IN SANTA FE IS BECAUSE COMPARED TO BIG CITIES, WE HAVE A PRETTY QUIET LIFESTYLE. NEVER THE LESS, WE ARE A PART OF US STATISTICS. IN THIS YEAR ALONE, ONE OUT OF TEN AMERICAN CITIZENS SUFFERS FROM SOME FORM OF DEPRESSION OR ANXIETY. IN OUR CULTURE WE USE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TO COPE WITH OUR MALADIES:
-16 MILLION OF US USE PAINKILLERS
-5 MILLION OF US TAKE SOME TYPE OF SLEEP AID
-18 MILLION OF US ARE ON ANTI-DEPRESSANTS
– A TOTAL OF 3,764,698,318 PRESCRIPTIONS ARE FILLED ANNUALLY!
AND THIS IS WHAT WE CALL A “CIVILIZED WORLD”. I THINK I WOULD RATHER GO BACK TO MY MAMMOTH HUNTING HUSBAND.
IT HAS TAKEN US THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO EVOLVE INTO THE HUMAN BEINGS THAT WE ARE NOW. BUT IT HAS TAKEN US ONLY A COUPLE OF CENTURIES TO RUIN THE PLANET. NASA IS SPENDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOOKING FOR ANOTHER PLANET THAT ONLY A FEW CITIZENS OF THIS PLANET WILL BE ABLE TO MOVE TO . . . IF WE CAN MAKE IT HABITABLE. WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER IF WE USED THAT MONEY ON THE PLANET WE LIVE ON NOW? HOW COULD WE FOCUS MORE ON EDUCATION: EDUCATION ON HOW TO NOT WASTE SO MUCH FOOD; HOW TO PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING; HOW TO CREATE RENEWABLE ENERGY? WE SHOULD HAVE MORE KNOWLEDGE OF WHO WE ALL ARE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND WHY WE HAVE THE IDIOSYNCRASIES THAT WE ALL DO. HOW DO WE ULTIMATELY SAVE THIS PLANET? I AM GRATEFUL TO THOSE THAT HAVE MADE THE ENVIRONMENT THEIR TOP PRIORITY. EARTH DAY PASSED US BY THIS YEAR AND YET, MORE AND MORE I AM FINDING THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF THE YEAR.
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