What scares me

NUKES SCARE THE BEJEEBERS OUT OF ME. I’d happily vote to make them illegal on earth.

Asteroids. Yet, I’m afraid of an asteroid doing to humanity what one apparently did to the dinos a long time ago. And some say nukes might help deflect an asteroid. But if I were betting, I’d put my money on we humans using nukes to wipe out ourselves before we could ever get a chance to use nukes to save ourselves.

Planet trashing. I’m afraid of what we’re doing to the planet, trashing it the way we do. Our job is to do the opposite: “Take charge of the planet. Manage the fish, the birds, and every life form around you. They are your responsibility” (Genesis 1:28, Casual English Bible).

Med care. Healthcare is an ongoing worry. Like many in my country, I don’t take some prescribed medicine because it’s too expensive. I wish we treated healthcare like we treat a city dog park or a public street: making it freely available to everyone, paid for by everyone. I’d love to worry no more about getting healthcare than I worry about having a place to walk my dog.

Politics. Politicians scare me, too. Especially these days, when nobody in opposing camps seems capable of having a civil conversation partly because of all the misinformation out there. It’s hard enough to get along when we can agree on the basic facts. But when lies are habitually presented as facts and people start believing the lies, we can’t even get to the truth let alone find common ground on that truth.

Money. I worry that these politicians will go after the money I’ve saved all my life and somehow shift it into coffers for themselves and their rich friends, through new laws, loopholes, and corruption. I’m afraid of seeing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid diminished or destroyed and replaced by systems that favor rich people who don’t need them and who are now writing the laws.

What to do

There’s not much of anything I can do about any of this.

I can and do vote for political leaders who share my fears and promise to address them.

I can and do call and write political leaders who are about to vote in favor of laws that hurt the helpless and in favor of Cabinet members, judges, and other leaders who would seem only to add stink to the buffet.

I can and most likely will walk in protest to defend the defenseless. There are times when it’s the only way to punctuate an important point.

I want to fix things.

I will do what little I can. But I know where the real power lies.

When I reach the end of what I can do and there’s nothing more to be done—at least not by me—that’s when I can rest.

Jesus said I could.

A little bird told me

“I’m telling you not to worry about the everyday matters of life: what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to wear, or what you’re going to do if you get sick.

There’s more to life than eating food and there are more important things for a body than clothing.

I want you to think about this. Ravens don’t plant a garden. And they don’t work at harvest time collecting the crops. Even if they did they wouldn’t have a barn or granary to put it in. But you know what? God feeds them. People, how much more important are you than birds?” (Luke 12:22-24 Casual English Bible).

Casual English Bible

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