Peace, Love and Happiness in the New Year

Let’s try REAL peace. Not just saying the words, but put the word to practice. And let’s start right here in the good ol’ USA. Let’s put an end to all the violent protests where people end up dead. Let’s try to prevent more deaths. We can still protest. Please protest! There are so many things that need to change! The way some of our citizens are still being treated in the 21^st century is beyond ridiculous. We need to realize – every single one of us – that people are people. We might have different color of skin, different beliefs, different homes, different churches…well…different everything…but people are still people beneath all of that. Each of us has a family we want to protect and will fight our last breath to protect. We all want good jobs, safe workplaces, safety in our neighborhoods and schools. We all want to provide the best for our children. We all have that basic need to provide and protect for what is ours. Those things make us the same underneath it all. Let’s act like we all have more in common, than we have differences – because in the end, we really do.

Let’s let everyone do their jobs. The police are trying to do their jobs. Regardless of what many people think, the police do not put on their uniforms each and every day and think “Who can I harass today? Who can I shoot to kill today? Whose family can I destroy today?” No…most officers go to work each day thinking, “What can I do to make it home safely to my own family today?” Usually, that is their only thought. Remember, most of these officers have families, too. They just want to provide and protect for their own families. That’s all. And they put their own lives in danger in order to protect your family and my family every day, as well. If you don’t agree with what they are doing – and, yes, there are bad cops,, too – then follow the proper channels and get the cop out of the job he or she doesn’t belong in and get charges filed if needed. But do it the right way!

Once we have true peace in our own little part of the world – then we can spread it around the world. Let’s work here first.

Let’s try REAL love. You know, that deep in the gut, your whole body feels it, brings tears to your eyes, love. The kind you feel when you see your newborn child for the first time. Or when you kiss your new bride or groom at the altar. The kind you only feel when you give every bit of yourself to a relationship. Every thought and feeling and care in the world goes to another person and not yourself. The kind you should have for your family, your wife, husband, children, parents, brothers and sisters. The kind you should have for those lifelong friends that know everything about you – and still stay by your side. And those new friends that you just met, but felt like they have been in your life forever.

There is a different kind of love you can have for your neighborhood, your city, your state, your country. That passion and pride that you have for a place that you’ve grown up in – or grown to love in a short time because it fits you. A place that you would give anything to protect and to improve. You want to protect the values that have always been there, and improve by allowing the values of new citizens. This love is nearly as important as your love for family – and you would protect and love it as much as you do your family.

If you are lucky – as I am – you will have a job you love, as well. A job that you can give your heart and soul to and have it given back to you a million ways on a million days. A job that might not pay much in money, but pays more in hugs, gratitude, that feeling that you have done something well….In my case, sticky hugs, “I love you’s!”, and hand drawn cards that show more appreciation than all the perks in all the world.

Let’s try for REAL happiness. Let’s take off those fake, made for the camera smiles and find something that truly makes us happy. Yes, we have to work to provide for our families. But if we can’t make a job that makes us happy, let’s work to make ourselves happy outside of our jobs. We work forty hours a week, sleep another forty. That leaves plenty of time to be happy. Take your kids to the park and play with them. Chase them around and tickle them when you catch them. Get a dog – make yourself even happier and get one from a shelter or other rescue situation – and play endless hours of fetch. Take your significant other on a romantic picnic by the lake or river. Walk to your favorite restaurant and treat yourself to a nice dinner. Find the one thing that makes you happy and do it. And then do it again, and again. Then find the thing that makes your significant other happy, the thing that makes your children happy and do it again and again and again.

One thing I love to do – and it not only makes me happy, it makes others happy, too – is to buy cheap carnations from a local flower store. I can usually get a dozen or more for fewer than ten dollars. Then I go downtown to the bike/walking path or the local mall and pass them out one at a time to unsuspecting strangers. It doesn’t cost me much money, but it brings lots of happiness to me and those around me. It’s just a simple gesture that doesn’t take much effort, but is worth every second.

Let’s get back to our roots. Let’s get back to Peace, Love and Happiness. Let’s not just say the words – let’s act on them. Let’s show that we know the true meanings of these words once again. We’ve done it before – we can do it again.

Let’s show Peace between the officers and the protesters – let’s have some meaningful talks that will prevent the violence we have been seeing. This will help better than the looting and the violence – which only perpetuate stereotypes in the first place. Protests can and should happen – but let’s follow Dr. Martin Luther King’s example and hold peaceful protests. The kind that will get people talking – not fighting.

Let’s show Love by taking care of our families and our fellow man. By taking care of our cities and our states and countries. Let’s take care of one another instead of fighting one another. When you see your neighbor in trouble, see what you can do to help – even if it’s just giving them a shoulder to cry on or a sympathetic ear to listen.

Let’s have true Happiness. Make time to be happy – to help your family and loved ones be happy. Provide happiness for a stranger in some small way.

Let’s just keep putting that Peace, Love and Happiness out there in the world.