Resolutions

Each new year brings promise and hope to the world.

Every year we all experience moments of joy, sorrow, tragedy and comedy.

Recently I found myself wandering on the "Strip" in Las Vegas and saw a woman dressed up as Minny Mouse, slumped down on the sidewalk, drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. I decided to post an image of the scene, taken by my husband, as part of the first 2012 blog entry of A Talking Stick.

The caricature, stark and tragic, struck my soul in such a way that I was forced to hold my breath. Afraid to exhale, I stood still in the midst of a seething sea of tourists and local personalities. In Vegas, where there is an acutely obvious divide of wealth and poverty, many people stopped to gawk, mock, laugh and take photographs. (Others — perhaps most — crowded past in oblivious pursuit of New Year's oblivion.)

In the vacant eyes of the distorted Disney phantom I saw humanity. She was the shadow of what we could all become. With enough fear and pain any one of us could be laid out on a public sidewalk, numbing our aching soul in front of the world, silently screaming "Yes, I have buried my dreams. Yes, I have lost any sight of my golden purpose. Yes, I have quit life."

The quiet truth is this: it takes courage to get up some mornings and engage the world. It takes faith to continue to believe in Love and Truth, when all we see on Fox News are lies and distortions. It takes a village to Occupy Wall Street while Wall Street is trying to occupy our dreams. It takes dreams to revision the world and Mother Earth, dreams that only you and I can bring.

Healing does happen. Healing happens when we are looking for good. Healing happens when I soften my heart to the reality that my enemy is truly my brother.

Today I resolve to be a healing force in the world. I am lucky to be fully alive today. As the moon waxes tonight, I too grow full in the love and peace of the Divine.

Happy New Year.

Las Vegas New Year's Eve Mouse, #5103-7D

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: December 31, 2011; Canon 7D; f/13 @ 1/83 sec; —2/3 EV; ISO 500; Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM @ 78mm

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