Us vs. The Planet

We won't be the first people who need to adjust their lifestyle to a new reality, in fact, we might be one of the few remaining.  As June's Mat Leave slowly winds down towards late August, and my own job morphs and changes, for the better but at a cost, we realize that we could live quite a bit more consciously...quite a bit more deliberately...with greater awareness, and well, something resembling a greater attention to detail.  We've got friends who must do the same, and others who casually do the opposite, and all we really know is that these are not indifferent times.

In the school in which I work there were 32 teachers laid off...and two alternative programs completely cut, letting loose both staffs and rattling the landscape with uncertainty.  I was fine, in fact, my role was the inspiration for more emphasis on front line, ground level help.  Another position, like mine, was created, and crisis nurses added, mental health help secured, and a new direction established...at a cost.  The environment will look different, and what I've learned over the past decade or so is that I don't manage change as well as I'd like.  It's something like chaos everywhere I go, and uncertainty painted positive, and no one feels stable or sturdy, but they're putting on a good show.  Friends have become unemployed and are nursing fragile stomachs and bruised egos.  That's never a comforting thing.  Other people's suffering always sucks junk.

What's your world look like?  When's the last time everything felt sturdy and unflinching?  When did you last know a time of absolute certainty, when everyone around you was winning...when no one was adapting to change?  It's been a while, and I've grown so tired of it.  There are generations of good fortune being lost, and perspectives forever shifting, and we'll look back on this time one day and shake our heads at what we've lost...confidence...freedom...hope.

I'd give just about anything to see the people all around me happy again.  We're fine, but friends are not, and we're just never as good as we are when we're all feeling strong.