Days of my Life #57

Upside Down

Lately I’ve had my head in a book whilst sitting in my planetary chair, but now that I think about it perhaps would be better were I standing on my head while reading or writing for that matter.

Actually I’ve been reading several books in a variety of places so a new position is not out of the question. I’m a simultaneous reader who has a kindle with one title, an iPad with another, an iPhone with another and an actual paper back, backup with yet one more.

How do I keep track of all these stories going on in my Head? Oh. I’m not exactly sure but I manage pretty well, save for the twice daily distractions of instagram, Facebook, emails and texts. My attention is not quite disordered nor am I particularly hyperactive though that could be argued.

But why should I even think of standing on my head while reading? It’s just that the world as it currently appears seems to be upside down and the only way to get my brain working at comprehending the strangeness might be to upside down myself at least to see if I can understand better what’s happening.

With all the crazy shit I’ve been observing It’s amazing I can actually get any work done! That is if you consider “art”work, which I also do. Then again product oriented me believes I’ve not been truly creative as of late. I have, however, been planning several pieces. I suppose conceptualizing might also be considered “work”. I have been doing a bunch of that, so I’ll relieve myself of the guilt, for now.

Speaking of Now, this morning I got to thinking, before I opened a book or went out to deliver bags of goodies for unhoused friends whom i’ve never met, about who raised me and who raised you and what the differences are. I was fortunate My parents raised me to be considerate, generous, perhaps to a fault, open minded, inquisitive, and basically a decent human being with a sincere interest in people both individually and as a whole…To also leave my world better fo my having been here. I suppose at first, as a small, selfish child, as children are often, I was not enamored by being generous or sharing, but I embraced the concepts as I grew.

No. I’m not patting myself on the back. I suppose I could, but why would I? The way I was brought up was to do the sort of stuff I do for others because it is “normal” to care. In my house there was no room for hatred or racism or jealousy or elitism and certainly not antisemitism …not in my rearing/up bringing/raising/whatever you wish to call it.

Was it last year when I wrote about my maternal grandmother, herself the closeted artist, who fed people who came to her back doorstep from the time of the Great Depression up through the fifties? Proof that my mind fogs often in this upside down world that I can’t remember when I mentioned this, but whatever. Anyway, When I asked if she was feeding “hobos” she chastised me, saying those names were not nice, that those titles made people less than human and that it was our responsibility to care for those with less than we. I think I was seven when she said that. I obviously never forgot which is why I call people without homes “friends I have not yet met”. I managed to instill this in my own children…because it was natural for me to do so.

I wonder now, since I’ve got time on my antiseptic hands and masked face, about how other people have been “raised” though that word makes me wonder what it really means. “To be raised” means to me to be lifted, higher than one’s parents, a version 2.0 or beyond. Of course I now wonder, Is the bringing up of a child to become better fed, educated, humane, considerate, loving, open minded …I could go on…not the goal anymore? What priorities have we now?

I ask myself and you, just how upside down have we become if we are neglecting to care for those less fortunate than we find ourselves to be.

I suppose I’m really asking you. “How did you come to be who you are now? Are you the new and improved genetic and environmental model of your mom and dad? Have you considered this?” This sort of introspection is not necessarily for the faint of heart, especially if your role models were difficult at best or you are too afraid to see what’s there. But I truly believe if we are to make our world better we will need to look upon each other as friends we have not yet met, no matter what we look like or how much or little money we have.

I’m writing this upside down and let me tell you it ain’t at all easy…but neither is the current state of our world. I figure I can’t just tell you to start looking at things or doing stuff differently, I’ve gotta be the example.

Tune in.