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All We Can Be To Each Other All We Can Give is All That Matters

Writer's picture: Feef MooneyFeef Mooney

Updated: Jun 29, 2020



We approach Independence Day 2020. In our neighborhood, for the past month, fireworks go off up the street and behind us. Henry James, the cat, slinks underneath the sofa to shelter in place for the night. Dogs cower.

Kids are restless. No one stops this, no police. We feel held captive by someone else's revelry.

And lately I feel as though a hostage to beliefs I don't embrace, I don't believe people who tell me it is safe to go into a grocery store without a mask. Yet, like the absent police, I let the verbal fireworks fly.

I have come to the conclusion that there are some people who I love very much who see the world very differently than I do.

Protests become "riots." Black Lives Matter is a "Terrorist ANTIFA." The Pandemic is a flu and will pass come high heat summer. We need police to squash terrorism. We need less government. I hear this over and over. Friends on "my page" ask, "How can you be friends with someone who does not share your beliefs and feelings and thinks exactly the opposite?"

I say that this friend was with me when my first cat died. This friend helped me to paint my lanai and never thought of taking any money. This friend continues to pay for guitar sessions even though he is unemployed. This friend makes meals, shares food, drink, humor.

Yet I struggle. This friend is not listening. He follows different news sources. He is unshakeable in his beliefs. He donates to the Trump campaign. What do I do? I know he won't change his views. I would think he knows I will not change my commitment to voting out this President, and doing what I can to protect environmental laws. I don't have an answer to this problem situation. I go on, trying to be what I can be to my friends and my family. Staying creative. Donating to our local Lutheran Social Services food pantry here in North Hollywood. Is it enough? Is trying to live a good life as an individual enough? Should I be verbally protesting? Am I a part of a silent majority? These are questions worth asking, I think, of myself.

I won't stop the fireworks, particularly as we head toward the 4th. I won't stop the virus. But I won't stop believing in being kind, listening, continuing to think out loud, and quietly to continue to support what I believe in-with the money I have, the calls I can make, letters I can write, and discussions I can have. One friend will not be swayed or changed, perhaps. But there are new connections to be made. And I hope to keep on making them.

OF course, you can always reach out to me. And I promise to listen. Even if you can't hear me doing so.





 

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