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I live in NYC, and have done so for about two decades. That’s 20 years of the NYC subway. And, in the last year or so, I’ve noticed that people are increasingly leaning on one another when standing. It’s like there’s this subliminal message that these people are  sending to one another that they are too heavy for themselves to hold up, so, someone else should do it. They don’t ask you if it’s okay to slowly start transferring their body weight onto you–they just start this passive-agressive attack on you, with their own person! It’s insane really. And, oddly enough, most people don’t say anything. They just allow a complete stranger to start imposing themselves physically onto themselves. And, then there’s people like me who have no problem saying, “Um…you need to stand up and hold your own weight.” Of course, the first line of self-defensiveness is: “Well, the train is crowded.” Nine times out of ten, that’s a cop-out, or a full-fledged lie. If you can hold yourself up long enough to get on a train, it shouldn’t be hard to do so until you get to your destination.

Recently, I’ve been offered a career opportunity, where my former employement needed to be verified. Okay, that’s normal, you hand over a resume, and some calls get made, etc…and there you go. Except that wasn’t what happened. No. Apparently, the third party hired to actually do the verifying didn’t find all the companies I’ve worked for in some sort of “work-phone depot” that companies use. And, has had the audacity to ask me to dig up some old tax forms to prove that I’ve worked where I said I did. Now, I’m sorry—you were hired to do a job, and at the slightest flirtation with resistence, you’re coming to me to ask me to do your job for you?! Wait, does that come with your paycheck?! Probably not. So, needless to say, they will be earning their keep, and however long it takes isn’t my concern.

What’s my point?! My point is, there’s seems to be a culture of personal laziness that has grown at a rapid dispproportinate rate. I mean seriously, why do people assume that someone else will be doing their leg-work for them, and they still reap the benefits?! Oh, I don’t know, perhaps because that’s what’s been happening for so long, that people are pretending that this imaginary handicap is real?! It’s like everyone thinks that the rest of the world will be parenting them, so, they don’t truly ever have to look out for themselves, understand the world for themselves, because the rest of us, are just dying to take care of them.

I want to be clear, I’m not talking about natural disaster type of emergencies…I’m talkng about, the nickeling and diming of everyday life. I’m talking about allowing people to be abusive toward us in both overt and covert ways. I see people walking around in this city bumping into one another, stepping on, or pushing on one another, and not demand an “excuse me.” I see, people so desperate for normal everyday necessities, take little to nothing from people who have more than their share, and then sit in silent frustration and resentment. Why?!

This isn’t about becoming an activist ala sit-ins and marches. This is about become an activist to defend your rights as human being, more so, a divine being. Meaning: being on both ends of respect. Meaning: Not downgrading your self-respect over a lifetime, for a moments worth of so-called comfort. Bottomline: Don’t sell yourself out! And, of course, that’s exactly what those in “so-called” power want you to do. If it’s been said once, it’s been said a trillion times–Power cannot be taken, it can only be given away. And, yet, so many have given their personal power away for so long, and so often, they now look for someone else to take complete responsiblity for them. For someone else to do the work, and they still reap the benefits.

Yes, in so many ways, the world looks like it’s in some sort of chaotic state. And, perhaps in a way that is so. But, what I see, is that there’s been a systemic malfunction on a large scale for so long, that the system can no longer sustain itself and it falling to pieces in huge chunks! While we’re looking at the system, or the big machine wagging our fingers and blaming numerous people and entities, we aren’t being completely honest. In order for the world to be the way it is, at some point in time, we, too started playing the game. We started looking outside ourselves for our happiness, our answers, our rewards, our…heck…everything! And, it hasn’t worked. And, it won’t work. When you feel like there a piece of you missing–its you. It’s not someone, or something else. It’s you. And, no one can fill that void but, that beautiful being that awaits you in your mirror.

Love Peace Happiness N One,

Monica