World peace? Achievable only when the world realizes that what's good for the goose doesn't necessarily have to even APPLY to the gander. I haven't been to as many countries as some... but I've been to a few. I haven't just VISITED these places, but I've had the opportunity to live in them... I've had the chance to understand the ways of life of many a different people. Just because Americans live in greed - bigger is better, more is great - doesn't mean that everyone else in the world wants or needs the same. Eliminate material things from all living beings, and you'll find that we all bleed the same. We are all comforted by another sunrise, and we all expect another at day's end. We all want love. We all want food. Everything else is just preference. Depending on where in the world you live, these preferences are different.
After having lived 6 years in the gorgeous, enchanted forests of Germany... I prefer landscape. Settling in Texas has been so hard, as I gave up my rolling hills and pine trees for flat desert and mesquite. The only thing comforting about where I'm living now, is it's home. It's where I grew up. If I didn't have roots here - I'd be living in the wilds of Alaska somewhere. What do I prefer now? An old home... 2-3 stories, with stairs and wood floors and the smell of history in the creaks of the floors. I want my children to have fun exploring a new house that is ours. I want to live in a small town. I want to drink iced tea on my back porch swing. I want to walk the dog at sunset and fall asleep cuddled up tight next to my husband. I want to feel safe. (notice... I never said I wanted to be rich.)
When I was a single mother, I spoiled the crap out of my oldest daughter. I bought her so much stuff that she stopped appreciating any of it and started expecting it. I couldn't see this because I was living with it. I was creating a demon. It wasn't until she received a baby doll from Nico's grandfather and she didn't say "thank you" did it hit me that I was wrong! I was wrong to buy her something every time she asked. I was wrong to think that material things would make up for the fact that she didn't have a dad.
For 12 years, I lived to work. I woke up every morning and went to work and came home at the end of every day. (except for the countless times I was TDY or deployed and couldn't go home at the end of the day.) On the 1st and 15th of every month of those 12 years, I received my loyal paycheck. Steadily increasing amounts over time. I took pride in doing the math, and after 12 years, I was making between $15 and $20 an hour. I couldn't say exactly, I was paid in salary. I had 30 days off a year, that I could save through the next year and take 2 months if I wanted. My health insurance was fully paid for. The only worry in the world was my life - what if I had to go somewhere that prevented me from ever coming back home to my husband or kids?
Who would leave THAT job, right? Security... comradery... I'll be the first to tell you it's not glamorous. The bullshit that goes on behind those closed doors became too much for me to deal with.
It's scary... It's scary to set aside logic and reasoning and follow your heart. Why shouldn't I take the advice of friends who have "been there and done that?" Especially if they're successful! I shouldn't, because this is my life. It's my gift from my God and I have to see where it takes me. I've been extremely blessed in my life because I was never one to follow the pack, for very long anyway. So what if there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that I chase? Whatever happened to dancing? Are the geese really free?
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