Hola Internet Peoples of the World. And I do mean “THE WORLD!” According to our stat counter this morning, the number of hits this blog gets from the US has fallen below 50% for the first time since we started this thing. That’s pretty significant. I know a lot of you out there laugh dismissively when I talk about our “vast and diverse worldwide audience” but it really is true.
From Canada, the US, Mexico to Brazil to England to the Netherlands to Greece to Israel to Ghana to South Africa to Moscow to Mumbai to Bangkok to Seoul to Manila to Melbourne we are a part of people’s daily lives all over the globe. And that really feels great. We consider ourselves citizens of the world and I think we have actually achieved that here.
But, it’s that time of the year when it’s time to get all retrospective and think about who and what we are and who and what we can and should be. Is it time to really make some changes? Is it time to move on from some things and take on new challenges? Time to maybe let go of the past? Time to start acting like the person we should be?
And by “we” I mean “me” of course. Well, and “we” in the sense that we could all do better. We certainly could do better as a society. Every day we see stories about levels of poverty rising and number of children who are homeless and stuff like that. We then go into rants about the republicans or the democrats or the government, but deep inside we know that we are actually to blame here. We do our best to ignore people living in horrific conditions and who are struggling, or sad or lonely because we don’t want to be bummed out.
But, how can we talk about us doing better as a society without talking about “me” first. As the late, great Michael Jackson said “it starts with the man in the mirror.” If I’m not willing to make these changes and be a better person, friend, family member, etc, then how can I expect that of you? I can’t!
I did a post a couple of days ago listing some of the people, places and things that I’ve had enough of. It was a pretty popular post even though it resulted in Matt-Man having to work quickly to try and start avoid an international incident. But really, I could have done a post of people, places and things that I HAVEN’T had enough just as easily. And you know what? I would have actually felt better about myself had I written that post instead.
In fact, do we always have to aim low? Do we always have to take the shot just because it’s there? Do we always have to aim for the lowest common denominator? Isn’t it just as easy, and much more fulfilling to go with the more positive response? Or at least mix it up a bit.
And how about taking a couple of minutes every once in a while and letting the people we care about know we’re thinking about them? Is that really too much to ask? Would it really take so much effort to just send someone a quick email or message on Facebook or Twitter asking them how things are going? Or let them know we care about them or that we’re thinking about them?
And how ‘bout this … How ‘bout if we all give OURSELVES a break every once in a while. Accept that we’re going to screw some things up and say the wrong thing and shit like that. Don’t beat ourselves up and get angry at ourselves over it. Just do our best to fix it and move on. You know, maybe if we weren’t punishing ourselves over stuff all the time, we wouldn’t be so angry at everyone else?
Just a few things I’ve been thinking about this last week of 2011. Maybe if I make 2012 about doing better, I’ll find that I won’t make a list of things I’ve had enough of in 2012 because they won’t matter nearly as much as the things that make me feel better about myself and others. I mean, it’s worth a try, right?
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