8.16.22

The only thing that makes me different from you, is cosmic circumstance.

We are in the same scenario, but what we do with it is up to us.
I used to do good because if I didn’t, I was damned.
Now I do good because it is the right thing to do.

This certainly doesn’t mean that I am gliding about the earth like an altruistic albatross, seeking to save those that are in dire straits.
It means I filter every interaction I am afforded through the lens of betterment.
I want to be cross that you were inconvenient, but I don’t know your circumstance, only that in another life, I am you.

So I do good for myself, in a roundabout way. I do good to make my other lives better. I do good to make your life better.
I do good to make life better, for it’s far too easy to errantly make life worse.

I spend a good deal of time asking myself Why?
Why am I like this?
Why do I think like this?
Why do I feel the burn to do better?
Why?
Why?
Why?

Is it because I have had my experience worsened by the callous actions of others?
It it because I feel good when I do good for others?
It is because I know my reflex is unhealthy, and in fighting my reflexes, forge a finer future?

Who gives a fuck why?

Regardless of the answer to why, I will do my best to try.
I put myself in the shoes of everyone I come across and wonder “How can I better their experience? How can I help? How can I enrich their lives?”

a small voice in the back of my mind pipes up, as it is wont to do in the (subjectively) most inopportune time.
”How can I apply this mindset to myself?”

This river of kindness spills forth from my self, but I am not allowed to drink deeply from the refreshing flow.

So it would seem, anyway. As if my enjoyment would lessen the availability for those downstream.
I sit at the source and admire the shine, I do not own it, but it is mine.

To survive, to thrive, I must quench my thirst.
I am not responsible for the betterment of humanity, but I find it my duty to vocally recognize the potential.

I can do better.

You can do better.

We can do better.

That potential cannot be realized without action, on both our accounts.
I serve as an example of what we can be, I recognize my flaws, and accepting yours set me free.

Jesus said ‘Love Thy Neighbor’, not ‘Change Your Ways To Be Exactly As Your Neighbor.’

Be yourself with fearless, borderline reckless abandon.
Be yourself with the joy of a child dancing in a sunlit clearing among the dandelions.
Be yourself without invalidating the self of others.

Loving yourself and others is possible without homogenous humanity.
The beauty of our individualistic perspectives is the opportunity to live vicariously and learn through the lens of Other.

Your whole life will be experience through the lens of Self, and the only way to experience otherwise is to open yourself up to Other.

You can do it.
I can too.
Thank you for reading,
My name is Drew.