buy « Robin Writes

So for the past year I’ve been regaling you with home improvement tales, farm improvement tales, and the horrors of yet another move. Okay, so this one has been fine, just long and drawn out.

Not like the move from Texas to Missouri, say, that took two full days for a normally ten-hour trip . . .

Starting next week, we’ll be fulltime farmers.

Just a few projects lined up:

Seeding the pasture;

Tilling up the garden, about four times the size of last year;

Fencing both of these;

Planting the garden;

Completing the perimeter fencing.

And of course, all the unpacking after the final push. Which is in five days.

Phht. This is nothing. Our second move was discovered at lunch one day, and our deadline for arrival was in two weeks. That was over 1000 miles. Two young kids and I was expecting #3. The third move was shorter, just a couple hours or so away, but with all three kids and living in hotels for five weeks—while my husband worked nights.

As moves go, this one is almost finished. Probably 80% done, but of course not including shutting off utilities and changing addresses all over the place, etc., etc.

See, the kid has an apartment starting the end of the week, and while I’m okay with staying here a couple more weeks or so, it occurred to me that I will have no place to sit in the living room and a lot of my kitchen utensils and dishes will be going with him.

Hmmm. May as well move, right?

Of course, we’ll be making trips back to STL; it’s only about 100 miles. You know, for important things like the kid’s graduation . . . 😉

I’m starting to get a little aggravated by the many, many social media posts/articles about being “kind” and “let’s make the world a better place” and stuff like that.

Why in the world would that irritate anyone?

Because I do these things. Because everyone I know does these things. Because we don’t need reminders to do these things when a major disaster occurs.

Here’s an example:

Women and skin care. The cosmetics industry has many women convinced that, if they buy this product or that one, all their problems—skin and otherwise—will magically disappear.

Let me tell you: I have yet to find the spackle that will do this.

So women everywhere are tense and stressed about looking younger, and constantly seeking the solution.

Okay, fine, YOU are not one of them. Doesn’t change the cosmetics industry’s marketing ploy.

So let’s say you’re carrying on with your daily life and you’re nice to people and you donate time and money to charity, and you try really hard to see the opposite point of view. With me so far?

Then you see posts about how being “kind” will fix the world—and right away you think, “Oh, no! I should do more!”

And the guilt sets in. Whether or not you realize it or acknowledge it.

You hear all the time about how “stressed” we are—sure, it’s the news media and our constant exposure, but it’s all this irrational guilt that says if only you would do MORE . . .

I’m betting, if you’re reading this, that you’re a rational human being, at least mostly, and you do not go out of your way—or even inadvertently—to piss off everyone. You don’t globetrot to blow up things and people, you don’t send subversive messages all over the place.

YOU are not the problem.

In spite of the 70s Coke commercials.

The problem are radicalized individuals and groups who think this shit is fun stuff and they’re going to be rewarded in their version of heaven.

Again, YOU are not the problem. Which means YOU are not the solution. No matter how “kind” you are, YOU are not going to fix the world.

So stop already. Stop feeling guilty and stressed because you don’t think you’re “kind” enough.