Here's me just before Christmas 2013

I have to back away from the middle east, since it is beginning to make me ….what is the word?? ah yes …insane. I am also backing away from US and Canadian politics and even to some extent local politics, and instead I'm painting pretty pictures, feeding the birds, teaching little art classes, making nice with the neighbors, and making toys for my grandbabies. I also drink and do a few drugs. Yes, perhaps I am metaphorically playing my fiddle while Rome burns. But deep down I believe the only real way to effect change is to enjoy life and hope it catches on…..Oh, and being a bit simple minded seems to help.  When I think about it, I've always felt like this, it is likely chronic and possibly incurable. 

The foundation for all the "newsworthy" world events seems to have very little to do with "Loving thy neighbor" so misguided by fear and hatred and good ol' greed, that any opinions I generate all appear naive and out of touch. Yet I remain solidly in the Love thy Neighbor camp. 

My hope is in a several hundred year shift of thought and reason….I am engaged, my kids are engaged, and people I spend time with are (for the most part) engaged. It's likely to get messy which is all the more reason to keep creating a toe hold of what's most valuable to us.

I find this clip very encouraging:
http://www.upworthy.com/if-you-thought-someone-couldnt-explain-empathy-with-a-dry-erase-marker-youre-wrong