Maybe it’s something as simple as the position of the sun. Or, whatever orb is responsible for illuminating our firmament around these parts anymore. I’ve learned to question everything, of late, and the legitimacy of the physical world which we’ve taken for granted over the past century or so also lands at the feet of the speculative unknown. Let alone what’s worthy — what’s real, for God’s sake?

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But, for whatever cause, there’s a pronounced dreariness in the atmosphere. We’re forced to listen to candidates for the highest office in our land remind us of partisan deadlock and incipient corruption. Our Commonwealth is in chaos. Our local school district teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. Our regional cultural institution caves to the aesthetically vacant and self-serving monied, promising to destroy instead of preserve. Our community water supply joins the burgeoning list of the lead contaminated. Our regional sick take dutiful trips to the local treatment center to receive their poison, courtesy the insidious medical industrial complex. Half of our formerly employed wonder where their next paycheck will come from. And, another winter storm warning promises the threat of total social shut down, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

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The only solution seems to be to move toward minimalism. Get small. Pull in. Seek the kernels, the seeds, the gems. Look within.

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When we were children, curling up on a comfy sofa or the middle of our own bed with a really good book was one of life’s singular pleasures. Having a simple sandwich. Listening to a beautiful song – maybe even singing one. Taking a walk past nearby trees, untouched by any greater agenda than to keep on growing. This, to an adult looking back, a symbolic image of living within our means. And, back then, many of us were happy to do just that.

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I write this to remind myself. When did all the ugliness descend? How many years had we already wasted, fretting over things outside of the realm of our own influence? We can begin every morning, each recreating our own parameters for complete freedom. Deciding to do so will make all the difference between submitting to the oppressiveness that surrounds us, and having one, singular sunny day.

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© Ruth Ann Scanzillo  2/12/16  All rights those of the author. Sharing permitted by ReBlogging, or via written request. Thank you.