Author: Sharron Burnett

I generally write my blogs many weeks in advance. On the day that I wrote this essay it was the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and much of the United States was in a state of deep freeze. I can’t seem to think of anything or anyone on MLK day but the great man who became a powerful voice of the Civil Rights movement. He was and always will be a hero to me. I cry with the same emotions of remembrance and gratitude for him that I feel for Abraham Lincoln and more personally for my parents, family members and beloved friends who had such great influence in forming me as the person that I am. 

My heroes are not perfect. Even Jesus had his moments of anger and doubt. So too did Dr. King, but that is what makes his life even more incredible. It is in overcoming our shortcomings to achieve a personal goal or to live a meaningful life that the measure of our character is most visible. Dr. King had a gift for speaking on behalf of people whose suffering defines some of the darkest sins of our nation. He spoke with resolve with his mesmerizing voice and brilliantly chosen words. He was a spiritual man, a minister who somehow understood that each of us is called to use the talents that we have for the betterment of humankind. In spite of moments of doubt and even fear he persisted in reminding us over and over again of our duty to live in peace and love together.

I sometimes wonder what Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln would think of how we continue to quibble and fight with each other in today’s world. They both longed for harmony and peace on this earth but understood that there could be no equivocation or compromise when it came to defending the rights of each individual to live a life of dignity and freedom. Such insistence on being moral often lead critics to point out their flaw, using them as weapons to undermine their messages. So it often is with heroes who place their reputations and even their lives on the line in a quest to do what they believe is right. 

Because heroes are not gods even the ancient Greeks understood that they would at times fail miserably. The measure of courage and moral fortitude of any person should be taken in the most challenging moments when they choose to take the righteous path in spite of their own human failings. Such incredible individuals are the kind of people who rise to a momentous occasion just when they are needed. A true hero may be the principal of a high school who risks his life attempting to save his students during a school shooting. We might see incredible bravery from a young girl who stands up to her peers and challenges them to do the right thing in a scandalous situation. We always remember the neighbor who uses his fishing boat to rescue strangers from the rising waters of a flood. We honor the young man who loses his life defending a woman being beaten by her abusive partner. 

Heroes abound among us and in most cases they are as imperfect as any one of us, but in a critical moment they find the courage to face danger. Something inside of their very souls compels them to overcome their fears even if it means dodging both literal and figurative bullets. While others turn away or even hide, they step forward to remind us that greatness and goodness stills abounds among us. 

Heroes are not always understood or celebrated. They confront truths that we sometimes do not want to see or hear. They risk their reputations and their lives when they choose to step forward, especially if their actions or words are controversial. It is a quirk of our natures not to want to hear unpleasant truths. We would rather poke fun at the young girl who warns us about the perils of climate change. We accuse a young man advocating for gun control after a mass shooting in his school of being an out of touch coward. We tend to feel uncomfortable with people who note that “the emperor has no clothes.” We prefer instead to ignore or even defend faulty thinking that hurts vast swathes of people. 

The heroes of fairytales and fables were created as a way of teaching children how to be moral adults. The parables and teachings of Jesus were meant to show us how we should live with one another. Still, we have to be careful not to idolize false heroes who also lurk among us. If we watch them closely we will see and hear the evidence that their showboating is not for the purpose of helping anyone but themselves. Such fakers are also part of our history. They are the antithesis of a true hero because their causes are meant to limit rather than to expand the possibilities and freedoms of all people. They pretend to be heroes only to enrich themselves. 

So today as I write I am feeling quite pensive. i remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and share his dream of a world in which we no longer draw conclusions about people based on shallow estimates of their worth. Each of us is wonderful and special and so much more than the color of our skin or the place where we were born. We can and should rise above our imperfections and find the spark of heroism that lies inside of our souls. The time will surely come when we need to use our courage for the true betterment of someone’s life. Each of us can become a hero as long as we answer the call in the moment when we are needed.     

Most of us prefer to be able to plan the direction of our lives. We keep calendars to remind us of appointments and important events. We have a tendency to follow routines during the day although the exact timing of what we do will vary from person to person. It simply feels better when we are able to anticipate what we will be doing in a year, a month, a week, a day, in the next hour. Unfortunately all of us have encountered sudden dramatic changes in our lives that jolt us from our comfort. We know all too well that uncertainty is a certainty in life. Adapting to sudden interruptions of the way we normally do things tends to shake our confidence and may even send us into a funk. 

The past many years have been filled with the unexpected. If anyone had warned us that the two tallest buildings in New York City would fall from a terrrorist attack we might have laughed at the ridiculousness of such hyperbole. We felt confident that our children were safe when we sent them to school until it became apparent that we can’t count on being free from violence anywhere that we go. We tended to believe that worldwide pandemics that have historically wreaked havoc were a thing of the past. The march of Covid 19 across the globe affected our perspectives about the power of microbes. 

We have dealt with the emergencies that have arisen, but we all feel a bit battered and less certain about the future. We may want to think about tragedy tomorrow but wonder if it would be batter to seize the day with concrete plans of action in the event of the next big thing that rocks our world. It’s difficult to know how to live with the realization that we cannot adequately predict what is going to happen from moment to moment. We learn instead how to balance the joy of the here and now with our preparations for whatever our march through life will actually bring. 

Finding balance in how we react during unpredictable times can be daunting. If we worry too much we might tend to isolate ourselves to the point of feeling chronically anxious. If we simple ignore the warnings of dangerous days ahead we may end up in deep trouble with no resources for survival. The wise person takes precautions but then continues living with hope for the best. It’s really all that any of us can ever do. 

I personally have learned that attempting to stay informed about movements and events that affect us all is a good way to remain alert. Because my mother was a single parent she taught me so many life skills that have no doubt protected me from harm. She advised me to never park behind a building but instead to put my car in a place that is visible to the largest number of people. She showed me how to take note of someone following my car and what to do if I suspected that someone had bad intentions. She gave me safety tip after safety tip not to keep me in a state of fear, but to allow me to feel comfortable taking part in all of the enjoyment of life. She pointed out that if we follow a few obvious protective rules we are more unlikely to become the victims of foul play. 

Likewise I learned long ago to keep my car filled with gasoline, to have it maintained and checked on a regular basis. I have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers at the ready that I hope I never have to use. I get annual checkups with my doctors and my dentist. I carry insurance for a number of situations. Most of my safety measures have never been used but they provide me with the peace of mind to live without worry as a constant factor. I truly doubt that horrific things will happen to me but I will hopefully be ready if and when they do. 

I know individuals who have become so obsessed with fear that they take loaded guns wherever they go. They hear a loud bang and instantly believe that they are under siege. They nail their windows shut and won’t leave their homes if it rains or gets cold or is dark. They believe the worst of people and generalize their anxieties to entire populations. They predict war and famine and only see the downside of existence. I often wonder how they even pull themselves from bed each day. It must be incredibly painful to feel that way day in and day out. Sadly there are forces among us that play on their fears, using them to gain power. They paint a picture of the world that is dark and dangerous. They limit the joy of living that almost always outweighs the difficulties. They pound people into a false state of paranoia that leaves them filled with distrust, cynicism and anger. 

I would instead advise everyone to stay abreast of trends in geopolitics, study the changing world, keep up with the news and then embrace life with the kind of common sense caution that my mother advocated. After that it is best for each of us to take full advantage of every opportunity to celebrate the joys that unfold all day long. We can be ready for the worst and may even be surprised by the magnitude of it but worrying about possibilities before they happen should never define the way we live. Seize the day! Enjoy the moment! Be not afraid.

We all know someone who draws our admiration like a beautiful flower whenever he or she enters a room. Often if we are totally objective we see that person as someone with rather ordinary looks who has somehow transformed themselves. They become pleasant to both see and be around. It is as though that individual has been able to transcend all of the worries and flaws that plague most of us and look outward to the needs of the people outside of themselves. 

We all encounter bad situations in our lives. Sometimes our problems become chronic and threaten to steal our joy. We begin to second guess ourselves, wonder if we are to blame for all of our troubles. We play mind games that sap our energy and cause us to only see the mistakes we have made, the failures we have endured, We look in the mirror and see an anxious, weary unattractive person. We compare ourselves to others who appear to live in a chronic state of happiness and good fortune. We become our own worst enemies with our pessimism and self accusations. 

The key to those beautiful souls who seem to embody all of the positive characteristics that we so desire is often a spirt of optimism and self love. They have learned the art of forgiving themselves for life’s mistakes. They literally begin each day with uplifting meditations that may include reading, journaling, praying or even just repeating a few compliments or encouragements to themselves. 

I have a long time friend who has endured more than her fair share of tragedy and suffering but somehow she always makes it through such dark moments. She has a habit of keeping sticky notes nearby and jotting down inspiring quotes, prayers or self affirmations that she posts on the medicine cabinet in her bathroom. They are the first thing she sees each morning and by re-reading them she adjusts her attitude into the positive realm. Even though she has them memorized she keeps them visible lest she forget to message herself with encouragement every single day. 

She is not always a burst of sunshine. Sometimes she cries and wonders aloud why her life has been so tough, but most days she is able to look past the negative and set a smile in her heart that radiates from her face. She is almost childlike in her innocent and nonjudgemental embrace of every person she encounters. In making them feel better, she uplifts herself. Those little scraps of paper are her secret weapon over all of the disturbances that constantly push their way into her world. 

We know our inner selves better than anyone. We all have felt fear and anger and jealousy at one time or another. We soon learn that those kind of emotions are real but also destructive to our wellbeing. They cause us to question every aspect of our existence. They create a never ending circle of negativity unless we do something to break the cycle. The key is to begin the process of deliberately looking for the good that we have done. Self affirmation is not about being a narcissist, but about loving and understanding ourselves. A positive outlook about who we are helps us to move toward improvements in those areas that might need some adjustment. Constantly berating ourselves for past deeds that we cannot change is destructive. Self affirmation builds better character. 

Every single person in the world is searching for meaning, wondering why he or she is in a certain place. We want our lives to have impact and we attempt to find our talents and develop them but that is not always as easy a task as it might sound. We are constantly interrupted by global events, problems at work, family crises, personal tragedies. Our efforts get sidetracked. We ignore our own needs in the hectic pace of living. We begin to dwell on everything that feels wrong about us even second guessing our relationships with others. We forget to exercise our minds with affirmations that make us stronger even in times of crisis. 

Self affirmations can be as simple as looking in the mirror, smiling and saying, “I like you!” They can be reminders that we all make mistakes. They might include meditations in which we inspire ourselves to try, try again. Each person knows what personal aspects of their being is wonderful and what needs some repair. Focusing first on what is good provides the impetus to improve. A caveat should always be that in the history of the world no human has ever been perfect, so we have to learn to forgive the mistakes that we are bound to make. 

As far as we know there is no time travel that would allow us to go back in time to change a moment that did not work out well. It’s up to each of us to somehow move beyond the messes that we have already made. We can learn from them and change from them even as it will be okay to grieve them as long as we do not remain in a rut that leads to self loathing. Be that person who always seems to be the light in the room. Embrace yourself and all that is good about you. Remind yourself what those things are every single day. Then greet the world with the love that begins in your own heart. Those positive thoughts really do make things better.

I collect quotes. I suppose it is the teacher in me. I once had a drawer full of inspiring words to use on bulletin boards that I had to create as part of my job. Of course all of those pithy sayings were non-religious words about working hard or being observant and such things. Lately I’ve found myself keeping quotes that are more in line with spirituality. I won’t be creating any bulletin boards but I do a great deal of meditating, something that I greatly enjoy. I suppose that my age and the knowledge that the end of my time here gets a bit closer with each day has prompted me to think a bit of what I have done and not done that might make me a better person. 

I won’t be taking any money or possessions with me but I would like to think that somehow I will have made a positive impact on the tiny circle of life that is mine. With Easter just being celebrated I stole this jewel from a friend named Will that seemed to encapsulate the teachings of Jesus quite well. “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Such a command seems easy enough but it can be a tall order to actually follow it day after day. We humans have some wonderful traits but also some that make us fall short of the simple command to love. Our anger, jealousy, greed, and hatefulness sometimes get in the way of fulfilling our intent to be good people. Luckily we have many opportunities to sincerely ask for forgiveness and start over again. At my age such opportunities do not seem to be as bountiful as they once were. For that matter given that we never know when the end of our road here on earth will come, we would all do well to set out with determination each day to simply do our best to love one another. 

Another quote that caught my eye and found its way into my collection of wisdom gives an idea of how to do actually see the best rather than the worst in the people we encounter. It tells us to be aware that holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. In other words loving one another sometimes means adjusting our points of view. The woman cleaning the floor where we work should be as important to us as the CEO of the company. The most meager meal is a great gift that feeds us. We should be immensely grateful that we are not going hungry no matter how humble the food may be. We look for miracles in burning bushes rather than seeing that little child laughing and playing as the most wonderful miracle we might ever witness. There are indeed angels all around us willing to help us when we least expect them to lift our burdens. Life is filled with wonder if only we are willing to see. Once we find ourselves noticing the good we ourselves become better.

I have personally had times when I was weary and full of complaints about my lot in life. Sometimes I did not think that I made enough money on my job or that I was as fully appreciated as I should have been. I internally whined and felt sorry for myself instead of looking at the positive aspects of my work that were so evident. That’s why yet another quote that I stumbled upon made me think a bit differently about my own good fortune. The words were quite simple, but powerful,”Your job is the dream of the unemployed…” 

This one smacked me in the stomach. I thought of how lucky I had been in always being employed from the time I was fifteen years old. My bosses and coworkers were kind and helpful. I felt that I was doing something important and while I did not make a fortune I was nonetheless remunerated fairly. The same has been true of every aspect of my life. I have a wonderful house that became a home filled with love. My cars have taken me safely to wherever I needed to go. I’ve had to struggle now and again but everything always turned out okay in the end. I find myself feeling ashamed for ever groaning about my status or income or possessions. I am certain that there are people who would think of my life as a dream. Surely I should be appreciative when I consider how lucky I have been.

Easter is the most profound day of the year. For me it is a holy day that reminds me over and over again of how I should attempt to live my life. The Bible tells me that Jesus died for our sins. There can be no bigger sacrifice than someone laying down his life for others. We are all brothers and sisters with one commandment that should have simplified our relationships with each other. Easter opens my eyes again to remind me of what I must do. I still have time to do my best to get things right. I still have time to love. 

Back in the nineteen nineties, which seem like yesterday and decades ago all at once, a teacher friend warned me about climate change. She was a generally quiet and low key individual so her emotional description of what was coming if we did not change our ways caught my attention even as I silently felt that she was in the throes of an emotional outburst. Contemporaneously one of my sons-in-law began beating the drum of  impending danger with regard to climate as well. Because I was still quite busy with caring for my family and advancing in my career I found such information to be interesting but hardly life changing. Like most people I ignored the signs and kept moving forward with my life. Somehow I did not feel the least bit responsible for the strange weather patterns that seemed to be just another quirk of nature. 

A few years back one of my grandsons who is quite bright and earnest began informing us of his views on what was happening on the earth. He spent much time researching climate and the human impact on it, becoming more and more convinced that natural disasters would be more and more frequent and consequential. He worried that if we did not plan immediately we would one day be caught in a worldwide migration to places that were more comparable with human survival. He spoke of purchasing land in a part of the world that might suffer less than others when the worst began to happen. He felt that having members of of the family live near one another would provide a variety of skills that might become necessary as society broke down. It all sounded a bit like a dystopian science fiction thriller except for the fact that my grandson provided actual facts and showed us trends that were disturbing. Since then I have seen terrible incidents occurring all over the globe.

I have witnessed first hand the changing nature of the seasons. I remember February as a time that was cold day after day even in a southern place like Houston, Texas. As a young girl I walked to school in the proverbial days of freezing. We rarely had snow but winter meant bundling up in heavy coats, wearing hats that covered my ears and donning gloves to keep my hands from becoming too cold. We turned on the heater in our home in November and our Christmases were mostly cold. From January through February we knew that winter was a certainty that sometimes even included snow. 

These days I hardly ever have to use my winter gear beyond a few days here and there. This past February felt more like spring on most days rather than the traditionally coldest month of the year it had been in my youth. We had to cover our plants once this year but mostly spring arrived earlier than ever. The changes are more and more noticeable and I often think of the science minded people who were so insistent that we all had to do something to stem the tide of the damage that had already been done to our earth. 

Over fifty years ago Exxon enlisted the expertise of notable scientists to determine the effect of fossil fuels on our planet. The details that emerged from the research predicted with certainty much of what is happening today, but the mega company chose to fire the researchers and hide the report when they might have been pioneers in changing the way we all live. They literally chose instead to launch a campaign of disinformation that lied about the impact that we humans have on the natural world around us. Those who were like my friend, son-in-law and grandson were made to seem foolish and perhaps a bit hysterical. We all went on ignorantly unaware of the monster at the door.

As I watch millions of acres burning out of control in my home state of Texas I feel regret that I did not pay more attention to the warnings that should have been apparent to anyone with a willingness to consider the evidence. We humans were slowing making our beautiful earth more and more sick. It was so much easier to look away and assume that we would be able to fix any problems with our human ingenuity when the time came to finally react. Sadly, we may have gone too far in our profligate ways to prevent great loss and suffering as dangerous weather events become more and more of a reality. Perhaps we would have been better served to listen to those whose only interest in predicting what might happen had been to help us all. 

The evidence of climate change is all around us and yet it is not the big issue that it should be. If we are worried about human migrations now, we should be even more concerned about how they will look if vast areas of land become uninhabitable. We must understand that sources of water are drying up, making human life in the places they serve less and less likely to be sustained. It is possible that in the coming decades we humans will witness changing dynamics in where and how we are able to exist.

Surely the issues surrounding climate change should be paramount in determining how we live from day to day and whom we choose as our political leaders. Other countries are actively preparing for the difficulties to come while we Americans are mostly stagnant in our efforts. A wave of anti-scientific thinking will be our destruction if we do not join together now to protect our world from ignorance. We can no longer push away the scientific experts and hide the evidence in a vault pretending that all is well. We are in a race against time that should have begun more than fifty years ago. The question is whether or not we are willing to attempt to catch up to where we need to be or if we will wait until disaster is our everyday reality. The fires are burning and we have to do more than just put them out. Will we wake up before it is too late?