It’s hard to believe how 2026 has sped up so fast, and April flowers are just waiting for May showers ahead. Praying that it’s just a gentle rain and not a tornado ripping our homes apart!
So far this year, my native landscape has delighted me by performing just as I hoped. The ice had barely melted before the daffodils began popping up and within 10 days, the bulbs I’d separated a few years ago resembled the arboretum. Or so I thought.
But finally the deathly looking limbs of trees, gaunt and bent, began to fluff up with tiny greenery. Some way too forcibly, I noticed. A little pruning is needed before a few limbs brushing the roof of my car collapse and block the driveway.
But this is spring and why we’re glad to see it. Mother Nature is having her way with us. We better hop on it.
The bright yellow faces slowly went back to sleep and gave way to the irises and their sturdy purple (mostly) blooms on tall stalks. Just in the last week, the vivid yellow irises waved, “Hey, don’t forget me. Lookie here!”
And then arrived Easter - and Passover - and other religions’ seasonal celebrations, whether coloring eggs or dumping festive powder around as Hindus greet the season.
So with all this goodness to feast our eyes upon, why on earth do humans so often act blinded by what they refuse to see? The weeds, so to speak. Either pull ‘em, dig ‘em or stomp those suckers flat. Git ‘em outta my yard!
Why aren’t normal humans reacting like that to the political surroundings that have washed over the world like a tsunami?
Some positive changes are happening - by schools and educators restricting the evil effects of social media on our children. Pushing back on phones in schoolrooms and AI overtaking our lives was needed and overdue but the damage has already been done.
Yet why don’t the adults in the room notice the other negative effects politicians are having on our quality of life? Like foul-mouthed verbiage erupting like volcanoes in every sentence?
Or our alleged statesmen swearing like sailors staggering off the gangplank when the ship has docked?
It doesn’t take a litany of four- and six-letter words to convey one’s unhappiness at any situation, nor is that a pretty sight for anyone to see on television or from congressmen.
Many of our mamas had a bar of soap standing by ready to scrub if they heard their kid - or any other - talking like that.
Citizens can’t easily do that, but they definitely can support those candidates who explain how they can help change the temperature in the room, not how they intend to blow up the world.
Or throw innocents into jail or out of the country for some paltry reason. We are all immigrants in one way or other, and human respect has been baked into our bones long ago.
Bad behavior spreads like lice on a kids’ scalp. And the visual effects of that are oh-so-evident. COVID shut down the world for a few years, and this epidemic of malevolence is doing the same thing for civility, diplomacy and world peace.
Not all Americans have lost their sense of decency or awe. A month or so ago, a group of Texas Buddhists walked from Arlington, Texas to Washington, D.C. and drew crowds of supporters for their commitment to peace.
Thousands of Americans have held peaceful “NO KINGS” rallies nationwide, trying to demand their elected representatives act on behalf of the Constitution.
And just last week, NASA successfully sent four astronauts in the Artemis II through space to circle the moon and return successfully. The world was in awe of this flight.
The visual effects of all these brought goosebumps and pure joy to me and millions of others.
In a brief two weeks, Texans will have another chance with the run-offs to choose individuals to run in the November 2026 mid-year elections. If the previous representatives set you up to face the current pitfalls of war, inflation, voting restrictions and inequity of all kinds, please remember that and take yourself to the polls to vote.
It will bring joy to many to see the percentage of committed citizens rise above the paltry single-digit figures of previous years. It could bring change.
If you’re mad, then go vote!
Source: Freepik.com