We are “their” arena.

We are the gladiators entertaining them

Photo by Kevin Olson - Unsplash

At the risk of pissing someone off, I’m going to live my life.

I’m going to try and wake up every day and find some thing that brings me joy, even as the world burns around me.

I’ve noticed a lot of posts, guilting and shaming anyone who feels any happiness right now, because of what’s going on in Palestine, the Ukraine, Haiti…

All of this is fucking horrific.

But shaming everyday people into feeling guilty, because they found a tiny piece of happiness in their own life, in this moment is not going to solve the problem.

It won’t end the horrors that are happening right now.

It will probably make them worse.

The reality is, most of the world’s population is suffering in some way. They may not be currently experiencing the type of appalling and atrocious slaughter happening in many of the places I mentioned, but many people are suffering, a slow and torturous death.

People are losing their homes, people are losing their jobs, people can’t pay their medical bills, people can barely buy food.

Everything they once knew to be true, and health sacred and work their entire lives for is disappearing, like a rabbit in a hat they once thought they owned.

And it’s about to get worse.

I’m not usually a dark and doomsday prophet. I’m an eternal optimist, much to the chagrin of my children most of the time.

But times are dark, for everyone and the “they” would like us to battle each other, giggle with delight, when we attack and shame the less than who are simply simply smiling because today something went their way.

Guess what… When we get angry at someone who finds joy in the small things, we aren’t paying attention to “them” or their brutal shenanigans.

We play their game, in the arena they built for us.

Until we realize that we are a bit pawns in their battle, inconsequential collateral damage. In a war, they use toamuse themselves, since there’s no longer fights to the death in the arena.

We are “their” arena.

While “they” choke on the pits of fresh peaches and plums, we shame each other, blame each other, and slaughter each other for the tiny bits of flesh that fall from their mouths.

A small pittance received for the sacrifice we give in order to fight their battles.

We must stop attacking each other. And we must join hands in a battle against those that would feast on our livers, forcing women to continue to birth, more flash for them to devour.

It’s time for a revolution. They would have us kill each other because there is an endless supply of us and very little of them.

It doesn’t have to be violent or blood, one day of silence, one day of not spending a penny, one day of saying no, in a unified manner, which scare that tiny circle of men into oblivion.

Do we have the courage to come out from behind our keyboards? Do we have the courage to stop attacking each other and stand up to them?

The eternal optimist says yes.