Tuesday, January 28, 2014

What Do You Want?

What do you want?  Starting the New Year with such a wide open question can be terrifying and overwhelming.  I've seen this question bring about the most unexpected answers of wishes, regrets, and even tears.  Oddly enough the responses are never things like more money or a bigger house. The human desire to accomplish or leave a mark and the fear that motivates us to do it is far more powerful than material things.  I ask myself this to look at the things I want to change and contemplate why I might be here.

There is a lot of bad news out there.   Things often seem to be falling apart rather than coming together.  However, this does not discourage my resolve.  That is why this question is so important to me.  It reminds me of my ability to rise above the stream of negativity that has become part of the collective consciousness. That negativity can leave me feeling powerless and overwhelmed. My frustration leads me to dig deep and think about the things are truly important to me.  While I don't have control over much of what happens, I do have control over what I do with my response.  I want to put my energy into things that can facilitate real change and create a better balance in how we produce what eat.

In 2013 we saw a strengthening of the commitment of large food conglomerates to control food labeling and the seed supply.   How do we set ourselves up for success against such a powerful opponent?  At this point in our history we are faced with a severe crisis of confidence in government.  The money that continuously flows into the pockets of policy makers can feel like a lead weight to those of us who seek to preserve one of our basic human rights. While I am hesitant to describe the people who think they have a monopoly on nature as evil, the motives of profit and ownership in how we attempt to feed the human race seem clearer than ever.

So this year, what I want is hope as a pragmatic effect and not as an idealistic future.  I see people doing and growing good things around me.  As I put together the pieces of my own puzzle I am discovering how I can take what I am growing, inside and out, to help repair a broken system.  Good change is out there, even if we don't often hear about it.