Starting over at 60 blog
A few months ago, I received an award badge from my blog platform. It was called “world domination” and represented the achievement of people from 150 countries reading my blog. “Really?,” I thought. It’s true. People from 150 countries have read my blog. Thousands of people read every blog I put out. I am humbled and astounded by such metrics. I must be doing something right.
One of my talents— or foolishnesses depending on your viewpoint— is self-exposure. It’s not scintillating or titillating. I simply show my underbelly like a well-fed croc seeking tummy scratches. Telling my “secrets” to an unknown global audience releases the built up carbon monoxide of holding them in. It holds my disconnected mind in its rightful cage and reconnects the synaptic impulses to my body. I’m suddenly a whole me.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I also insist on speaking out. I refuse to stay silent while fellow Americans and immigrants suffer from unfair imprisonment, hunger, poverty and violence. The America I celebrate challenges racism and sexism and seeks a country better for all rather than only for an elite class. I will fight the current authoritarian regime until they no longer sit in our country’s highest offices.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I continue to challenge myself and others. I ruthlessly root out logical fallacies and lazy thinking. I support an educated America in which people know how to vote in their own interests rather than the interests of the politicians who lie to them.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I share my stories because I believe one life— imperfect as it is— can influence other lives. We are a social species. We learn through observation and self-examination. I ruthlessly assess myself and, in doing so, hope to model this behavior for others.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I will fight the ruling class until I’m too old to fight more. America should not be run by selfish billionaires who pay to influence our country’s direction in their advantage. I will challenge the naïveté of Americans who think billionaires are self made rather than acknowledging the ideas they’ve stolen, money they’ve thieved and bodies they’ve trampled.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I will wrestle against malignant capitalism which prioritizes corporate wealth over human welfare. Rights of Americans have been systematically and systemically dismantled to privilege wealth, men and whiteness. This is not my America.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
I will battle for women’s rights until I die. My daughters live in a country less free than the one I grew up with. Women are dying because they lack the basic freedom to control their own bodies, voices and choices. We will not go back. We have come too far.
Perhaps this is my appeal.
On this 250th birthday of America, I send my words out to the world, to the 150 countries where people have found my message. I celebrate humanity, love, freedom and human rights. Join me. We will create a better planet for all.
This is my appeal.
