A Christmas First and a Message

This is a first for my family, hanging out in the mountains of southern Alberta. Good food, a fire pit, a BBQ and lots to do and some quality time with my parents and siblings, this is going to be a very memorable Christmas indeed. I can't really explain it but I feel at home in the mountains. I feel peace and a sense of being fully grounded here. Thinking clearly and sorting out a mindset and direction comes easy for me here. Whatever it is and why will always remain a mystery but one thing's for sure, I am truly grateful to be able to take the time from work and enjoy it with my family.

There are a lot of people in this country and province that won't have such a place to go. There are some that have no home, nothing to eat, and no one to be with. There are the working people that are still living in poverty. People that work themselves to exhaustion with a job that will be lucky enough to buy a descent Christmas meal. Let alone have the means to go visit their family. There are elders, children, and teenagers that will have nothing to share, no joy and no love to share or feel. How can this be in this day and age. How can you have a job and still not be able to make ends meet. I have seen much of the homeless. I have seen poverty levels in several areas throughout North America, and it is not something I would wish on anyone. Sure, you could say that's just the way it is. You could say they are simply addicts that couldn't control themselves. You could also say they are complete nut jobs and are of no use anyway.
 This sort of mindset is what makes us all ignorant to reality. It's all good as long as you are not suffering. To the ignorant, addiction is a disease, not a choice, Whether we want to admit it or not, in one way or another we are all addicted to something, and every single one of us has a mental disability of some sort. We have just been lucky or have been given the opportunity to better ourselves and stuck with it, or we are living in a state of denial that will catch you at some point.

This is why one should practice the mentality of being grateful and putting our awareness towards others and our social issues as a priority. We don't need to buy things constanly thinking this is how it is supposed to be and that is more important. If we weren't so busy staring at a phone, playing with gadgets and over consumption on stupid things you don't need, it wouldn't be so hard to pull our heads out of the sand. If we spent even a fraction of our time volunteering to help others and holding those that control it all accountable as a society, we as a whole, could make a difference. The common phrases such as "Well there is nothing you can do, so why bother" or " That's too bad, but they made their choice" would be a thing of the past. To all the less fortunate, to all the addicts, mentally ill, to the starving, the homeless, and victims of abuse, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wish that someday soon we will all get over ourselves and do something about it instead of standing around waiting for something to happen. As it appears, they couldn't care less and unfortunately we are right there with them.