There seems to be a lot of corruption in the world, at present. Every time we open up the “virtual” newspaper, on our phones, or tablets, or computers, we see the headlines running rampant. It is one wave after the next. Story after story.
This morning, I read the account about the 2 Navy Seals who killed the Green Beret, because the guy found out they were stealing money. Logan Melgar was his name. Killed by asphyxiation. Apparently, the other two soldiers were stealing money from a fund which was supposed to be used to pay informants. Melgar found out. They offered him a cut. He said no. They killed him.
Corruption.
As a word, it generally means that some sort of conduct is dishonest or fraudulent. Typically this occurs by those in power. Often times it includes the act of bribery.
Bad to the bone. Dishonesty, double-dealing, fraud. Misconduct in the very worst way.
Today is the anniversary of Karen Silkwood’s death, her very suspicious-car-crash-death, which occurred in 1974. She worked at Plutonium Plant, in Oklahoma City. Karen found out the company (Kerr-McGee Corporation) wasn’t practicing the best safety and health procedures. She sort of raised a stink about it, and wanted them to fix these things. Well, then. Someone started planting radioactive material in her home, her clothes, her car. It was making her terribly sick. And not long after that, she was run off the road in her car. Karen was found dead, in that car, with a huge amount of barbiturates in her stomach.
Depravity, debauchery, misconduct, crime, and venality.
Around every corner, and sweeping headline we see it. Sexual assault, political misconduct, election fraud, theft, mass shootings, lying, cheating. You name it, we got it.
One of the lessons, I keep hearing over and over in my life, is about control. We as humans certainly do affect the things in our own lives, ALL the time. But when it comes right down to it… truly…. we have no control over outcomes, destinations, situations, or other people. The only thing we can control is our reaction, our responses, our behaviors, to the world around us.
Ilene Gembala. She is a 94-year-old woman who lives in Bigfork, Montana. In an “Assisted Care” facility. One morning recently, she said to one of the staff members that she wanted to make a Snow Angel. Ilene is wheelchair bound and pretty immobile. But that staff person enlisted others, and they figured out the logistics of the request. They rolled Ilene outside, laid her on the ground, and let her make Snow Angels, right there, in that Montana snow. And it made that 94-year-old woman happy, beyond words.
I don’t know what the answers are, to all the things that are going wrong in our world. The corruption. But I do think this. The smallest acts of kindness can change the world. I am sure of it. The littlest gift of care and consideration changes all course of events. It is all connected. Maybe today, we can actually be an Angel in someone’s life. And cause happiness, beyond words. It will grow from that point forward.
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“Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
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“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with joy are goodness, beauty, and truth.”
― Albert Einstein
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“Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer
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