Lightly Stepping

"It's not worth it. Walk away. Reject the yoke." said a disgusted voice in my head.

"I permanently and irrevocably absolve myself of this burden." proclaimed another voice in kingly tone.

"Yeah, right." said the voice that knows better through a sneer.

"Consider this my resignation from carrying the weight of the world." said the primary voice. All in unison, repeat that sentence. Burn it into long-term memory. Write it on your forehead. Take it to the bank. Type it into the register and publish it for all to read.

"Dear Society,

I resign. No longer will my mind carry the burdens imposed by your troubles and the yoke of responsibility for solving the problems of this failing society.

Sincerely,

Thomas"

No longer am I responsible for the troubles of society. No longer will I accept stress induced by holding myself responsible for reaching the masses and changing the world for the betterment of all. Your problems are not part of my job description. This is my personal proclamation of emotional freedom.

It's theirs now. Someone else. Anyone else. Everyone else.

The weight of the world is no longer mine!

The solutions have been presented many times. They can take the advice or not. I wish they would. Regardless, I'm done. Finished. Over it. Taking my leave of the nonsense of this society and those minimally modified Pan troglodytes. Out the door. On the road. Off the hook. Gone.

I ... AM ... DONE ... HERE!

The constant activity of multiple tracks in my mind driven to solve every problem of which I am aware is exhausting and distracting. My real life and my health must take precedence. Those problems are not mine to solve. Well, except...

"No! Don't go there!"

"Well, except..." is not allowed.

"Except for the things that they do which affect my life, my health, the environment upon which all life, including me, depends. The things they do that negatively affect everything. Their materialism. Their obsession with excess. Their addictions. Their laziness and affection for "convenience". Their weaknesses. Their lack of discipline. Their lack of caring about anything beyond themselves. Their refusal to accept responsibility. Their destructive lifestyles. Their poor choices. Their worship of dollars and lack of sense."

"Yeah, all that and more. You can't solve any of that, dude."

Repeat as often as necessary until you get it: "I need to concentrate on my choices and my life. I need to concentrate on myself for myself. Everything else ... anything else ... is gravy."

"Agreed. Moving on. Thank you."

Write about it. That I can do. I can eviscerate them in print. Fuel for more short stories and poems. That it can be.

You can sweet-talk them. You can converse with them about important things. However, you cannot make them take positive actions regardless of how simple and how obviously effective each change may be.

They nod and agree and repeat words and swear to be on board. Then, they fail to act. Time after time after time after time.

Failure to act.

Failure to take positive action.

Failure to save themselves.

They fail to do what's best for their own good, for the good of their children, for the good of their pets, and for the good of their own households.

They have been shown them the formula for a simple, content, low-stress life. The fault is theirs. Not mine.

I once told my father that I'd solved all the world's problems except one.

Which one? The one I've been yammering about for a few hundred words.

The one that involves reaching people and convincing them to make the positive changes necessary to improve their own lives and create a peaceful, collaborative, sustainable, technologically advanced society on a healing planet.

The solutions to most of the problems people face every day are simple.

"NO" is a valid answer.

Remember this when you have the urge to go into debt.

Remember this when you are asked to do something.

Remember this when you are ill.

Remember this when you are exhausted.

Remember this when you need time to be alone.

Remember this when you simply need time to relax.

The solutions to national and global problems aren't really very complex, either. Many of them would become moot points if people simply lived healthy, simple lives. Minimalism and Stoicism can do one a lot of good.

Awakening at 3 am on a regular basis to find part of my mind writing yet another long speech about the solutions to individual, local, national, and global problems that will never be heard or heeded cannot continue to be part of my normal schedule.

Daydreaming about finding myself in the White House and succeeding in changing the world for the better via setting a better example and talking frankly and pragmatically with the people also needs to stop.

All the details. All the generalities. All the options. All the stress.

Nope, not for me. Not any longer. Not today. Not tomorrow.

"Dear Society,

The weight of the world is no longer mine to bear.

You can have it.

Effective immediately, I resign.

Sincerely,

Thomas"