Happiness is Nice

I am the luckiest man in the world, my life is brimming with beauty and love and richness, I have all a man could want and then more. I truly do feel blessed beyond compare.

BUT

I also believe that any sane human being who sees the world as it truly is has to acknowledge the darkness. For some reason, I need to write all the shitty stuff down, like mental vomit, so I can move on and enjoy the good. I also need to catalog the sad and horrible truths of this world so I can continue to fight to improve the way this world is moving, in my own little way.

So here is a catalog of all that is wonderful in my life and all that is horrible in the world. I think any person faced with so much overwhelming advantage and privilege has to want to level the playing field, even the scales, and share the wealth. Any other response can only be called greed, avarice, or insanity.

SO

Here's what I have going for me:

Beautiful, amazing children

A gorgeous and loving wife

A new dream house in the forest

A job that pays well and that I enjoy

Some really nice friends

An extended family that is involved in my life

A community of interesting and engaged fellow parents

A recording studio in Dumbo, filled with all kinds of great instruments

A pretty cool music career and some great musical collaborators

A Vespa GTS 300

A VW Passat wagon

And on and on and on…

HOWEVER

Here are the shitty parts of life that keep me up at night. The darkness makes the light worth seeing. The darkness gives hue and heft to the light.

War in Africa

War in the middle east

War in Ukraine

Ongoing slavery all over the world

Disease

Famine and starvation

The mistreatment of children

The unneeded abuse of animals

Factory farming

Crappy drivers

People who litter

People who turn on the air conditioner at the same time as the heat (believe me, this happens every day in the event space I work in)

Guns and hunting

The NRA

Republicans

People who waste food

Religion