Dear Readers, Passion. Passion. Passion. I know that I have not been honest with myself. How many of us actually admit that we have issues? My issues are ones that I make up myself. Your issues are probably as negative as mine. How we may differ is that when I take a mental break I try to make sure I clock back in, in a timely manner. It is like being late from lunch. Even though you are only a few minutes late, you are still late! The guilt may last for an hour. Your coworkers may look at you as though you came back from lunch with mustard on your shirt. Your boss has the “silly rabbit you are late” look on her face.
You are thinking that you were not that late, it was only a few minutes. Your boss is thinking about the minutes you should have given to them and how over the year they add up. They pay you well and make sure that you have all of the tools you need and you still clock in late. You would be very upset if you lost your job over a few minutes but you are still late. You did not have a circumstance, a reason or even an idea why you were late. It is what it is.
Not a very good excuse. So I am going to be honest with myself and you and tell you that I have been wrapped up with other things for the past year and I have not been writing much because I was being selfish. I checked out and did not check back in on time. The best thing that you can always do for yourself is to be honest.
I could have a million excuses… and I do but I will only tell you about a few. I had to remove negative people from my life (fire them). My truck was stolen from my driveway (keep your cool). My dog Sissy who was almost 17 years old passed away. I knew it was coming but I did not realize it was going to be this hard (keep moving). By the time you read this, it will be a month since Sissy has passed.
My truck was fortunately found in two days with minimal damage and I decided to keep it moving. Each time I felt vulnerability creeping up my back, I had to shake it off. I was not upset about the truck. It was about 7:00 am in the morning and I went outside to get something out of the truck and it was gone. Disbelief and shock washed over me like an old umbrella being used to shelter one from a tornado. I walked around my house and sure enough my truck was gone.
Miraculously, I was not upset. I looked at my hands and realized that I had my fingers and looked at my feet and realized that I was in my socks. I ran inside and called the police. I posted to facebook about my situation, license plate number, make and model. I had half of Lansing looking for “Betsy”. My friends helped me get around for two days. I was able to file the paperwork with the State of Michigan for our non-profit, The New Citizens Press Community Action Network (TNCP CAN). I had no pressing issues and decided that I was healthy and so was my family so I felt blessed. I always try to find the good in situations only because bad emotions only bring bad results. Besides imagine what I would not have been able to accomplish if I would have given in to negativity.
Giving in to negativity is another thing that I refuse to do. Please note that bosses are people too. Volunteers are people too. When people do things for you be grateful. Please do not act like they owe you more. If someone decides that they don’t want to be your best friend any longer, it is not the end of the world. It may actually be the beginning of something new. Friends need to understand that when too much is given and a little is returned that is not a true friendship. I am not sure what it is to you but to me you are being used. Assess your life accordingly! Let us keep it moving. So fire your so called friends who call you and have nothing good to say. Loyalty has no relation to integrity. Dogs are loyal even if you mistreat them because they cannot speak and really have no where else to go. Be humane to yourself and do not under any circumstances allow anyone to pull you around on a leash. Start determining what makes you happy.
I miss Sissy. I did not think that I would as much as I do. My children were absolutely devastated. My husband was as well. I thank everyone who sent words of comfort especially my Chrome Cat friends (I miss them).
I checked out. I do not have a good reason. I promise to do better job. Sissy’s death has made me realize that things change. The flowers that were on her memorial table have died and the card that was made by the children is no longer standing. Tomorrow a friend will be coming by to pick up her crate and her doghouse that she hardly used. I wanted to make sure that her things went to a good home.
No matter what is going on in your life make sure you check back in. There are people, places and things waiting for you to impact them.
Love people,
Rina Risper
SAVE THE DATE: Keep the P.E.A.C.E. / Stop the Silence MARCH, April 28th, 2012, we will be meeting at Foster Community Center at 12:00 pm we will be bused to Custer and Jerome and march back to Foster Community Center. We will pass Kentucky Fried Chicken where a recent murder took place. The march will begin at 1:00 pm by where Amaia Edmond was murdered in 2010. I will be getting the press release out early next week and creating a FB page for the Keep the P.E.A.C.E. / Stop the Silence campaign. We are hoping that we get a lot of folks out. Please tell friends…
This was printed in the April 22, 2012 – May 5, 2012 Edition
