UNCLE SACK

How Come I'm So Happy?

The planet earth is a tough place to live. Sometimes, it seems like even the elements are conspirin' to make us miserable. One season is too hot and the next too cold. One month is too dry and the next comes a flood. If it ain't a tornado, it's a volcano. If it ain't an earthquake, it's a hurricane, a landslide or a forest fire...

If the sun ain't burnin' your skin, then the rain soaks you to the bone. If the wind ain't blowin' dust in your eyes, then you're freezin' in the ice and snow.

So, how come I'm so happy?

It don't make no sense, but sometimes I'm so happy I cain't help but singin'. A song just busts out of my mouth like a wild bird from a cage. I get so happy it feels like butterflies are dancin' in my brain, ticklin' my fancy with their patchwork wings, flutterin' around my skull like wishes on the verge of comin' true.

Sometimes, when I walk in the woods, I forget about my feet. Gravity gives up on tryin' to hold me down. I feel like I'm floatin’ down the trail with balloons strapped to my belt...balloons like soap bubbles, with rainbows on their surface. At times like that, the air tastes like candy. The breeze is full of angel voices. The warmth of the sun feels like a lover's caress. A grin just jumps onto my face and won't go away.

On the other hand...

This world ain't a very safe place to live. Everythin’ on the globe makes a livin' by eatin' everythin’ else. That's just the way things are. If you're alive, you better watch your back. Seein’ as how humans sit atop the food chain, you'd think we could afford to relax, but that ain't the way most folks figure life is.

It's hard to know who you can trust. It's hard to find a friend. It's hard to know who is tellin’ you the truth and who is just feedin' you a line to get in your wallet or your bed. All over the world, people are cruel to one another. The rich and powerful feed off the weak and powerless. Hatred, prejudice and misunderstandin' lead nations into wars. Reports of crime and violence have become our nightly entertainment.

The streets of our cities are so dangerous that folks barricade themselves in their homes. Angry youngsters roam inner city neighborhoods like wild animals. Ever year, more and more abandoned children end up dead or in prison. More Americans are locked up in penal institutions than citizens of any other nation in the world. Ever year, more of us move to "gated" communities, tryin’ to forget the fact that the walls that keep others out...also lock us in.

So, how come I'm so happy?

Sometimes I’m so proud to be a human bein’ I could shout it from the rooftops. I’ll be walkin’ down the street and see some young lady with a small child. She’ll be so tender, so lovin’...You just know she would die to save her young’n.

Humans have the hearts of lions. Time after time, we put our lives on the line to protect not just our families, but our ideals. No other animal does this. We’ve got a compassion that goes down to the roots of our bein’. We love powerful, and long, and faithful.

We cooperate better than any other large animal. We invented the ideas of law, to establish fairplay and protect the weak, and government, so all our billions can work together toward common ends. We invented the ideas of freedom and human rights to counter-balance the law so that no one is left out, so that every livin’ person can have the opportunity to blossom and grow into his or her own unique self.

We are geniuses of invention, takin’ the substance of the earth around us, and buildin’ great cities, brilliant machines, and roads to the moon and stars.

And yet, we remain simple, authentic animals, guided by the same basic instincts as our animal brothers and sisters. We nurture each other with simple caresses and kind words. Without thinking, we move to protect our young, and show compassion, the glue that holds our society together.

On the other hand...

Our lust and greed has overcome our common sense. We are spoilin' the planet we live on, pollutin' and dammin' all the rivers, overrunnin' the wilderness and burnin' holes in the ozone layer.We act like we have another world to live on when we mess this one up.

We flee from the city to the suburbs, covering more green and fertile land with asphalt and concrete. There are too many of us on this planet, and yet we continue to breed like rabbits.

We put our individual selfish interests ahead of the good of all, livin’ for short-term economic gain instead of a world that works for ever’one.

We treat the other species on this planet like stepchildren, as though they got no right to live, as though they weren’t here long before us, as though they are our possessions. We forget they are equals in the eyes of God, equals with whom we share a common world, and upon which we depend.

In the name of progress, we develop technologies, some of which poison our planet, corrupt our children and degrade the quality of our lives. Then, we use these technologies, despite the consequences, so that a few can gain a short-term financial gain.

So, how come I’m so happy?

Sometimes, I see a young boy with his floppy-eared best friend, or an old woman with a decrepit old cat that she has nursed far past its natural age, or a teenage girl with an old mare she has ridden since childhood, and I see a bond that is unmatched in the animal kingdom. Only humans seek to be good stewards of other species. Only humans even try to put the good of the whole planet first. Only humans can see an Eden where the lion lays down with the lamb.

Science heals our bodies and inspires our minds. Mathmatics and physics uncover the mysteries of the universe in ways that give us the power of Gods.

My heart soars at the majesty of the human spirit when I see great buildings and monuments. Tears come to my eyes when I think about our fine arts, the rainbow of our myriad visions, the power of dreams. When I listen to a great symphony or a simple folk song, my soul stands in awe of the splendor of our musical invention, the mastery of our creation, and the sensitivity of our expression.

Human bein’s are quite simply, the promise of life on this planet.

How can so much good and so much bad exist in one place? I often wonder how I have found such peace in this world of pain. Maybe it ain’t the world we have that makes me happy, but the world we dream of having.

Perhaps it’s not the man I am that makes me so proud, but the man I have the opportunity to be.

Round Top Register - Texas Fun Travel Guide