There is no such thing as the boogeyman

What happens when we no longer trust each other? Become suspicious of each other? Fear each other? And no longer feel we can work together?

What happens when we close doors on each other and refuse to open them even when we are bleeding to death? What happens when we lose hope? When we feel there is nothing left?

These are feelings and sentiments I saw and heard first hand recently. And I have to say it is worrying. We are losing connection with each other. Becoming isolated from each other. Blaming others, “them” for what is happening to us. The strange thing is none of us can say who the” them” is that is causing us such angst. None of us can identify what it is “they” are doing to us.

 There are a handful of people willing to stand up and be accounted for. A handful of people who are willing to step out of life’s mediocrity and raise their hands to stem the flow of blood. But in general it is hard to hear their voices over the rising tide of apathy, indifference and cynicism.

It takes a brave person to stand before his or her peers and speak. To let his voice be heard. To express what she is feeling. And the reason it does is because we have become so judgmental. So afraid. So cynical that we are not willing to stand out. Instead we hide safely in the background taking swipes at those who dare to want to effect change.

The only way we will ever effect change is to be the change we want to see. To embody the passion rather than the suspicion that will help us to move out of the place we have become stuck in. Entrenched in.

We need to stop trying to take big bold steps and start out small. One step at a time until we gain the confidence again to stride and to stride with our heads held high. Full of purpose and dignity. Full of pride and honour. Too many of us are allowing outside forces to confine us. Define us. When it is really up to us to define who we are and what we want.

As long as we keep believing there is a boogeyman out there who is keeping us down, we will always be down. We will always find doors slamming in our faces. As a matter of fact we may not even realize there is a door that could be opened for us because we are so busy hiding from the boogeyman. A figment of our imaginations. A figment created to instill fear in our minds.

The only way we will begin to trust, to become less suspicious, to not fear and to work together will be when we finally stand up and confront the “them”. The boogeyman.  When we recognize the only boogeyman that exists is the one we create inside. There is no such thing as a boogeyman.  The boogeyman was created as a childhood nemesis to keep us in our places. To make us fear the unknown. To make us fear venturing outside our comfort zones.

We now have to shake the boogeyman in order to free ourselves from the apathy that is spreading like a virus through our communities in order to see there is a door. In order to have the hope that we can open that door and fling it open to once again accept and understand we are deserving of the abundance and the possibility that is so readily available to us all. Not just to “them”. But to us all.

In order to effect change we have to be the change we want to see. Remembering always there is no such thing as a boogeyman except for the one we create for ourselves. Shake that childhood figure of our imagination out of our heads so we can enjoy all that is meant for us. We deserve it. WE are worthy.