Open your eyes, pay attention, be the change

There was a time when people cared in this country. About a lot of things.

They cared about the state of the nation, the state of the world, their fellow man, creatures great and small.

They discussed, dissected and immersed themselves in a lot of weighty, important issues, ultimately for the betterment of the planet.

Can the same be said today? Do we care? Do we listen? Are we paying attention to the world around us?

Look around today; the signs are all over the place, like indelible images of grave concern seared into the subconscious, taking up prime real estate in the conscious.

The Ukraine. The Koch Brothers. George Soros. The NSA and Ed Snowden. Barack Hussein Obama. Trans fat. Transsexual bathrooms. Legalized marijuana. Legalized gay marriage. Do you know what it all means in your life? I sure as hell know what it means in mine.

If you’ve already stopped reading, you’re part of the problem. If you’re still with me, you just might be part of the solution, although the jury’s still out, frankly.

There simply is no time in history more important than the present one, and to walk around in an intentional fog, unaware is unconscionable. Yet to claim ignorance is downright sinful, an injustice to the sentient beings we are.

Listen, don’t give up, because the payoff is big. The winners know that the fruits take work. And by winners, I mean the righteous of heart, soul and mind.

The ignorant, well, what do they stand to gain from hanging around. Stop here. Have a Twinkie. Lapse into a diabetic couch coma. Check out, just like you’ve always done, in line with how you’ve already been living your life.

Unaware. Completely freaking unaware.

That’s not me, man. That’s not my family, or my friends, or anyone I know. That’s your deal.

This week is about us. It’s about you. It’s about our families and our friends. This week is about taking back the night, making those changes in our life and assuming responsibility for yourself, your fellow man, everything around you. Doing the bare minimum is not going to cut it anymore; it won’t be tolerated.

Please, help me celebrate National Awareness Awareness Week. The cause is just. The goal is vast, all-encompassing, enlightening in a way many of you may never have known before.

The methods, they are pretty typical; some might even say ineffective, what with simply saying something gets a week and that makes it important. Well, yeah, that’s how it works sometimes.

On National Awareness Awareness Week, we rally against the man, call our brothers in arms to become foot soldiers in the movement, bring attention to the issues to the level that they deserve.

On National Awareness Awareness Week, what you thought was a life lived in the light is no more. You’ll see, it was darkness all along. I mean, really, how can you ever go back to knowing nothing, caring about nothing, looking at the world through your filter when you’ve been made aware of everything?

The people that thought this was just a bunch of drivel; they’re gone. They hit the eject button 300 words ago. In reality, though, they hit the eject button to their existence the minute they ignored everything happening right in front of them.

We don’t need them. We need you. The world needs you. It’s people like you, like us, my friends, that make National Awareness Awareness Day so important, so fundamentally vital to the continuation of the species.

Don’t you feel like you’ve just been let in on a secret? You’re aware, friends. You’ve been made aware.

This column first appeared in the Imperial Valley Press, March 7, 2014.