So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need”

This is my grown up Christmas list! It’s a bit different than that materialistic one! Lol

I think it’s obvious what’s on this list. Most of us probably want the same thing, world peace, the end of wars, starvation, diseases, & everyone getting along well…..we don’t always agree on the best methods of achieving that though or every aspect of it and that’s often where hostile arguments occur, not usually because we disagree on the ultimate thing. 

So I’m not listing every single thing because that’s so much and so much is obvious. Who doesn’t want world peace?! (well except for terrorists and all maybe….?)

Here is my grown up Christmas list for 2013:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/my-grown-up-christmas-list/

And here is my newest one!

Dear Santa,

1.) One of the things I want to end is all forms of bullying in schools, workplaces, cyber-bullying.

This is a serious issue that frequently is overlooked by adults and those who work in schools. It’s not just “kids being kids” and it’s not something that happens to everyone and should be swept under the rug.
Many people say we are all bullied and to just suck it up. No, we are not all bullied. 
Most of us probably have had rude things said or done to us at some point or every now and then. But that is not the same as the kids who are the same targets day after day, being tortured emotionally and/or physically for whatever stupid reason.
And not everyone handles it the same.  
Not everyone can just “suck it up.” Some people have underlying depression or anxiety or psychotic disorders that are brought out by bullying.
And it’s not just an adolescent problem. It happens to adults in the workplace. Can you believe it?! Adults do this to other adults! And it can affect an adult in the same devastating ways it affects children in schools. 
Adults kill themselves too and dread going to work knowing what is coming.
My love & compassion goes to all affected by bullying. Bullies only do this because they are true cowards who feel powerless within themselves so try to make up for it by having power over someone else.  
They choose a target, someone they are jealous of or someone they think appears to be weaker in some way, someone who they feel can’t or won’t come back at them. They feel low about themselves even if they seem confident, so they find someone they see as an easy target. Then other people go along with them so they aren’t the next targets or to feel as part of the group of bullies. They want to fit in. Even adults. 
It’s nothing personal even though it really feels like it and they often say specific things, maybe even true things, about their targets, things they know will likely get to them. But any of us can say cruel things  to and about anyone. We can all have cruel things said to and about us, whether those things are true or not. None of us are perfect in everyone’s eyes.
We can all take any flaw or mistake someone has made and blow it out of proportion and taunt the person day and night, online and in person. It doesn’t mean the person deserves it. It can be done to anyone. I hope you won’t think it is really something about you personally even if what they say is true. 
For someone else, they can choose something else and blow that up, magnifying that person’s flaws like it’s the worst thing in the world. 
It’s not. 
No matter how “perfect” someone appears to be, someone can come along and tear that person to shreds saying true or untrue things. 
They take our weaknesses and flaws and use them against us.
It can happen to anyone. It says nothing about us and says something about how the instigator is choosing to be in that moment.
We can all choose to laugh and smirk and whisper about someone and get others to go along with us to try to make someone feel low. It shows how we are choosing to be, not how the person we are doing that to really is. 
We only lower ourselves when we do that.

Please hold on. You can overcome it even if you can’t feel that now.
And even if one person or many seem to not like you, many people do like you and love you or would if they knew you.
One day on a suicide memorial page for a teenage child who died by suicide instigated  by bullying, I read something I’ll never forget. His mom wrote to all people feeling suicidal and lonely, feeling unlovable, something like “Whoever you are, whatever you do, someone somewhere can love someone just like you.”
It’s so true. We are all desirable to some and not to others. One person or one group of people can make it feel as if the whole world is against us. But it’s never true. 
“You can be greater than anything that can happen to you.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale ❤
❤
And if you're the bully, please get help, it's not too late for you to turn your life around and get better and stop trying to destroy other people. 
Dragging others down will never bring you up. When we try to degrade someone else, we only degrade our own self. 
"We rise by lifting others."

2.) politicians to stop arguing in a negative way and slandering one another and instead attempt to work together whatever side they are on. We can disagree without being vicious. Politicians do a lot of hard work and it takes strength to have a job like that. I love our politicians irrespective of their views. It's not a job for the faint-hearted, for sure! Why not add compassion and wisdom to that strength and determination, even compassion for the "other side." We are One. We are all working or hoping for ultimately the same thing, a better world. We won't accomplish as much good with all the bickering and mocking and anger. Please take your skills and experience and use it for pure good! 😀

3.) people to realize that while anger does fuel us and can give us a backbone, compassion fuels too in an even greater way. Anger can motivate us and anger isn't bad or wrong. When we feel angry about a certain issue we often move to help it, writing to politicians, sharing information, donating money, time,….and this is good. But often while having compassion for one, we have anger for another. For example, if we are for a certain political issue, we may have compassion for those on the side we support but anger and loathing for those on the opposing side and many people think that's a good thing because they say anger motivates us to act. But so does deep compassion. Some people say without anger, we won't act to make things better. Not true. Unless maybe if all someone has inside is anger and it's stripped away. But some anger arises because of the compassion we feel for those wronged. We can work hard for something or someone without anger. When someone hurts our friend or family member, we have compassion for the one hurt and anger for the one who inflicted the pain. But we don't need that anger. It doesn't make us any less passionate or caring if we aren't infuriated by the injustice in the world. We can have much compassion for the one hurt and tend to that person without seeking revenge. Anger can become destructive but compassion and wisdom never do. 
If we focus on our love for the people or the issue and focus on our deep desire to see good and see them free of suffering, we can allow the fury for the wrongdoers to melt away.
Feed the love and compassion, not the potentially destructive emotions. 
We all have love or the potential for love in us and all have anger or the potential for anger in us, all have positivity and negativity, the potential to hurt and the potential to heal. Which side will win? Like the old Cherokee legend says, “The one you feed.” Let’s feed the positive. 
“Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.”

4.) universal love – some people say this is not practical but that’s because they don’t understand what we mean by universal love.
In this sense, love means wishing everyone the best, wanting everyone to be happy.
But how can that be? What’s best for me may interfere with someone else’s “best.” 
Example: If two people go on a job interview for the same job and only one can get the job how can they both get the best? 
It may be “best” for a murderer to kill someone but that’s certainly not the best for the potential victim.
For political candidates who lose elections and things, they can’t all have the best in that sense of winning. 
But when I wish everyone the best, I’m not necessarily talking about external circumstances and getting everything we want, but inner peace which we can have no matter what goes on outside. I can not get the job but still be happy.
A murderer who experiences true inner peace and love won’t want to kill.
I wish everyone the best but not at the expense of others. 

5.) I wish for all sentient beings including humans, animals, insects….to be free of suffering and full of love.

6.) I wish for homeless people & animals to stay safe & warm in the bitter cold Winters and cool in the scorching hot Summers. And shelter animals to all find their loving furever homes. ❤

7.) I wish for us to live in deep compassion & evolved empathy for each other and all living sentient beings.  

8.) Us to take better care of our beautiful Earth and be more mindful of even just simple things we do. For example, using environmental friendly cleaning products more than damaging ones. Any little thing may help or at least just get our own minds in the habit of being more caring. ❤

9.) For all kids who celebrate or would celebrate holidays/birthdays to have toys and gifts. Some families don't celebrate with gifts or don't celebrate at all and that's ok, nothing wrong with that! But some kids have difficulty getting gifts because their families are financially struggling or they don't have a family. I think all kids who celebrate or would, with gifts, should have baby dolls and teddy bears and packages to open and whatever teenagers like these days. (I was a teenager once but it was ages ago and I don't think it's the same as now, we did not have smartphones and ipads and whatever else! Lol) This is more than just materialistic. Part of being a child is having fun, the joy of playing with toys and things. I used to love baby dolls and Barbies and frequently got them for holidays and birthdays. And I don't want any kids to be without the joy of things like that just because they don't have much money or don't have a family. We can help sometimes by donating toys to places collecting them and sending cards to hospitals collecting them for the children.

10.)  world peace. ❤ lol can't forget this one! It's a cliche but for good reason! 😀

“No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list”

“And right would always win”

This is a beautiful concept! Beautiful intention. But is it really practical? Is it really so simple? Is it even a possibility? It almost seems like a pompous claim or wish. But I know the people wishing it have great intentions. Some things may not be objectively right. What’s right to one may not be to another.

For example, capital punishment. To me, it doesn’t seem right that it’s up to the state or anyone to decide when someone must die, even a cold blooded murderer. Who are you and who am I or anyone to decide that someone else should die no matter what that person previously did? What gives us that kind of authority? It seems self-important, we think we are in a position to have someone die. But someone else’s conviction is just as strong that it’s wrong to NOT kill a cold blooded murderer. To allow a murderer to keep breathing after that person cruelly took someone else’s life? To protect and shelter and care for a murderer in prison when the poor victim never gets to see the light of day again? To give that person a chance to escape confinement and kill again? It’s unlikely but it has happened. Who is to say, in this case, which of us is really right? There are good arguments and well intentioned arguments on both sides. I don’t think we can come to an objective conclusion which is right. There are so many issues like this one where it’s just not clear and there are so many aspects.

To me “right” is choosing Love in every moment. Love even when we disagree. We can all stand up for the things we think are right while loving those who stand up for what they think is right even if we disagree with their concept of “right.”

My Grown Up Christmas List – Amy Grant – desktop

My Grown Up Christmas List – mobile

~ I’m not a child but my heart still can dream ~ ❤

So here it is! My grown up Christmas list!

What do you think? Anything you want to add? Let me know! 

😀

Hugs & love,

Kim