First and foremost,
how the hell are ya!?
Have you checked in (honestly) with yourself lately?

I've had a lot of questions come up for me personally
and I can't really describe how I'm feeling
except that I’m in a glass case of emotion (insert GIF from Anchor Man)

Honestly felt
a bit damned if you do,
and damned if you don't ?

So I asked my inner guide what to do
and she said:
"Listening is way more important than speaking right now"

I'm still confused, in disbelief and sad that it's gotten to this point
but I'm also confident in my faith and beliefs
I know the world is self correcting

I feel torn at times 
living in an Australian bubble
with barely any COVID deaths or protests

while looking at the place where I spent 
the first 30 years of my life on planet Earth
NorthEast of America

Life is very different there
but the issues aren't exclusive
nor are they anything new 

I remember my mom telling me about her and her seven siblings
fleeing Newark New Jersey in the middle of the night
 during the "Long, hot summer of 1967" race riots

Change is the only ONE thing for certain 
which reminds me of Bob Dylan's song
"Times They are A-Changin'" 

It was written 56 years ago 
when times were very different
yet the words are still so potent and relevant 

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

I also found this video of Tupac from 1992 talking about greed very interesting

I love that music will always connect us
We aren't the first or last generation
to go through some major changes
 
While I don't claim to have any answers 
I believe it is vital to use your own insights
in order to create new possibilities

A beautiful future starts with beautiful questions....

• What have I learned during this crisis that I don't want to forget? 

• What really matters most to me? What do I most value?

• How do I want to adjust the way I live (if at all) based on what I've discovered during this experience?  

 and some of my personal favourites by Jerry Colonna:

• How have I been complicit in creating the conditions I say I don’t want?

• What am I not saying that needs to be said?

• What am I saying that’s not being heard?

• What’s being said that I’m not hearing?