A Better Tomorrow

Since changing the title of my blog from “A Girl named Tallahassee” to “A Better Tomorrow” I thought an explanation is in order.   I wrote my first book “What If Island” in 2000 and feature a quote below. I feel it’s relevant to what is happening in our world today. In the quote below Maya is talking to Tallahassee.

“Nobody can remake the past but everyone can learn from it. If at some point in your life you don’t stop and see where you have been, as well as where you want to go, you’ll wake up one day and say, ‘Where am I and how did I get here?’ You think you’re all alone with the worries you have about the future. Not necessarily just your future but the future of others as well. You see it as a train running out of control, going faster and faster, and you wonder why no one else does. In trying to protect those who don’t see what you see you became frustrated because no one would listen. Many people are starting to feel things are amiss but they are not quite sure what it is or what they should do about it. One thing you must remember, things always get worse before they get better. That’s just the way it is.” Quote from “What If Island” (2000)

My blog will now be both uplifting and thought provoking. As I mentioned above I wrote "What If Island” in 2000 and since then I don’t think anyone would disagree that the world is changing and at a fairly fast rate. Change is hard and whether we like it or not the world is changing. 

Why does a better tomorrow matter? In order for it to take place one can’t wish for it to occur, they have to act on it. Tomorrow will not be better because we wish for it, but because we did something to make it that way. Hope only goes so far, but without it we have nothing.

As a teenager every morning before school I would say, “God let’s have a good day.” It allowed me to feel like I was never alone. Why I am sharing this with you? It’s because we need to ask for help when we need it. I stopped saying “God let’s have a good day” as an adult, until about a year ago, when it once again made sense to me. It takes a minute to do, but leaves me with a day filled with extra comfort. 

At times it feels easier to get something done when you do it yourself. However, in the words from a Barbara Streisand song “people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” Along with John Donne's Devotions (1624), "No man is an Island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main." I believe both of those quotes to be true.

Independent thoughts are what lead the change in the world.  When we have the strength and courage to disengage from the status quo we might be surprised to find out how strong we really are. We don’t have to make every decision our self, but we should fight for what we believe in. I deal with fear everyday of my life, but the thought of losing my own voice is more terrifying.

Take the time to analyze a situation, the more you do this the easier it becomes. There is always someone waiting to make decisions for YOU. Is that what you want? Sure you have someone to blame, but at what cost?

Stay tuned for future examples, on how to have a better tomorrow. Life is always full of the unexpected, but how we react is what makes the difference.