I don’t know how families make it these days. Exactly what yearly salary does it take to live comfortably for a family of 4? To afford a reasonable house, afford a reasonable vehicle or 2, eat relatively healthy, be reasonably insured, and enjoy a reasonable amount of daily life?

I find myself chasing the elusive dollar. As soon as I get some, it’s gone. I work harder for more. As soon as I get it, gone again. I feel guilty because I’m a working parent. Albeit part time. Then I feel guilty that I don’t work enough. Albeit part time.

I have worked fulltime and our financial picture didn’t significantly change. We ate out more because I was too tired from working. We were all bloated from too much fast food, and depressed from being on task 24/7 with no down time and gained 15 pounds.  I’ve not worked at all and our financial picture didn’t significantly change either. We didn’t eat out as much. We were all depressed that we couldn’t eat bad food, had too much time on our hands and we ate too much homemade food out of boredom. The weight stayed on.

What is the goal? Is the goal to be home and broke but together? Or is the goal to chase the dollar and be too exhausted to enjoy it? How do we “In the Middle” make it?

The new homeless

Seriously, what do you do with the passion and heat that glow in your heart, those embers reminiscent of things you really, truly feel?

I think there's 4 kinds of heat. Each kind has its' ability to damage, create, or inspire. What you do with your flame is up to you - but I will warn you, in time, all flames die. What you love or fear today may be the one thing that years from now that will lose its' luster, and cease to invoke any emotions at all.

Take my Mom. In the 60's she raged against the political machine, and hard and fast. Her aim was true. Sit-ins, chaining, locking arms and picket signs were everyday fare, and with more charisma and passion than any of us can seem to muster these days.

She had children, married, moved on to becoming a good citizen thinking the fight was won, and all that was sacrificed for would remain steadfast and sure. Nope, it was lost again - silently whittled away by greed, religion, envy, and personal agendas by those who would wish to lead us whether in our schools, towns, states or worse, nationally. Now, she's 50. She's an activist on fire. The cries that used to be in her head now escape wildly from her lips with such incredible force as she witnesses the spoils of her passion be flittered away like so many butterflies.

Gone is the era of make love not war, as we seek to annihilate sexuality and make it a perverse taboo subject never to pass one's thoughts, and war seems to be much better by comparison. 

Gone are the songs of substance and ire, only bubblegum princesses and hiphop mavens of little clothing remain.

Gone are the throngs of younger generations , standing on two feet unwavering, demanding the respect and rights to which they were promised, and in fact taught the government would uphold..as it was law.

Oh, sadly it still is - but we, the ones who will inherit this sham when the true rebels like her are gone, do we fight? Care, believe, demand or protect? AH, of course not. We are a spoiled age, one in which electronics do everything, walking is only for fitness, and words of passionate love have been reduced to "O rly? ILY2". If you did love me, would it be so worthless of your time to say it in words? To shorten it to an abbreviation akin to AL for the state of Alabama doesn't mean much to me. And so on goes the ruins of our age. Wasted youth, so shallow.

So what do we do? The embers are being fanned ever so slightly by the elders who created the haven we take advantage of now and we just assume it's our right. Well, guess what? We have other rights too. Everyone has guaranteed rights, *everyone*, and we...don't give a damn.

You'll stand in line for your coffee, so stand in line to petition and vote on bills that can harm lives and destroy families.

You'll call every person on your "five" countless times a day - so call a senator and say ,"Hey, you are a public servant, I *am* the public, and we matter. Listen to us!".

You will text, blog, sing, and dance - join a march, protest, make a **legal** scene. USE IT.

Have you never paid attention to those who were your age before you? That kind of passion has the magic ability to change lives, nations, and demand a better way for all of us. Don't sit there and stare! You know you have a voice, so use it. It's only so long before those wonderful people who gifted us these freedoms and privileges will move on, or pass on...what will we leave our children, or have left as a fond memory in old age?

DO SOMETHING, before the flickering lit sparks of hope and justice just die out like our heat and passions, and prove we were worth the hell our previous generation went through *for us.*

Sensory heat - Flame, burning touch, fire, hot embers.

Percieved heat - Hot peppers, spicy things, a muggy day.

Interpretive, negative - Anger, envy, violence, hatred.

Nuance heat - love, sensual, sexual, passion, "chemistry".

Any of these can be a gift to society, and easily so. Improve your life, the quality of it, and the attention you nurture it with. If you love deeper, admit to envy, savor the beauty of a single flame or just try a new spice, creep out of the box and see what being spontaneous and free is like - all of these things will have an effect somewhere, on someone. We're all connected, and every tiny detail of your cold existence just guarantees another will follow.

 Now, step out, misfit brothers and sisters, find your heat, and embrace it's warm soul. And then ask yourself - "If you were on fire, what would you do - with the power and passion to change the world?" I'm feeding my fire, and someday, I hope it takes over the world. The fire's love, strength, justice, sustainability, and action....what's yours?

It's no lighter fluid, but it's a start.

LilliHK