ARE YOU A STARCHILD?

Some further thoughts inspired by my last two posts. As usual I headed one way and the writing headed another. Sometimes I think I’m just tagging along for the ride.

 

More than a few posters seemed a little “something” about this young man’s first name. Seemed to believe it implied that the parents were hippies or something. Actually, I like it. Because, hold onto your hats folks. Any one of us could be named Starchild, because that is what we are. Every element that makes up this little ball of dirt and everything and everyone on it was either “cooked” in the heart of a star or created when the star reached the end of its life and blew up in a nova or supernova. Boggles the mind doesn’t it? Now that I think about it, their irritation with a name like Starchild says a lot more about them than it does about the kid’s folk’s. A little envious perhaps? Had some dreams that had to be put aside a long time ago maybe?

 

Think of how we might view each other if we all put Starchild in front of someone’s name. Or started out own names with Starchild. How would we treat others? How would we treat ourselves? Try it. Oh, and tell yourself you deserve it. Now, say it like you mean it.

 

And if your teeth start to clench when you put Starchild in front of the names of certain carefully selected individuals, think about why it’s so hard. I suspect there are few we’d all agree on. It’s damned hard isn’t it? Is it because there is so much hope and magic in the idea and these folks are about as far from hope and magic as you can get and still be on the same planet? And there are the others. The ones who fit the name so well. Why? What are the differences between the two groups? Could it be the hope and the magic?

 

And I’m not going all wishy washy here. Because there’s a whole lot of folks I wish I could thump upside the head and tell them “you’re a child of the stars, start acting like it.” Now how the heck do we change thewhole damn world?

 

I know it sounds impractical, and pie in the sky and all the other put downs such dreams seem to provoke. And there are some past masters of the put down out there. The ones who pride themselves in being practical, and down to earth, and no nonsense. It’s funny how practical and down to earth seems to involve clear cuts, dams, superhighways, subdivisions and arms contracts.

 

Is it because there’s something wrong with the dream? I don’t think so. I think it’s because so much would have to change. We’d have to treat everyone and everything as if it mattered just because it “is.” We’d have to stop dividing the world into profitable and unprofitable, valued only because we can get something out of it. I’m sure the dream would suddenly look very down to earth as soon as they figured how to make a buck from it.

 

We’d have to quit dividing people into productive and unproductive. We might even have to face how they turned out that way. Try looking at the person panhandling down the street. Give him or her an imaginary name and put Starchild or God’s child in front of it. And be prepared to start feeling really uncomfortable. We’d have to start “seeing” everyone around us, not sort of gliding over what we don’t want to see. And I’m putting myself as the front of the line to plead guilty on this.

 

This doesn’t mean we accept actions that harm others. It does mean that if we believe that others are special we don’t hurt them. And if we can believe we are special we don’t hurt ourselves either. And does that open a great big can of worms or what?

 

Remember those candles I said I was seeing when I closed my eyes. Somebody just added stars to the mix. Thanks kid.