Keep Going

I’m on the 5 month anniversary of my departure from my home, and all I have are questions. Mira:

Does a grain of rice cost the same in rupias and pesos, dollars and shekels?

If a coffee farmer in Zona de Cafetal makes 600 colones ($0.17) for collecting a kilo of coffee beans, where’s my $7 for a latte in Seattle going to?

If America is “the greatest democracy in the world,” why don’t we smile at each other on the street?

Is peace possible in the canon of capitalism?

If Escobar is a narco, what is Big Pharma?

If we whine about crooked politicians who do nothing about the state of the world on Monday, but spend Tuesday scrolling thru Instagram, what does that make us?

How much blood has our earth absorbed?

What color was it, and on what continents? Why?

If Mandarin and Spanish are spoken more globally than English, why do Americans still only learn English in school?

What is the price of global equality, especially in the face of globalization and technology? Cuanto cuesta?

Why don’t fruits nor veggies have flavor in the United States?

Why do mosquitos and countless other insects love biting my ankles so much?

If there was a woman’s protest in Medellin in 1920, the same year American women were fighting for the right (for white women) to vote, do we even need the internet to mobilize? Is there any way they could’ve known what was happening to their neighbors?

What would happen if we erased borders?

Are humans inherently greedy and territorial, or is this manmade too?

Why don’t we all watch the sunset more?

Why don’t you call your mother right now?

Why are some mothers forced to leave their kids to work in different countries, while other mothers only have to leave their kids to go to pilates class?

How can anyone possibly think anything in the history of this world was just?

What brings us down?

What lifts us up?

How many “cream of the crops” had life vests?

Who decides which crabs in the bucket get an elevator versus a trap door?

What were the childhoods like of the Big 5 CEOs?

How can empathy be taught, if at all?

Before nationhood, what were people vainly proud of?

Why do we teach kids rules when we break them all the time?

Where do morals sprout from? Can they change? How?

If hearts are easier to change than minds, why do we keep arguing about alternative facts?

Was there ever a universal truth?

Why we do lie – to ourselves and to others?

What will it take for us to love – ourselves and our pachamama (mama earth)?

How can we connect our heart and our head, how can we evolve, how can we collectively right all these wrongs?