Naive, Proud, Just Go!

GO, GO, GO!

My new theme song. Well, not so new. It turned into mine the day I stuck in an old Indigo Girls CD (Yes folks, I still use a CD player, no folks, I am not 80), while cleaning the house, during the first month after deciding to take a stand and fight for the home I so passionately want to believe in. I want so much to make our home a better place, and Olim are the way to go.

Without realizing why, my heart started pounding, my mood went from ok to elated, and that magav started washing the floor itself. So I listened to the words, and got psyched!

“Raise your hands/ Raise your hands high/ Don’t take a seat/ Don’t stand aside/ This time don’t assume anything/Just go go go

Feed the fire/Fan the flame/ I know you kids can stand the rain/ I know the kids are still upsetters/ ‘Cause rock is cool but the struggle is better/ Go go go

Did they tell you it was set in stone/ That you’d end up alone/ Use your years to psyche you out/ You’re too old to care/ You’re too young to count

Did they tell you, you would come undone/ When you try to touch the sun/ Undermine the underground/ You’re too old to care/ You’re too young to count”

I am a proud naïve idiot. My natural frame of mind is emotionally based, not logical. I care less about numbers, statistics, and calculated risks. I care 100% about injustice, sadness, and the difficulties of others, I feel other’s pain. I am an empathetic. And I do not apologize for being who I am. Not at all.

I am the idiot who as a young child set out to save the world and got pats on the back, left and right. I am the idiot who received those “You poor naïve child, you’ll grow out of it” speeches, and the “get a grip” looks, as I continued to keep that ultimate goal of saving the world, well past high school.

But I didn’t change. I, like a good bottle of wine, refined and just got better with age.

Now, I get to be realistically naïve. I have learned how to work my way through various systems, I raked up years and years of experience in the Jewish World, think tanks, social action, activism, and of course environmentalism (but that is for a whole other blog).  I even got two degrees in my preferred niche of naivety.

I have turned my naivety into a profession…and its rewards pay better than any high salary job in hi-tech. (Tell that to my rational husband who believes in feeding our family…)

Here is what I know, in order for me to sleep soundly (less the fact that I am a chronic insomniac), I need to know that I have done my best to make our world a better place. Without that, I am empty. Couldn’t care less about recognition for that effort, not my style, not my ego.

Give or take 1/3 of my way through this fabulous experience of life…and yes, I can definitely say that I have been able to help in more ways that I care to write here. Makes me one happy mama!

As I take on the creation of an Olim-by-choice lobby, the Indigo Girls are constantly by my side, reminding me why I am here, and why, thank G-d, I am not logical and rational enough to give up.

Just Go!