We are taught when we get on an airplane that we have to take care of ourselves first.  This safety technique is taught at the beginning of every flight; reminding parents the take care of themselves first.  After they have oxygen on then they can safely take care of their child in case of an in-flight emergency.

Why is it not the same in the United States?  We have elderly that must choose between food and medicine.  We have Veterans that go without needed services.  We have children in our streets with food insecurities.  We have millions without the ability to meet basic medical needs. We have homeless in our streets.

Yet, we dole out billions of dollars to other nations. We offer money to other nations to meet the same needs that our citizens are going without.  It’s  not that I don’t believe in humanitarian outreach, I do.  I just think we must take care of our citizens first before we can try to save others.

If we do not take safety steps to care for ourself first as a nation  our society will look much like it does now.  People are lying on the side struggling to help others because they didn’t make sure they had oxygen first.

Control, it’s a big word for just seven letters.  As children we quickly learn that we want it.  We spend our life trying to gain it.  As aging adults we eventually lose any control we thought we had.

The past year I have found there is so much outside of my control.  At the beginning of the year I started out with one word.  Trust.  I quickly had to put it into practice as I placed my mother on hospice.  I gave up my normal schedule of activities to spend as much time as I could with her.

In March she passed away, and my trust had to take me new places.  Learning to again let go of what little control I felt I had to allow myself to walk through the grieving process.  Allowing walls to come down to share my thoughts and emotions with others was another area trust had to grow.

As I allowed myself to find a new normal, my routine was shook up again.  Loosing control of my schedule and every part of what I was used to doing.  For two weeks in August every area of my schedule changed.  This might not seem like a big deal, but as a control freak with no control it was a definite walk of trust.  Two months later, although some things have a new routine much is still up in the air and outside of my control.

I realize the only thing I really have control over is how I respond to change.  I choose the attitude I carry with me.  Minute by minute I choose how I respond.  I have to trust that the God who really is in control has my best interest regardless of what circumstances say.  Trust is a seed planted in faith that will move mountains if it is placed in the right One.

The journey ahead of me is new.  As I step out of the control phase and step into the trust walk.  The journey is unknown to me, but the One in control knows the end.  If I keep my eyes on Him, I will see that nothing is impossible with the One truly in control.

Scantily dressed,
Top less
Pant less,
Shoeless.

I pictured myself.  That would be completely in appropriate if I chose to leave this way in an hour. Yet with parents beside them they walked out the doors.

I walk in.
Adults dressing and undressing.
Children dressing and undressing.
No privacy in the open space.
No attention to who is around.

I go in to the stall and close the door on it.  Ignoring what, in my world, usually results in a call to the local authorities.

Swim class was over and the adults had places to be and things to do.  Children stopping to shower or dress probably seemed pointless.  A quick run through the drive through or running straight home, the time it would take wasn’t necessary for most.

Twenty-five children  plus adults who were coming and going from workout classes or personal training to five stalls and five showers makes an easy decision to just head out the door instead of waiting or to just change and run.    I walk in and out of the community center weekly to this scene.   The absurd nature of that scene never crossed my mind, except once when young boys were in the women’s dressing room with their mother.

In society we have boundaries for what is acceptable and what isn’t.  At times what is okay in one area, like a swimming pool or gym dressing room, would be completely in appropriate in another area.  Behaviors that are acceptable for a child are not necessarily acceptable as an adult and vise versa.

There are times where we become desensitized to the things that once were clearly not acceptable.  As I thought about how this happens I looked around my environment.  For six months I had walked in and out of this scene without much thought, barely of serving the absurdity of what was going on around me.

I’m not suggesting there was anything wrong with what was happening.  I am pointing out the process of which things that would normally  be unacceptable become acceptable.

Initially we see something and it may not sit well with us.  When we get used to seeing something and it becomes normal.  We stop seeing things as odd and instead see them as normal.  Once we have normalized them they eventually become acceptable.

I think back to things in my community that once were not acceptable but today are common place.  Good and bad things.   They are now the new normal. We probably should pay closer attention to the process of creating a new normal.