How much baggage is too much?
When traveling, airlines and busses will allow one suitcase and one carry one. The suitcase must not be more than 50 pounds and not exceed certain measurements. The ticket agent will weigh the bag on the scale. Busses like Greyhound and Trailway will charge hefty amounts for additional bags as freight. As a traveler, I have learned this.
And yet, our personal baggage goes unchecked, only to create an avalanche of psychological and emotional turmoil and a toxic environment.
We are encouraged by society to Shop Around, as expressed by the Captain and Tennile. Stay single as long as possible and date around to find out what you truly want. In the process we accumulate a history of partners, a dating career and some baggage along the way. Over a lifetime, a few dates can turn one into a serial dater. Songwriter, Billy Joel, expresses the dilemma well in his piano-vocal ballad, And So It Goes. It is well worth the listen. It is about a person who continues to give their heart, even though it is broken every time. Imagine the baggage that is accumulated over years. Here are a couple of lines from the song.
And every time I've held a rose, it seems I've only felt the thorns.
My silence is my self-defense
And so I'll share this room with you, and you can have this heart to break
I am reminded of evangelist, Paul Washer, who expressed how serious relationships are. Never date someone but rather court them. If you have no true intention to marry, you should not be pursuing a relationship with them. And of course any intimacy is for marriage only.
Gee wiz, that's no fun!
But if you think about it, it definitely reduces the baggage factor. Folks are not littering as much with the emotional and psychological crap. We reduce the diarrhea of dysfunctionality. Sadly, the me world of gluttony has poured over into the internet buffets of dating. With each person we date, a piece of our heart becomes unavailable to the next, building trust issues and inability to commit.
When you marry the first person, your heart is not weathered and available innocent and pure. You have no one to compare that person to, and you become content by not knowing the buffet of options. Ignorance is bliss.
Baggage comes in many forms, and it is up to us to keep our dirty laundry unexposed. An old fraternity brother once wrote, get your shit together, keep your shit together, and never lose your shit. Some folks may seek counseling and therapies, but subconsciously, some things are never dealt with. There are those who wear their bitterness like a badge, rather than choosing to be healthy and better.
But the real outlaw of baggage littering does not come from a serial dater. The self-centered narcissists who contaminate the world, lies in the lawless racketeering of child theft and trafficking by the CPS.
Broken homes and trampled hearts create baggage insurmountable. Children are scattered in a wasteland of emotional and psychological garbage. As these little ones are bounced from home to home, to the streets and the trafficking of strangers, their hearts and minds are overflowing with hurt, fear, insecurity, depression, desperation, and a downward spiral that leads to destruction.
Their silence is their self-defense.
The severing of lives becomes a severity of daily crisis. Is someone going to hit me today? Will I ever get out of this place? I miss my mom and dad. What did I do wrong? I don't feel safe here. And the emotions continue uninterrupted, like a bad nightmare ramped up.
As innocence and dreams are shattered, countless bags of psychological garbage rip through the lives of babies like a windstorm of trash. Their futures are covered in the debris of toxic waste.
In an effort of self-preservation, their silence becomes their self-defense.
That is exactly what baggage of garbage does to these lives. This crap causes them to be voiceless and numb. Tears and pain is felt inside. You see it in their eyes and their faces. And sadly, they suffocate in the piles and piles of garbage the CPS child trafficking racket dumps. Their little lives are forever changed.
Because they cannot speak we must be their voice. Our apathy and ignorance is no help to these precious children, and only serve to advance the lawlessness of the CPS and their traffickers. These child thieves need to be held accountable for their actions. And they need to be responsible in claim checks for all the psychological baggage they have left in the lives of families across the world.
This is not the lawless old west of bank robbers and horse stealing. This is the innocent faces of tomorrow. And these child thieves are taking our younins and covering them in smelly dirty manure.
Think of it this way. If someone dumped countless bags of garbage in your yard that spread littering the neighborhood... wouldn't you want the culprits held accountable for their criminal actions? This young innocent ones deserve better than to be left gasping for breathe covered in baggage. The assembly line slaughter house of innocence must end.
Yes, we are individually responsible for the baggage we carry. We should consciously strive to keep our world free of excess and unaccounted baggage. But, we need to help those who are helpless and voiceless, and those trapped underneath. Again, I am reminded of the old Hollies song He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
How much baggage is too much? If it is emotionally draining or destroying your life or the lives of others... well, it is too damn much.
What will you do to help reduce toxic baggage in your world? What baggage do you carry? Is there a child or family you can help?
I smile and remain joyful as much as possible. I try to stop myself if I begin speaking badly about anyone. I practice "mind control", that is redirecting my own thoughts towards the good.
Everyone carries baggage. The question is how are we handling it? How do we manage our affairs without creating drama and trauma for those around us?
Always. I have my own family, but there are many other families in need. Keep our ears open and help wherever and whenever we can.