Is it okay if the god that I pray to doesn’t actually exist? I guess so.
Is it okay to sing songs in church that I wholeheartedly disagree with? No, it’s not okay.
Is it okay that Donald Trump quotes God from the same book that I sometimes read, and may represent me by next year? Not at all.
Is it okay for us to argue about things…like Donald Trump? Not if it pulls us apart.
Is it okay if the corrupt leaders of the world eventually go to hell? I don’t think so.
Is it okay if a place like hell exists? Not to me.
Is it okay that I happened to be born in a safe country, in a loving family, and my orphan friend has never had a mother to hold him? No, that’s not okay.
Is it okay that mothers do almost every job there is, but only get paid for it when they do those things for other people? I don’t know.
Is it okay that a friend of mine works sometimes 18 hours a day doing three jobs, yet I have time in my day to write an essay? Not really.
Is it okay that people in North Korea are rotting in jail for doing nothing wrong, and I am ordering pillows from Amazon that match my couch? That is so not okay.
Is it okay that we spend a large-ish portion of our lives buying, managing, sorting through, paring down, passing down, and selling all the random stuff around our houses? And then we do the same thing for our dying parents?
Is it okay that I couldn’t survive off the land for even one week in the woods, but we are looking for other planets to live on?
Is it okay that in my 20s, the love of my life decided he needed to go off into the woods and rivers of Central America to find himself? I don’t know. I guess so.
Is it okay to say that, when I’ve been married to someone ELSE for 20 years? I don’t know. I think so.
Is it okay that the one who loves me and snuggles me the most is my dog? Not really.
Is it okay to be content with that? I don’t know.
Is it okay to say these things in public? Some would say no.
Is it okay that by saying this, I’m reaching into you, and telling you that you are not alone? YEAH, that’s okay.
Are you lonely? Is it okay to stay that way? What can you do?
Is it okay that you may have stuffed some things down in order to get by in life? Maybe.
Is it okay for you to find some way to open up and share your hard stuff with other people? Definitely. You may rescue someone else with your story. And THAT may rescue you.
Is it okay that we all live in little boxes separated from each other by a little piece of forest instead of all together in a big family village with nothing separating us? I don’t think that’s okay. I think we need each other – EVERYONE – infinitely more than we realize.
If you find that you struggle with what’s okay and what’s not okay in your life, and what things need to stay the same and what things need to change, may you know you are not alone. It is these kinds of things that I question Every. Single. Day.
