What Is This Paper Green Stuff?

"We hope it works out, too! We invested all of our love here," she says with sweet faith and excitement in her voice.

Before she even has the chance to finish her sentence, my mind fills in the word "money".

Caught off guard, I look up and smile. She said love.
I look at her and I see a light of gratitude in her eyes.
And when I hear the words she chose something shifts inside me.

What if it was all about love?

Even including that paper green stuff printed with the faces of a few fancy white men.

I've spent awhile fighting this eternal stomach ache associated with that thin slice of fabric that makes some people feel invincible and other peoples feel unworthy. How is it that something so materialistic can have the power to do this? I've often asked myself this.

This paper green stuff with script writing and encrypted codes...

It is an inanimate object, right?

So, who gives it the power to separate us? To cause us pain and hardship? To distinguish my worth from yours.

Look at those faces! Old, but without wrinkles. Such pose and demeanour. Blank stares and, oh! so white!

The faces of the US currency.
The faces of $ 17,656,649,899,999 international debt.

And, Oh, yes... please, young single-mother, be careful with your foot stamps!

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free..."

Who are we speaking to, Mother Liberty? 

When we say "your", which immigrants are we referring to that qualify for the living standards designed by our fancy-dressed, blank stared, eloquent white men?

I long to ask those that come, are you rejuvenated now? Are you rich? Are you still huddled together? Are you breathing free? Has our country showed you that we are a country that provides for the masses?

These are just the questions I ask.

It is not that I do not believe.
Or that I do believe.

I'm just curious.

I cannot accept everything I have been showed or read,
Told or sold...

Or else, hey, I may think that only fancy old white men deserve those sheets of green paper that give some a mansion and others a suicide.

Yet, what option do I have, really?

Reject it all?

And, what...move to the forest and live off the land?
Choose the life of a hermit...
Leave my family and friends
In the name of anti-consumerism, anti-capitalism, and world justice?

Will this bring peace?

To be honest, I am still not okay with either.

I do not want to (nor would I ever survive) alone in a forest.
Nor do I want to continue living in a world where the dollar separates us.

(rock---me---hard place)

However, young sweet Argentinian lady, whose twinkly eyes and pretty face are not printed on any green sheet of paper, has me thinking...

What if it was all about love?

So, while I am not the one to lead this revolution that takes down the
patriarchy
the white supremacists 
the consumers, the competitors,
the communists, the capitalists...

The social constructs of our society that have developed
over long periods
of unchecked fear

of the love 
of the masses
of the people

I would like to ask myself to experiment with a new relationship with this paper green stuff.

To view it at just another form of energy.
That only has the power that I assign to it.

Every time I pass it over to someone, let me ask myself, "Am I giving this with love?"

"Does this exchange of energy create love, or contaminate?"

When I give, am I also getting? Are we sharing? 
Is this for me, for you, for us...or for my ego? 

Are you a straight-faced, out-dated, staged, and wrinkle-free white-collared white man?*
Or are you a human being? A lover with a light in your eyes? 

Please take my best love and energy, young, sweet, inspiring Argentinian girl.
...It comes in the lame form of this paper green stuff
But it also comes from my heart

You invested "all of your love" there.

You made me a delicious avocado sandwich
You made me a nice morning
You made me smile

You gave me energy
You gave me an idea

You give love.
Thank you for this.

*Note: This is a reference to the images printed on US currency.