Capitalism is the absolute downfall of our society. So many of our issues can be boiled down to the simple fact of wealth, or lack thereof. Good healthcare? Can't afford it. Good education? Can't afford it. Climate damage and pollution? Over 80% comes from big million-dollar corporations. Even many racial and sexist issues can find roots in classism and poor wealth distribution. Ok but so what? We can point out negatives all day but what could we possibly do about them? Of course, being freshly 18 I have the privilege to vote, but even that has proven to have little impact on some cases. My ideal solution would simply be compassion. Compassion for everyone whether you can witness their struggle or not. Compassion, however, is not quantifiable. Unfortunately, no matter how much someone may "love thy neighbor", it does not put food on their plates or gas in their car. But it would be a very important start to this long struggle. These are not issues we can fix overnight, but they are ones that may afford someone else another nights rest. By having compassion for others we begin to task ourselves with the large-scale effects of our actions. To effectively fight a problem you first need to care, second, you need a common enemy. But it is not an "us" against "them" like mass media would have you believe either! We don't need to fight ourselves! We need to fight to hold each other accountable and make each other better!

While my dog Cassius may not have helped me hike the entire 2100-mile Appalachian Trail (that was done by a German Shepard guide dog named Orient in 1990), he has helped me make my own little home in this little slice of the mountains. The day before I turned 18 I packed three bags. The day of, I left home with them and drove three hours to the tiny town of Banner Elk to a tiny college apartment. The next day I found Cas. He was up for adoption at a local kill shelter and had already been there for eight months. As is typical for a dog that looks like him, no one was willing to take a risk on him. But I had already taken so many, so what was one more? At the risk of sounding clique, the rest is of course history. Cas has brought so much love, comfort, and joy into my life and allowed me to have the confidence to meet new people as well as be by myself.

"You don't owe them." My entire life I have struggled with separating my own personality from the personalities of others. I have an overwhelming need to please everyone I meet which realistically? Is not ever going to be possible. And that is okay! But it took me a very long time (plus lots of therapy and tears) to reach that conclusion and actually believe it. The relationship I have with my family is one of the biggest areas I struggle to keep healthy. Things like boundaries and identity were practically non-existent for me growing up. There was a ton of guilt and stigma placed on me for things I had little to no control over. This made it really hard for me to not feel obligated to them just because "we were family". Now, as an adult, I have this phrase tattooed on my rib close to my heart. It serves to remind me that I belong to myself first and I do not owe anything to anyone. No matter what they think or how long we have known each other. People are not objects, so you cannot have a monopoly over them.

Last fall a bunch of girls from my barn decided to saddle up and wander around our small town. After a twenty minute ride we arrived in center of town. Our goal? Just to show something different and fun while still staying safe and socially distanced. We spent a ton of time outside the two nursing homes just walking up and down or showing off little tricks that the horses could do as well as just chatting with them. The seniors there seemed to be over the moon to see us! I met the sweetest little lady that used to work on her daddy’s farm when she was a kid. She told me all about how much she loved to compete at the local rodeos and how much we reminded her of that happy time. We hope to continue to do it again this fall as well implementing a costume contest for Halloween and a caroling version for the holidays.