Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Where are they

Now living in California ... I was thinking to myself the other day that this is the land of earthquakes - who knows what could happen. I have never experienced an earthquake so I have no idea what it must be like. And even worse what it must be like to experience the wrath of what a powerful wall of water can do as we have been experiencing with what people are experiencing right now in the world Where are they

I guess with anything like this the only way we can start to make a difference in the world is by tuning into what it must feel like to be the other person... so I thought to myself, what it would be like for me... if I came home one night and many of my friends and family were simply gone missing. No way to contact them. I am thinking it might be total panic for me... but I can't know for sure other than the imagined idea of it...

I just watched bowling for Columbine... and there was one scene in the movie where all the reporters are lined up in some parking lot covering the story of where a small girl was killed by a small boy with a gun. As Michael Moore was commenting that they were removed from what had happened and that the reporters had not talked to some of the people in the town. How odd it all is... this sense of dissociation from our human connection - how we have turned insensitive to things. Imagine it was my best friend... would I not want to console the family and see what I could do to help. Even though I don't know these people, who are suffering such great loss - they still are my brother and my sister.

So I got to thinking ... one earthquake strikes and so many thousands of people die... do we retaliate with our armies to Mother nature and fight it... we live with our loss for as long as we need to... and then we move on in life...

It got me thinking ... what if the planes that hit the world trade center were some strange act of mother nature... we live with our loss for as long as we would need to and move on in life because there is nothing more we can do...other than be in the present moment. What if the trillions of dollars, that are spent to defend us, were instead spent on solving hunger, aids, and poverty around the world .... What kind of a world would it be today ?

What kind of world do I want to make ... one where I can be an example of what it can be like for an ordinary person to start speaking out for what they believe to be the things that are important. After all this is the land of the free speech...

I am not moved to help these people who have suffered such great losses, by the poverty of these people, but rather by my interest in seeing that I can take responsibility for the way I act in this world and in taking this responsibility I choose to seek out some method in which I can also lend a helping hand to my brothers and sisters of this planet - because they are in need...

I feel like I have never been involved in life as much as I feel I want to more and more...

Thank for listening... and thanks for showing up in your way in life. To act as a living example for our future generations, and to see that we can live together and help one another.

In peace and in silence I am thinking of the suffering of those people and sending my donation hoping that every little bit can help... please forward this to anyone you think might inspired by this...

In Fahrenheit 911 the last words that flashed up on the screen from Michael Moore's documentary were "Do something".

Look online for ways that you can help our brothers and sisters who have suffered such great losses.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Arrived in California

Well I am here in California and have already met some interesting people. Went to a dinner the other night at a community housing project. It was like being in the little village of Lord of the rings. It is nice to meet so many new people and who are doing things to make a difference. I noticed a bumper sticker before I left that pointed to New Dream . Another one that I liked was More Fun - Less Stuff. Certainly moving puts us in direct contact with the amount of good that we carry around with us. It felt good to shed some of that weight.

I also got to drive my motorcycle here in the bay area... wow one has to be really focused here on these highways... people changing lanes thing move very quickly.

I look forward to saving up some money and being able to actually afford a home again... haven't checked the prices lately but I am sure they are no where close to Phoenix prices.

But I do have a plan and working aggressively to move in these new directions so stay tuned for some exciting things.

Thanks for reading... Oh yeah - I love the fog in the bay area ... is it so magical here... even in Ojai when I was there last week ... wow - ok signing off for now...