Day 4: 30 Days of Thanks

Today I am thankful for naps. As of now I am curled up next to two dogs on a couch only big enough for myself. Naps are great snuggle times with man's best friend or a partner. Sometimes it means that you were up late the night before or up early or it could possibly Sunday afternoon. Naps give you that little bit of energy that you need to keep up with the day. Today I am thankful for naps.

Day 3: 30 Days of Thanks

I am thankful for breakfast, my favorite meal. I love it in the morning, I love it late at night. I literally have gone days eating nothing but cereal. Breakfast in bed is a treat too. Whether its a hot meal or cold, breakfast is my preference. I am thankful for breakfast. (Today I had scrambled eggs, tea, and apple spiced muffins).

Day 2: 30 Days of Thanks

Today, I am thankful for technology. We live in an awesome time to be able to stay in contact with people around the world; get turn by turn directions for pretty much anywhere; and the ability to laugh for days at sheer ridiculous videos or memes online. With these I am thankful that it allows me to keep in contact with friends who are countries away or just a handful of miles. Having the ability to watch my niece roll over for the first time or see a birthday party I just am not able to get to. I am thankful for how much technology allows me to be a part of others' lives and continue to grow in those relationships.

Day 1: 30 Days of Thanks

Thankful for freedom, in all it's forms. Freedom of living with less or with more. Freedom to read whatever, whenever. Freedom to create (art, music, poetry, films, photography, nonsense). Freedom to speak openly about my frustration with the government or big oil or about religion or about how much I love my friends and family. Freedom to travel. Freedom to experience. Freedom to free my thinking from oppressive propaganda. Freedom to protest. Freedom to hope. Freedom of love; to share it, to hide it, to shyly slide it across the table on a note, to be filled with it, to beg for it, to yearn for it, and to live within it. Freedom of expression to wear wonky costumes even if it's not Halloween or spend literally a full day at the movie theater camping out for your favorite film or pasting the back of your car or water bottle with stickers of places you've been or people you support or products you love. Freedom of free will. Freedom to pursue happiness in whatever form you find that to be in. Freedom of diet; eating ice cream for dinner, living off of cereal, eating organic, being dairy free, gluten free, soy free, being vegetarian, or filling your pie hole with pie. Freedom of choice: buy this brand, don't buy that, go here, go there, up, down, right, backwards. Freedom to change. Freedom from sin. Freedom from oppression. Freedom to forgive. Freedom to be forgiven. Thankful for freedom, in all it's forms.

"The Trumpets of Conscience" creed and final testament of MLK Jr.

I providentially came across Martin Luther King Jr.'s "The Trumpet of Conscience" while visiting The White Pine in Idaho a few weekends ago; I had read quotes from MLK Jr. in several other books and was really wanting to pick up some of his own writings. I have also been listening to several of his sermons and speeches for free at this great website called Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. I would recommend 'Paul's Letter to American Christians' as well as 'Loving Your Enemies'; both could be and should be heard today in churches around the country.

I write not as a selfish, holier than thou, but as a man of conviction and belief that there is a better way of life both in the here and now, but as well as in the afterlife. I understand man is flawed and the nature of sin is easy, is more convenient, and is more attractive, but I firmly believe and pray the words Jesus taught his disciples in the Lord's Prayer "...your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-13).  I do not believe that as spiritual believers that we are to sit back and let the world fall to pieces; in Genesis 1 God created men and women to be in charge of the other creatures and out of love and respect to God we are to be responsible with all the animals, plants, and resources we have been given. I believe we are to creatively oppose hate, violence, poverty, war, and selfishness with love for God, as well as, for one another which are the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-40).  Dr. King speaks about the role of nonviolence and love to help protest on behalf of the afflicted as well as for yourself. I wanted to just share several excerpts that really struck my heart, conscience, and convictions.

As I have said and will continue to say until the breath seeps from my lungs, I...am...not...perfect...but there is One who is and I am trying to reflect some sort of portion of Him to others. I encourage conversation, questions, and disagreement.

Excerpts from 'Conscience and the Vietnam War':

"We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers." 

"Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when they help us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weakness of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition." 

"Every man of humane  convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest." 

"The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just." 

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

Excerpts from 'Youth and Social Action':

"Nothing in our glittering technology can raise man to new heights, because material growth  has been made an end in itself, and, in the absence of moral purpose, man himself becomes smaller as the work of man become bigger." 

"The conscience of an awakened activist cannot be satisfied with a focus on local problems, if only because he sees that local problems are all interconnected with world problems."

Excerpts from 'Nonviolence and Social Change':

"Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on; it is not man." 

"We in the west must bear in mind that the poor countries are poor primarily because we have exploited them through political or economic colonialism." 

"Americans in particular must help their nation repent of her modern economic imperialism."

Excerpts from 'A Christmas Sermon on Peace':

"If we don't have goodwill toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power." 

"Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." 

"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." 

"We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means."

"But be assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."

Dr. Kings' words rang true in 1967 and continue to ring true to today. I encourage you to pickup a copy of "The Trumpets of Conscience"; it is a quick read not even a hundred pages. My only aim is to better myself into a more loving and aware being; this isn't a guilt trip or a means to finger point, subsequently the only finger pointing has been at my own life.

Presidential Candidate Social Responsiveness

After seeing in the news that both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama's campaigns have collectively raised well over $300 million dollars, I was wondering what all this money is going to, so I did some checking on various news agencies and websites about previous elections and where all the money went. Basically it breaks down into travel costs, media advertisement, administrative costs, pollings & surveys, postage & shipping costs, as well as charitable donations (granted all of these findings are based off of Obama's 2008 election numbers but still applicable today). Out of all of the hundreds of millions of dollars raised ($750 million) only $130,000 went to charitable donations. How sad is this, and it isn't just the Obama campaign, but ALL of the campaigns!


The Obama campaign raised well over $750 million dollars in 2008 and is raising more for this coming November; why are Romney and Obama not using this money towards helping the American people like they adamantly claim they want to do when they enter office? All of this money could go towards helping others through distributing the funds to nonprofits, charities, shelters, food banks, alcoholics anonymous, suicide hotlines, free health clinics, summer school programs, habitat for humanity, and the list could go on and on. Not only would this be helping the very people who will be voting to put them into office, but would help serve the American public well before they enter office (if they win).


Wouldn't this help the basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter, health, education? Wouldn't this create jobs? Create a creative and helpful alternative to the bickering through ad campaigns and news programs? Would this not show somewhat of the character  each candidate has through which organizations they choose to give? Wouldn't this create great press for each candidate and allow them to put a real human connection to their campaign? Couldn't they still be able to state their agenda/beliefs while helping others instead of shameless self-promotion?


All of this is possible, but it means using the very voice you have as a voter; each candidate has a contact page on their campaign websites that allow you to e-mail each candidate suggestions/comments. I have e-mailed both, stating all of the above and challenging them to take this bold new move to change how to run an election. Below are the links to their contact pages. 


*We need to be creative, proactive, and peaceful to get things accomplished because the current system is a mess and only through actively voicing our concerns and suggestions will we be able to create any difference. 


Links:
Barack Obama Contact Page - http://barackobama.force.com/questions
Mitt Romney Contact Page - http://www.mittromney.com/forms/suggestions
Barack Obama's 2008 Campaign Expenditures - http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/expend.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638
2012 Campaign Money Race - http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance/

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better. 

- Martin Luther King Jr."

i am i & You Are You

been recording some music recently and my first collection of songs are part of "uncompleted atoms of our solar system". these songs are layers of several guitar tracks that i've been messing around with. this isn't for everyone, but i love music that toys with the balance of noise and music like the velvet underground, sufjan stevens, and wilco. i am going to be starting to record my songs that i have written in the previous years and try and focus on finishing the album i've been writing about several biblical stories. this project was mainly a reason to iron out the kinks in the recording process and try out new sounds. enjoy, don't enjoy, it's no difference to me.

i am i & You Are You

Uncompleted Atoms Of Our Solar System