"Finding Hope"

What would it look like?
What if humanity decided to go left instead of ...right?
What if Unity came from Diversity
What if the world embodied our highest potential?

This may be a bit too touchy feely for some but think of this 20 minute video as a meditation, a single long breath of life and hope injected into your spirit. If you have the guts and patience to sit still to watch and listen. Enjoy.

What if the world embodied our highest potential?
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This Brave Nation

Filmmaker Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed,Iraq for Sale) has produced another winner with the documentary This Brave Nation. This episodic series marries activism with hope and encouragement for those of us who have fallen into the abyss of powerlessness living through what this dangerous time engenders. Give the trailer a look-see and then go to This Brave Nation and watch episodes of this auspicious footage. Make no mistake about it; this nation will become completely fascist if we don't put our collective voices together and say, "No!" Peace takes Courage. I highly recommend Episode 3 Anthony Romero and Ava Lowery in conversation as a starting point.

Wisdom from the Past

"Only the unloved hate." Charlie Chaplin gives this rousing 3 min. speech from "The Great Dictator." Nearly 60 years old, it still rings true. H/T to Corey.

Charlie Chaplain - Amazing Speech - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I had a chat with Jim Yancy today. We talked about politics, Katrina recovery, the Bush administration, how the USAF has changed and a general shooting of the shit. I left him today feeling a bit more hopeful about the state-of-the-nation in spite of the impending doom that has been lurking.

I've been really busy with work and have had less time to post the last couple of months but a lot of why has been due to feeling so down about the way things are going in the world. Today, just music and a bit of recharging for my spirit, and maybe yours as well. I give you Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger as interpreted by the clever "Daft Hands"

And Kanye West's hip hop version:

Hope Springs Eternal

The PRI show "To the Best of Our Knowledge" ran a segment this week called "Hope Springs Eternal." Given my pseudonym is based on that very phrase, I feel compelled to post the audio tidbit. Host Jim Fleming gives us three stories of hope, always welcome in the nihilistic world in which we've been living. Give it a listen.

The Barren Political Landscape and Ways to Get from Here to There

The "here" is obvious:

polarized, corporate-funded, mean-spirited politics where most Americans feel powerless and subsequently, dismissive of the whole system. The "there" of which I speak is the fecund, vibrant, living geography where we can flourish rather than the bleak, disparate havoc of today's America body politic.

The political landscape as it is makes being informed not only difficult because of the mainstream media owned by corporate concerns but the two-party system which often forces average Americans to pick "the lesser of two evils." I myself have voted for democrats I didn't like because the candidate I really liked didn't have a chance of winning and my vote would have been 'wasted.' Dennis Kucinich certainly falls in that category. Truth is it's a dirty, rotten, shame. Americans are so turned off to the system as it is that they simply don't participate. Then corporate concerns and politicos play their games, a pitiful percentage of Americans vote and we continue in the destructive-to-democracy cycle we find ourselves in currently.

I listened to an interview with Ralph Nader this morning. He has much to say and it was worth a listen to if nothing else, get me motivated to write this piece today. There are still voices that resonate for me, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader, bits and pieces from the current crop of candidates for president. Some speak of the things wrong while others speak of ways to change. I'll stick with the revolutionaries rather than the revisionists.

Ralph Nader has been called many things: consumer advocate, hero, spoiler.
There is talk that Nader will again run in 2008, primarily it's been called as a spoiler. Amy Goodman interviews Nader about his potential run in '08 and the release of his new documentary "An Unreasonable Man," a reference to the George Bernard Shaw quote, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All progress depends on the unreasonable man." His take on things to my mind is the kind of progress I want to see in this country. Listen and weigh in on what you think. The Nader interview begins at 13:00.

Today's Democracy Now! also features an insightful view of today's Muslim-Americans. Since 9/11 American Muslims have become the most targeted minority group in America. Yet they participate in American life in America in ways and at rates the general public does not. Did you know Muslim-Americans graduate from college at a rate of 59% as compared to 28% of the overall population? Muslim-Americans also register to vote at a rate higher the general public. So says Paul Barrett, author of "American Islam:The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion" and former Wall Street Journal editor and reporter. Muslims in America still have the "can-do spirit" America was so famous for yet most Americans no longer embrace.

We can change the topography of an American run by tyrants and embraced disproportionally by newer Americans. Tyrants want only to 'get their way' and new Americans want to succeed in the America we used to be. There is new earth being turned to revitalize our life force in the form of Internet communication. The tubes have birthed a new grassroots politics, "the netroots". We can no longer (could we ever?) trust the powers-that-be to have our best interests at heart. Education has been gutted, civics a thing of the past and citizenship something debated over as the issue of immigration which is far from it's broader meaning of community participation. If we are to truly have a country and a world worth living in, it is up to us to build it. Please remember what we in our forties were taught as kids and that kids today no longer believe: America is a great place. It really is up to us.

The Four Agreements

At the dawning of a new year, in spite of the continuing trouble in the world, I feature today a post from an incredible woman that I call a friend: Meta. She comments on the import of a word we have heard oft repeated today in regards to the Ford funeral: Integrity. She writes about the Don Miguel Ruiz bestseller of a few years ago, "The Four Agreements©". Give this post and its ideas the integrity of your attention and please let me know how you intended to live with integrity in this new year.

Although I haven’t read the book, there are the 4 Agreements from Don Miguel Ruiz, who is a Toltec spiritual leader. I heard about him a few years ago.

They’re pretty basic, if stated in an overly simplistic way:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

On Commitment

I have posted this before but tonight it seemed like time to do it again.




On Commitment

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always
ineffectivness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All
sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. The
whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner
of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material his way. I have learned a deep
respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can,
begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.’”

-from W.H. Murray, “The Scottish Himalayan Expedition”