Traces of Love

When I was a kid, I went to school with this one particular boy whom I just couldn’t get along with at all. I don’t know why we clashed so horribly; we were in most of the same classes from about the second grade on up through most of high school, until he moved away. When we were older we learned to ignore each other, but when we were young kids we used to be nemeses, making fun of each other, calling each other the most insulting names our eight-year-old minds could conjure (four-eyes, bucktooth, cheese-head, and the like). I was always pretty sure he had started the cycle of meanness, not me. Not that it really mattered then, or matters now.

We lived in a small town where it was common for families to root themselves for decades, and his parents and mine knew each other fairly well. My parents used to ask me from time to time (as wise parents should) who I liked to hang out with at school. I remember one evening when I was about nine years old, my parents, my sister, and I were all eating dinner together, and I was talking about the kids I knew at school. Perhaps wondering why I never listed this one particular boy among my friends, my parents asked me, “What about S—–n? Do you ever hang out with him?” Stirring my mountain of mashed potatoes around my plate with my fork, I replied with an air of utmost nonchalance, “Oh, no, I never hang out with him. We hate each other.”

My dad has always been the most laid-back, mild-mannered of men, and when I was a kid he rarely ever said anything that wasn’t in jest; it required a highly grave matter to cause him to turn serious. After I made my declaration at the dinner table that evening, my dad turned his eyes on me, and though I knew he was not angry, I also knew that he was not playing around when he said quietly, “You may not like him, Laura, but I don’t want to hear you say that you hate him or anyone else. Hate is a strong word to use.”

Even though the better part of two decades has passed since that dinner conversation with my dad, I have never forgotten his words, and I am fairly certain that was the last time I ever said that I hated anyone. My dad was right – I didn’t hate that kid from school, and I can’t really imagine that he hated me either, despite our inability to forge a friendship all those years. A word like “hate” has a dramatic effect when we want to express a passionate dislike for something or someone, and it is a simple word to use – it just takes one sharp syllable to utter the word, and the sound of that syllable only lasts for an instant. Then it’s gone – we can forget that we said it, if we like. Sounds do not exist in physical form. There’s no concrete evidence against us, should anyone wish to confront us about what we’ve said. All that’s left of our utterances is the memory they have created.

I think we often discredit the power that exists in the words we say. Despite what the old adage may say – “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” – we all know that words can indeed hurt. We would be foolish to take to heart every every insult and every slander that gets hurled our way, of course. But who hasn’t been stung by the words of an angry parent, or a careless friend? Who hasn’t been told things that, years later, are still deeply woven into their understanding of their own identity, for better or for worse? Who hasn’t been moved by an inspiring speech or an a propos song lyric? Who hasn’t ever said anything that they later regretted, because someone else took it the wrong way?

Far from being “just” words, I believe the things we say build the foundation of who we are. Words have deep influence over our mental states, a truth to which I can personally attest. I’ve found that when I utter some declaration about myself out loud I am far more likely to believe it than if I think it silently. If I wake up in the morning, get dressed, look in the mirror, and say, “I look really nice today,” I will have more bounce in my step as I walk out the door than if I had not said anything. By the same token, if I am feeling depressed, I find that saying “I hate my life” or something equally condemning serves to perpetuate my despair. And the same can be true for what we say about other people. If we frequently use our words to express hatred for our fellow human beings, even if we don’t really mean it… Eventually, we will have repeated it enough that the idea begins to take hold of our mental states. Eventually, we will believe it. We will talk ourselves into meaning it.

So often I hear people declare things that begin “I hate people who…” and every time I hear it, I take it to heart. Do you really? I want to ask. Do you really hate people who let their dogs bark at strangers? Do you really hate Republicans? Christians? Vegans? People who are arrogant or stupid or let their babies cry in the supermarket? If someone has a habit that annoys the hell out of you, fine. Despise the habit, if you must. If someone has a particular value that grates against one of yours, then disagree with the value. But even if you can’t respect the value, don’t let yourself hate the person because of it. And if you don’t hate the person, don’t declare that you do. The simple utterance of such an attitude can do more to harm than any of us might imagine, to the speaker, to the subject, and to humanity at large.

Whenever I hear someone declaring hatred, whether directed at any one particular person or as a blanket sentiment, I think instantly of that Burt Bacharach song. “What the world needs now / is love, sweet love…” It might be a flower-child song, and I’m sure it’s overplayed. But so many of the problems we face arise from hatred, from the perception that the world is divided into “us” and “the others,” and we don’t like them because they did this to us, or they believe something we don’t agree with, so let’s fight about it.  We as a species do not often tolerate the actions of the “intangible other” with grace, whether those actions are trivial or monumentally destructive. We don’t always have to repay wrong with wrong. We don’t always have to “get even.” Think about it – we spout off hatred as if it is nothing, but if we were really looking that other person in the eyes, would we feel hatred for them? We might claim to believe that the world would be better off without this kind of person or that kind of person. But if we are the one holding the gun to their head, are we prepared to pull the trigger?

Our words are not trivial, no matter how much so they may seem to us when we use them. Every time a word falls upon a human ear, whether another person’s or our own, it leaves a trace. All those traces eventually begin to construct something that is obviously not trivial – they construct identities, attitudes, paradigms. I try to live with that awareness every time a word is on my tongue. I would never want to build upon a foundation of hatred. I try to choose to leave traces of love.

Change (Finally) Has Its Day

My social networks were all a-buzz last night – everyone had something to say about #hcr. Health care reform. And well we Americans should be talking about it, because last night when the health care reform bill eked its way through the House, it marked a tangible, bona fide change. Not just rhetoric this time around. For better or for worse, some major changes are just around the bend.

I didn’t join in the buzz last night that was storming Facebook and Twitter. Every substantive thought that crossed my mind had already been tweeted a thousand times over. Even now, the only thing I can add is this: Thank you, Congress, for finally getting around to this issue, because it’s about damn time America joins the ranks of the industrialized world. For years the United States has held the proud distinction of being the only industrialized nation in the world without a universal health care system, and our system has underperformed unequivocally against the systems in place in the likes of Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia (according to studies performed by the Commonwealth Fund).

Why have we dragged our feet on this issue for so long, at every point on our political spectrum? Why, even now, is the health care debate such a divisive one? To me, the answer is simple – access to adequate, affordable health care is a basic human right, and any nation that claims to be part of the free world should make health care universally available. If you want to know the true character of a nation, just look at the way that it cares for its poorest members, its “tired, [its] poor, [its] huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Now where have I heard that before?

How is health care reform going to play out in the coming years? We’ll find out. I’m sure it won’t be a silky smooth transition. It won’t be without its failures. But what I am sure of is that America is finally moving in the right direction, and I only hope that our temperamental populous will see this one through to the end. Any country that overthrows its government every four years is bound to be focusing too closely on the short term. But let’s stay with this reform and make it work for everyone.

The following video is a clip from the pilot episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a British sketch comedy show of the late 1980s/early 1990s. This sketch, parodying the idea of the privatization of the British police force, is hilarious and utterly absurd… but when I watch it in light of the health care debate that has shaken America over the last year and a half or so, I’m reminded that all good comedy is rooted in truth. So with that, I’ll sign off and leave you in the hands of these two brilliant gentlemen.

World Water Day

I have been lax in blogging lately for a number of reasons, the primary reason being that I have been unable to decide in just what direction I want my blogging future to go. I’ve blogged for years and on a variety of different subjects from food to poetry to sustainability, and I’ve learned that it’s easy to get burned out once blogging turns from a hobby into a chore. I never want writing to become a chore, and so I am trying to be careful about what I choose to blog, so that I don’t get trapped in a niche I can’t get out of.

But something grave enough to draw me out of my blogging hiatus is going on. Tomorrow, 22 March 2010, is World Water Day, a day of global awareness and a call to action for the potable water crisis that our planet is facing. It’s estimated that about 900 million people around the world are without access to safe drinking water, and that about 2.6 billion people – that’s roughly 40% of the world’s population – lack basic sanitation and sewage systems. More children die globally from water deprivation and sanitation-related disease than of any other cause.

What’s more, with global warming placing ever-increasing strain on world resources, the world’s water problems are only projected to get worse, if nothing is done to come to a solution. As ocean levels rise, the salination of groundwater in low-lying coastal areas where seepage can occur will destroy existing sources of drinking water. Shifting climate will cause a change in precipitation patterns, often leading to less rainfall and snowfall, especially in places where annual precipitation is low and water availability is scarce already. And with increasing global temperatures, the stores of drinking water which do exist become more susceptible to harboring disease.

When was the last time you turned on your water tap and wondered whether potable water would run out of the spout? We in America and other industrialized nations are fortunate enough, at this present moment, to have access to all the clean, safe drinking water we want. And we waste it. We consume massive quantities of it in the production of waste materials, including millions of those horrid plastic bottles which house the bottled water that so many of us obsessively buy, drink, and then discard (it’s estimated that only 10% of those bottles get recycled). We dump hundreds of gallons of it on our lawns. We let our taps run freely, while in parts of the world we haven’t seen and cannot envision, human populations are in crisis over this essential building block of life. Water. How often do we think about the availability of water?

World Water Day is a chance to do just that. It’s a chance for all of us to become more versed in the issues surrounding potable drinking water. It’s a call to awareness and a call to action. As the world’s rich and privileged society, we are the ones in the position to demand aid on behalf of the poor, the deprived, and the voiceless. Our governments are in the position to come together in a coalition to end these problems, to distribute water to those who do not have it in adequate supply, to help the most affected cities and societies build the water distribution and sanitation infrastructure which they need but haven’t the resources to build for themselves. And we are in the position to take action against the forces of global warming which threaten all human beings but put those societies which are already poor and marginalized on the front lines.

Go to the World Water Day website to read more. Make a pledge to curb wastefulness in your own life. Say no to bottled water. Say yes to a cooperative effort to address these issues globally. Participate in lobbying activities. Spread the word about the water crisis. Be aware. Be aware, and live the change.

Happy MLK Day

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Cost of Coffee

I am an avid coffee drinker; I probably consume an average of four cups of regular brewed black coffee per day, and then an additional two or three espresso-based drinks per week.  Yes, I will be the first to admit that I have a problem exercising moderation when it comes to this drink, which people from around the world have been brewing for centuries using various techniques.

Think of how much money you spend on coffee per week. Some weeks when I brew most of my coffee at home the financial impact of my coffee consumption is less extreme than other weeks, when I find myself buying a lot of coffee on the go. But I would guess that in a typical week I spend anywhere between $10 and $15 on coffee. When you buy a large coffee for $2.10 at a coffee shop the cost seems minimal; however, when you begin to try and quantify the cost over a period of time, the impact on your budget can be shocking.

Of course, we as Americans cannot fathom the true cost of the coffee that we consume, because a large portion of that cost we are not made to bear. Rather, the costs are borne by laborers in countries like Ethiopia who may not receive a fair wage for their long hours of work; by communities in developing nations where large-scale coffee plantations consume precious scarce resources like water; by wildlife whose habitats are destroyed to convert forests into massive coffee cultivation operations; by small, conscientious farmers who cannot get a fair price for their crop; by the environment, as critical vegetation is destroyed, biodiversity suffers, and precious land is stripped of its nutrients and rendered barren.

Before the worldwide demand for coffee began to soar, coffee beans were grown under the shade of trees. The soil was constantly being enriched by the organic matter which would drop from the trees, and so the coffee plants grew naturally healthy. The fruit would ripen slowly beneath the shade cover, so that all the flavors would have plenty of time to come to full maturity. The trees under which the coffee plants were cultivated would form a habitat for many species of tropical birds, frogs, insects, and other organisms. Coffee cultivation did not disturb these rich ecosystems. Such a system is the essence of sustainable coffee production.

Of course, as the western world began to demand cheaper, more abundant coffee, cultivation methods have evolved to achieve a large-scale crop. More coffee can be produced in the open sun than beneath the understory cover of these tropical forests, so forests have been clearcut to make way for agricultural land. The fruit of the coffee plants ripens faster in open sun, but quality is sacrificed. Not to mention that losing the rich organic matter from the trees increases the need for fertilizers to artificially enhance the soil and for pesticides to protect the crop from new threats.

The implications of these conventional coffee production methods are severe: Crucial habitat for exotic and migratory birds, as well as other species, has been lost, leading to rapid extinction – very often killing off species that humans had not yet even discovered. The loss of the vegetation which naturally enriches the soil with minerals has led to the dumping of chemicals all over the land. Basically, these lands that were once forests with rich and healthy soil are now barren, dry, and on life support. Chemical fertilizers cannot keep the land arable forever; one day that land will become useless, stripped of all life-giving nutrients and unable to absorb even rainwater. The chemicals from the fertilizers and the pesticides have to go somewhere – so they eventually end up poisoning the precious water supply. Not to mention that every lost acre of forest is a loss for the atmosphere; carbon dioxide build-up is hastened as fewer trees are around to convert it.

The human labor cost is dire as well. Laborers on these large-scale coffee farms work long hours in the hot tropics, receiving a petty wage for their labor. They are without choice – because they must earn a living for themselves and their families, they are slaves to the western world, where we demand coffee that is cheap and plentiful. We in America get it however we want it, but the disparity between the true cost of coffee and the artificially deflated price we pay is being borne by someone, somewhere.

When consumers make ethically sound decisions in their purchases, their action speaks very loudly to those who operate in the production of commodities. If we choose coffee that is organic, fair trade certified, and shade grown, we are supporting a return to environmentally sound agricultural practices as well as a fair wage to those whose livelihoods are linked to our coffee consumption. Sure, we pay a higher price for coffee when we choose responsibly, but that price is much closer to the “real” cost of coffee than the artificially deflated prices that we see on most mainstream brands. Just as meat would be far more expensive to consumers if it were not subsidized by the government (more on that soon), other luxury items like coffee, and even chocolate and cane sugar, wear attractive price tags that represent but a sliver of their true cost.

Coffee And Conservation is a fantastic site for information about making ethical choices when it comes to purchasing coffee. I encourage you to explore their site to learn more, especially if you are a regular coffee drinker like me. Check out this page for some quick facts on the interplay between shade-grown, fair trade, and organic certifications. And here is a great article offering a systematic explanation for how buying cheap coffee exacerbates the cycle of poverty in developing nations.

In every choice we make in this day and age, when we are so far removed from everything, there are costs that we cannot imagine. Sadly, we in America can remain ignorant of the sweeping effects of our lifestyle for as long as we choose. But this does not make the problem go away, and it does not shift the problem to someone else. Rather, it shifts the immediate suffering to someone else. And while it’s easy not to care when we allow ourselves to lumber about, blind and deaf to the issues that the world faces, we will all inevitably bear the cost of our choices in the end.

Relevance

How can we, as human beings, live lives of significance?  Lives that will live on beyond us, leave an imprint on the world even after we’re gone?  Is it even possible, or are we wasting our time trying?  Does it even matter?

I ask these questions all the time, as I go about my life in a world which is fundamentally flawed and try to figure out the best way to live in it.  I try as hard as I can to exemplify with my life the principles which I believe are essential to sustaining quality human existence – simplicity, thoughtfulness and responsibility in our choices, respect for all human life regardless of how different our cultures might be, awareness of how my life as a middle-class American affects the quality of life for people elsewhere who are not as free as I am to pursue happiness and prosperity.  I try not to waste, not to consume more than I need… but I inevitably do.  I try to help where I can to stand up for human rights, fight oppression, and improve life for people everywhere… but inevitably I don’t do as much as I could.  It’s just remarkably difficult in this global environment to live in a way that really makes a difference, really shakes the world’s foundations, when each of us is only one person in seven billion, and our world is so deeply entrenched in ideas and institutions which are flawed to the very core.

Often I’ve said that my greatest fear in the world is not of dying, but of dying without having left some lasting legacy behind.  I desperately want my life to mean something, to matter in a way that is larger than myself.  I’m sure that’s a desire I share with many people.  But it can be incredibly discouraging when all you want is to live in a way that makes a difference, and you look at the world and realize how impossibly foolish that desire really is.

I think there are two basic ways to see the world:  Some people look at the world and see it exactly as it is, while other people see instead the world as they imagine it could be.  There is a third point of view, and that is not to see the world at all, except as it relates directly to oneself.  Our outlook drives our goals and our actions.  I, obviously, fall into the second category; I am as idealistic as they come.  The things I do, the messages I send, are all based on the idea that this world could be a much more beautiful place if we only believed in and enacted with our lives what it could be.

The problem with that is, not everyone is committed to that point of view like I am.  Some people look at the world and see how ingrained all of its institutions and injustices are, recognize the inherent selfishness in human nature, and conclude that it is all headed down a path of destruction.  Nothing is going to change because human nature does not fundamentally change, so trying to enact a sweeping revolution would be utterly futile.  I sometimes catch a glimpse of the world from that perspective.  Many days I simply go about my life, content in the choices I am making.  But every now and then, I pause and take a look at all the innumerable things going on around me, and I see that despite the way I live, the world is not changing.  Not for the better, at least.  And I begin to realize that no matter how desperately I wish for my ideal view of the world to be true, we are all trapped in this vehicle together, hurtling wildly down a course that we have been setting for ourselves since the beginning of humankind, and the path is out of my control, out of anyone’s control.  And if that’s true, then how are my choices even relevant?  I see the world as it could be, but at the same time I see it as it will never be.  Does that make what I do with my years on earth utterly meaningless?

I wrestle with these questions all the time, and it seems fitting that I should lead off 2010 questioning my own relevance in the world.  People ask me all the time why I live the way I do, why I bother to make such bold statements with my life.  Why don’t I just seek my own happiness?  Don’t I realize that the world is still going to hell all around me, no matter how outspoken I am about it?  Isn’t it okay to give up the fight a little, sometimes?  And though I try never to pay heed to remarks like these, the truth is that I ask these questions of myself too.  Maybe the way I live does nothing more than to feed my ego.  Maybe I am fooling myself into believing that my life can have significance beyond myself.  Maybe I should just say, “To hell with it all,” and forget about everything except me, what I want, become one of those people who doesn’t even bother to look at the world at all.

But I can’t do that.  I don’t think I could stand to live in a world that I thought was completely devoid of virtue, a world where there was no hope for anything.  I have to believe that we are all capable of becoming the best versions of ourselves and recognizing the sanctity of every single human life.  And if I am to believe that of other people, I must first believe it and live it for myself.

Gandhi was once quoted as saying, “We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.”  Those words are etched on the walls of my heart; I try to let that idea exert a constant influence on who I am and what I do.  Maybe nothing will ever change, and everything we do on earth is meaningless.  But it is certain not to change if those of us who can see a better world do not have the courage to fight for it.

When asked by an interviewer what message he would like to send to the world, Gandhi responded, “My life is my message.”  Gandhi’s life alone did not fix the whole world; no one human life ever could.  But his life has inspired hope in millions of people for generations after him, and in that way he did leave a message, a legacy larger than himself.

It is critically important for each of us to do what is right, to pursue truth, to hope… no matter what.  Even if it goes against the grain of our culture.  Even if it proves insignificant in the end.  Because if we don’t, then we are giving up before we’ve even begun.  If we don’t live to exemplify what is best inside of ourselves, then we lose ourselves in the waves of apathy and cynicism that are washing over the whole world.  And if we lose ourselves, then we will drown in apathy and in cynicism, and we truly will become insignificant.  And insignificance is not something I am willing to settle for.  Are you?

Can’t See The Forest

Below is a good video, from WeForest.com, explaining the crucial role our forests play in sustaining a habitable world.  Forests are powerhouses which biosequester carbon dioxide, taking it out of the atmosphere and increasing the carbon density of the land – and thereby preserving the land’s ability to support life.  Loss of forest land leads to loss of biodiversity.  Not only that, but our forests are essential in maintaining the water cycle, transpiring ground water into the atmosphere to create cloud cover.  This cloud cover leads to rainfall, of course, but it also shields the earth from much of the sun’s radiation, regulating global temperatures.

As the world turns its attention to the hot issue of climate change, perhaps we should be considering not only how we humans can slash our own carbon emissions, but also how we can restore and protect the world’s forests – designed by nature to play a key role in the preservation of planet Earth.  Many scientists estimate that 80 percent of the world’s forests have been lost, with most of that loss occurring in the past 250 years or so, since the advent of industrialization.  Today, one of the driving forces behind deforestation is animal agriculture – as the demand for beef soars, so does the rate at which forest land (particularly in the Amazon) must be clearcut to create space in which to raise more and more beef cattle.  (So not only are livestock the most significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, but their cultivation is a chief contributor to the loss of nature’s best mechanism to regulate greenhouse gas!)

Anyhow, watch the video – it explains the importance of reforestation better than I.  But the bottom line, at least to me, is this:  Cutting our greenhouse gas emissions may be a temporary fix.  But as human populations continue to grow, we will inevitably see efforts to curb our emissions produce diminishing returns.  The real key is in restoring the natural balance between the earth and the sky and all the creatures that inhabit them.  Our forests have done an excellent job of that for millions of years; it’s what they evolved to do.  Let’s figure out ways to restore our forest land and let those forests do their job.  Will we have to learn to live a bit differently?  Of course we will.  But that, to me, seems like a fair price to pay.

GREEN Is The New Brown

Over the weekend a friend of mine shared with me a Washington Post article about a topic that I’ve been ruminating over ever since the advent of the “green revolution” currently underway in our culture. The issue the article gets at is simple, though it may seem startling at first glance: What are we really doing?

“Going green” has become a new fad in our country. “Green” is the buzzword of the decade; it’s everywhere you turn, from college campuses to supermarkets to churches to multimillion dollar advertising campaigns. Everyone wants a slice of the green pie. And with lists like this one abounding on the web, in magazines, and on the backs of cereal boxes, it’s easy for us to feel satisfied with our day-to-day efforts to save the planet.

But the truth we have to understand is that our current climate crisis, which has reached staggering proportions, was not created, and therefore cannot be reversed, by individual human beings. Rather, the major players in destroying our environment have been our human institutions – corporations, governments – which are recognizable and tangible entities but which have no innate conscience and therefore are incapable of reasoning and of making ethical judgments. In other words, we as humans have put into place autonomous systems that respond very well to the laws of economics but do not bat an eye at the warnings of an ecosystem, a community, or an earth in peril.

If we are serious about reversing the effects of global warming and halting climate change in its tracks – and the time for us to get serious has arrived – then it is time to effect some sweeping changes. Yes, I too take my canvas bags to the grocery store and have switched to CFL bulbs in my light fixtures at home. But it is time for us to stop patting ourselves on the back for these relatively minor changes and look beyond ourselves, to the foundations of our systems. For that is where the sweeping changes must occur. Your Toyota Prius is not going to cease the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, neutralize the rising acidity levels in the world’s oceans, or reintroduce biodiversity into our dying ecosystems. Our faddish, disjointed approach to “solving” the global climate crisis is not only ineffectual; it gives us as a culture another excuse to succumb to apathy by allowing us to believe that we’ve done our part. But the reality is, “our part” is much more far-reaching than changing our daily habits. We have a responsibility to do everything we can – petition large corporations to change their practices, lobby our governments for real and effective policy changes – if we wish to maintain a planet that will be suitable to support life in the imminent future.

It’s time to get involved. Call or e-mail your Congressmen to urge them to support policy action that will effect fundamental changes. Participate in a rally, protest, or boycott aimed at ensuring corporate accountability. Find an environmental group that works toward restoring and preserving our natural environments, and get active. A couple of my favorites are Forest Ethics and the Natural Resources Defense Council. But whatever you do, please do not sit back and be fooled into believing that our future is secure. Because it is not. And we are the only ones who can change that.

Jackson Browne’s song “Rock Me On The Water” opens with the following lines:

Oh people, look around you
The signs are everywhere
You’ve left it for somebody other than you
To be the one to care

We have to be the ones to care. Our world needs to come together on this issue, and it needs to happen now. But it won’t. Not without us. We have to be active participants in our world, and active advocates for our planet, because there is no one else to care in our stead.

All He Was Saying…

This morning, I am thinking of a man whose life, though short in duration, has been influential to me and to a great many others who lived after him. John Lennon was assassinated on this day in 1980, 29 years ago.  He was 40 years old.

I won’t go on and on about this man’s life; it speaks for itself.  He was a vehement proponent of peace and of mutual understanding between differing people.  He was a man who saw what the world should be, and he did something about it.  A self-proclaimed dreamer, John Lennon was much more than that – he was a leader, an instigator, and an inspiration to future dreamers who would one day wonder if it is truly worth going up against the world every day for the sake of those dreams.  Yes, young dreamer!  If you see a change that needs to take place, then exemplify it in your own life and do not remain silent.  Nothing great was ever accomplished under the spirit of resignation and quiet defeat.  John Lennon knew that, and through his music and his activism he sought to send a wake-up call to humankind.

I do not mean to idolize this man; he was certainly human too, and therefore as imperfect as the rest of us.  John Lennon’s song “God” lyricises his own rejection of many idols, concluding that list of idols with the beautiful affirmation, “I just believe in me…”  He did not wish to hide behind other personas, holding them up as being the ones who have made the world great or terrible.  He accepted responsibility for his own life.  And by doing that, he carried the dream a little further.  Today on the anniversary of his death, I am reminded of the way his life began a ripple effect that is still expanding outward far beyond him.  I am reminded that there is so much power in our actions, and even more when those actions become our lifestyle.