So on this fine Thanksgiving Day 2014, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my extreme gratitude to all and everyone that has been a part of my life since the last Thanksgiving Day. Thank you! It’s been a heck of a ride so far, and while I know I can have the tendency to seemingly drift in and out of existence, please know that you are the fuel that drives me. Your wonderful posts, your shares, your ideas, your visions, your words, your companionship, your encouragements and exposed vulnerabilities…your humanity is the source of all my energy. What you all do is inspiring, and watching the extreme differences between us all, whether it be location, views, ideas, looks...melt away upon finding the extreme similarities has been one of the most touching experiences. To experience how similar we are at the core is an incredibly empowering and powerful force. So for you I am grateful. And for that I am grateful. I know it’s a bit hard, especially for people in the States at the moment, in the wake of this week’s heartbreaking decision in the Ferguson case, to see where I’m coming from in that sentiment, but there is a VERY important fact in particular that we ought keep in mind this holiday season:
Despite what we may believe, due in NO small part to mass media and propaganda, we are living in the most peaceful times in human history.
Basically, whatever we’re doing is working, all we have to do is just keep doing it. Evolution takes time, and we have to be patient with it. It’s not going to be as fast as a text or a Google search or as short and tart as a tweet, but if you truly ignore the static and the noise, truly hone in on what’s happening around you, remarkably enough, you’re living in a time in which you can literally watch it happen. You can literally watch evolution happen. Embrace the beauty. Embrace the tolerance. Embrace the closest person to you. Embrace the fact that as humans, we can watch, feel, and experience ourselves flourish as a species.
So as you gather around your tables to stuff your faces with every possible combination of gastronomical satisfaction, think about how closely together we’re working and living as a human race than ever before. Ideas from around the world are influencing partnerships and actions and collaborations amongst people that have never met before, deeper connections amongst such opposites are being forged in ways that we never could have seen coming, even just 10 years ago, and it’s happening in ways that are so far-reaching that they’re literally changing the way we live, love, laugh, communicate. They’re affecting our lives in every area from mental health to physical health. Our minds. Our bodies. The cores of our personalities. The very makeup and structure of our brains.
These, are the people that are moving humanity forward, not the dinosaurs like the ones in Ferguson that are trying so desperately to drag us backward.
Best of all, you are those people.
So on this Thanksgiving weekend, take a moment to just stop, take 3 deep breaths, look around you, and be grateful for who and what you are and who and what you are with.
We are truly living in remarkable times.
Thank you for being a part of mine.