Thoughtful Thursday with The Dalai Lama

While on a trip to SanFrancisco with friends back in 2009, we stumbled into a pretty cool store where each one of us found a corner that distracted our imaginations and spoke to our capitalist desires (spend! spend! spend!). I was in the back by the t-shirt rack, of course. It was there that I found my most comfortable t-shirt.

And I mean that in a number of ways.

It is made of soft organic cotton, it is kelly green and, these days, it's a little over sized, so with this it fits the standard qualifications of comfort and coolness. However, what it says and what message I am honored to carry with me when I wear it is a comfort to my soul. On the back of the t-shirt is the poem The Paradox of Our Age from his Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama.

If you are unfamiliar with this poem, then I would be honored to share it with you today as I will be sharing it with anyone who happens to read my shirt today. It is a poem about our world and each time I read it I reminded to be the change I want to see in the world.

THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense;

more knowledge but less judgment;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines but less healthiness.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our new neighbor.

We built more computers to hold more copies than ever,

but have less real communication;

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall men but short characters;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It’s a time when there is much in the window 

but nothing in the room.

~HIS HOLINESS THE 14TH DALAI LAMA

This has been the paradox of our age, but I have faith that more and more people are recognizing it for what it is. I believe a new age is coming and I can't wait to be a part of it.

What do you think of this paradox? 

Do you think we are emerging from it or sinking deeper in?

YOU Can Change The World [KONY2012]

I wholehearted believe in the power of people.

I believe that I make a difference. I also believe that you do. We each do. The sum of our parts creates the world in which we live. So, for a long time I have been consciously changing the world.

Don't believe me? Here's a snippet from a post from my blog Searching for Sustenance on March 1st (March has become "Do Something" month for me ever since) of last year:

I am going to be honest with you today. I have a problem. I want to change the world. I don't know exactly when this idea first occurred to me (college? high school? earlier?), but I know that I very much felt that was exactly why I belonged in the classroom. I am not delusional, I am completely aware of my smallness in this world, however, I believe every single one of us is capable of changing the world no matter how small we are. As I watched Dirt: The Movie last week, I saw a great story about a hummingbird who had the same problem as me. 

I am doing the best I can... Can't really ask for more than that. 

The best that I can do now is shift audiences (put out of the classroom on medical leave) and use this time to still create ripples in my small pond.

I know we can make a difference. In fact, I know we are the only ones who can. However, like everyone else, every once in a awhile ordinary day to day life starts to distract this little hummingbird.

But last night, in the middle of the night while futzing around on twitter, I noticed a video going viral that truly showed hummingbird power. (It happened to be created by the same organization that a former student of mine asked me to support on Facebook earlier in the night, so I was especially curious.)

I need you to at least take a look at it. The world needs you to. If you have to come back to it to finish it, so be it, but know this: this video holds the secret to how we can change the world. Do not take this lightly.


KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

There are so many moving moments in this video, but one of the first that hooked me was,

 Who are you to end a war? I am here to tell you: Who are you not to.

 I want to end a war. I want to end all war. Part of my role on this planet is to do that. Yours too.

Let's make Joseph Kony famous. Let's put him in prison. And when we're done with him, we'll work with #2 on the list.

Sign the petition to be counted.