Wednesday October 13th ~ 2010

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Are we able to rise to the task?

Is humanity able to remember what we have witnessed in Chile for longer than the next few news cycles? Are we, as the human race, capable of keeping this amazing act of humanity in our collective conscious and call to the forefront that many risked all to save 33 individuals?

How is it possible that the human race can be capable of such beauty, bravery, compassion, creativity and a single minded drive to rescue 33 people yet we are able to kill indiscriminately, hate without understanding and live in ignorance without the desire for true knowledge.

I watched in awe and wonder as 6 brave men willingly risked their own lives and descended down that drilled shaft to rescue those trapped miners. I watched till the last rescuer reached the surface and only then did I feel that I could breath again.

It is my hope that we can keep these images in our collective consciousness. It is my hope that we can maintain that drive for the sanctity of human life and hold it sacred. I will continue to hope that we can; but I have little faith left that we will. It does not seem to be in the nature of man to live beyond the immediate.

I was living in San Francisco on 9/11. I was actually up early that morning, cleaning my kitchen, because I was due to leave for London and Paris on the 14th for a 3-week vacation. This was to be my first vacation in almost 3 years. Needless to say, that flight did not happen for me till December.

Immediately following that horrific day there was a deep need for the familiar, a deep need for routine and a desire to be near others.  What I remember from that time and for a few weeks following was that we were a collective nation that actually saw others before we saw ourselves. People were conscientious, considerate and thought about how their actions reverberated in the pool of their surroundings.

I was ashamed of how quickly that sense of the world was lost and once again we became a country of the selfish and the self centered, resigned back to our ignorance and isolation. 

So, yet again, humanity has been given the chance to unite and to become connected to the rest of the world. Is humanity able to rise to the task? Are we able to cease hating that which we do not fully understand, able to be inclusive instead of exclusive, able to accept that all of humanity is deserving of the chance to strive and rise?

I live by just a few simple rules:

1. Always say thank you.
    (everyone deserves to be acknowledged)
2. Always hold the door open for the next person.
    (that is just plain nice)
3. Smile as you move through the world.
    (most will just wonder what you are thinking about)
4. Never give expecting for a reward.
    (give because it makes you happy to please another)
5. Let the person merge into your lane with a friendly wave.
    (I promise they will not get there any faster, but it makes them feel better about themselves)
6. Kiss your pets every morning.
    (there are few things better than my fuzzy girls purring me awake every morning.)
7. Kiss that special someone good night and good morning every morning.
    (I might suggest that kissing that special someone before you kiss your pets might be a really good idea)