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Health & Fitness

Really, People?!

Disclaimer: This could be the end of my blogging career.

 

So, Paula Deen.  Human Rights. Civil Rights. Tuskegee airmen. Holocaust. Women’s Rights. Suffragettes. Civil War. Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln. Revolutionary War.  Puritans.  Salem Witch Trials.   Baby country--United States of America.

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Around the world: Apartheid, Genocide, Tyranny, Nukes, No Nukes, Sanctions, Mutilation, Imprisonment, Tibet, and Tiananmen Square.

Decades, centuries, eons, millennia, B.C. and A.D.  The Big Bang, dinosaurs, Adam and Eve, Lotus Flower, Buddha, the Great Wolf spirit and the Beginnings of it all.

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Really, People?

Aren’t you just tired of it all?

Aren’t we—enlightened, educated, innovative, exploring, expanding, and celebrating all that we have?  And, wondering, researching, hoping, solving all the challenges life throws our way?  Shouldn’t we be?

 

There are days when I’m embarrassed to be homo sapien.  I know some of you are thinking: “Great, go hop on the next spaceship outta here…go find Roswell and Area 51…just go.”  But, if you take a moment to look in the mirror and then look into the face of someone who is dying and then look into the face of a newborn babe, you might understand what I mean.

 

We are de-evolving. 

We are retreating.

We are ignoring.

 

When instead we should be:

Evolving,

Emerging,

Accepting,

Growing.

 

So, I know—those of you who are conservative are probably wondering if I’m one of those ‘peace, love, granola, communistic, socialistic liberals.’

I’m not.

Those of you who are liberal are probably wondering, oh, another rampage, another loose cannon, another one of ‘those’ people.

I’m not.

 

I really am:

The heart, the core, the spirit, the hope, the beauty, the Life—that I want for those I love.  Those who have gone before and those who will go after me.  It’s quite simple.  Really, People.  It is.

 

Years upon years ago, when I was much more idealistic and less cynical, when I was in front of the brightest, most creative minds in the world, I challenged my young, somewhat idealistic, somewhat pessimistic students to take one day to smile.  Smile, in the hallways.  Smile, even if you get the wrong order.  Smile, at an enemy.  Smile, at a stranger.  Smile, at a friend.  Just a little nod and an upturned corner of the lip---smile.  Then, (groan-homework), write a page on your day of smiling.

 

Without a doubt, it was one of the most fulfilling assignments I ever gave.  And, one of the easiest essays to ever read.  Each one replete with joy, joy, joy.  And, inspiration, and ideas, and curiosity:

“Could world peace be as simple as a smile?”

“Could we cure diseases with smiles?”

“Could we meet new people with smiles?”

“Could we conquer our deepest fears, aspire to something previously unknown, find passion, grow, learn, love and perhaps, transform life,”  all with a smile.

 

So.

This could be the end of my blogging career.

Or

It can be the start of something wonderful.  For me and,

Hopefully,

For You.

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