Tag: vote

This land is your land, This land is my land.

I really love the word dichotomy, as a lot of things I like and believe in fall into its definition. just for housekeeping, purposes were going to insert the definition. 

Dichotomy – a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

Today Tuesday the 3rd of November is one of those dichotomy days for me. Yes, it is the single most important day of the next four years and your vote along with the votes of millions of others in this country will have a dramatic impact on the direction that our country heads down over the next decades. Chances are half of us will go to bed ecstatic and the other half will be devastated when we lay our head down to sleep late on Tuesday night.

Conversely, Tuesday, November 3rd is just another day in your life and whatever happens, that day will have an impact on your life but it won’t completely ruin or make the rest of your life.

I’m choosing to live my life the same way I always have today, tomorrow, and the next day. I’m going to control the things I can, work hard in every aspect of my life, love everyone equally, and not late hate, fear, or greed dissuade me from loving you my fellow American.

Involved or Committed??

There’s a popular quote from John F. Kennedy that says. “one man can make a difference – and that every man should try.“

Pretty epic wisdom if you ask me. If I suddenly start to care more about the environment my individual impact isn’t going to add up to much. But if my neighbor starts listening to me and then his neighbor listens to him by the time we get 10 houses down were starting a trend.

There are two problems with that quote. We only got a small portion of the entire statement and perhaps the biggest blunder, JFK probably didn’t say it or at least historians haven’t been able to find proof that he did. The more likely author of that quote is his wife Jacqueline Kennedy for a piece on his memorial Library in 1964.

Here’s the entire quote.

“John Kennedy believed so strongly that one’s aim should not just be the most comfortable life possible, but that we should all do something to right the wrongs we see, and not just complain about them. We owe that to our country, and our country will suffer if we don’t serve her. He believed that one man can make a difference – and that every man should try.“

I read that statement and by the end thought to myself. Holy crap where has this entire quote been hiding for more than half a century and why was the last sentence singled out as the most valuable?

None of that matters now, I’ve read it and now you have as well. WHAT ARE WE/I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT??? You cant Ctrl, Alt Delete that from your memory bank. We/I need to live that mission every single day as the success of our planet relies on our collective work now more than ever.

Relentless dedication to something small…

There are about a half dozen ideas I have that kicking around in my head on how I can change the world or better yet things I like to complain about but haven’t taken enough time or effort to do something about. 

I’m ready to do something about that now as I realize that I am not fully living up to the words that Jacqueline graced us with. Sure I feel like I am an involved and conscientious member of this planet but being halfway committed to change isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Lets each pick one small thing we are passionate about and make a promise to each other that we will take action daily to educate ourselves, speak up about injustice and rather than complain about it we will work towards building a stronger global community.

Call to Action

Have you ever heard of the parable of inviting the Chicken and the Pig To breakfast? The chicken will bring eggs to breakfast, he is involved as he can come back again tomorrow. The pig on the other hand is committed, when he brings home the bacon he isn’t coming back tomorrow.

Go out there and be the change the world needs and get out there and stay committed. Change is hard and dirty work but lucky for us pigs like those sorts of things.