Faith in Others

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T13:54:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone. It has been a long time since I've updated, thanks to many distractions and a lot of stress. I'm going to make an attempt to get the ball rolling on this again, and decided that today is no better day to start than any other. Without further adieu...

...I'd like to start with a challenge. Don't worry, this is any easy one. Maybe. Here's a question for you: what do you do with your life to honor the sacrifices of those who have fought for you or currently fight for you? We all have differing viewpoints on whether certain wars are worth fighting, but the bottom line is that over many, many, maaaaanny years, a lot of good people have gone off to battle believing that they were doing so for the best interest of the country. They fight, and die, for the rights and privileges that we all get to enjoy. The ease of posting a Facebook update once a year thanking the troops doesn't really resonate well with me. If you want to thank them, please do something for them. Support the Troops or the USO might be a good start, or you could always see if you could help out with Veteran's Affairs. And you know what, if you don't want to help out the members of the military, then simply try to help out your fellow man every once in a while. Hold the door open for someone, stop and help push a car out of the road, or just give a warm greeting to the bogged-down cashier at your grocery store. Keep in mind that even when we struggle, we still often enjoy so much. We overlook how good we have it because we don't truly know of the plight of others. Do what you can to help out, because it often costs you nothing to do the right thing.

Blammo

2010-11-11T14:44:00.005-05:00

Taking the rest of the week off

2010-10-28T17:03:00.003-04:00

Great Person of the Day #10: Buddy Wakefield

2010-10-27T18:46:00.005-04:00

Correction: I had originally posted this article with a picture of Young Buddy Wakefield. Oops! I didn't know there were so many musicians with the same name. Will fix with a picture of the correct Buddy at some point soon.

Today we venture to Baltimore for our GPotD, who is musician Buddy Wakefield. Buddy has a brother with Parkinson's disease and has been using a harp to help (I'm assuming) with the dexterity of his motor skills. Turning to other instruments for inspiration, Wakefield discovered that harmonicas could be helpful to those with respiratory problems because of the actions needed to play it, included pursing lips and deep breathing. Sinai Hospital has started giving harmonicas, songbooks, and lessons to pediatric patients with asthma, pneumonia, and other post-op conditions to help them strengthen their breathing. Playing them helps the patients open up their lungs and can be used by parents as a simple way to test the breathing status of their children while at home. The program has been such a successful therapy tool that the hospital is looking to expand it into other units.

I've always been a fan of multidisciplinary teams for patient care, but this goes beyond that and highlights why it's so important for people from non-medical fields to volunteer or help out in some manner. Sometimes the best, (seemingly0 simplest ideas come from people who have no ties to the field.

(source)

UPDATE Great Person of the Day #8: Feris Jones

2010-10-26T20:26:00.002-04:00

(image courtesy of Frank Franklin II/AP)

For the previous post, click here.

Feris Jones, the Clint Eastwood-esque heroine of the recent salon shoot-out in NY City, was promoted from officer to detective at a ceremony earlier today. Congrats!

(source)

Great Person of the Day #9: Jamie Dixon

2010-10-26T20:18:00.003-04:00

(image courtesy of thepittsburghchannel.com)

Today's GPotD is University of Pittsburgh basketball coach Jamie Dixon, who recently helped pull two people from a car after an accident on Interstate 279. Dixon witnessed the car swerve, hit a guardrail, and flip over several times before it came to a rest on its roof. He pulleld over, ran over to the car, and helped one of the passengers get out through a broken window. Dixon downplayed his heroics and noted that others stopped as well. On top of that, he said it was what anyone would have done. As one who has witnessed car collisions/accidents and seen many others pass by, I can say that isn't true. Thanks for stopping and doing your part.

(source)

Great Person of the Day #8: Feris Jones

2010-10-25T21:23:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the late post today. I had a couple of job interviews the next town over and haven't had any online time. Thankfully, our GPotD made herself apparent in a very timely manner. Readers, I present you...

...New York police officer Feris Jones, who was attempting to enjoy a Saturday evening in a hair salon when an 19-year-old decided to bust in and rob the joint. He threatened to kill the women inside, demanded their valuables, and was going to her them into the back of the building. That's when Jones, who has been an officer for two decades and never fired a weapon while on duty, decided to intervene. She pulled out her five-shot revolver, told the women to get down, and identified herself as a cop. The robber took four poorly aimed shots at her and she unloaded her revolver. In true Clint Eastwood style, she shot the robber in the hand (causing him to drop his gun) and shot the salon's doorknob (causing it to fall off and trap the robber). After a moment of panic, the robber broke through the front window and escaped for a brief time before other officers showed up with some bloodhounds. As we all know, you can't escape the bloodhounds when you've been bleeding everywhere.

Congrats to Feris for saving the day in style and for helping bring in the bad guy without putting him in a body bag.

(source)

(Image courtesy of AP)

Great Person of the Day #7: Duane Innes

2010-10-21T21:12:00.006-04:00

(Image courtesy of seattletimes.nwsource.com)

I'm actually pretty shocked this didn't make the news circuit much earlier, but I'm happy to be able to end the week on such a positive note. Today's great person is Duane Innes, a 48-year-old engineer for Boeing who lives in Kent, Washington. While driving to a Seattle Mariners baseball game this past July he saw a truck swerve, hit a median, and continue down the road. He noticed the driver, 80-year-old Special Olympics volunteer and food drive organizer Bill Pace, was slumped over the steering wheel. It turns out that Pace had a minor heart attack several days earlier, and the subsequent poor blood circulation caused him to pass out while driving. Innes managed to get in front of Pace and then allowed Pace to rear-end him. Innes then brought both vehicles to a stop before a busy intersection. Pace spent almost a week in the hospital and his insurance happily covered the $3,500 damages to Innes' minivan.

Good people getting helped by good people. I love it.

(source)

Great Person of the Day #6: Sandra Samuel

2010-10-20T23:23:00.004-04:00

(Image courtesy of AFP/Getty Images)

Hi everyone!

Today's great person is Sandra Samuel. During the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, she rescued 2-year-old Moshe Holtzberg despite the threat of still having the attackers in the building. Those Islamic militants killed 173 people, including the boy's parents, and injured another 308* during this attack. Samuel had been working as a nanny for the family before the attack and has been taking care of him ever since. She was recently awarded permanent citizenship in Israel and had previously been honored with the Righteous among the Nations title, which is the ultimate Israeli award for those who aren't Jewish.

(source)

*according to Wikipedia, anway. I know I said I didn't like using it, but it's so easy!

Great Person of the Day #6: Aidan Reed (and The Internet)

2010-10-20T09:47:00.004-04:00

(Image courtesy of aidforaidan.wordpress.com)

Today's great person is five-year old Aidan Reed, who has a love of all things scary and monstrous, and who was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He has successfully made it through his first round of chemo, but still has a couple more years to go. As a way to help pay for his medical expenses, Aidan has (with the help of his parents) set up an Etsy account where he is selling his artwork. Well, he was selling his things there yesterday, but The Internet once again proved that it could be a benefit to society and the artwork is currently sold out.

(source)

Great Person of the Day #5: Joycelyn Elders

2010-10-19T10:12:00.009-04:00

(Image courtesy of canyonranchinstitute.org)

Today's GPotD is former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders, who has come out in support of California Proposition 19. For those not in the know, this is the proposition that would allow for adults over age 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use in nonpublic locations. The bill is controversial and likely won't accomplish the positives that its supports tout (there are already plenty of head shops so there won't exactly be a large increase in new business and the drug-related crime in Mexico is largely over substances that are not marijuana), but it would stop punishing citizens for recreational use and could might make it easier to use for those who could medically benefit from it. As someone who has a sister with a chronic illness (and a lack of desire to use marijuana due to its illegality despite the fact that it has been shown to make things easier for others with her condition), I can get behind the idea.

Of course, Elders is also a controversial person. She was surgeon general for only about a year-and-a-half. During that time she supported legalization, but the nail in her coffin was the suggestion that masturbation be taught in schools as part of the Sex Ed curriculum (this is a great idea.) Here's what she had to say on the subject of Prop 19:

“I think we consume far more dangerous drugs that are legal: cigarette smoking, nicotine and alcohol. I feel they cause much more devastating effects physically. We need to lift the prohibition on marijuana.”

Speaking of those other drugs, it's worth noting that the United States is by far and away the largest drug consuming nation in the world. Seriously, we put everyone else to shame with just the stuff we can legally use. In 2003 we spent almost $116 billion on alcohol products. In 2002 the tobacco crop value was 1.6 billion. But that's all chump-change compared to the prescription drug industry. In 2009 they brought in just over $300 billion. The thing that makes that number all the more staggering is that 75% of sales were for generic drugs, which are usually considerably cheaper than brand name. That's a whole lot of drugs.

(source)

Great Person of the Day #4: Gene Epstein

2010-10-18T14:39:00.004-04:00

(Image courtesy of the Associated Press)

Gene Epstein is a philanthropist with a deep pocket and an interesting idea. He recently started something called Hire Just One, which will donate $1,000 to the charity of an employer's choosing is that employer hires someone and keeps them on staff for at least six months. Epstein is putting up $250,000 of his own money to back the effort and it sounds like he's willing to manage more if others want to contribute. He also has a history of charitable endeavors and sounds like a guy who made it big and paid it forward.

This comes on news that the top one-hundred charities in the U.S. saw a decrease in donations by 11% last year. That's billions of dollars. Though Epstein won't quite be making up for that, every bit counts and he has certainly put a good amount on the table.

(sources: Hire Just One, Top 400)

On a personal note, updates might be slow this week because I'm quickly approaching my 5th month of unemployment and if I don't find something this week my upcoming bill are going to be very angry with me.

Great Person of the Day #3: Eva Mendes

2010-10-15T12:45:00.003-04:00

(Image courtesy of Eva's Facebook profile)

One of my goals with the Great Person articles is to avoid handing them out to celebrities. The hope is that this will be a spot to acknowledge everyday people doing good things for other everyday people. I'm making an exception today for two reasons:

First, finding good news is hard. Seriously, I didn't think it was going to be this difficult because the first two just fell into my lap. I've been scouring news sites for a few hours and am having a terrible time finding something positive. Please submit anything you might find!

Second, it seems like Eva really gets it. I've posted a couple of quotes from her recent interview with CNN. She's talking about volunteering with The Art of Elysium and spending time with the CNN Heroes.

"It makes me realize that, due to this celebrity thing, I do have a light that follows me around. So what I choose to do with that light is shine it on other things that are important, not just what I'm wearing. ... So it just keeps everything in perspective and makes me realize my purpose as well and the purpose of this crazy thing called celebrity.

....

What we do is we bring the arts, in any way we can, into hospitals. Some of these children have been bedridden for years, so they obviously can't go out and play. So we sing. We read to the children. We finger-paint -- that's a really fun one -- and it's amazing what you see. You get a real direct, immediate result. These children, they're just these beautiful little souls. Some of these kids can't speak, so they really just have their eyes and their souls to communicate. And when you finger-paint with a kid or you dance and you see their little eyes light up, it's pretty incredible. And when you start visiting them on a regular basis, you see their growth. It's really quite special."

When Faith in Others Waivers #1

2010-10-15T09:50:00.003-04:00

This is the first in a series of entries about the types of incidents that cause us to lose faith in those around us. Each entry will be based on an experience that I have had and how my life was affected by it.

This entry is about a professor I had during my time in grad school. I'm going to go ahead and call him Fallen for the rest of the post. You'll see why as the story unfolds.

My first semester of grad school was in spring of 2008. I'm was taking three classes and was the only male in each one. I've had an older male professor, a crazy female professor, and Fallen, a young male professor. The first two were great, but my first bond was with the young male professor. I don't think I made it twenty minutes into his class before being given a nickname that still pops up every now and then to this day. It's not that I didn't get along with the ladies in the class of that I didn't like my other professors, but this guy just seemed to get me.

My first meeting with my academic adviser left me feeling a bit... scared?... of her. I don't know, she just didn't seem entirely enthused to have me rambling in her office. Fallen readily engaged me in class, in the halls, and also set things aside when I went to his office. I never changed advisers on paper, but in my mind I switched that first semester.

I ended up being in three classes with him in consecutive semesters. By the time the fall arrived I showed up on the syllabus in nickname only. He rearranged the syllabus because I complained about having to lead group discussion first for the third time in a row and wanted to go at the end instead. My first few months in the program were filled with self-doubt and anxiety, but he had helped build up my ego. I struggled with the thought that I was disappointing my professors, or that I wasn't quite as good as the other students, but he made me believe in myself. He saw beyond my struggles, and to this day I still believe he saw the potential within me before a good number of others did. He made me believe I could be great. No, that I was great.

The following spring was the first time that I didn't have class with him, but that didn't stop me from visiting his office. I was working part-time for another part of the university and administration was threatening to fire me if I didn't accept a job transfer to another department (possible topic for another entry!). This was impossible due to my day-time practicum that I was completing. I remember sitting in his office for at least an hour, just letting the tears roll. I was exhausted. Twenty-seven hours a week devoted to prac, nine hours of class time, twenty hours of work... I wasn't sleeping well, I was doubting my abilities as a counselor, was frustrated with my prac site, and the job was the icing on the cake.

I appreciated that he let me sit in there for so long and vent about everything that was happening. He put away his work and gave me his full attention, save for several quick glances when his cell phone buzzed new texts. He helped me get centered. My breathing relaxed and my tears stopped. I realized how I could commit myself to what needed to be done. I remembered all the skills I had learned and how I'd been applying them well. My confidence was returning.

I left his office feeling so much better. On the way out, he told me to keep coming back to tell him about how my practicum was going. He said he enjoyed hearing how I was growing and that he could see the change taking place. I told him I would, and I did. His door was always open, and I stuck my head in at least one a week for the rest of the semester.

That summer was a lot less busy for me. Class schedules are very different and I ended up not seeing much of him. Near the end of the summer I stopped by his office, having just finished planning the rest of my schedule for my time in grad school. I told him that I needed an extra credit for the spring and that I really wanted to be a teacher's assistant for him. "I wasn't planning on teaching that semester," was his reply.

I remember a lot of thoughts racing through my head at that point. He had taken on a lot of responsibilities over the my time in the department, so it was perfectly reasonable that he might be taking the semester off to deal with them. Or perhaps finished his research. But I'd be a liar if I didn't say that my first thought was You're not leaving, are you? I didn't say it, but I smiled and told him that if he did end up teaching he'd better take me on or I'd hunt him down.

A couple of weeks later he was gone. A news story appeared in the paper about a number of people from the university being dismissed for financial issues. He was listed as taking a leave. Fuck this, I thought. If they fire him I'm going to be so pissed. I was angry. Very angry. And very hurt that he was gone. I was about to start my internship and I new it was going to be a hard semester. I never went to visit my adviser anymore and this was by far the best relationship I had with any of the faculty members. How was I going to make it if he didn't come back?

Then the rumors started. You know how with some rumors you can tell right away that it has to be true? That there's no way future evidence will do anything but prove the party to be guilty? That's what happened with Fallen. "He slept with students," was whispered into my ear. I knew it was true. I knew he wasn't coming back.

Shortly before he left, the department attempted to hold a town meeting of sorts. Two faculty and about ten students showed up, so it wasn't a smashing success. We were told about the turmoil the department was in and vented our feelings about what we wanted. One of the girls proposed mandatory, weekly small-group meetings for new students that would be facilitated by students nearing graduation. She had been talking about it a bit with the two faculty members, but the idea was still in its infancy. Over an hour or so we fleshed out all the details. I left feeling so accomplished! I couldn't believe we had done that in such an efficient manner. But when I heard the rumor, I realized that it had been much too easy a process. The rumor had to be true. Fallen had to have had a relationship with that girl.

Being right hurt so much.

I can't begin to describe the pain, anger, and confusion that the girls who were involved with Fallen went through. Nor can I do the same for the rest of the student body or faculty. But I can tell you about mine.

I felt so alone. He was my guy. He knew all about me and I felt at total ease around him. I was left with a bunch of undeveloped relationships. I didn't know who would believe in me, who would tell me my positives when I was in a bad spot. I didn't believe in myself without his support.

I felt so angry. I was angry that he had done something so stupid. He was my ethics teacher and he slept with students! I was angry that the students had been involved with him. I wanted them to be punished, too. I was angry that no one else wanted them to be punished and that all the attention was focused on Fallen.

I felt so confused about whether the relationship I had with him was real or smoke and mirrors. Those texts he received during the day in his office when I was upset about the world were from at least one of the girls. Had he only liked me stopping by because I stroked his ego when I thanked him for teaching me certain things that had proven useful? His calm and collected demeanor was a facade. He had been so reserved because it helped him keep the secret about what he was doing. He'd been living with one of the students for years and even his best friend in the faculty didn't know. The department as a collective had no idea what he was up to until it exploded and we all suffered because of it.

I felt so stupid that I hadn't trusted my gut instinct. I first met Fallen at the spring orientation. The first moment I saw him I thought Who is this guy with the stache? He looks like a pedo. I thought he was a strange man and felt a little uncomfortable around him; his appearance and behavior just didn't add up in my head.. After that first day of class, I had my nickname and decided that I must have just been reading him wrong. Turns out that was the moment I was wrong.

The biggest thing, though, was the grief I felt due to the fact that he would not be at graduation. Our department always hosts a little ceremony and for a long time I had envisioned what it would be like to shake hands and thank him for all he had done for me. And to know that I had made him proud and lived up to my potential! Maybe I have daddy issues or something (I always perceived that he wasn't very proud of me until recently), but that was something that was important to me. I guess I hadn't felt like someone was really proud of me for a long time, and it seemed like I had lost that opportunity again.

Part of my difficulty in dealing with the aftermath was that I barely spent time within the department. I had my supervision there, but aside from that I was only in one other class and that met at another location on campus. I wasn't around many people and didn't get the chance to process it with the others.

Healing took a while. My play therapy instructor overheard me talking about Fallen what I thought I had gained from him, and wisely said that it didn't matter because the little boy I worked with in the class (who was likely the biggest handful of the group) loved being around me because of who I was, not because some other person had said good things about me. She reminded me that I was doing those goods things and then earning the praise, not the other way around.

I reestablished myself with my adviser and realized that I had read her wrong in our first meeting. She was much warmer and more caring than I had initially imagined. I also developed a great relationship with an older faculty member who had reached out to me some during my practicum. He and I were like peas in a pod by the time graduation rolled around.

As time passed I became less angry and confused. By the time my last spring semester started I felt like a rockstar. I had fully confidence in myself. I had terrific faculty support and I had some truly amazing relationships with my classmates. The voids I had after Fallen left were filled by so many more people. I thought I had lost something for a while, but it turns out I grew more than I realized I could. I was no longer upset with the students who had been involved with Fallen, or even with Fallen himself. He is human. He did a terrible thing, but we're trained to accept the flaws of others. I only hope he one day gets the help he needs.

In the beginning...

2010-10-14T16:15:00.003-04:00

August 8th, 2008.

Man, has it really been that long?

I was in the final week of my second semester of grad school and was finishing up a class on diversity. The professor, who will be the star of a later post (that will be coming soon), liked to teach the class by splitting it up into groups. Two groups observed and commented on the interactions of two other groups, which I guess we'll call Group A and Group B. Group A was split into subgroups that took turns leading "therapy" (conversation) on different topics, with Group B members being the main speakers.

This was a long class. We met once a week for six weeks, which meant that class days took almost eight hours. A discussion on relationships took place in the morning, lunch was had, and we moved onto spirituality. As a member of Group B, I was somewhat talkative during the relationship discussion. That died when we turned to spirituality. I'm not religious, and most of the discussion was religion-based. Instead of talking, I sat and observed the others. I was tired, bored, and not entirely there.

At some point another group member who had been very quiet during the relationship discussion began to speak. Almost immediately her voice choked up and her eyes became teary. She wasn't someone I had talked to very much outside of having been subgroup partners at the beginning of the semester. I knew she had been dating some guy and had been excited about it earlier in the summer, but didn't know anything of the relationship since then.

She said she struggled to speak up in the earlier group because she was still gong through a lot. Her relationship had recently ended and it was largely due to an incompatibility of religious belief. My interest in the group became focused again as she continued to talk. Despite having the same basic beliefs (Christianity), they belonged to different denominations and he deemed that the differences were too great for the relationship to continue.

I was blown away. Seriously? I thought as I watched tears roll down her face. She spoke a little more about how much she had enjoyed being with him and how hurt she was that it had ended that way. The group fell silent and it felt like an eternity passed with a room of 50+ people starring at her. That's when I said something for the first time since the morning. It went something like this:

"That doesn't make sense to me. I don't understand how people can put so much faith and trust in something they can't see or touch or even prove exists, yet they'll quickly turn away something that is right in front of them. Why can't people put some of that faith they have in God in the people around them? This world would be a better place if we could start putting some trust in one another, actually investing ourselves into those around us."

I thought I was going to fall under the ax for that one. Sure, counselors are taught and trained not to judge others and to be unconditionally accepting, but this was a fairly religious group and some could have perceived that I was knocking the big guy. I was surprised when others caught onto the idea of putting more faith in those around us (though they didn't talk about take it away from the Big Man.)

As I thought about it more and more after the group, I came to to conclusion that the main reason so many people are hesitant or unwilling to put believe or have faith in others is because the potential for hurt is so great. For example:

If I pray for five days for God to give me a ride home from the airport, I will likely have two outcomes: I will be sad that no one came to pick me up, or I will praise God for providing me with a taxi at the curb. If the former happens, I likely won't be that upset with God because he's got a whole lot to take care of and I'm just one dude at the airport. Plus, I guess I can take that cab.

If I call my friend Joe for five days and ask him to give me a ride home and he isn't there, I likely have one outcome: I'm gonna call him, leave an angry voice mail, and be all sorts of pissy as I hail a cab.

The next morning? Me and God are cool. Dude has my back, even when I don't recognize it. Joe? That guy is a dick.

Because we can physically and mentally connect with the people around us we have a truly intimate, deep relationship. (And yes, stop there, I know that people develop deep relationships with God. We can fight about it later in an upcoming post if you want, this is just an intro to the idea.) When that relationship is violated we no longer wish to be around that person. When enough relationships are violated we withdraw ourselves from the population. We become bitter, jaded, and angry at people. We turn on them, take our shots at them to feel better about ourselves, and create divides in the population. You can be angry and bitter with God and it doesn't ruin his day. Being the same way with other people creates a world of conflict.

As we go through life, we are exposed to many opportunities to become bitter, angry, and jaded. I know because I am. I've experienced a lot of stuff that has had ill-effect on me, some of which I'll be sharing over the course of this blog. I hope that it will help liberate me from those things, because I want to be happy. I want to spread happiness.

It all starts somewhere.

This is just the beginning.

Great Person of the Day #2: Magnus Knudsen

2010-10-14T15:32:00.009-04:00

(Image courtesy of www.wlwt.com)

This is five-year old Magnus. He recently decided to donate some of his toys to the Ronald McDonald House, but was turned down because a lot of the children that stay there are sick and can't risk being exposed to anything. Not to be deterred, Magnus instead opted to receive cash donations in-lieu of birthday presents this year. As you can see he managed to raise almost three-hundred bucks for the RMcDH. This little guy is almost too rad for words. Here's hoping he continues to inspire those around him!

And, in his honor, there will shortly be a link to the Ronald McDonald house in the 'Help Others' section. I'm not a huge fan of McD's fast food, but this is an excellent charity and Ive seen a number of families really benefit from it during my counseling experience.

(source)

Great Person of the Day #1: Joel Burns

2010-10-13T18:46:00.006-04:00

One of the things I'd like to do as this blog develops is acknowledge some of the truly awesome, inspiring people in this world. Today, the spotlight goes to Councilman Joel Burns of Fort Worth City, who used his talk-time at the meeting to address the bullying of LGBT teens that is taking place in America today. If this doesn't make you tear up at least a little bit then this is likely not the blog for you.

I am a self-fulfilling prophecy

2010-10-13T14:33:00.004-04:00

One of my biggest concerns when starting anything is that I'm not going to see it through to the end. I am terrible at completing projects. Maybe I have too many ideas to stick to one for very long. Maybe I'm just lazy. Who knows? In the end, all of my projects end up looking the same. Incomplete.

And that's how this project started! Good grief, I struggled with even getting this one off the ground. I had debated this one for a long time... at least a year and a half. Originally I didn't think I would have time because I was in a very busy master's program. More recently, I didn't think I should do it because I've been in a depressed funk that one can only experience after being unemployed for a good while.

I actually bought the site URL really late one night. I couldn't sleep and had been drinking, so obviously the right thing to do was to attempt to bring people together. I thought about all the things I would post, and it what order everything should be laid out, and how the response would be. When I woke up the next day I tinkered with some settings, made a brief post, and tinkered some more before becoming frustrated. Then life became frustrating and I thought of more things to post, but never did.

Now we're here. I'm going to do my best to start updating. To start spreading the message that's maybe still forming in my head. I don't know that I'll be able to do it. I don't know that I have what it takes. But maybe that's the point of all of this... I am fallible and can disappoint you, but I need you to believe in me.

In return, I will believe in you.

NEXT: The story behind this site.

Hello... world?

2010-09-04T01:58:00.003-04:00

This is the first post of a new project. I have a habit of developing ideas that never get started, and an even worse habit of starting things and not finishing them. In good news, I think I know what I'm starting now. At least, I know what I'm going to start with. What I don't know is how it will all end. I hope it's ends with the start of something big, but I have my doubts that I am capable of creating something so much bigger than myself. But I will try! Is there any more that I can do?

The idea for this project starts with a story that I will tell you (almost definitely) in the next post, but what's important to establish now is that this blog, and whatever site may grow from it, is about (re-)establishing our faith in humanity. This is about putting aside the color of our skin, our religious beliefs, and our political views. This is about coming together at our most basic elements and striving to become so much more than we are, but what we are entirely capable of being. This is about the here and now, making our lives and our world a better place, and taking advantage of the time we have together.

I hope that this site will make you think beyond simply your reactions to what I, or others, say. I hope it will challenge you in a manner that you can embrace, and that you will be able to broaden your scope of the world. And, I must admit, I hope you will help broaden mine. We are a great combination, you and I. Please don't forget that.