THOUGHT POLICE

What would Jesus do in a time like this? He would support the underdog, the common people. He would fight with us against the censorship, the attack on life and the sacred union between a man and a woman. He would fight against the fear-mongering in the media. He would urge us not to blindly react to whatever awful events we’re shown. He would fight division and help us unite again as a people.

He would be totally against cancel culture. He would rally us to celebrate our commonality, not hate our neighbors because they wave a flag that you personally don’t like. This isn’t about you folks! That is the great blunder of this era; complete and utter individualism at all cost. And guess what, it’s costing us a lot. I would even argue it’s costing our beautiful America it’s soul.

WWJD in the times of Black Lives Matter?

Jesus was a rabble-rouser, a muck-raker, the Johnny Cash of the Jews, enlightened by the East and fueled by injustice, avarice and hypocrisy.

In this day and age of Black Lives Matter and Covid-19, Jesus wouldn’t have enough fingers to point out all the distorted pieces that have twisted and mutated over the last 200 years. No dirty laundry would be safe from Jesus waving it in the air for all to see.

The message would be that everyone has aspects of their behavior, prospectives and dogmas that need improving, like the letters written to the heads of the Churches in the Book of Revelations…”this I still have against you…”

So if you really want to be a spectacular human being and a cream of the crop Christian ask yourself, “What would Jesus say in his letter to ME?” And if you’re really brazen try to step into Jesus’s shoes and actually write the letter. Maybe you can do this exercise with a trusted group of friends or church members. Perhaps like a Christ-Mass Yankee swap. Draw names and air out dirty laundry!

Only the Good die young

I have become my father. Quite figuratively. I spend nearly all of my time out of doors. He was always on his porch. Sitting on a bench carved by his deceased best friend. There he would sip his coffee and listen to the local rock n’ roll radio station. Or be listing to the Beatles, The White Album for the 1008th time and singing along. Come noon a satisfying crack, busting open the sweet bliss of the goddess of hops. And he would sip and sing, sip and read the newspaper, sip and pet his dogs, and sip and stare off into the forest, his eyes engaged in a projector reel of his own life somewhere in space between the trees. Many deep sighs came from that bench, and shaking heads of disbelief. He chooses to stay in the forest. Away from the world he no longer understands. I have be come my father.

I am enough.

I make metal jewelry. The picture above is an example. I have offered this ring on Etsy for four years. It gets ordered once in a while. But in the past three weeks I have seen a huge spike in my I am enough ring. And not just in the US. Today I am mailing one to Ireland.

Why has the phrase “I am enough” become so comforting and appealing in the last month?

I believe it has to do with being stuck with ourselves. With the continuing isolation and social distancing, the cancellation of every festival this summer and an overall decline in entertainment, we have to spend time with our Selfs more than ever.

You are enough.

You have the potential inside of you to attain every happiness. It’s a matter of playing musical chairs with your perspectives, values, the way you talk to yourself in your head, and how you internalize what others say and do.

Overall, we are far too sensitive. We take the whole world personally, and we shouldn’t. Someone who snaps at you or cuts you off in traffic giving you the finger is obviously having a bad day.

You have the power of free will and can choose to embody compassion instead of mirroring the negativity right back. And in that act you are typing the scales towards a better human experience for all of us.

Try it. And along the way I bet you’ll discover that you are enough.