One Love

For the last year, I have been part of a non-profit called Great Shape! Inc. Through this organization, we facilitate humanitarian projects in Jamaica, including the world's largest international dental project and a literacy improvement project (www.gsjamaica.org). It is amazing to see the passion that so many of the volunteers have for the projects and I'm excited as I will be able to travel to Jamaica this year to participate in the literacy project. I have very little teaching experience but I hope my passion for the people will help guide me to be a great help. In Jamaica, the people embrace the idea of "one love" and Great Shape!Inc. tries to embrace that idea. Many of our board members have befriended the people in Jamaica, and I know in November I will have the same opportunity. When I refer to One Love, I don't merely refer to Bob Marley's song (although his song includes a lot of truth and I even have it as my ring tone). I'm talking about each of us defining that one love. Taking it to heart and considering it an essential of human relationships. Sometimes it's so hard to think of it as one love. There's romantic love, family love, unrequited love, tough love, love lost, etc. However, I believe there truly is one love. It is powerful and sometimes misunderstood. At times what we think is love, is actually a facade for something else. I mention this because we so often overlook the troubles overseas; the bad things happening around us all throughout the world. I encourage you to take part in the solution. A small donation, an hour of time, a single building, is sometimes all it takes to make a change in the world. Get involved. Great Shape! Inc. is one way to do it. Or think local and offer to even help that neighbor who can't make it to the grocery store. The only way to feel empowered is to be it...Take action so that one day we can all enjoy that "one love".

Let the Music Fill the Air

Michael Jackson has died. Said to be the King of Pop, what made him such a legend? He's in the headlines. His face, besides being one of a kind, can be seen smothered all around the media. It gives rise to a powerful question: how does one become a music legend? Each great musician had to start some where. Whether a garage band hoping to stand where Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones, and U2 have stood or a girl with a guitar in the bar dreaming of hearing her songs played over the radio, they all started somewhere. A voice, an instrument, and pretty face are just a few of reasons we remember names like the Beatles, Eric Clapton, and, let's be honest, Britney Spears , but what is the next step? When does a musician step out into the abyss between a musician and a legendary one? I sat and pondered this a while until I fell upon a quote "Music is the universal language of mankind." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) I was struck by its truth. I have found myself at a variety of music scenarios from heavy metal to church hymns to African tribal music. More than once I felt like I was somewhere foreign and distant from the music I knew and understood, a lot like being in another country where they speak another language. And just like verbal language, music is something we must translate and try to understand. Yes once in a while we will encounter the music genre or band that is comparable to the Chinese man who only speaks a remote dialect and no matter how hard we try we will never understand, but all we can really ask is that we still respect that language. You never know when it might be a beautiful poem or a great word of wisdom. However, I think that when you become a legend, you have the ability to speak the language of a diversified group so it is music to their ears. Take Michael Jackson for example. He's loved by many generations and his death shook the music world. So the next time you turn on the radio, give respect to the music legends that have died and turn up the volume to old songs like "Thriller". Let it the music fill the air.