I used to wear a yellow LiveStrong wristband on my right wrist to remind me of the people I know who were fighting cancer. As time goes on, I've realized that I really don't need a physical reminder that far too many people are fighting this horrible disease. I don't need a clever marketing gadget to remind me that I know people who have fought this disease, or that are fighting it now. I know people who have lost their fight - and my own life, as well as that of others, is considerably less joyful at the thought of such loss.
So instead of looking down at my wrist and taking a minute to consider what someone I care for is going through, and how many others that I don't know are going through, I can - and should look up, up into the real, moving world that is life going on all around me. That movement all around me is something that is filled with examples of others that are any number of things well worth giving thought to and realizing that life is many things, often all at once; Amazing, blessed, cold, delightful, empathetic, frightening, glorious, heavenly, intense, justified, kind, loving, magnificent, new, old, plentiful, quick, real, satisfying,unfair,vicious, wonderful, xylophone....huh? Wait a minute - what the...??? Chill, good people, there aren't many words that start with the letter X - most of 'em are names of chemicals and/or ingredients, a lot of 'em are actually pronounced with a Z sound, so yeah...X marks the spot where I went off the road and put a flippin' xylophone to mark my place. Deal with it...
Moving on...yang, and lastly, zoom...no, not the Mazda slogan, more like zoom because life has a way of speeding up when we ourselves tend to slow down. Moments can seem to last forever, but the reality of it is that they're gone in the blink of an eye.
Today is my day off. Not even a cup in and I started my morning by watching a video of the TED talk that my friend, Angelo Merendino gave earlier this month in Utah.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeT221skphw&feature=share) In the nearly twenty years since I met Angelo, the things that always come to mind whenever I've been around him and whenever I think of him, are any and all of the following: perhaps the most charming and heartwarming enthusiasm I've ever seen in anyone. A smile that lights up rooms, kindness that pours out of him and lights up and warms lives - just by merely standing by him. More than anything, kindness. And kindness is inspiring from anyone, particularly someone as kind as I know Angelo is.
So kindness is what I'll try to carry with me today. I've got tons of stuff to do that I can't put off any longer, and simply writing my thoughts going into this day is procrastinating on some chores that I'm dreading. But stopping to think for a bit on how this, like any other day, is a day where I shouldn't complain a bit. There are people out there who are battling things I can't even fathom, there are people in my life who are battling things that I feel helpless to help with at all, other than to just say that they're in my thoughts and that I'd do more, if I only knew what more was and how to budget my time better to accommodate such things and not be so self-involved. In that regard, I guess I'm a work in progress.
I don't need the yellow wristband to think of others. I didn't take it off because Lance Armstrong came clean about his use of performance enhancing drugs. To say that's cheating when in today's world we're constantly being told that we should use pharmaceutical products for a multitude of symptoms, seems more than a little ironic. While I've been told that Lance isn't the nicest guy out there, the dude battled cancer and won a grueling bicycle race more than once. He still had to pedal through the hills of France, it's not exactly like he hung onto the bumper of a car while no one was watching him and got to the finish line, nor is it like he was amped up enough to ride his bicycle across the ocean home to the states.
I'm of the opinion that far too little money actually goes to research and methods that cure things like cancer - and that every month should have the same objective as October and the shitstorm of marketing bullshit that pink ribbons are. Because it's time we examine closely what is being put in our food and how this awful disease is a multi-billion dollar source of revenue, because it sure looks like that's a golden egg that society wants the goose that laid it to live forever and lay more of.
I haven't forgotten about the people I know who are, or have battled cancer. I won't. I also have not forgotten that on this day, just as every day, there are people out there that are going through things that are far more unpleasant than anything I don't like about all I have to do on my one day off this week. My boss is saying goodbye to his father today, and here's me, overwhelmed with the ton of things that I've put off so long that I am obligated to the lot of them on my day off, and that bothers me. At the risk of rambling - and mind you that at least one person I know has publicly announced how they hate reading this blog, I'll just say that watching my dear friend Angelo's TED talk as I enjoyed my coffee this morning, inspired me to hope that my thoughts of kindness towards others are as powerful as I want, and need them to be. That I've been able to act on such thoughts in any way that has made a positive difference for anyone. That my thoughts towards what others are going through that is so much worse than my petty and self-involved things I'm attending to on this day, will find their way and make things more bearable for them today. Kindness and empathy, good people. Those are the thoughts I'm going to carry with me today. Peace.
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