What's to be thankful for?

 

We need to get on with the story.  It’s a couple of days after Thanksgiving and for the last couple of weeks I have been touting the value of counting your blessings to all who chose to listen.  We have the ZestFest Spicy Food bog and eblast where we expressed thanks to all of the companies and people that come together in that celebration of big flavors.  Then we have my Transforming Reality blog where you are probably reading this and the several facebook pages I have for different alter egos.  All in all, my “give thanks” messages had “interaction” with a few thousand people.  The question is did it make anyone’s life better?   

That is the point after all.  I really feel like I have been on a mission or a long time to find ways to be a fountain of happiness and wellbeing in the World.  As I have said in other places, my biggest satisfaction with my Rastafarian alter ego, Rasjohn (now more often known as Rasjohnmon), owner of the very popular website, REGGAE.com, was having a platform to speak to a very large and diverse cultural and ethnic audience.  Few knew whether I was black of white although the hints implied that I was probably a Jamaican Rastamon living somewhere in the Blue Mountains of JA with a good internet connection - smokin herb all day while listening to the best new and old Roots Reggae one drop tunes and pontificating online about the Oneness of all humanity.  It was the message that made Bob Marley a cultural icon – his music covered every emotion from anger to love but woven throughout was an unwavering message of hope and self determination.  “Don’t let the system bring you down”.  With my words and song selections reaching people in the farthest reaches of the planet, I echoed that message. 

When I sold the site, it was time, past the time of its prime as an influencer.  I was still getting millions of hits a week but that was from often more casual music fans rather than people who felt part of a “culture” – a belief structure about how the world could be.  As recounted in my book “Magic at the Edge of Creation”, I went through a rough period from the time I left being very much a part of the music and media scene in New York City and headed to what I thought would be laidback tropical shores in Florida.  I have much to be thankful for as always in those years of my adventure.  Reggae.com gave me direct access to the thriving Reggae Music community in South Florida where there are more transplanted Jamaicans than most anywhere else in the World.  I got much satisfaction out of the acceptance I was given by often very tightly knit groups of Rasta’s and others heavily involved in their culture, always with the specter of slavery and colonialism at the back of their minds.  I believe it is because even though I must admit to occasional lapses in my determined feelings of Unity or better said Inity, my energy was filled with the love of the music and message and thus my whiteness became disassociated with the perceived transgressions of my race.  I can’t deny that the sense of them and me is unusual when one is one of a particular color skin amidst a few thousand of a different color.  For me it was a validation though and that gave me great satisfaction – there I was, an anomaly but more a curiosity than something distasteful or unwanted.  A world in which “the color of a man’s skin is of no more importance than the color to their eyes” is possible. 

The “news” is filled with stories telling of a much more unpleasant and unjust world.  Do we want to believe in that reality or do we choose to believe in the “ideal”?  Unfortunately many people do not believe there is a choice.  They accept the media vision of reality as canon.  Many believe that the way to fix things is to protest and make sure no one is allowed to forget the wrongs of the past.  I happen to believe in the opposite – I see remembering and memorializing as affirmations of those wrongs.  One gentleman I had several interactions with on facebook felt to turn a blind eye on a history of racism would prevent its eradication.  It is exactly the opposite.  As long as we keep stirring up the resentments and angers of the past, we will have trouble moving on.  We MUST forgive and forget and allow a new vision to take root. 

And so, back to thanksgiving.  The reason it is so important is that it helps keep our attention and focus on the “wanted” instead of the “unwanted”.  We need to be thankful that with each day that passes, the world can be a little better place if we are determined to add our positive energy to the mix.  I know that is the reason I was inspired to write my book – to help people realize they have choice, free will.  You have the chance and the ability to shape the destiny of the planet.  Everyone has it but most are using their energy to maintain the status quo by believing in the world described by the news media.  There will be less gun violence if there is less talk of guns and killing. It’s not putting your head in the sand, it is decreasing the validation of that world reality.   

An unarmed kid gets gunned down by a cop and it becomes just another TV drama.  Anger is fueled.  Resentment increases.  The hopelessness of a failed society prevails.  It becomes a self-fulfilling philosophy generating similar incidents to validate the anger as though it takes the anger to fix the problem.  It is the anger and the fear it generates that is the problem.  Do not think by any means that we are saying the anger is unjustified – that’s not the case.  The point is staying with the anger will only fan the flames of the problem.  We are not slipping into chaos or a nightmare world as long as that is not the world we envision.  For every tragedy and setback be thankful for the millions of people that are living their lives with love and hope.  That’s what you don’t want to forget.  Put your energy there.  Be one of the ones not living in fear or anger who believes each day things are getting just a little better.  Be the person who will never give up their hope or stop looking for more to be thankful for because you realize that you are totally justified in this viewpoint because you are help positively shape the World… you are a wielder of the Magic at the edge of Creation!

www.TransformingReality.com