The Race Disgrace

I'm stumped as to why the human race has had so much racial in-fighting, throughout their history.   It appears obvious to me at this point, that every single race is merely, a product of their environment, with some help from evolution along the way.  Are humans just naturally fearful of anything different?

We are all humans in the end.  You look, and act, the way you do, because of where your ancestors came from.  It's not a coincidence that people from the extreme heat of India, have darker skin, or that Russians are more pale by comparison.  As you move towards the equator, skin tone darkens to protect the person who has to endure the environment.  This happens over hundreds of generations, and to me, that adaptability is a beautiful thing. It something to be cherished, not ridiculed.

The way humans have viewed racial differences over the years, is disgraceful, all things considered.  The good news is I feel we are headed in the right direction.  The invention of the internet, has made this world infinitely smaller.  People from all over the world will read this text, in many different languages.  There is no doubt this generation will be exposed to more cultures in their life time, than any ones to come before them.  Forty years from now, if you're still around, I guarantee, you personally, will have friends you talk to in countries you would never imagine.  The world is shrinking every single day.

Imagine back even 100 years ago, how many different races would you meet in your lifetime?  10?  5? The number today is probably in the hundreds.  It forces you to judge people based on "the content of their character".  Or at least it should.  It's much easier to say, "I hate (insert any race here)" when they aren't coming to your porch with spongecake, looking normal, and actually seem really nice.  We all have to work at multiculturalism, and as we do, it will become easier, and easier.  

It's very rarely I suggest you believe in anything.  Look back in my posts, I'm not trying to tell you how to think.  I'm just simply want you to question everything.  Personally in my own life, you either align with some simple core beliefs I have, or you can hit the road.  There is a big difference between imposing your beliefs on someone, and leading by example.

You must stand stand for peace.  When I close my eyes at night, I'm proud of this world, but my vision for this earth, is much more beautiful.  Things like happiness, and love, do not thrive in a war-torn environment.  It's impossible to create a stable environment for all, when buildings are being destroyed, and people are dying.  That brings out feelings like sadness, regret, and anger.  The exact opposite of what we are trying to accomplish.  If your beliefs cause anarchy, your beliefs are foolish.  You cannot make peace with war.

You must live, and let live.  This can be difficult because humans are so naturally judgemental.  It very hard to be open minded, but always give people the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe you believe all people under the age of 18 are dumb, and have nothing really valuable to say.  The real truth is maybe most youth can't impress you, but they'll be a few that blow you away.  A more extreme example...  You see any 50 year old man, out with a 25 year old girl, being cuddly.  You can't call him a pervert.  You can't assume she's a hooker.  You can't be grossed out by it.  You can't even think it's wrong.  The fact is, there's a chance, maybe you would consider it small, but a chance exists nonetheless, that these two are completely happy.  They might love each other to death.  They could go home, have so much in common, and have the best sex ever.  She could be from a great home, and just really likes some of his qualities.  He could be attracted to her other reasons than her appearance, maybe she's very intelligent, and ahead of her time.   Maybe the situation caught them both off guard, but they are both very happy.  If all those things were true, would it change your opinion?  The truth is your opinion doesn't matter here.  If all those things are true, then those people are doing nothing but being themselves.  Going with their hearts.  Spreading, dare I say it, love.  It can't be wrong.

Mind you this is just one extreme example, but I'm guilty of this all the time as well, in many areas of my life.  I'm in the habit now of correcting myself, or challenging my thinking, and you should to, at least until you have all the facts.  To jump to any conclusion, without proper knowledge of the peoples character is a mistake, and just because a mistake is common, does not make it acceptable.  

You need to be concerned with the next generation.  We need to live with concern for the future.  A successful generation should be measured by how empowered the younger generations are, and what state the humanity is in, when your generation is gone.  As you progress through these stages of life, make sure you are helping the best way you can to improve the world overall.  See you can either be a part of the problem, or part of the solution.  You can't be both.  You are either a net positive to this planet, or a net negative.  Simply living your life with an open mind, happily, free of bigotry is enough, you don't need to teach a kid math, or anything like that.  There's a saying we all know, "What goes around, comes around", meaning what you put out, you'll get back.  I like to expand that over all of us collectively.  What we all put out, we get back.

Everything you do, everything you think, has consequences.  Consequences that quite possibly could echo through time, long after you are gone.  It is disgraceful how collectively, we stereotype each other.  To prejudge anyone based on their race, sex, age, or appearance is an absolute travesty.  It limits you.  It limits us.  You create racism, sexism, ageism by prejudging people. Your prejudgement, and closed mindedness will affect you too.  It might stop you from seeing that area of the world, you'd actually love, or cause you to miss a key piece of advice in your own life.  The impact could be huge.

You may have met 10 people in a row of a certain race, that are complete jerks, and you should patiently waiting, for just one to prove you wrong.  You do this not because you are foolish.  You do it, because you understand that in the end we are all humans.  All races have jerks.  All races have people you would absolutely love to be around.  Maybe the gift to the future, from this generation, could be true multiculturalism.  If you think relatively, we are still at the forefront of advancement in this area, and have a lot of room for improvement.  Our actions today, will have an impact on how society works together going forward.  The first step is actually pretty easy, we all just need to stop being so damn judgemental.

The Power of Positive Thinking

I read a book by Norman Vincent Peale about ten years ago called "The Power of Positive Thinking".  It was written around 1960, by a minister, and it's worth a read.  He's obviously a little more, (cough..  cough) biblical, than I am, but the general message of that book is, if you believe it can happen, and stay focused on an end goal, that it will happen, and in miraculous fashion.

This idea is aligned with many religions, as well as many other positive type thinkers.  Religion calls it "Faith", but I think faith, and positive thinking, have much more similarities, than differences.

The real question is does positive thinking actually work?  Which leads to an even bigger question, which will discuss later in this blog.  Those who are regular readers are aware that I'm skeptical about everything. I need concrete proof to declare something valid.  I have no concrete proof to offer in terms of positive thinking, but let me tell you something.  I believe in it.

People that know me, might not consciously recognize it, but one of my greatest qualities is my attention. Have you ever heard anyone brag about their attention?  "Well, I... just... did." (Quote by C. Prest)  My Dad, is a great guy, and a very smart man.  He enjoyed talking, a lot, so I learned quickly to keep my ears open always.  As long as you haven't lost my respect, when you are speaking, I am listening, remembering, analyzing, and this goes for everybody in my life, in all stages of my life.

All my analyzing and listening have added up to me coming to the conclusion, that there is power in positive thinking.  In every successful, genuine person, I've heard speak, they credit their success to the very same things.  The combination of a clear vision, the belief you can accomplish your goal, verbal reinforcement, tied with hard work, it all seems to have magic.

I've seen it in my own life, many, many times.  When I'm thinking clearly and positively, living morally (I use this term loosely), things seem to come easily.  Conversely, when my mind is not right, maybe I've been drinking too much, or not exercising enough, procrastinating in life, I find bad luck finds me easier.  I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, you tell me.

On the other side, negative reinforcement sealed the deal, for me in terms of being a believer in the power of negative thinking.  You meet people in this world all the time, who are negative thinkers.  It's disease that can be cured, but a disease it is until then.  Negative thinking can, and will kill you.  As much as I've seen positive thinking propel people to new heights, I've seen negative thinking destroy people from the inside out.  It's almost miraculous, that the same person, with the same bad attitude, can have the same stories, about all their tribulations, and it's all true.  They aren't making this stuff up, they have bad luck, or so they believe.  What they have is a bad mind.

The only major elephant in the room of course is this, can our thoughts actually have an impact on the future? For this to be true, the thinking itself would have to do the manipulating, or a higher power would have to assist with the connecting of thought, to outcome.  I'll let you decide.  Either way, you'd have to believe in something you can't see, and really can't explain.  I wouldn't believe this to be possible if it weren't for the hundred of signs in my own life, as well as others lives, to support what I have been seeing for all my days on this planet.

This kind of thinking actually throws the whole fate, or freewill argument, on its head.  If our minds can manipulate the future, then fate is essentially gone, as your destiny is only what you make of it. Freewill, is the idea the future is not predetermined, but that doesn't factor that you can impact the future with your mind.  Could it be that the answer is a combination of both fate, and freewill?  Freewill to decide your outcome, but fated by your thoughts and actions?

Give people an option between two possible outcomes, and more often then not, they will pick one.  Could it be that the fate or freewill argument, has blocked out some other possible outcomes?

Let me remind you that right now, we are currently spinning on a huge ball of mass, that is floating in middle of space.  You are made of billions of atoms, and the way you have formulated, has give you has a collective conscience.  I'm uploading my text, to your computer, which has a microchip processing information.  Does any of this make any sense at all?

So I free myself to imagine a way where both fate and freewill can be the answer.  It's possible that you have the power to change everything about your life, just by keeping a clear imagine of where you want your life to head.  Of course, none of this makes sense, but I implore you to try it.  You might start noticing weird things happening, and sometimes the changes won't be dead pan obvious, until later on.  Pay attention.

Wouldn't it be amazing if all of us, had the ability to be whatever we wanted, as long as we could picture, and believe in it?  It sounds to good to be true.  But then again, so is this wonderful existence.  "Anything is possible" (Quote by VSP), there really are no rules, because as we mentioned in "We are All-Stars", nobody has a clue.

Do you believe your thoughts today, have an impact on your future tomorrow, or is it all a bunch of baloney?