Ok folks, gentle readers and those that subscribe
to this blog at www.joelwlamoure.com
and diligently read this that I apologize for being late (again) this week as its
been a time myself (yet again) of stopping and reflecting and wondering
what to write. What is important and what makes the biggest difference at the
end of the day. Today is Victoria Day and tried to figure out how to fit in
Canadiana and family/fun/fireworks into the mix but just couldn’t work it
through. I have had though great opportunities to watch and learn from people
this week that had no intention up front of teaching me anything, and from
those that did. Actually sometimes those are the most impactful learnings I
find.
The past 3 weeks from my radio show
“Prescribing Spiritual HOPE” in a bit of a self-imposed reflective exile I have
been able to step back and reflect on the things that drive life, the people
that we meet, the items that we have, the gestures that we make and the
adventures that we have and share. Really at the end of the day what is
important and what is not. Assumptions that we make and how they create the
next steps in the running dialogue of the life that is and even more how these
subsequently translate into positives and negatives in ours and others’ lives.
I will SO agree that everyone sees things in a different light and what is
important to some are useless pieces of shiat to others. My goal is not to
impose or force my will on others, but to cause us as human beings to think and
reflect as well. In keeping with my New Years Resolution (yes, still going :P
), which was to not judge, not jump to decisions and to be careful with the
things that were said lest they hurt as words and comments bite more than one
knows. Even more so in this electronic world where we are truly adrift…
unknowing of the 90% of communication, and just how valuable this is.
All of the rate, tone, pitch, expressions, eye
contact, muscular expressions etc. Also reflecting over the past several weeks
on why such negative comes to such beautiful people and how in a heartbeat
masks are discarded and inner rage can predominate what was once a relationship
of love. Reflections on when there are acts of kindness commenced that why do
people personalize these events and claim there is unfairness and inequity.
Complain and shut down the pipeline of aid instead of trying to network with
the pipeline of joy that radiates out even more. Be positive besides positively
demoralizing. I believe this will occur more and more in this electronic world
devoid of non-verbal human touch and also as the ability to rip off that mask,
express oneself and have ZERO accountability enhances. We are not acting as
tigers in such ways, but that of jackals.
Bad things happen to good people and
very inspired individuals and great opportunities are given to those that may
not seem deserving. I see the opportunities lie here in leveling the playing
field. Spirituality is a wonderful way to achieve that objective. I have enough
belief and been a fortunate recipient by my wonderful parents and families who
always did the best they could with what they had at the time in love, life and
empowerment that that might actually happen. Reframing our thoughts and
knowledge and being open vs. entitled helps a great deal with that objective.
We are then able and willing (and wanting) to
step and aid, even in a small way with my gifts that I have been given to step
up to the plate and aid a hero that is in need. Someone that is having a
challenge, a good person and needing a stabilizing arm. That I believe we can
all offer and help them stand up and brush the dirt from the road off their
clothing and watch as they start to progress and shine again. There are sadly
very many of them out there. The people that have been blinded, crippled and or
beat by societal demands and dictates. Yet these people deserve and want and
need to practice and live with pride and integrity in the way they know and
understand. Without Judgement or assumptions that hinder and hamper aid. The
heroes that give their time and resources to help less fortunate and bolster
their potentially fragile egos and feelings and show them some in the world DO
care.
The person that we look to isnt the
people at the top of the societal game usually. As stated by the late Harry
Chapin, Rich people are too busy hanging on to their wealth and items and
possessions, no matter how they got them. The poor person is struggling to make
ends meet, yet in my experience those that give and help are those that ARE at
a more dis-advantaged state. They give of time, love, caring and experiences.
Maybe, just maybe what really matters
at the end of the day isnt how much money I have, the car I drive, a house on
the lake and my symbols and trapping of status. Heck, it didn’t work too well
in Sodom and Gomorrah did it. Ouch. Maybe we are creating that psychopathology
again, I don’t know and will save that for a theological discussion one day.
This time the invisible webs that are reinforcing the Towers of Babel are held
up by fiber optic cables and a mask of denial, a false golden calf that we have
all strived to worship and achieve in the sense of the great god of Economics.
Where did we lose our definition of a hero and
leader? Where did these individuals go? I had the wonderful opportunity to
volunteer and present at a moving ceremony in the cool wind of a man who gave
his life to save 2 others 70 years ago over Lake Erie. One man and LAC Spooner
gave his so others could survive. These stories abound and the reflections I
had the privilege to deliver that esteemed group related to the fact that
“Freedom is NOT free” and also the fact from a previous blog that states we
have gone from the “All Seeing I” to the “All SeeKING I”. We have totally lost
our moral compass, or at least gone off course somewhere since the days of
Victoria.
What is REALLY important is being true to your
belief system and standing by it 110%, not backbiting others and
integrity/consistency. Put that money where your mouth is. At the end of the
day, none of us get out alive in this realm.
So at the end of this exercise...what are MY
deliverables? I want the opportunity and joy of a smile, to have helped another
and feel the experiences that exist in my own backyard of life. At the end of
the day, that kind word, effort even in communications that are not
face-to-face, smile and experience is what is remembered. To be otherwise is to
be dis-connected with who we are. That creates dis-ease. Personally, I will
have Nunavut. I would rather spend my time and energies with those that can
advance that same curve and pay it forward. But to do that, we must know
ourselves fearlessly, pay it forward, and put our currency where our mouth is.
To know yourself, you must be yourself, often.
~~~
Rev Dr. Joel Lamoure May 2013
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