A brief return to…
…shows so much about the passage of time. At the end of the
first 365 it was late 2011, and the things I blogged about were 2011 things.
Beavis and Butthead’s brief return… my wife still smoking. It transports you
back in to the mindset you had then. You thought it was forgotten but, it was
really right there, as if on pause, captured, a moment in time. I guess that’s
one point of an Operation 365, I have already gleaned from the earliest parts
of the post-365 essay experience.
When I began all this Operation 365 business on Thanksgiving
2010, it was little more than “The Experiment To See What Would Happen.” I
figured I’d share some songs I’d written, some videos of friends playing I’d
accumulated, and some covers to bring more ears and eyes to the fray. I had no
idea if I’d finish. It was an ongoing plot beneath it all. I learned from that,
I could do it. I knew I could this time. I had built my confidence, my own
belief in what I was capable of doing. I think I did that more than anything
else in this one. I feel like I have finished a graduate degree in everything
I’ve done up to this point, and now I am ready to do something else, to truly
reveal what I am capable of doing in this world. I have done two Operation
365s, 4 24 Hours of Free Music (’03, ’05, ’08, ’09), recorded 7 CDs, and
written over 20 scripts and 1000 songs. Does this make me great, unbelievable
or amazing? Perhaps it does, but no more so than anybody else. What it really
makes me though is ready, ready for the next challenge. I have proven I can do
these things I do, even if no one else on the planet has even attempted, much
less executed, many of them. Others are more standard things artists do,
(scripts, CDs), but all in all, these things have finally readied me for the
great beyond, the holy next… doing something else.
Making money was never a primary goal of mine. Happiness and
quality of life were, Giving back, helping people out, spreading positivity,
these were main goals of mine and I feel great that I continue to live them as
much as possible, I want to reach people. I want to change the world or at less
help foster a discussion that leads to the world changing. Every time anybody
does anything, the world changes. Any time anybody does anything., kind, loving
or positive, the world changes for the better. Well, now. I want to reach a
bunch people. I want to bring another person into the world with my wife and I
want to me, there is no one else like me, professionally, and with gusto.
Technically, I already do this. In my mind, I can finally see it now, feel,
smell, touch and taste it. It’s time to do it much, much bigger.
The world is sad right now. I would be too, if I had a bunch
of problems that I hid from and refused to even have a n open discussion about.
You know everything you say, write, or think is projecting in some way and if
you think it, you can be sure it somehow relates to you and where you’re at
right now. Sometimes, you can record a whole CD and still manage to miss that
mirror right in front of your face. Anyway, even If I’m doing this myself in
some way, and I must be, I don’t feel that sad and I want to approach the world’s problems as a
people, as if they matter.
Seems lots of folks are worried about themselves. I can
understand. The world is challenging place to exist in. Jobs, family, grumpy
folks, parking tickets, alcohol, misery. It’s all out there and can conquer
your freeness if you let it. I can’t help but return every day to the fact that
we are all together on this planet. And nowhere that I can see, are people
putting their heads together to figure out a way to make it exist and thrive.
Yes, we like to pretend, politicians are working our behalf towards these ends,
but we know, that’s not gonna cut it. Real people need to get involved in the
real world around us. People need to adopt the ideals we teach small children
and have a meaningful, considerate, compassionate, respectful dialogue with the
goals of seeking, finding, and then employing real long-term solutions to the
matters that muck up our world most. We, as a people, should decide what those
are. All the people who believe that everyone is worthy, that everyone is
valuable and we are equal, should be the ones who initiate this discussion.
Those people are the ones who are most apt to find a solution other than the
ones lobbied politicians choose. Those are the folks who are most likely to
maintain a discussion with decorum where folks inevitable disagree and not to
work through that.
Facebook is porn. People go there to show themselves or some
part of them, like their dinner. Where is the deeper level of it besides just
petty bickering and look-at-me trivia. Facebook is fine. Like porn, there is
probably a place for it, somewhere in existence. That it substitutes for a real
discussion of anything is a myth at best and sham, more likely. Twitter,
Snapchat, the same thing. There is a place for this, but instead of a
mega-city, it should be, perhaps, a room, in a house somewhere with the windows
closed. In it’s place, I would like to see people work their brains, push their
limits and demand far more. Don’t settle for that tiny bribe or self-gifting.
Don’t be distracted by your favorite little shows. Don’t miss life battling
everyone and everything. We only battle ourselves. We can choose not to fight,
not to spectate, not to take the bribe, not to ignore our future and our
children’s future with plowing through our present on auto-pilot. It is not
you. It is not me. It is endemic to our society and it is time we make the
change we seek, the dream we dream of, the change I can finally taste, smell,
touch, hear and see.
Let Facebook, TV, presents, superficial things like how
people look all find their rightful place in the world, way below the things
that matter most. Who we are, what we believe in. what’s wrong with the world,
what we should do about it, how, what, where, when and why. Let’s disagree.
Let’s mix it up. Let’s come back, wiser, humbled, simpler, smarter and let’s
hug it out. Let’s disagree respectfully, with a common goal, sharing the
amazing universe we inhabit. That is our true gift, our only gift. Home. And it
is everywhere, everyone, all around us, always. It is inside and outside you
and everything else.
Happy Holidays! I’ll celebrate when we all know every day is
holiday. Every day, like every person is a great, a great chance to make the
change the world needs, the change we all need, to be free.
I don’t feel like reading “The Experiment To See What Would
Happen” today, after all. Ahhh, sweet tomorrow. I know what happened. I want to
know what happens next. I want to help decide. I feel free. Thank you God.
Excerpt from a “Letter to a Friend”
YO. Another awesome email as usual. I am so happy you power
through and find creative ways to continue the conversation. I can't wait for
your return. I am thinking of it more and more these days. I spoke to Soul Man
about you for while yesterday. He talked about what a great person you are and
all the fun times from back then. People who were around refer to the
Portugalia with reverence around here now. A little kiss with the Wild Wild
West. The tip of the iceberg. You could write 12 amazing books if you felt like
it and you'd just be getting started.
I finished my Operation 365 2 Monday. 3 videos and a blog a
day, again, for a year. I am fired up about "knowing (my) conscious of
(my) responsibility to everything," as you put it. I feel empowered at
this moment. It's like I'd been loving life on the sidelines, in palatial OB
for these years and now it seems the world might be ripe to converse. I am so
glad. You know I love a good talk from time to time. You are amazing. I love
you. What a tremendous blessing our next embrace will be. My eyes get glassy
imagining it. I can feel it now. It must be getting sooner. This is my mantra,
for the upcoming whatever it is…
Finally.
Love and Kisses,
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment