Finding words to describe this::

"...Sitting and waiting for the politics to fix this, it ain't gonna happen, they all sitting on their asses..." ~Emmanuel Jal



So I am here at march on a Friday night getting some extra hours in.. keeping in mind, every day, my goal for next spring. I was dorking around on facebook when I realized that the other day I found out that I could watch TED presentations online for free, so I clicked over to www.ted.com to have a look at the plethora of interesting videos I can watch. I see a picture of a handsome African man with dreadlocks and the caption: "Emmanuel Jal: The Music of a War Child". Click. About 14 minutes into it I am choking back the tears (because, remember, I am at work) as I watch him dance around the stage and listen to him sing praises to the woman who saved him, Emma McCune. This story moved me an a thousand ways. So I want to share it with you. His story is the story of so many other African children who have had every aspect of their simple lives brutally stripped away from them. It's a story that you and I can't even IMAGINE. A story that some people don't even want to hear because they don't know what they will do with such a tragedy. Emmanuel Jal has turned his painful experiences into a powerful influence to create an educational revolution in Africa. This is the kind of revolution I want to be involved in. When I hear stories like his or of people like Emma, I am affected at a very deep level; it's so profound that it shocks me, but it's uncontrollable. I know that this is part of the reason why I want to travel. I want to see how people live in other countries, and I want to help those that are less fortunate and have less opportunity than I do. Why else would I be riveted by books like "What is the What?" and brought to tears by one man's song about an angel who rescued him?

I think what I am doing with my life right now is noble. I am not after money, driven by material possessions or status, I just want to help people reconnect with themselves through being physical and taking care of their bodies. And it's not driven by narcissism either. What I teach people is focused on helping them function better as a human being; to wake them up from the inside out. The aesthetics of training is secondary; it's not just physical.. it's mental, emotional, and spiritual. I think that if everyone in the world were to do this, to really know and respect themselves, their compassion would spread outward and eventually the world would be made BETTER. Humans are confused now. And it will not take politicians or laws or traditional life-paths to create the change we need. It will require each individual to begin with him or herself. Only when we each look inside ourselves and make a change for the better will we have the ability to reach out to one another and spread love, courage, confidence, strength, and compassion. This is what I do. AND I WANT TO DO IT IN SO MANY OTHER WAYS. In other places if that's what I am driven to do. Or at home.. the location doesn't matter, nor does the vehicle. It can be done however you want to do it, whether it's building schools in Africa, creating sustainable organic farms in Central America, or coaching little kids sports. We each just have to choose to begin.