In life there are moments that make one ponder, wonder and ask… What… is… my… purpose!

I have lived through many, many historical changes.

I was just a kid in public school. I think I was in the fourth grade when President John F. Kennedy was assasinated.

I watched with fear and tears in both, my eyes and deep within my heart as the news showed the police hosing Blacks down and sicking dogs on them, simply because they wanted the same rights everyone i this blessed country has. The right to LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

I watched and was moved, even at that young an age, as Rev. Martin L. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and recited his now famous speech, I HAVE A DREAM.

I watched in utter shock and disbelief how Dr. King was gunned down by an assasins bullet, and I cried.

I cried some more when Robert Kennedy was gunned down after getting his party’s nomination to run for president.

Then I grew up. I still had hurt, pain and shock in my heart. But I made the motions. I went on with my life as so many of do.

Black Power! The Black Panther Party.

Que viva Puerto Rico. The Young Lords Party.

Don’t eat the grapes. Ceaser Chavez.

Then there was one small step for man and one giant leep for mankind, and the world changed. Suddenly there were computers, and fast food, and fast jobs, and ipods. Yes there was MTV and the internet and live became this fast paced, hectic convoluted journey to no where.

The president was involved in a sex scandel that occured in the WHITE HOUSE, and she had the dress with the seman to prove it.

Then there was an election. AND by popular demand, the environmentalist won. We had an environment friendly president — or so we thought. Somehow that election ended up in the Republican controlled Courts and Georgie W. Bush was president elect. My heart weeped. The world weeped.

Fast paced, ipod carrying, internet surfing… beautiful june day and the world, my world came to a dramatic stop. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City came tumbling down. The U.S. Pentagon was struck by and airplane, while another crashed in Pennselvania.

Then Georgie W. Bush let the man responsible for this catastrophe slip away. Instead, he declaers war on Iraq and decides to go after Saddam. Oh, yes lest I forget. It was Saddam that disrespected Georie’s dad when he was president. I guess this was an inconvenient truth– a truth that justified his lying to the American people and the world, convincing or at least trying to, that Saddam had WMD — Weapons of Mass Destruction. The statue came crumbling down. Saddam was executed…  hundreds thousands of young American soldiers have been killed or maimed. No WMD have yet to be found.

No hope, no inspiration. Ipods and internet surfing all moving at a fast pace.

Hillary becomes the first woman with a real chance to be pesident, yea!!! Lets rally behind her just because she is woman.

Barack Obama becomes the first African American to capture the hearts and soul of the nation since the Rev. Martin L. King and he has the chance to be the first African American president. Lets rally behind him just because he is the first black man that has a real chance to be president.

Suddenly there is hope and inspiration again. But who do we, who do I stand behind. I have two young teenage daughters. Both very intelligent and both aware, at least peripherally, of the political climate in this country. One researched, wrote reports and made presentations for her school on Women’s Sufferage and of Susan B. Anthony.  My wife, a woman’s rights proponent and very intelligent woman was pondering the same question. Hillary or Obama. One thing we both know — No more republicans, at least not now.

As a family we were grappling with the issue of the upcomming and historical presidential election. Hillary or Obama. My family and I watched with attentive eyes as the primary season got off to a heated start. Debates were so-so. Articulation of the issues by Hillary and Obama were both adequate. What to do, what to do.

Then as if to answer OUR question, came Will.i.am with his video and song, Yes We Can. It was his contribution to the electrol process, and he set his musical genius and lyrical harmony to Obama’s speech. I was again inspired and motivated. Adam Rodriquez with arm extended and clinched fist proclaimed Si Se Puede! Yes We Can. Who knew that Scarlett Johansen had such a pretty voice? Suddenly I knew who… to… vote… for…

…and here are the words by Will.i.am himself explaining HIS motivation.

The Yes We Can Song
by will.i.am

I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates…
Torn between the candidates

I was never really big on politics…
and actually I’m still not big on politics…
but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry…
And we supported Kerry with all our might…
We performed and performed and performed for the DNC…
doing all we could do to get the youth involved…

The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me…
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and “politics” are…

So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early…

And i found myself torn…
because this time it’s not that simple…
our choices aren’t as clear as the last elections …
last time it was so obvious…
Bush and war
vs
no Bush and no war…

But this time it’s not that simple…
and there are a lot of people that are torn just like i am…

So for awhile I put it off and i was going to wait until it was decided for me…

And then came New Hampshire…

And i was captivated…

Inspired…

I reflected on my life…
and the blessings I have…
and the people who fought for me to have these rights and blessings…

and I’m not talking about a “black thing”
I’m talking about a “human thing” me as a “person”
an American…

That speech made me think of Martin Luther King…
Kennedy…
and Lincoln…
and all the others that have fought for what we have today…

what America is “supposed” to be…

freedom…
equality…
and truth…

and thats not what we have today…
we think we are free…
but in reality terror and fear controls our decisions…

this is not the America that our pioneers and leaders fought and
died for…

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech…
like many great speeches…
that one moved me…
because words and ideas are powerful…

It made me think…
and realize that today we have “very few” leaders…
maybe none…

but that speech…

it inspired me…
it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world…
it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world…
and take a “leap” towards change…
and hope that others become inspired to do the same…
change themselves..
change their greed…
change their fears…
and if we “change that”
“then hey”..
we got something right…???…

1 week later after the speech settled in me…
I began making this song…
I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song…
because that speech effected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time…

it spoke to me…

because words and ideas are powerful…

I just wanted to add a melody to those words…
I wanted the inspiration that was bubbling inside me to take over…

so i let it..

I wasn’t afraid to stand for something…
to stand for “change”…
I wasn’t afraid of “fear”…
it was pure inspiration…

so I called my friends…
and they called their friends…
in a matter of 2 days…
We made the song and video…

Usually this process would take months…
a bunch of record company people figuring out strategies and release dates…
interviews…
all that stuff…
but this time i took it in my own hands…
so i called my friends sarah pantera, mike jurkovac, fred goldring, and jesse dylan to help make it happen…
and they called their friends..
and we did it together in 48 hours…
and instead of putting it in the hands of profit we put it in the hands of inspiration…

then we put it on the net for the world to feel…

When you are truly inspired..
magic happens…
incredible things happen…
love happens..
(and with that combination)

“love, and inspiration”

change happens…

“change for the better”
Inspiration breeds change…

“Positive change”…

no one on this planet is truly experienced to handle the obstacles we face today…
Terror, fear, lies, agendas, politics, money, all the above…
It’s all scary…

Martin Luther King didn’t have experience to lead…
Kennedy didn’t have experience to lead…
Susan B. Anthony…
Nelson Mandela…
Rosa Parks…
Gandhi…
Anne Frank…
and everyone else who has had a hand in molding the freedoms we have and take for granted today…

no one truly has experience to deal with the world today…

they just need “desire, strength, courage ability, and passion” to change…
and to stand for something even when people say it’s not possible…

America would not be here “today” if we didn’t stand and fight for
change “yesterday”…
Everything we have as a “people” is because of the “people” who fought for
change…
and whoever is the President has to realize we have a lot of changing to do

I’m not trying to convince people to see things how i do…
I produced this song to share my new found inspiration and how I’ve been moved…
I hope this song will make you feel…
love…
and think…
and be inspired just like the speech inspired me…

that’s all…
Let’s all come together like America is supposed to…
Like Japan did after Hiroshima…

that was less than 65 years ago…
and look at Japan now…

they did it together…
they did it…

“We can’t?…

Are you serious..?..

WE CAN!!!

Yes we can…
A United “America”
Democrats, Republicans and Independents together…
Building a new America

We can do it…
“TOGETHER”

Please visit www.yeswecansong.com

Thank you for reading and listening…
will.i.am

So I finally watched the movie Fast Food Nation. I taken by surprise. It actually was a good movie. I thought this movie was the one where the dude stuffed his face with Mickey Dee’s, I think that one was called Super Size This or something like that.

Fast Food Nation showed the plight of the undocumented Mexicans, what they go through to get here and a couple of the type of jobs that are avaiable to them. Actually, this is a subplot. The main stroy has to do with fecal matter being found in the hamburger meat of fast food reasturant very similair to McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s.

So the main character of the movie, played by Greg Kinnear, is the new V.P. for Marketing for the Mikeys Corporation. The movie opens to a Board Meeting where everyone is high-fiving eachother for the great turnout in the last quarter. After the meeting the President/CEO calles Kinnear into his office and proceeds to tell him that the Coporatio0n could be facing several class action law suits because fecal matter was found in the beef. He assigns Kinnear to go and investigate the meat processing plant where they get there meat from. Kinnear is all gun ho and ready to report the facts of what he has been finding until his last meeting with the broker played by Bruce Willis.  The broker is the guy that negotiated the contract between the Corporation and the meat processing plant. To make a long story short, the broker discuades Kinnear from reporting what he has found.

Meanwhile we witness what is going on with the Mexicans that have crossed the boarder, and who just happen to be working at the meat processing plant. One of the supervisors is a real slime ball and has sex with all the pretty young women. He lies and convives and promises the world to them just so that he can get what he wants. We see him introduce one of these women to drugs and how he has his way with her. She is foolish enough to beleive that he loves her. Meanwhile her sister is trying to protect her but the young woman is so spaced out on drugs that she actually accuses here sister of being jealous and of wanting here man.

One guy fall into the meat grinder and loses his leg, the other Mexican that tried to help him falls off the second story tier and lands on his back. He is in the hospital with a slipp-ed disk and other back problems, when a company representative walks in with a translator and tells the guys wife that they found drugs in his blood, hence it was his fault and secondly he violated the no drug use policy so he is fired. As such, he has no medical coverage and his wife is now homeless.

A thrid story line involves a group of college kids that want to do something about both, the plight of the undocumented Mexican workers and the poor cows.

I may have given away more of the plot than I intended to, for those that have not yet seen this movie, but I will say this movie has no neat ending. In other words the end is open to each individuals interpretation.

One thing this movie did to me, while I have not yet decided to become vegetarin, I will no longer eat at McDonalds and/or the other fast food burger chains. So, that is my going green thing for today.

Till next time, peace.

Ok, so I have asthma. I was born and raised in East Harlem New York City, only moving to Virginia a little less than 10 years ago. Supposedly East Harlem has one of the highest incidence of asthma in the USA. Go figure why I have asthma.

I never even knew I had this condition until I was an adult. We moved to Virginia by way of Washington, DC. We lived in DC for almost two years — long story but my wife is from DC so we were near her family, then her dad took a turn for the worst health wise and eventually passed. Anyway, when we were in DC is when I actually learned that I had asthma. I had several brushes with death when I suddenly could not breath. Let me tell you, it is the worst feeling I have ever experienced. I think death by drowning has got to be one of the worst deaths because when I was not able to breath there was nothing I could do. I was powerless and almost lifeless. My wife had to rush me to the hospital. My asthma is so bad I have my own respirator.

Ok, let me back track a decade or two. I smoked cigarettes for a very long time, getting up to two packs per day. I quit when the price of cigarettes was approaching $1.00 I could not see myself paying so much money to kill myself. By that time I was ready to quit anyway. I can not believe how much a pack of cigarettes costs today, and yet people still smoke.

So perhaps my asthma stemmed from my cigarette smoking. If not, it was exacerbated by it. My younger brother had asthma as a kid and he never smoked. He no longer has asthma and has never smoked. I think two of my sisters also have asthma so maybe it is hereditary.

So what does my asthma and cigarette smoking have to do with All Things Green? Simply that cigarette smoking not only slowly kills the individual, second hand smoke affects all those near the smoking person. that have to inhale the smoke. And, believe it or not, the smoke is no good for the environment. With millions of people smoking around the world that smok along with the exhaust of cars, buses and trucks affect our quality of life.

If you read my first post, I started this journal by stating that I was going to do my part, no matter how small, to help save the planet. Writing about my negative experiences with cigarette smoking is another way of doing that. Again, as I posted in my first post if even one person reads these words and takes a step toward helping the environment, and quiting cigarette smoking counts as helping the environment, than I am happy and in fact am doing God’s work.

There are scientist researching the effects of global warming and all the things that contribute to it. There are doctors researching the effects of global warming on all living things, and others researching the effects of cigarette smoking on individuals and/or the environment. We do not all have to be doctors or scientist. We can do our part simply by changing our individual way of living. Using less plastic bottles, quiting cigarette smoking, using energy saving appliances and light bulbs, recycling. These are things we each can do and that will affect the environment.

Planting a tree is a great way to help the planet. Last year (2007) was an extremely horrible year for trees. With all the brush fires in California, millions of acres of trees and all things green were destroyed. Trees filter the air we breath we need trees. However, in these days that we live most people are just to busy to go out and plant a tree. I know I am. So I joined a totally free campaign were for every e card I send to a friend or colleague and they accept it a virtual tree gets planted on my blog (see the little box on the right with the tree on it). But even more important than a virtual tree being planted, a very real tree gets planted. Read about the United Nations Mokugift initiative here.

Well thats it for now. Until next time, keep it green.

Peace!

This is my first post on this very new blog of mine. Why am I writing about All Things Green? Well I sort of started thinking about the environment, now that I’m fast approaching my golden years. But what really made me take the leap was the fact that my 12 year old daughter became a vegetarian. At first my wife and I thought that it was a passing phase but it’s almost one year now and she has been steadfast in her conviction.

My wife, my other daughter and I still eat meat but we do support my younger daughter. Anyway, once she became a vegetarian, she started on the save the planet thing. Now I don’t know if vegetarianism and saving the planet are married, but it seems to me that when one is a vegeterian almost always one is also a save the planet kind of person. Although it may not be true in the reverse, if one is a save the planet person they are not necessarily vegetarians. Phew…

Anyway, I don’t want to lose my train of thought. For years I thought, no I felt, that there was something eerily wrong with our climate. Now I was not a Global Warming kind of thinker, but I do recall that when I was a kid in New York City winters were cold and summers were hot. Now a days the weather is all mixed up.

Both my daughters are animal lovers. I thought I was, but that was until they grew up and really showed me what animal lovers are. My older daughter wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up. Both cry when we watch the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet and the issue is endangered species. They became so perplexed about the plight of the Polar Bear. According to one of the documentaries we saw, the Polar Bear may become extinct in as little as two years. Yeah, by the end of this decade they could be extinct and it is due to Global Warming.

Am I concerned about the planet? You bet I am. So we started doing little things to help the environment, and toward saving the planet. We use the new low energy light bulbs, we recycle everything, and try to demonstrate a passion for Earth. The way I see it, when I die my legacy will be my two daughters and their offspring. At the rate this planet is moving there may not be a sustainable planet for my grand children and or great grand children.

You know how many of us drink bottled water now by choice? Well in a year or two everyone may be forced to buy bottled water. The reserve of drinkable water is shrinking. In some places, right here in the USA people are already being forced to buy drinking water and are going to jail for watering their lawns.

When I was teenager, Charlton Heston stared in a movie called Soylent Green. It was a police story set in the future. He was investigating a crime, a murder to be exact, and we, the viewers, were shown how the future was going to be. The rich ate well, lived well and dressed well. Everyone else — and there were only rich and poor, no middle class — ate what they could. Giant bull dozer’s would scoop up the activist that were picketing, etc. Anyway as the movie progressed you’d see that same scene played over and over. Whenever people congregated for to long the bull dozer’s would scoop them up and haul them away.

Finally Heston solves the crime and the mystery of why the people were being scooped up and hauled away. It turns out that a worker in one of the food processing plants found out that the Government had found a way to make a food product out of people, they called it Soylent Green, and that is what the masses were being fed. That is were the famous line in Saturday night Live comes from. Phil Hartman used to imitate Charlton Heston and would go around yelling “it’s people, we’re eating people.”

Seems to me that we are heading in that direction. Maybe not eating people, not yet anyway, but in general, it sure sounds like somewhere we are heading.

Ok, so I don’t want to be an alarmist, but the way we earthlings take care of the planet is truly appalling. So I figured if I begin to do my small part, and who knows maybe someone will actually read this and think that they too would like to do something about the earth, we may some how be able to save the polar bear. Sort of like paying it forward for all the great, wonderful things the earth has given us. Things like fruits and vegetables and water.

Anyway, just my thoughts. Till next time…

Peace!