Keeping people honest

Greedy pigs


Could be a learned trait, or could be ingrained in people's psyche. Either way, to me, greed is as heinous as it gets.

Today, President Obama and VP Biden lashed out at bank CEO's, who paid themselves $18.4 billion in bonuses; just as hundreds of billions of US tax dollars are going into saving these banks. Obama called it "Shameful" and I agree. Biden said he would like to put them in "the brig". There's an old saying: "beauty is only skin deep, but ugly cuts straight to the bone". In my opinion, Greed is the culprit that's turned our world economy into a black hole.

Oversight + accountability= Keeping people honest

Gulls on a roof

I've been working diligently to find a career path that best suits my personality, strengths and background. It's taken me 12 years, but who's counting? I ask myself, if I could have any job, what would it be? I think it would be an interviewer, like Charlie Rose or Travis Smiley.

Over the past 8 years, I have come to the conclusion that one of my greatest gifts is my ability to communicate with people, one on one. I have an inane ability to connect with people. This connection comes from my love for people and a genuine intrigue into their backgrounds, stories and histories. Why?

Last summer, I saw an old friend from high school. We exchanged salutations and the regular banter: "what have you been doing, where do you live...", nothing special. While I was talking to this friend, her brother (whom I had met, but didn't know they were related) came up and asked her a question and left. I told my friend, "I didn't' know you were related, he's a really good kid". She responded, "He's adopted. He wants to make everybody happy." This friend was basically apologizing for her brother, she had no idea that I, too was adopted. It was one of those times when you talk to someone and (unbeknownst to them) their words hit you like a freight train. I was shook. I saw myself in him and him in me. It was some deep shit.

I was adopted when I was a baby, but I always knew my biological parents growing up. Psychologists say that adopted kids are always searching for the love that could have been there and ask themselves: "why did my parents give me up?". I never went through that, because I always knew where I came from. I was a ward of the state and could have bounced around foster homes through my childhood, but was lucky enough to have been taken in when I was 10 months old. I have come to embrace my unique past and realize that it has made me who I am.

Live it up!!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.



When I bought my I-Phone last summer, I synced it to my computer and I was surprised to see that on it, rest two of my favorite speeches of all time:

Martin Luther King's: "I have a dream" speech and
John F. Kennedy's inauguration speech



I hold Barack Obama in the same esteem as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy: some of the greatest Americans to grace our United States. Mr. Obama too, holds the weight of the nation on his shoulders - like those great leaders that came before. In honor of tomorrow's historic inauguration of Mr. Obama (a fellow left-handed living American), I pay homage to him and wish him the best. Barack too, like those who came before, will rise to the occasion and lead by example.

Winter thoughts from New England

Every place has it's ups and downs, and Massachusetts is no different. MOst of the things people complain about up here are the same things people complain about everywhere: weather, jobs, driving, people, whatever. I try not to get too worked up about things I can't control, cause, as my man Captain Bob once told me: don't sweat the small things and they're all small things.

I've been blessed to have great influences in my life. From the time I was little, I knew how lucky I was to be alive and I have tried not to take anything for granted. With a new wave of change racing through America, and the tumultuous period we live in, I'm optimistic that the future is going to be bright. If there's two things I've learned over the years that ring through my head on a daily basis:
everybody has a story to tell and everybody wants to be somebody

Peace isn't cheap

Persevere
You have to stand up for what's right
even if it means taking up arms
sometimes there is need to fight
but only as a last resort

communication can prevent a war
it's tough when everybody wants to talk
but nobody wants to walk the walk

now is the time to listen
life isn't just a journey
it's a mission
we got two ears and only one mouth for a reason
time has come for a change of season