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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A Thanksgiving Message


The older I get, the more thankful I am on each and every Thanksgiving.  On this day, I am thankful for all the wonderful things in my life and the blessings I have been provided with, but there is something else I am thankful for.  Something that everyone should be thankful for since it presents such great opportunity.
Each and every one of us faces very different circumstances and challenges on this day, but pretty much everyone reading this shares one very special thing with one another – a tremendous opportunity to change the world together.  While I firmly believe that we are at a huge crossroads politically, socially and economically as a nation, I believe we are at an even greater crossroads as a species.  Back in my college days, I felt that things could never sustainably change on a planet level for the better without a change in consciousness. Back then, I cynically couldn’t see how such a consciousness shift could happen in my lifetime, but then a few years ago a strange thing happened.  I started noticing a shift in consciousness within myself and within many of the people around me.  I still don’t know exactly what happened, but I think the internet played a huge role. This awakening sends shivers down the spine of the power structure, but should be cheered to the heavens by the rest of us.
I firmly believe Gandhi’s statement “be the change that you want to see in the world” applies now more than ever.  One thousand years ago, most people couldn’t read, had almost zero access to any knowledge, and the most contact they would have with the world beyond themselves might be an occasional visit from a neighboring village or some army rolling in to invade. Think about what prior generations would have given to have had the tremendous opportunity that we have with the internet.

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