Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Passion Party #381 - In Perspective

According to the US Census Bureau World Population Clock
there are over 6 Billion 900 Million (6,925,000,000) people in the world.
4.5% of those people live in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

If you are reading this, you are probably in the Top 10 - 20% of Americans
in terms of education, wealth and comfort of living.

This means that, statistically, you are in the Top 1% of all people in the world right now in terms of education, wealth and comfort of living.

So get over it.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Passion Party #380 - Life Is Short

What makes your heart race?
What makes your soul sing?

There is no more
Maybe next year
Set aside
the But and What if...

Life is short
Now's the time.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Passion Party #379 - Outside the Comfort Zone

Leave behind your TV and radio
Your newspapers and magazines, too
No books allowed, they weigh too much
All you need is a clear mind
and a strong back.

For three days
you are not your job, or who you think you are
you check your ego at the trailhead
and know that everything you need to survive
is in the pack on your back.

The journey will lead you
across snow fields and streams
to a camp in the Sierras
that many will dream of but few will reach.

A stove the size of a cigarette pack
a head lamp the size of a half-dollar
a camera to capture the sunset
Traveling outside the comfort zone
facing the fear
and loving it.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Passion Party #378 - Car-less in Culver City

In a county filled with 9,800,000 people
word was spread
"Stay off the freeways!"
Signs flashing along roadways for weeks in advance
the media hailing it as possibly the world's worst traffic jam.
In a city that loves cars more than life itself
and cherishes mobility as the Constitution's First Inalienable Right
the idea was almost blasphemous.
Who would agree to such a thing?

But a little miracle happened.
People paid attention
People planned to stay home, or
just do things in their neighborhood.

Some people walked to the supermarket!
Others rode bikes to local festivals, or to the park.
Los Angeles, which has always been a collection of 128 communities in search of a city,
discovered that each community has grown and
is, in fact, its own community.
The roads empty, the city felt like it had traveled back in time to
the 1984 Olympics, or even 1975, when you could truly say you could get anywhere in Los Angeles in 20 minutes.

Instead of spending a Billion Dollars on becoming more mobile
perhaps the money could be spent building communities.
Perhaps the answer may come from the State of Oregon,
where the transportation policy seems to be
"If we don't build it, they won't come".

That may not work in car-centric Los Angeles,
but it is worth a thought,
now that we see what a weekend at home can be like.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Passion Party #377 - Summer Solstice

I turn around and summer is here
Pulling out weeds
Picking the tomatoes
The hiking trip I planned so long ago
begins this Saturday.

Somehow while I was busy
Winter ended, Spring slipped by
and now the year...
it is half over
or half beginning?

Some goals accomplished, some renewed
other to be discarded
It is time
to find 5 things
I really really really want to do
over the next 6 months

Monday, July 11, 2011

Passion Party #376 - Surviving The Recovery

WE are coming up on the 4th year
since the beginning of the Mortgage Meltdown
Three years since the Great Depression of '08
and the "Too Big To Fail" credit crisis
Two years since the start of the stock market "recovery"

Why is it then
when I talk to most people
they are still in financial shock?
Either they, or a relative or a close friend, are
still looking for a job since they got laid off.

Perhaps it is the shock at the gas station,
or the loss in home value
or the baggage fees at the airport
or the $2.00 head of lettuce and the $5.00 tomato...

Whatever it is,
we are living in this new reality
we have survived the Crash of 2008
now we need to survive the recovery.