What do I want to be and do...

Yesterday I found this message in my emails folder.

Hi again Emilio
I wanted to reach out to thank you again for helping to spread the word over the past few months about the Fresh Air Fund's need for host families. With your help, we've been able to find 650 of the 850 host families we need. Right now there is just one week left for us to place the remaining 200 children with a loving host family for a Fresh Air experience that can change lives. I was hoping you could post on Emilio & Gladys Padilla to keep the issue alive in the minds of your readers and followers. Even a Tweet or Facebook post could help.

Please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners, or copy from our microsite - or just share the link: http://freshairfundhost.org
If you are able to help, please let me know so I can share it with the team.
Thank you again, Sara

Sara Wilson, www.freshair.org facebook.com/freshairfund Twitter @freshairfund

This message reminded me of another one I received not long ago. I turned it into a video and a photo album. I want to share both messages with you all. May God bless you and light up your path, your home and your people!



What do you want to be?
As a child I was always asked… what will you be when older? And I always answered with another question… What does it mean a profession or trade? ...



Now, older enough, I have been what life and opportunities have allowed me to be, but… Was that all I was supposed to be?


And I asked myself… and now… what do I want to be? But right away experience made me change it to… and now… what can I be?


I can be a serene VOICE in the midst of uncontrolled passions…



I can be a LIGHT for those who walk in the shadows of gross ignorance.


I can be a SMILE for those who are sad, sorrowful, despised, put down and discriminated.





I can be encouragement WORDS, for those who are thinking about giving up.


Yes! I can be more HUMAN and more grateful for all that life has given me.


I can be the friendly HAND that lifts up again the fallen.


I can be the unselfish LOVE for those who have been deceived or abused.


But I can also do many things for other people as long as we can and decide to help those we meet while walking.


The key, the meaning, the essence, is not what we could actively do… but the unselfish gift of the wisdom borne out from our living experiences.


It´s not true that of solitude, nor loneliness, is the fruit of building walls instead of bridges.


What is left for us is to be faithful sentinels on the ramparts of truth and righteousness in these times of deafening noises and extremistically deviated tendencies and behaviors.


We can become not just listeners of THE WORD but doers of what it commands us to do… To love he others as we love our own…

We can become not just listeners of THE WORD but doers of what it commands us to do… To love he others as we love our own…

Dear friends… sharing your time and your home in the Fresh Air Fund activities you have a golden opportunity to bless and be blessed in return!

THE CARESSES OF LIFE

Love is not to make grandiose statements! It is to say or do simple things without special purposes,

Such as… a cup of coffee? Are you tired? Can I do something for you?

A phone call or letter! A little surprise, a kind invitation or walking together!

Is to do things for one another without a reason or premeditation! Is to accept others like they are! To listen with affection, without pressuring!

Is to look the other with your heart´s eyes! with your soul eyes! Words can deceive but the way you look at never lies!

It is simply to be there, not just with your body but your soul! It is to say… I love you! Why wait until people are dead to say you love them?

It´s not to judge, nor criticize, nor condemn!

It is to be capable to say: if I have been in your place I could not have done it better! Is to be able to say without envy… it´s great what you have done!

It´s as simple as that: not at all complicated! But if we do not truly love, we miss everything in life!

When we have the privilege to love and be loved, life is extraordinary! The irradiating warmth, the soul´s invading light that makes eyes shine!

Share your living with the people you love! Those who have filled your life with happiness!

Those who made you smile when you needed it the most!

Those who make you see the beauty of things when you are feeling the blues!

Those you would like to tell them how much you appreciate their affection and love!

But if you do nothing… do not worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. You will only lose an opportunity to light up someone´s dark day!

Have a wonderful day!

SING! SING A SONG! PRAYING IS GOOD FOR US ALL!

Sing and act! Sing of the good things, nor bad! Sing and place yourself as a willing partner for better futures! Encourage the fainting! Show them there are a brighter night and a shinier tomorrow!

These were the ending words of my second of this series of three sets of commentaries. And a logic questions arises. How could I sing if I can´t do it even when I am in the shower?

I mentioned before that the chanting of the spirit is the foremost expression of what of melodic sprouts in all of our actions down here on earth.

It is not a matter of mesmerizing the crowds in such an obsessing and psychedelic way as is the usage nowadays. It is not a matter of almost unbelievable athletic performance and mimic shows.

It is love and care in action, day by day. In the smaller things! In the untiring contrasting of what is balanced and real. In the showing and comparing of both sides of the coins of life!

In the insisting of the permanence and the need of survival of the familiar ties as the roots that will nourish the lives of the children of today, up to the time when they will be responsible to transmit the fundamental values of life to their descendants.

It is love and care in action that allows the smiles to flourish even in the midst of the harshest circumstances!
This is what every one of us should always do.

Sing, sing a song! Sing out loud! Sing out strong!
Sing of good things, not bad!
Sing of happy, not sad!

Sing, sing a song!
Make it simple to last your whole life long!
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear!
Just sing, sing a song!

Sing, sing a song! Let the world sing along!
Sing of love there could be!
Sing for you and for me!

Sing, sing a song!
Make it simple to last your whole life long!
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear!
Just sing, sing a song!

This is especially important, if you are just a common person, immersed in the world environment and not fond of spiritual understanding or not a believer.

I have always said that there is ample space for good faith people, even if it is not based on a Christian spiritual foundation. Strong character and personality can carry you over the obstacles even if at the cost of a lot of suffering, stubbornness, stoicisms and even cynicisms, if you do not succumb to the circumstances.

It is just a harder walk. I did experience it myself. There were times when I believed that Christianism was just for the losers and the weaker. But, thankfully, I learnt the lesson of the futility of all my efforts. And I have lived better equipped to confront the maladies of life.

There is such strength in prayer! Not a dispirited one, but that that brings a daily contact and interaction with God. Believe me. Praying is good for us all!

In the good times! Out of gratitude and recognition of His Grace and; Mercy! In the bad times! As a resourceful way to confront the harsh realities and abuses of this world! In the worst times! Because this way, we can depart with peace in our spirit, leaving behind the temporal and the inconsequential!

I WILL SING! YOU WILL SING!

The steadfastness and righteousness of our personal testimonies, before the impact of the changes in the circumstances and life itself, are the chanting of the spirit.

It is undeniable the abuse and the suffering, re-edited and augmented by the unceasing increment of the authoritarianism and cynicism of the ruling sectors, both the social and the financial in their compromising and connivance with the political.

It is undoubtable its existence and persistence, despite all the individual efforts in the pursuit of an authenticity able to survive and overcome all egotistical obstacles.

It is general and pervasive the always increasing influence of corruption over the pacific coexistence of all those who vigorously try to earn an honest living.

It is asphyxiating and discouraging, even if I still keep on thinking it is no inevitable, despite the continuing and unending abuse by the powerful and the suffering, as it were their only daily bread, of the immense majority of all those who see how their efforts and legitimate rights are subjugated.

But, and as the saying goes, hope is the last thing to be lost, and this because the inherent weakness of those who suffer without seeing any light rising in their horizons.

For all this, and as I said at the beginning of these writings, let´s never lose sight, of the validity of the statement of being the steadfastness and righteousness, of the personal testimonies, before the avatars of the circumstances, and life itself, the chanting of the spirit.

In this chanting resides the last effort to retain liberty and positivism in our lives. In our way and according to our possibilities and giftings received or acquired through our dreams and perseverance, let´s imitate the birds who sing in the midst of the raging and stormy weather.

Let´s, firmly, get hold of the branches of our integrity despite how strong the winds rock the tree of our life! The night is never darkest but when the sunrise of a newer and better day is looming in the horizon. Let´s remember that of the birds always finding their nourishment even if they never plant and cultivate.

How more nourishing can we hope for if we add our pinch of salt and the optimism of our will and efforts? When younger and while studying finances in the USA, we were presented with many examples of the dollar forgerers’ imagination. It seemed almost impossible to cope with them as they kept piling up one upon another, faster than the lapse of time until detected.

But we received a simple and astounding lesson. The most respected professor told us: do not be overwhelmed by the fakes and their shenanigans. Concentrate on the real bill and how it was acquired and is planned to be spent. If the forgerers realized how much effort it takes to forge they would dedicate their efforts to make an honest living.

Greed is the root of all financial and usually the social evils. People have forgotten that money is just a means of exchange and transformation of labor into wages and profit. The faster you realize it... the faster you will find that success is around the corner!

But remember… even this can be distorted if dedicated to evil purposes or when you forget the individual. So, be optimistic but not unrealistic. Know what happens and disperse your little grains of truth and righteousness all over the roads you walk along and the lands you enter.

Sing and act! Sing of the good things, nor bad! Sing and place yourself as a willing partner for better futures! Encourage the fainting! Show them there are brighter nights and shinier tomorrows!

I will sing! Will you?

With Julio Iglesias, Roberto Carlos, José Feliciano and others?

I want to be a port by the sea.
To be that compass that puts you back on route.
I want to be a place of peace,
and never allow the world to end for you.

Friend… friend! There is nothing to fear.
I am with you.
And after darkness… a new day is waiting.

I will sing. You will sing.
And that light at the end of the road will shine
as a sun lighting up the whole world.

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally,
join our hands, there will always,
be a place for every human being.

I want to walk, side by side, with you,
sharing the bread, the sorrow, the hope!
Finding out that in our hearts there is, always a corner
that does not forget the childhood.

Friend, friend! There is so much to do.
Count with me.

I will sing. You will sing.
And that light at the end of the road will shine
as a sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally,
join our hands, there will always, be a place
for every human being!

I would like to have power to help and change your destiny.

I will give you as much as I can give…
All I know is to sing, and my song is for you.
And my voice, with the others, in the vastness is being heard.

I will sing. You will sing, and that light at the end of the road
will shine as sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally, join our hands,
there will always, be a place for every human being.

I will sing, you will sing and a song will bring us together.
And our hopes and our prayers we will make them last forever.

I will sing. You will sing. And that light at the end of the road
will shine as sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass!

Now, it´s your turn to do something to achieve peace!

Have a good day! It is my desire for all of you!

Part 1. GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY!

Unexpectedly all these past weeks I have been seeing ghost herds stampedes and ghost riders in the skies. I have been an unwilling witness as the old cowboy Dean Martin sings about. And this has made me go back to my music files to listen to that song and turn it into this opening video.

These past two weeks have been some exceptionally trying ones. I have been witness to some, at times, incomprehensible actions and circumstances that test, down to the innerest levels of my heart, my trust and confidence that truth and righteousness somehow would prevail over the hardness and abuses of this world.

I have heard a former soldier under my command, crying on the phone with despair, seeing how a dear friend of him was kidnapped and murdered because drug traffickers were pressuring his father to get involved in the transportation trade.



I had seen faithful employees of powerful corporations being fired, and their future destroyed,

for not going along with their financial shenanigans,

and just because its executives needed scapegoats if they could not get accomplices.

I had seen very young girls, in my neighborhood, scanty shorts dressed, boldly and daringly kissing boys, the chubbier ones inciting the slenderer ones to do so, probably because the warm and probably in their eyes boring afternoons did not let them find better ways to play.

Or maybe because in their immaturity they believe it’s the best and fastest way to popularity.

What I find more immature is that they do it in a provoking, as well as a defiantly challenging way towards us, the passerbys and bystanders.

It seems they do not understand that they are only provoking worser excesses by their also immature counterparts,

They do not realize that their playmates, the almost kids, because they are not even whole teenagers, or the older ones will only see an easy opportunity to convince them to enter in sexual relationships that surely end in unwanted pregnancies.

And every one of them will end up as a loser even before starting life in their own.

Is is more frequent nowadays to see young girls holding in their arms babies almost as big of them. I can only guess the whole messing up of their still not developed lives, as well as that of their parents, who have to take care of such unwanted family expansion.

And this, if they do not recur to the “who cares” attitude”, “it´s only youthful exuberances” or “that´s what life and new moral values and ways are today and we must accept or tolerate them”, that will only expose their young uproots to wider, and worser promiscuities.

This was just happening very close to a group of adults, as well as also older men, sitting on the benches of our little park, drinking liquor in disguised cardboard cups, noisily exchanging crude jokes about sex, and stupid things alike, spicing up their conversation with drunken laughs, that only showed their crass mediocrity, and bad behavior, before the youngsters!



And outside our place, the news kept ragging thunderously on the media and internet screens. Fighting and death all over the places! Libya, Ivory Coast, Middle East.


And just around the corner, in our city, surrounding places and our countryside. Extortion and death at the hands of what is seemingly uncontrollable by the security forces of our State!

And coming back to the roots of society, the perversion, destruction and the distortion of the roots of everything for good or bad, which is the family.

And in the family the origin of it, which is a man and a woman, getting together, living together, initiating the indissoluble links, whatever the religion or set of spiritual belief under its “auspices of” they do so, Catholic, Evangelical, Mayan, Buddhist, you name it, according your preferences or convenience.

To be specific about it, how could we accept that breaking such links, making they disappear for the sake of a so called love for the country, feeling called to rule it at the expense of the sacred vows, accepted and proclaimed one day?

How could we accept such a blasphemy, when we have sacrificed countries and places of birth, for the sake of the preservation of our families?

How could we accept such an act when we see these sacrifices occurring every day, every hour, and every place, whatever the culture we could refer to?



All of this has made me remember the lyrics of a song I have liked a lot, before, sung by Dean Martin: Ghost Riders in the sky.

An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day.
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way,

when all at once a mighty herd

of red eyed cows he saw

A-plowing through the ragged sky

and up the cloudy draw.

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel.

Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel.

A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky,

for he saw the Riders coming hard,

and he heard their mournful cry:

Yippie yi Ohhhhh, Yippie yi yaaaaay,

Ghost Riders in the sky.


As the riders looped on by him he heard one call his name.

If you want to save your soul from hell a-riding on the range,

then cowboy change your ways today, or with us you will ride

a-trying to catch the devil's herd

across these endless skies.

Yippee-I-ay

yippee-I-o!

The ghost herd in the sky!

URGENT!

A few days ago I received this email from my friends in the Fresh Air Fund ministry. I have decided to literally copy it so its freshness and urgency becomes clear as a trumpet sound in the ears of those who could read these lines and feel their heart inclined to “pitch in” in such worthy activities and opening of their homes´ generosity.


Hi, Emilio: I haven't reached out to you in a few months, but I wanted to let you know that The Fresh Air Fund is again in need of host families for this summer, to place these wonderful children into a loving host family for up to two weeks of a fresh air experience they will never forget.

I've put together a new social media release, so please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners,

or copy:

http://freshairfundhost.org

Your efforts can help a child have an experience that will change their life! Thank you so much, Sara

I decided so because, while reading the email, some words from Facundo Cabral, the Argentinean singer and composer, began to resound again in my ears.

It had been some time since I received the Powerpoint message that I transformed into a video, and from time to time I have watched meditating in the profundity of its words.

But now they seem so appropriate to these many children in need of something new and fresh in their lives as some fun time in hospitable homes among loving people could be.

Facundo Cabral, with his profound and grave voice that has been in so many scenarios of this world, tells us:

Urgently… is the poorest way to live in this world,
because, you know, the day we leave it,
we leave behind (pending) the things
that were really urgent.

Urgent is that you stop in your tiring Life´s pace;
to ask yourself what it really is
all these things that you do.

Urgent is for you to be a better friend,
a better human, a better brother.

Urgent, is for you to value the time a child, boy or girl,
are asking from you.


Could we have any doubt what a wonderful gift to ourselves

as well as to those children could be opening our homes

to as many of them we could accommodate?

If you find it so. Rush and check the link:

http://freshairfundhost.org

and enjoy a remarkable and unforgettable time this year!

Additionally, enjoy, too, the video I was telling you about, whose text is clearly impactant as well as the biography of this so universally known singer and composer of so many moving songs about life and need to overcome circumstances that I will summarize at the end.

Just think. How many undiscovered geniuses could be found among this presently dispossessed children? and what a joy could be ours if we were part of their awakening to their life´s potentials?

Let´s meditate on his words!

Urgent!

For you, who always live life at a vertiginous pace…
I want to remind you
that the most important thing you have in life,
is you and all those who surround you.
And remember…

Urgent, is a word we live with, day in and day out,
in our frenzied life,
but one we have lost, already,
all its significance of hurriedness
and priority.

Urgently, is the poorest way to live in this world,
because, you know, the day we leave it,
we leave behind (pending)
the things that were really urgent.

Urgent is that you stop in your tiring Life´s pace;
to ask yourself what it really is
all these things that you do.

Urgent is for you to be a better friend,
a better human, a better brother.

Urgent, is for you to value the time a child,
boy or girl, are asking from you.

Urgent, is for you to impregnate yourself with the sun´s warmth,

every morning you contemplate a sunrise,
and then give thanks to the Lord
for this magnificent gift.

Urgent, is for you to see your family,
your children, spouse, and everyone around you,
and value that marvelous treasure.

Urgent, is for you to tell the people you love, today,
not tomorrow, how much you love them.

Urgent, is for you to know you are a son of God,
and realize that He loves you and wants to see you
smiling, and full of energies.

Urgent, is for you that life does not flies away in a second,
and when you look back,
already an older person
who cannot make time retrace its tracks,
realize that you did everything
hurriedly urgently.

Being a great businessman, a great artist,
a great professional, who filled your agenda
with urgent dates, projects,
but after all, the most important,
forgot to LIVE!

BIOGRAPHY

Facundo Cabral is an Argentinean singer and composer,

born on May 22nd. 1937.

Almost blind and carrying a cane,

he summarized his life as follows:

I was able to speak until I was 9 years old,

illiterate until 14,

widowed when 40,

and met my father until I was 46.

The most pagan of preachers

is already 70 years old

and reviews his life from the hotel room

he has chosen as his last home.

His father abandoned his mother

leaving her with 7 children.

He was sent to a reformatory and escaped,

having found God in the words of Simeon, an old vagrant,

who recited to him the Sermon of the Mountain

on February 24th. 1934.

In 1970 recorded the unforgettable song

“I am not from here nor there”.

Inspired by Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa of Calcuta,

as well as by Jorge Luis Borges and Walt Whitman,

he spiritually follows a social critic line in his songs

taking them to more than 159 nations.

Could you imagine what a joy could fill your life

if some Facundo

visits your home this Easter?

I am sure that many Facundos are out there

waiting for a friendly hand

and a loving heart to find a reason for their lives.

Go to: http://freshairfundhost.org

Two messages! Questions, concerns, considerations!

The other day I received an email with a Powerpoint presentation with the phrases of the well known writer, the controversial but influential in many circles, the Jesuit priest, Anthony De Mello.

At first sight his thoughts did sound convincing and logical. But later on, in my mind and my spirit sprouted the question I am phrasing after each of this writer phrases.

Then, as a second part of the development of my own thoughts and concerns, came out the interrogation born out from the second presentation on the offenses and reactions and responses, the winds of time and the permanence of the rocks imbedded in our memories.

This has led me to the final conclusion that even if we do not have the answers nor have done always what was correct and consistent, something good can come out from our experiences, even if for the statement of having stumbled twenty years ago over the same obstacle or circumstance.

Questions for Anthony De Mello

STATEMENT: What is what it makes you react to? Reality? Or the fiction you believe is real?

QUESTIONS: Is it worthy to live like this, as leaves gyrating in the wind?




Or confronting rejections and loneliness for the sake of integrity and self being?

STATEMENT: What is wrong with the ideals is that if you live according to them all… it is impossible to live with you.

QUESTION: GIVING UP OR REJECTING THE UNCOMPROMISERS?

STATEMENT: People do not want the truth! They want appeasing promises!

STATEMENT: When your shoes fit you, you forget your feet;

QUESTION: SELFISHNESS?

STATEMENT: When the belt does not tighten you, you forget your waist;

QUESTION: Deceptive self-esteem?



STATEMENT: When all goes well, you forget your “ego”. Then, What´s the use of abstaining?

QUESTION: SELFISHNESS?



STATEMENTS: How could I be a great man… like you? And why to be a great man? Just to be a simple man is a great achievement!

QUESTIONS: ACEPTANCE OF FAILED LONGINGS? OR CONFORMISM?




COMMENTS: But… Why to give in to the lies and snares of this manipulating world?

We can overcome, even if only in our inner world!

Even if the price to pay for it may be so painful!



A friend of mine some days ago reflected on the problems faced when trying to stay honest and faithful to what he defined as the fundamental values of a genuine middle class people.

He defined them as being only about 5% of the societies where less than 1% controlled about 80% of all generated income, manipulating the overwhelming majority that struggles and unendingly compromises in order to survive while the middle class values sink under the pressure and the ruthless whims of the powerful.

The only answer I had for him was that everyone has its own breaking point. And everyone has to decide what to do when forced to make fundamental decisions such as following the crowds or standing tall for what he knows is right and fundamental.

It is inevitable to face the natural consequences. Surviving at the cost of our own conscience… or sinking under the pressure of abuse, dismissal or rejection.

What we can control in this case is our responses to these painful consequences, understanding that all reduced itself to a simple sharing between us and the people we interact with.

It is up to us to live with peace despite the hardship and the hurting, burying them under the sands of times and circumstances, without forgetting to be grateful when we receive good for good done in our part.

Gratefulness that we should chisel on the rocks of the remaining standing rocks after all the sand of the abuse and selfishness has flown away, spirited out by our resilience and integrity.

We should always remember that we can live a simpler life, enjoying the technological progress of today, without being anxiously seeking, to get and make our own, what it is incessantly presented to us as needed to have to satisfy our craziest cravings.

We must realize there is an ultimate need, that of avoiding to be absorbed by the artificially mesmerizing but addicting myriads of trinkets that saturate every second of our present lives.

COMMENTS: But… Why to give in to the lies and snares of this manipulating world?

We can overcome, even if only in our inner world! Even if the price to pay for it may be so painful!


Balance! Wisdom! Awareness of what is real, right and fundamental, are the keys for a life to be worth its while.

There is no need to recur to extreme examples of human resilience as the Japanese people are showing in the midst of their almost unbelievable crisis.

But, we have a lot to learn from them in moments like these.

No looting! No opportunistic speculation! Supermarkets selling first need goods at reduced prices! People gathering together for mutual support! Still being able to smile after losing everything while locked in in a car in the midst of the tsunami!

Gratefulness for being alive and still having hope to recover what was lost because we trust in humans capable of helping other humans, despite offenses incurred, despite circumstances endured, despite whatever wrong could have been inflicted on us!


This is the message of the following tale of THE SANDS AND THE ROCKS! Meditate on it and decide what way to go while living.

Two friends were crossing a desert… They started to discuss and one slapped the other…

Hurt, but silent, he wrote on the sand… MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME, TODAY.

They kept on walking until they reached an oasis, where they decided to bathe. The slapped friend began to drown but his friend saved him.

After recovering his breath, he chiseled on a stone… MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE TODAY!

The one who had slapped and later saved his friend, asked him: When I did hurt you, you wrote on the sand, and now you chisel it on a stone. Why?

The other friend answered: when someone hurts us we must write it on the sand where the winds of forgiveness can erase it.

But, when someone does some good for us, we must chisel it on stone so no wind can erase it.

We must learn to write our wounds on the sands of time and chisel our fortunes on the lasting stones of our deserts.

For these reasons I am sharing my life´s actions and experiences to chisel on the rocks of our memories, the friends, the journeys´ partners… and all those whose diverse actions and opinions did influence the routes of our life, and realistically showed us the encountered crossroads.

If somehow or some times we offended you, forgive us. If we did something good, keep us, alive, in the vaulty rocks of your memories. MAY GOD BLESS YOU!