The Vote

Remember that scene in Napoleon Dynamite, when Pedro's campaign starts, and people kind of just stare at him?  Then the election day comes and Napoleon breaks out some stellar moves in front of the school.  Why can't all election campaigns be that simple?

I don't usually wonder into the political realm, but I feel as though I would be leading people astray in some weird sense of the the word, if I didn't encourage fellow Canadians to seriously consider getting out in May to vote.  So I dedicate this post to all those who are 'on the fence' and I hope to sway you towards getting out to the polls this Spring.

We have entered election time, the buses and planes that carry the campaigners around our country are burning up diesel and jet fuel as we speak.  The estimated cost of the election is around, well I'm not totally sure but it can't be found at the dollar store.  The attack commercials against each party have been rolled out and leadership is starting to get asked some fairly tough questions.

There are a lot of contentious items being debated and promised in this campaign.  New fighter jets for our military, which we do actually need, tax cuts for various income levels, freezing tuition costs, legalizing items and events that are currently illegal, and the list continues.  Someone should offer bloggers a tax credit for every vote the generate, good idea?

Regardless of your loyalty to any party, there is one thing that each person of legal age and citizenship has in common, we can vote.  Now I admit this with some shame and some trepidation, I did not vote at the last provincial election.  I have various good excuses, but probably none of them are valid nor will they stand up to the numbers when we look at who did vote in our province, but I admit it none the less.

I want to encourage each person who can vote, to do so.  We have the freedom to vote, just as we have the freedom of speech and practice of religion and the choice to home school or not.  Why would we take it lightly and just say, who cares?  It's your freedom, exercise it.

Here's a short list of why you need to get out and vote.

1. You may be the deciding vote.  In the last election there were a few ridings that came within a couple of votes of a given number to establish a recount, maybe yours was one of the needed votes.  Maybe yours was one of the votes that would have kept a recount from happening.

2.  You have a say in what bills pass and which ones fail.  It's a stretch but it's the truth, when you vote in the leadership of this country, you take up arms with them and champion what they stand for.  We can't hope to accomplish anything by sitting at home and watching the election, we need to participate.

3.  You gain the right to complain.  Yes I know, complaining is childish, but it can also relieve stress, or build it as well.  If you don't vote and then you complain about the way a party is acting, you have no say, or in the very least no platform from which to voice your opinion.  Those who do vote can take up their soap boxes and shout it from the rooftops, I voted and this government is not acting properly.

4.  You become distinctively Canadian, or whatever nationality you are when you vote in an election.  I know someone who has never once voted, not for mayor, not for provincial parliament, not for our Prime Minister, not even for student council when we were in high school, poor Padro.  He has never even been to a ballot office, and I consider him an incomplete Canadian.  When we vote, I believe, it gives us more distinction of our nationality, we can relate to others, claim victory or defeat with our chosen party, and stand up for our countries rights and freedoms.  It is simply my opinion, but I believe voting distinguishes us as Canadian in our election process, if you're a citizen you have the right to vote, if you choose not to, you are not fully living up to your roll as a citizen, so in my basic theory of it, you are incomplete in your citizenship.  Kind of like having a car with no mirrors.  The car is there, just not completely.

5.  You have power.  Ok so this one has basically been said already, but some of us like power, so go out and vote, it'll give you a little more.

There are many other reasons, and maybe you have your own, but I challenge you to get out and vote this year.  Maybe it'll be your first time, maybe you've voted at every possible election in the past.  Just get out and vote.  Let's bring a party into power to lead our country.

Celebrity-itis

Weird title right, but that's what I find our society is suffering from.  We are so focused on the tabloids and television gossip shows and talk shows and so on that we forget these are real people as well.  Yes they have a camera on them almost 24/7, yes they make multi-millions of dollars for a few months work, sure they have a posh life style and I confess I watch a lot of movies and I love sports.  But I know behind it all they have a life that is not much different then the one we all struggle to live everyday.  Yet we ostracize them when they break the law or find them selves in a not so glamorous situation.

We need to ask the question, why are they not worthy of grace in that moment.  Remember the OJ Simpson trial?  Every second of it over publicized and even for weeks after it was over newspapers around the world carried front page stories on the civil trial.  I really don't see the need for this, but again we put these people on a pedestal then rip it out from under them the second they waver in any way.  Yes the trial was based on a tragic event, but if it had been two people who were not linked to a celebrity in any way, the trial would have had a short column in a local paper mid way through and the only thing covered on television would have been the car chase and ensuing arrest.

Let's bring it down a few notches from terrible to laughable, and no I am not comparing events, just illustrating our fascination with celebrity.  At the super bowl, A-Rod was being fed popcorn by his celebrity girlfriend Cameron Diaz.  It's been how long since the game, a month, and still there are people showing this footage, having drawn out conversations about the moment.  If it had been some couple in the 300 section of the stadium it would have been a sweet gesture, maybe shown once on sports center as filler and forgotten.  But it's not, it's A-Rod.  So we drag it out and I'm sure it'll be mentioned at least once on opening day, and multiple times through out the year, maybe even next year.

Here's the reason for my rant on celebrities.  I'm not trying to talk them into a pit, or make you stop reading the Gossip magazines while you wait to pay for your groceries, ok maybe that one.  I'm simply stating one obvious fact, they are people like you and I.  We need to stop measuring ourselves by their success and what they do in life.  Stop trying to compare who we are to them, stop giving them a pedestal and taking it away.  Would you do this to your neighbor?

My uncle lived on the same street for years as many of the Toronto sports franchise athletes.  He had conversation with them, and never did he talk them up or down in any way other then what he would do for his non athletic retired neighbors.  He didn't elevate them to these royal positions in his mind or ours when he discussed them, he talked about them as though they were real people with real lives, emotions and needs.  He actually understood that they just had an ability that made them lots of money and had a camera on their face more then you and I.  But strip it all away and you a person, just like you.

And that is all they are, real people.

Proper Dreams

As promised months ago, a post on dreams.  No not the ones inspired by the 2 day old cold pizza you ate last night, it's the kind of dream that drives your life.  It inspires you to open your eyes in the morning and keeps you from going to sleep at night.  The kind of dream that you want others around you to get involved in because you know it will make a difference, that is proper dreaming, now lets discuss.

Some of the most popular words in our history, come from one of the most quoted speeches, it begins "I have a dream..."  Though not specifically the beginning of the speech it is the most often used passage from the history making, life changing speech.  And much like this speech in our lives many of us will come to a point that we use the words, I have a dream.

My dream? To bring hope out of people, to influence them in a way that they can go out and influence others, to being love forefront, to share grace and mercy and promote healthy relationships.  Why?  Because I believe that everyone was went to live in such a way that they will achieve great things, and too often we lose sight of the great things we can accomplish or in the very least participate in because of either the choices we have made or the consequence of others choices.  I absolutely hate reading status updates and tweets about how some ones life is worthless.  They have lost hope, and I desire to be a beacon of hope for them, shinning through their dark night helping to show the way to what might be if they can grasp the opportunity and make the first step towards hope.

I have other dreams as well, some involve buildings, some involve specific people, others revolve around my gifts and passions.  But the one thing they all have in common is that I cannot possibly achieve the full effect of the dream on my own.  I need others to come along side me, I need divine intervention and appointment, I need favor and blessing.  My dreams, those which I believe are the best way to dream, are not all about me.  Some  do not even involve me in the slightest way, they are all much bigger then me, and they promote others, putting them first, placing them as the benefactor and making sure that in some way, the dream will live on in them as well.

My definition of a proper dream: one that is not selfish, is bigger then who you are or can be, can be passed on to others.  When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke those now infamous words, he knew that he was not capable of seeing this dream come to pass on his own accord, he understood that others had to walk along side him and even in front of him, and that the dream would outlive the person.  It's not that he dreamed so big that it was impossible to achieve, he knew what it meant to dream, and that the start of seeing that dream become reality was to share it with the world, or maybe in our case anyone who will listen and carry the burden with you.

Dreams that have meaning and momentum, the ones that matter to the world, they are bigger then the dreamer, they require a lot of passion and energy, the dream may even cost you your pride, show who you are in the shadows and it could take a tole on your life.  BUT the outcome, when the dream is proper, is always so much greater then the cost.  And often it develops in you a greater sense of character, your integrity level will rise, and your legacy will be one of greatness in a specific manner.

I would love my legacy to be the following.  He was a man of great integrity and character, pressing hope into a world that built barriers and strongholds of desperation and depression.  He brought love to the corners of the world, and grace and mercy to those others had passed by.

Are you a dreamer?  How big is your dream, does it require others be involved in order for it to succeed or even begin?  If not challenge yourself to dream bigger, much much bigger.  So big in fact that your dream may take generations to come to a full realization, that others will need to take ownership of it, that you will be remembered as one of great dreams.