Why Should We Uplift One Another?

Why should we uplift one another?

That might be the question of millennium to some, but it's a very simple answer to those of us who can see the whole earth filled with living beings just like ourselves.  For those who can't answer, it is probably no surprise that they can only see themselves.  They only see their problems, their fears, their needs and their pain.  They do not see or recognize that a problem for one of us is usually a problem to all of us.

Who hasn't lived just a quarter of an average human lifetime and not witnessed a politician give up on the interests of his or her constituents for a wealthy special interest financial benefactor?  Who hasn't seen a parent excuse their undisciplined child through his/her developmental years, right up until the time that child becomes a destructive teenager or adult to their community and the greater society at large?  Who hasn't seen the captain of large passenger ship, get off that ship well before his passengers were safely off the ship?

When we see these egregious examples of people thinking only about themselves, we are blind to the even smaller, every day examples of selfishness in front of us:

1. Men and women who have no faith or commitment to their significant other or who constantly use and manipulate people.
2. People who have no regard or respect for other's privacy, personal failures or tragedies.
3. People who make daily negative comments about other people's ethnicity, skin color, nationality, weight, nationality, height or education.

So now...I ask again...WHY SHOULD WE UPLIFT ONE ANOTHER?

If you can't answer that question after seeing and understanding our "connectedness" with each other - then you do not understand the problem that created the question.  Not understanding the problem means you're not contributing to the solution.  And unfortunately, if you're not contributing to the solution, then by default you are contributing to the problem...even via your neutrality.

Positive "contributions" can be made be it a penny a year, or a million dollars a day in our everyday lives.  The fact of the matter is that we all need to make contributions towards our families, town and our greater society.  Somewhere along the line someone made a positive contribution which helped us.  That is how we all got here.

Have you ever moved from a place that you lived at a long time and tried to pack your belongings all by yourself?  How much faster did your packing go when friends or family came over to help you pack?  The more people you have to help grab something, no matter or big or small, the faster the packing goes.  This is the same with cleaning up our world from all of the negative energy that exists in it.  If we all just reach down a make a positive contribution here and there, it will all add up collectively and we will make a bigger impact to our society.  Therefore, by uplifting yourself, someone next to you, or maybe even a total stranger - you are creating a space for positive energy to blossom. You may not be around or even alive to see the return of your own positive contribution, but believe me it will pay it's dividends sooner or later for the rest of the world.

Uplift one another.   To help you get into a positive frame of mind I have found yet another musical video from Youtube to assist you.  Just click the link, close your eyes and think of something beautiful or positive that has occurred in your life, no matter how big or small and listen to this music.  The birth of your son or daughter, getting the job you wanted in a time of need, feeding someone who was hungry, hugging someone who was really sad.  Trust me you will feel better, I promise!  Click here. I hope that you find peace, as well as give and receive love in your life this week!

From Mankind...To Kind Men

Last weekend I wanted to post a video of recent news reports of acts of good will of human beings towards each other.  Sadly to say, when I scanned the news story on the Internet last weekend, there wasn't any good stories of human acts of kindness.  So I challenged myself this past week, to assemble videos of positive acts of kindness via YouTube.  Each one of these videos could chronicle kind, selfless or heroic acts.  What I uncovered was amazing.  What I learned from it all was even more amazing.

It's not that there aren't noble acts of kindness everyday.  No, no.  Acts of human kindness and bravery happen everyday.  The problem is within ourselves.  We have become conditioned to constantly focus on all of the negative stories that happen everyday around us.  The first 15 minutes of every television or radio news broadcast is filled with stories about murder, hate, racial, social or economic division.  Our minds and souls are inundated with these acts so much, that we ourselves then reflect that same attitude.  We lose our touch with not only the humanity around us, but also the humanity within us.

So I assembled three videos from YouTube that you can watch.  Each one has a lesson within itself.  Here is my "15 minutes" of positive and inspirational stories caught on video tape.  I wonder how different we would all be if our daily and nightly news media started their programs with stories like this?  Watch any one of these three videos and I guarantee you will feel much better about your day.  Watch all three videos and you'll feel reinvigorated about humanity. I know that I did.


Click this link to see ordinary people take some extraordinary life saving actions.


Click this link if you want to see two women lose a softball game - but become extraordinary winners in the game of life!


This is the story of a lifetime. It will never get old. An autistic teen gets a shot in a high school basketball game.

Love Each Other

A Tree Grows in Manhattan

A Tree Grows In Manhattan: The Gate 

By John S LES

Last Friday I attended an outstanding play in New York City, that was literally "off Broadway" at the Times Square Church at 51st and Broadway.  The play was put on by members of the Times Square Church, a modern, soulfully powerful, Christian Evangelist group.  The play was entitled "Rewind" and was written by playwright, Mrs. Victoria Griffin.  Although I would like to speak on the details of the play (because it was phenomenal and had an immense but timeless message) it is really the overall brilliance that the Church has been able to create this oasis on Broadway, for young adults to patron on a Friday night.  Whether you are a member or not, you could come to this theater and see all of the positive activities that they have and either become a part of it or simply be a warmly welcomed visitor like I was last Friday.  Here's a link to their YouTube video: The Times Square Church.

Many of today's social clubs and lounges for younger adults usually cater to all of the vice laden usual behaviors: alcohol, smoking, drug use and sex.  Yet when I stopped by the Times Square Church, there was simply an air of camaraderie, brother and sisterhood and a willingness to simply socialize and talk with familiar faces or complete strangers about positive things.  The same way that you would socialize at a normal lounge or club, but with a positive view of life.  I must not forget to mention that one of the actors was leaving the city soon to go to medical school out of state.  Yet he committed his personal time to help put on this play.  Amazing!

As far as the play "Rewind" goes, it was an excellent story about the parallel ascension of two teenagers, Charles or "Chuck" and Samantha, or "Sam".  They were living completely different lives and had completely different upbringings.  Both had reached the stage of graduating high school and attending college, a pivotal time in many peoples lives.  How they got there, their different lives and individual struggles were well portrayed between the actors playing the parents/guardians and the two teens.

Chuckie was raised by his aunt as a single parent after both his biological parents died while he was in his early teens.  Their deaths were due to complications with their drug addictions and AIDS.  After fighting his way through grades, athletics and the sacrifices his adoptive aunt made for him, Chuckie still found himself feeling loyalties to old street hoodlums from his youth.  It's a relationship that rings a bell in all of us, as we grow up past some of pitfalls of our immediate surroundings and strive to do better for ourselves.

As for Samantha or Sam, she came from a very religious, and fairly strict, two parent household.  She was actually admitted into college and proved to have a very rebellious behavior towards the restrictive way that she was brought up.  Ironically, she was given a roommate who had an open upbringing, but self-disciplined herself and embraced her conservative and religious background.

I don't want to give away the play, but their stories start just as both teens have reached pivotal points in their lives.  Their struggle to see their dreams carried through is yet to be completed.  They both need to battle through their own inner issues and personal choices, in order to completely fulfill their dreams.  This "moment of truth" is at the heart of the play and as the characters struggle in their respective moments, the viewing audience can easily relate to the examples of additional life pitfalls laid in front of the two teens.  The cast delivered a remarkable performance.  

What was even more remarkable about the play was that it was put on by a very humble and seemingly ordinary, but extremely talented cast.  I was fortunate to meet a handful of them after the play was over, including the playwright, Mrs. Griffin.  Most of the cast member were under 30, but all of them were just such a pleasant and appreciative group to talk to. 

All of the above leads me to this conclusion:

"If you build something positive and place the right amount of care, love and direction in it - the people will come."

That's a little bit of an expanded paraphrase from the movie, "Field Of Dreams"

Yet the truth in that movie is still as real and as true today as ever.  Now I know that real estate costs money and building things requires financial resources, along with a half dozen other things to fall into place.  However, when you're talking about something to actually build a culture for your hometown, for your city, for your state..?  There should be no limit as to what you can do, or are willing to do to make it succeed.  The Times Square Church has done it since it's founder dreamed of it in the late 1960's.  Here it is in 2014 and going strong.  All communities around the our country should be willing to do the same.  You have to be willing to plant the seeds now to foster the positive growth in your young people within your community.  Then you just sit back and watch the "trees" grow over time.

What can you do for your own town or city?  What can you build that's positive for people in your community to turn to and gather around for information, social support, family support?  Something that does not cater to people's vices and that helps uplift your community.  Last Friday I sat in a theater filled with people of all ages, but with mostly young people.  They were all good people, looking forward to doing positive things with their lives.  If these people can do that inside a busy and sometime distracting New York City, then everyone can do this just about in any city or town anywhere.

Many thanks to my friend Vita for directing me to see the Times Square Church in action with my own eyes.  I am further inspired to do the same wherever I live.

Elevate your world my friends.

Here are some more pictures from the "Rewind" play and here's a link to the church's home page: The Times Square Church.

Can't Let Nothing Bring Me Down!

We Are What We Do

Today is Thursday.  Outside of my normal everyday work, I had two "out of my norm", challenges this week.

First on Monday, my car was struck from behind while I sat a traffic light.  I had just watched an mid morning movie and was on my way to each lunch when I was struck from behind as I sat the read light.  The other driver initially waved me off as I got out of my car as if to say nothing happened.  Then she exited her car and stated that I hit her.  I didn't react or get mad.  I simply got smart and took a picture of her car and license plate, and called the police - all with my smartphone.  It was then and only then that she began to calm down as I relayed the situation to the police.

Normally I wouldn't have jumped to such measures, since there was very little physical damage to either car.  However, her initial behavior led me to believe that she was about to take off.  Even more I already suffer permanent back disc injuries from a car accident years ago.  There was a mild concern there.  As we waited for the police, the woman began to lobby passerbys for agreement to her cause - that nothing had happened.  As strange as this was, I still completely ignored her and made sure that my car was now out of the way of traffic.  

The police arrived and a report made.  The police officer also observed her strange and contradictive behavior as she agreed about the accident, but told the officer everything was okay and that he could leave.  There was visible damage to the car, (and the eventual aggravation to my pre-existing injuries).  She also was making a strange religious prayer in my direction that even made the officer questioned her about.

Surely enough, I had neck pain the following two days afterwards.  But I was proud that I did not lose my cool at the accident scene with this woman.  I honestly kept thinking about the words of kindness and positiveness in this blog.

The second thing that happened, occurred yesterday (Wednesday) morning.  As I was exiting my house to drive to a very important 8am morning meeting for my job.  Just as I was locking my door I heard a car "panic" alarm go off.  I looked around at the cars in my driveway and the neighboring driveways on my block - trying to figure out which car had it's alarm sounding.  It was only after I looked across the street that I realized that my 70 year old neighbor was sitting in her driveway in front of her car and had triggered it's panic switch.

For one millionth of a second, I actually had to consider how long it would take me to help her up and calling an ambulance, etc. - or just helping her up, leaving quickly and making my meeting on time.  I thought about this for only a millionth of a second.  Life or work? 

I chose life - and kept work out of my mind.  The meeting would be there whether I was late or not.  After running over to help her, and with the help of her brother in law, who came out of the house after also hearing the car alarm - we got her to her feet.  She refused any further help.  She had just tripped on a plastic garbage bag she was carrying and fell to the ground to her knees and then onto her butt.  Her knees were scraped up a little bit.  We got her up and inside.  Another neighbor also came over after seeing the commotion and hearing the car alarm.

Off I went to work.  I was only 2 minutes late to my meeting.  But both of these events really made me think about how easy all of us can become caught up within ourselves after we make a mistake or in the occurrence of an accident.  In both events - if you can imagine how different the outcome if the woman in the car showed one ounce of concern for striking my car as well as my physical well being, rather than her own "self" embarrassment from causing the accident.  And in case of my fallen neighbor - even I almost fell prey to "self" and flinched...for a millisecond...to come to the aid of a neighbor - a 70 year old woman, sitting on the ground in a drizzly morning rain.  But I chose life.  I chose my neighbor...my fellow man.

We all need to remember these things.  We've survived thousands of years of evolution from learning how to help one another.  We all must remember.  

Be blessed.  Stay positive!

Why Be Happy?

This picture is courtesy of the Artist Antonella Mason

Why be positive?  Well, do you need to be reminded how negative people can be?  I have recently read and heard some of the nastiest and unsavory criticisms of one of the nicest and popular songs in recent years.  Ironically the same thing happened to an older song about happiness about 25 years ago.

By now many of us have heard Pharrell Williams song "Happy".  I could only shake my head when I read some of the most evil and dispirited words in the comments section of it's Youtube video.  Those comments made me think back to over 20 years earlier when people criticized and ridiculed another very popular song about happiness, Bobby McFerrin's hit song from the mid 1980's, "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

The last time I checked all writers, artists and singers are simply trying to produce a work that will either entertain or stimulate some thoughts or mood in people?  If you don't like a song about happiness, what does that reflect or say about what's going on inside of yourself?  Today, song overplay on the radio can be quickly defeated by simply turning to another station and expanding your musical tastes.  Even better, you can simply play your own pre-selected music stations or mp3 downloads.  Just remember song overplay is a result of the "business" of the music industry - NOT THE FAULT of the song or singer.

Why should we even be happy in the first place?  Click onto this highlighted sentence and find out what happiness does for you.

Therefore we should not be swayed or deterred by the sarcastic thoughts of anyone around us.  Everyday that we wake up we should be happy to be able to get to another day and have another chance to accomplish our goals.  As we all know, tomorrow is not promised.  We have only the present.  I have plans to make my very own "happy" video to celebrate my friends, family, neighbors - business connections - life!  I'm just looking for a person who can make the video.  I have already secured people who are willing to be in it.  I wish for some of you to be in it as well!  It can be done via Skype!  I have a plan...if you're interested!

If you're reading this blog...be happy!  In order to read this, you either have a mobile device or computer.  That means you have the ability to connect with hundreds of sites and thousands of bits of information. In respect to the other 8 billion plus people in the world, you're near the top of the apex of the pyramid when you consider that there are millions of people world wide without even running water.

However, I want us all to improve our connection with positive energy and positive deeds.  Recognize that one of the most universal gestures for "language" in all of humanity is a smile.  It doesn't matter whether you are living in the digital age in some modern metropolis, or living in a tree in the woods, or a beach on the coastline.  A smile communicates dozens of positive words.

                                    SMILE!  BE HAPPY!

You've earned it.  You've made it through another day!  Time for me to go listen to Pharrell...

The Eyes of Beauty!

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."
                                                                                                     Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good morning to all my friends and family around the world.  It's Monday morning!  You like me are charged up to begin another week!  You must have that military cadence song about hard work inside your head.  You will be challenged by gory and inflammatory headlines as soon as you wake up - either through friends or the news.  You may even be questioned about someone's beauty, or maybe even your own beauty?

If you have a smile on your face and dress properly and comfortably for your job, home, social outing - or whatever event you're going to - then you will be perfect!!

Let the beauty of your soul shine outward as you go through your day and your week!  This requires work now!  Don't stumble or be deterred cause someone will try to knock you down.  Just ignore them!  Simply shine the beauty of your heart at everyone in your path, and I guarantee that those who love you will shine the beauty of their heart right back at you!  Clink this link:  Hard Work! and strut yourself right out the door!  You got this!

Humanity Is Hard Work!

This picture is of the tattoo on this author.

What will you do today, tonight, tomorrow...to elevate yourself and someone around you?  Whether it is a spouse, a sibling, your child, relative or a stranger - what will you do?

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

"A Muslim who mixeth with people and putteth up with their inconveniences, is better than one who doth not mix with them, and bear with patience."
"Do you love your creator?  Love your fellow-beings first."  The Quran

If you have read the above passages and have any doubt, anger or disbelief in your mind and heart, you need to find another blog to read. This one is not for you.  However if you want to be a soldier for peace, progress and the advancement for all mankind - then lace up your boots and keep your mind at ease in preparation for the battle ahead.

I'm calling for my fellow soldiers to remember the end goal here is to provide and showcase a space on the Internet for positive behaviors - of human beings towards other human beings.  We spend too much of our daily time pondering or dwelling and engaging on negative energy things.  This is the place to re-energize our souls on nicer things in life.

Make no mistake, being a positive human being is hard work!  Being a negative human being is easy and lazy work.  Even more sadly, projecting negative energy outward only guarantees negative energy that will be returned!  Positive energy projected out, may not always recoup positive return - but it always plants the seeds for spiritual and physiological growth 100% of the time!  Studies have also shown that positive activity stimulates and enhances our brains on a multitudes of levels.

Whether you are sitting in your chair, riding a bus, or waking up first thing in the morning - just keep saying positive things about yourself, your life, your family and about the people in the world around you.  Let go of your own mental roadblocks about race, creed, color, religion, crime, sex or sexual orientation.  Just focus on a daily "good morning" and a smile.  Expand your horizons!

Here's a positive military cadence as you make the transformation from idle bystander to an active soldier in the advancement of the human race.  Just click the link: Hard Work!

If you have any pictures of acts of kindness, love, or volunteer work that you would like to donate to this blog - please email your picture, with your expressed permission to use on this blog - to the email address on my profile.  I want for my fellow soldiers to help share positive energy with the world!

Coming Soon!!

Coming Soon...


From the creator of NYEastsideEntertainment.blogspot.com
                               WhereDidOurLoveGo.blogspot.com
                               NYGenerations.blogspot.com
                               BigKidsGadgets.blogspot.com
                               ESpeakeasy.blogspot.com
                               ThePrivateiTeam.blogspot.com
                               EscapeFromTheOrionOffworld.blogspot.com
                               and the controversial PornToBeMe.blogspot.com

Comes the blog...who's goal is to change our world...

     "All we are saying...is give love a chance..."