LOVE: A four letter word

Okay, I just realized it is Valentine’s Day. I don’t celebrate it or acknowledge it as a holiday but one can’t help having love on the mind when it’s on every channel, even my rebellious LinkTV. There are cheesy red hearts and chocolate sales in every grocery store.

So this is NOT a Valentine’s Day bashing blog like you might expect from me.

This is a blog about love and how it can change your life. When we think of love we tend to think of romantic love, and then after that, love for our parents and children. But there is another love, a broader love that can shift the earth:

Love for humanity.

There is so much hate nowadays. It’s spouting from the mouths of politicians and warlords and terrorists. It’s emitting from the thoughts and actions of everyday citizens. We shouldn’t do good because we feel sorry for others: that is not only insulting, but it does not inspire growth. We shouldn’t do it out of sympathy or guilt. We should do good deeds out of LOVE. Love for humanity. Love for our Creator. Love for ourselves.

So whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, there is one four letter word that should stay on your tongue and in your heart: LOVE

Global Citizenship: Whether You Like It or Not!

Child Labor in India. Dangerous pesticides in Brazil. Civil War in Somalia. Starvation in the Congo. Nuclear disaster in Japan. We pretend to care because we don’t want to sound ignorant or insensitive. We don’t want to be politically incorrect, but do we really care? Why should we?

As long as we eat blueberries grown in Peru and drink orange juice from Brazil… As long as we drive cars manufactured in Japan and pump oil into them from the Middle East… As long as we watch televisions and talk on phones made in South Korea … As long as we show off gold and diamonds dug up from the earth of West Africa… As long as our children play with toys and wear clothes labels “Made in China”… WE HAVE TO CARE.

There are over 1000 U.S. military bases in 38 countries around the world. Schools and hospitals in Afghanistan and Palestine are being bombed with ammunition marked “U.S.A.” Despite the media exposure, children and adults in West Africa are still losing lives and limbs working in mines for minimal wages so we can support our fetish for diamonds and gold.

How long will we continue to live life with our blinders on? You may not think you have a voice, but you do because one voice can inspire another voice and another until there are millions of voices demanding justice, transparency, and morality.

Do you want to know how your voice can be heard the loudest? With your dollars! Every U.S. dollar we spend will undoubtedly affect someone else in another part of the world. We are global citizens, whether we like it or not! And it’s about time we realize we have an obligation to our neighbors- whether they live in Mexico, Uganda, or Syria- to take responsibility for our words, our actions, and our economic power.

The next time you are watching the news and the biggest story is about celebrity so-and-so’s baby bump, or engagement, know that you are being numbed and distracted from what is really going on in the world. Certain powers would love it if we remained in our ignorant bliss. They would love you to think they know what they’re doing with YOUR TAX DOLLARS. They got it handled, right? Because us peasants are too dumb to really understand what’s going on at home and abroad anyway, right? WRONG!

I’m not telling you to jump in the nearest protest or picket line (although, it wouldn’t be such a horrible idea). I’m just saying: WAKE UP!