EXCESS AND EXCUSES

By Miles Patrick Yohnke © 2010

It hurts me to write this story. But I must write it. I live in Canada, which is seen as a rich country. The country to the south of us, the United States, also falls into this category. As a writer I've been blessed that my work has touched so many lives in so many corners of the world.

I receive many letters. An enormous amount of them come from places where it isn't as good as we have it here. Yet these letters are filled with hope and optimism. Terror and fear are daily occurrences in countries like Africa, India and Papua New Guinea [PNG] just to name a few. Yet when I read the letters from people living in these and many more places, their passion is overwhelming. You also have a great respect for their rich, individual heritages.

You look at Papua New Guinea and discover it has over 800 languages. Each province has more than 20 different languages. Not all of them have the same dialect. The only language that they all can speak and understand is called "Pidgin English." 800 languages means that they also have this number of different customs and traditions. All just loaded with culture and character.

North America is the richest of nations, yet, for the most part, our culture is one of excess and excuses.

Excess: We eat too much. We drink too much. We spend far too much.

Excuses: We point fingers. We blame others. We dwell in dysfunction.

We are rich with excess and excuses. For so many we have a hard time speaking one language. We have bigger houses and bigger broken homes. Divorce is the norm. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We've learned how to make a living but not a life. It's time that we stop our spoiled, self-centered ways.

Time we look in the mirror at our fat selves. Weak with character, high with cholesterol. Time we wake up. Time we learn that life isn't about 'things'. Time that we use our rich resources for positive change. Time we give back. Help others. Time our lives are filled with purpose. In that we will have a real reason to live.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Widely recognized and award-nominated engineer, producer, writer, poet and founder and C.E.O. of 5 Star Productions, Miles Patrick Yohnke brings many years of experience to the music industry; including many awards in sales and marketing. Yohnke offers consulting in person, by phone or via email. For more info, please contact him at miles@5-starproductions.com

If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator.

-W. Beran Wolfe

The most important think in ife is to stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will." Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilites as probabilites.

-David Copperfield

We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible.  You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

WE MUST BE THANKFUL FOR ...

By M. Raymond Sheppard

• We must be thankful for the offer and willingness to help, not the outcome.
• We must be thankful for the challenges, not just the successes,
• We must be thankful for the spirited debate, not just the resolution,
• We must be thankful for the child that tries to cheer us up when we are down and the child that tries to help another child, not just the child that does his/her chores,
• We must be thankful not just for what the Creator has done, but what he/she hasn't done,
• We must be thankful for our trails and tribulations, not just our glorious victories,
• We must be thankful for the clothes on our back, and not ungrateful for the style they lack.
• We must be thankful for the $10 we might have today that we didn't have yesterday, and let go of the fact that we did not get the thousand we wanted,
• We must be thankful for the hug our loved one gave to us, although they did not say they loved us,
• We must be thankful for the meal we had today, and not dwell on the one we might have dreamed of,
• We must be thankful for the job we have now, not just the one we might get or wished we had,
• We must be thankful for that friend that is with us and supports us, not just the best friend that isn't there,
• We must be thankful for the survivors of natural catastrophes, and be thankful for the memory of those we might have lost,
• We must be thankful for all things.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. Raymond Sheppard, is an unemployed father of four and a Human and Community Rights Activist residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. He is a writer, broadcaster, counselor and the father of four. Raymond can be reached at raymondsheppard@eastlink.ca