Giving the benefit of the doubt

I've come to realize that I give people way too much benefit of the doubt, and in most cases nowadays, you give anyone an inch and they take almost five football fields in length.

Time to stop giving the wrong people chances and give my own self a chance, time to start giving me the benefit of the doubt, and forgiving myself a lil more.

If we all forgave ourselves and tried to do things better after we sorted ourselves out; I think this world would be a much more honest, loving and caring place. Because we would be honest with ourselves and compassionate to one another as a result of this honesty.

Being honest doesn't mean being harsh or unnecessarily cruel, but acknowledging everything, both good and bad and sorting things out for the better. At least, that's my definition of honesty. From being honest with ourselves,we gain more understanding and insight into our lives and thus, the lives of those around us. From understanding we derive compassion.

Compassion and understanding are two things we could never have enough of in this life.

Time to listen to less opinions and more gut feelings. Time to be honest and compassionate.

Time to live less and doubt more I think.

Grateful

In everything in life, I have to remember to be always grateful. It's easy to forget what I have and how lucky and blessed I am. I have to remind myself that whenever things look bad, it could always be worse. It could always be so much worse.

So many things I have no control over, and the hardest thing to do is to be humble and grateful even when situations are not pleasant.

So the trick is, when things are bad, be patient, pray and be humble. When things get better, be grateful and thank God. Because nothing is owed to me in this life, and everything is a gift that I am grateful for receiving.

Thank you God.

Right and wrong and knowing the difference

There's something I don't get. Why are so many people in this world, in this little country of ours, hell-bent on doing the wrong thing. Maybe 'hell' is the key word.

Whether it be giving someone a 'bad-drive', cussing someone, assaulting, breaking and entering, theft, kidnapping, and all the other heinous crimes that exist in society today; there's one thing I don't get.

The perpetrators of all these acts don't seem to know what they're doing is wrong. Or, even if they did know that it was terribly wrong, they don't care that it affects everyone negatively.

Regardless of the act, the blatant lawlessness and wickedness of these acts take a great deal of planning and preparation. So you mean to say, so many people plan to do criminal acts? Can't they stop for a minute and see what they're doing is wrong on so many levels. Shame on them, shame, shame on their parents for not doing a good job of raising their children - now criminals.

I just can't conceive how someone can plot to do evil, or how someone can think that living a lawless lifestyle is a good thing. All who think like this obviously don't have a conscious and certainly don't believe in a hell, or an afterlife and judgement day.

I don't mean to be sounding over-religious here, but surely we don't think that this life is all there is? Surely not.

It could be as simple as throwing litter out your car window, it could be stepping (out of turn) in front of a line at a fast food counter, harassing women as they pass-by, the creating and selling of pornography, whatever it is, it's ALL wrong.

All of it. We're creating an absolute lawless country. And we are to blame. Shame on us all.

I just have one question to all the criminals: Would it hurt you to plan to do good for someone, a stranger possible and maybe even your family and by extension, this country of yours? Something good that would result in more positive happenings and perhaps a change for the better in all our mindsets? I'm just in shock that people, rather than thinking of doing good, think to do wrong. Why? Is it that you get a kick out of it? Is it that you see nothing wrong with it?

If so, then God have mercy on your soul.

The earth is not dying, she is being murdered

I saw that on a T-shirt in Vancouver, July 2008 while on tour.

It said, the earth is not dying, she is being murdered and those who are doing it have names and addresses. It was powerful, sad and brilliant. It brought home the point.

Corporations through their wild greed are killing the planet, making it their own, taking from her and not giving back. Every natural resource is there to destroy. What are we leaving for the next generation.

Many miles away, Coal River Mountain is being blasted by Massey Energy, for what? for profit? No matter how they spin it, people's lives will change and the environment will suffer in long run.

Here in Trinidad we are fighting against the building of not one, but three aluminium smelters. Sanctioned by our government. This will wreck our country.

Iceland is fighting their own battle over the destruction of their land, again for smelter use.

The list of environmental violations goes on and on. And what really gets me is that these corporate personnel that make decisions with the aid of governments actually feel that the population is stupid enough to believe what they say.

They only win if we give up the fight for truth, justice and a healthy balanced environment.

I hope Coal River Mountain can survive the blasting that is taking place, I hope it stops very soon, I hope the people win the case. I hope our smelters don't get built. And I hope everywhere, ordinary citizens fight for their environmental right to live a clean, healthy life, one not destroyed and created by corporate and government shady dealings behind closed doors.

The earth belongs to us all, not a handful of greedy companies and dishonest government officials.

This earth is OURS!

Idle vs. Busy

It's weird how when we have too much time on our hands we get less done. Why is that? When we have just enough time we manage pretty ok and are able to get through most of what we plan to do.

When we try to fit too much into a day and get frustrated not accomplishing much then we waste the day in anger.

The trick is knowing how to plan and balance any day and any given time.

Balance is a real trick that requires discipline and practice. Funny sometimes when you try to focus on balance in a yoga class, it is then you fall over. Well, at least that happens to me.

Better to be busy that be idle, but still, it's always good to stop once in a while and see what's truly important. There'll always be chores and projects to do. But if we get them out of the way, then we can enjoy the rest of the time we have.

Time is a gift, one that never returns if wasted, it is better to be busy with positive actions than to be idle with wicked ones.

Nothing is better than Anti-pop

So a night at the Anti-pop entails:

(1) 5 old friends spinning the most unreal, underground, Indie, Brit-pop, alternative, you-name-it-they-got-it music

(2) A band or two (in this case the almighty JOINT POP)

(3) A crowded pub filled with friends who've known each other for decades, all dancing, singing and at times screaming at all the great music that's going down.

(4)Alcohol and Rock 'n roll

(5)Open-mindedness

The papers won't write about it, the radio stations in Trinidad will not even speak of it and believe you me, it's better this way. It's better to have something so real and innocent stay pure, rather than to have it be 'marketed' to everyone else who only listens to 'pop' or dance music.

If it wasn't for a night like Anti-pop put on by the Imaginary Boys and if it wasn't for bands like JOINT POP that fly the indie rock 'n roll flag high here on our lil isle, then Trinidad would really be lost to the flaky radio stations and the soca mafia intent on bludgeoning our ears with formulaic, mediocre crap. And believe you me, it is crap what's being sold as music these days.

Thank God for Anti-pop and a night to remember singing at the top of my lungs with old friends, singing along to good songs.

Thank God for good music.

Thank God for rain

The best things in life really are free, doesn't matter who we are or what we own, or what titles we have. The best things in life are those intangible moments that make living memorable.

Nothing can beat waking up to the sound of rain, (which began falling at 4AM) and having breakfast in the dark as a family, joking about how cold the day is. Cold on a tropical island is 22 degrees! Having lived through -42 winters, 22 degrees is a welcomed change.

Having breakfast while relaxing and talking about the trials of life and having a good laugh about some aspects of it is something not many people do.

If we don't appreciate the small intangible details of life and spend time with those who truly matter, how can we give of ourself to anyone else?

As much as I hope it's sunny this weekend, a good rainy day is a treasure, minus all the flooding of course. If I was a motorist in the middle of that flood, well then, I'd hate the rain.