A Life Full of Gratitude

If someone surveyed the American people, asking the question, "When was slavery abolished?"... The most popular answer might be a simple "I'm not sure" or "Sometime during the Civil War." More informed responses would probably reference the Emancipation Proclamation.

But what many people don't know is that slavery still exists.

Worldwide, an estimated 27 million human beings are currently enslaved--this includes victims of human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. The only continent known to be slave-free is Antarctica. That means that slavery literally spans the entire globe.

The price and value of personal freedom is something I think a majority of people have forgotten, including myself. Recently, for reasons that I can't and won't yet post online, I was reminded of how precious freedom really is. I experienced an event that literally changed my life and made me infinitely more grateful for the freedom I previously took for granted.

Gratitude is something that's hard to come by or be fully expressed when you can't imagine anything else but privilege. No matter how hard Paris Hilton may try to empathize with poor people, she'll never REALLY know what it's like to be poor, because she's never experienced it. Nothing against Paris Hilton... she was just the first example that came to mind. What I'm saying is that the sweetness of simplicity becomes even sweeter when it's taken away. We want what we don't have, and, to quote a line from a country song I still remember from when I was a kid, "It's only human to never be satisfied."

I encourage anyone reading this to stop and smell the roses as often as you can remember. Triteness aside, beauty surrounds even the dullest of situations. Everything we've been given is a blessing, and no matter what, someone undoubtedly paid the price for it somewhere along the line. Someone undoubtedly paid the price for you to enjoy everything you currently enjoy in your life.

Continual consciousness of a spirit of thankfulness and awareness of the laws of interdependence that govern our lives is what ties us, as brothers and sisters, together.

In A Roundabout Way

In the event that the world should stop spinning simply because I feel out of whack, please alert my cell phone, tag me in a facebook post, and tweet @ me. Maybe then I'll realize that the center of the universe is somewhere far far away from my ego.

This past week has put a few things into perspective. For starters, I got to see Kristin Chenoweth in person for the first time in my life. She gave a masterclass at the music school to an audience of adoring college students, music theater gays, and distinguished rich white people. The best piece of advice that came out of that 4'11" blonde soprano's mouth didn't actually come out of her mouth, in my opinion. It radiated off her dazzling personality, outstanding confidence, and unmatched sense of humor. After she left the stage, I think every person in Petree auditorium felt moved to be the best person they could ever be, or at least, the best performer, musician, and/or artist. Period.

On a more real note, I owe the university $5,000, which I didn't realize until it was time to enroll for classes earlier this week, which I couldn't, due to the hold on my account. Working on figuring out how to pay that balance off and stay in school has reminded me of how important it is that I be here. And by here, I mean... at OCU, in Oklahoma City, being a college student, studying what I study, being around the people I'm around. It sounds redundant, but in all honesty, I know that I'm supposed to be where I'm supposed to be. In other words, to quote Vicky Leloie Kelly, "Do what you're doing while you're doing it."

I'm a firm believer in things working out for the best.