Take the Blinders Off!

Good Morning loves, hope everyone is living their best selves. I had a different post I wanted to share today but recent news events changed my mind. I want to touch on a few things without ranting but instead sparking a pause in your life and some rational thoughts. Mothers and Fathers we owe that to our children.

Let me begin with the circus that is Donald Trump.
I can't say enough that I am not a political person, never have been. I just believe in fairness however we achieve it. What ever "party" is going to be fair is fine with me, I am still confused as to how we are the "United States" and have such huge division in politics to begin with. How instead of finding a balance its all or nothing at the expense of many. That is not "United" to me. I became more mindful of debates and such when my daughter became really interested in the Obama run.

She would have us sit and watch and discuss them afterwards. It made me take my blinders off at this countries racists views and proud of it attitude. It may not be in your face per say but it was and is there. It's always the same sentence, "I'm not racist I have such and such friends." Just because you say you have a "friend" doesn't mean you view them as your equal.

illustration by pinterest.com

Respectful of the Republican Party, how can you in your right conscious vote for a man who is clearly spreading hate and fear? Who promotes division and smiles at you as he does it? Who says he will make this a better country but you may not be part of making it better because though you may also be a republican he is talking about your family or your country of origin. How do you stand by that? Are pride and ego more valuable than actual human lives? Does the end justify the means?
nytimes.com
What do you think? Would you rather follow just because that is what you associate with or would you instead try something new?

My next light the match is the story of the Stamford sexual assault case.
Assaulting anyone for any reason is unfortunate in itself but sexual assault for me has an extra sting. Anyone can recover from a punch in the face or a real bad beating but a violation of your body so personal lives on forever. No matter how much time passes you always carry it with you. I can't image how that must feel but I can empathize. So to read and hear this young man's father try to brush under the rug "20 minutes of actions" as if it was or is nothing is sickening. Her life has value just like he thinks his sons does. A sentence as light as what he received is an additional slap in the face to the victim.
cnn.com

Which brings me to my perspective that certain people can get away with some things and others can't. White privilege.
Some people can say whatever they like and its taken as a joke or behave in a certain way and a blind eye is turned. This link I'm sharing shows us a different outcome to a "sexual assault" I want you to share what you think cbsnews.com

illustration by inspirationboost.com

Lastly, I want to acknowledge the transition of Muhammed Ali. I never watched him fight or sat and watched an old fight but I have watched some of his interviews and what sticks with me is his strength. Not as a fighter, but as a man. A man who never wavered in his beliefs. A man who never went with what was popular but instead with what was right, at any cost. From his refusal to enlist to getting rid of his Olympic Gold Medal, his strength shined from within. Equality, respect, love and kindness those are the words that come to mind when I think of him. How can I be "good enough" in your eyes for one thing but not in another? That is the question he always made you think about.

Take the Blinders off, question your beliefs. Were they handed down to you from your family? Did you come to these conclusions on your own? Is there room for change, is there room for new questions? Start a conversation.

Always stress free xo,

Mari

The Things the Pope and I have in common

Happy Sunday! I wanted to acknowledge that I am aware of the Pope's visit and how perhaps it may be extremely important to many. To me it just is but in being just that I have become aware of a few things that we do have in common and I wanted to share those with you.

I don't believe in what religion has become today, I think in its origin it wasn't meant to exclude it was meant to unite and to heal but as we see in the world we live in today that is not the case. Many hold on to religion as a way to actually hurt others and I don't believe that was the intent of the higher power. But I do believe in respect and that is how I try to live my daily life. In reading I have come across some of the Pope's quotes and they made me smile and say "hey, maybe I would stop and talk with you for a minute". I'm very spiritual and I'm glad to know he wouldn't have a problem with that.

Here is to having a blessed day and respecting everyone equally:

illustration by quotesgram.com

illustration by huffingtonpost.com

illustration by truthorfiction.com

illustration by quotesberry.com

illustration by twitter.com

illustration by quotesgram.com

So these are the sentiments we have in common hope they bought a smile to your face and touched your heart enough to go out and spread those seeds.

Always stress free xo.

Mari

What will it take for us to be Civil Human Beings?

On this beautiful Sunday Morning after hours and hours of rain falling in NYC I woke with several thoughts, the same thoughts I've been carrying for days. And on this morning especially I am sad to be aware that on this Father's Day there are families who will have awoken with a Father that was recently brutally killed for no apparent reason other than the wrong skin color. For you I wish peace, love and that your memories pull you through.

Loss of life happens daily this I am aware of after all tragedy doesn't take a break but recently the day to day stories, pictures and blatant disregard for life have begun to chip away at my belief in Humanity.

illustration by thedailyquotes.com

Charleston is still not a wake up call? What will it take? Killing innocent people in a place of worship? A place where everyone is welcomed? A place of God? Here is religion again front and center, everyone is a child of God yet these people still not so in someone else's eyes that he had to wipe them away.
So many excuses used to justify taking a human life
-protecting myself
-protecting my property
-protecting my beliefs
-protecting my kind
-protecting my country
-protecting my rights
-afraid for my safety
-looking suspicious
-keeping order
Where does it end?

I will not even touch the "right to carry a gun" red flags this latest story has for if I do I will just be writing for days but how about we keep in mind all the recent killings involving guns in the wrong hands officially and unofficially.

Why? Why do you hate us so? Why does our skin color evoke such hate and dislike in your heart? Why do you feel you are better than me or my children or my family or my friends? Why am I tolerated in certain aspects but excluded in others? Why do you lay in the sun to get a tan but I'm already the color your trying to achieve and I'm not good enough? Why? Do you even have an answer? And if you do is it even justified or humane?

I can't imagine there being a humane answer. A justified response other than perhaps just years and years of old beliefs still being carried on by people today. Old thoughts spilling into our society even after years of debunking some of these beliefs.

illustration by brainy quotes

I feel as if I am living in a world where we are literally killing each other off and no one is batting an eye. As long as it doesn't affect you, your money or anything else you consider yours you just don't care. I feel we are continuing to repeat history as if nothing was ever learned as if those past mistakes never happened.

I am not overtly religious but I think that humanity is making God sad. I think he is questioning what is happening to all his children and finds himself asking some tough questions
-I gave them so much freedom, why do they use it so poorly?
-I gave them life, why do they feel the right to take someone else's away?
-I made them in my image, where did the hate for some come from?
-I gave them the ability to acquire comforts in abundance, why the greed? Why the entitlement?
-Did I make a huge mistake, should I wipe the slate clean and start over again?

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that our actions, that our choices, that our selfish acts as human beings could cause our extinction? That as human beings we are such a disappointment we can bring about thoughts of being wiped away?

illustration by whispering love.org

I always go back and connect to being a mother. To the joy I felt at giving birth to the love of my life. To the pride I feel as I watch her grow and be kind, productive, loving and giving. To the smile she brings to my face and her love that fills my heart. As her mother I couldn't have asked for anything more. As a Human Being am I experiencing the same things? As Human Beings are we evoking these same emotions in the Higher Power?

On this Father's Day as you brunch, worship, stroll, hug, kiss and any other actions that you will be sharing with this special man in your life, remember that someone out there is not able to do the same thing you have the right to do today because of their skin color. Because someone woke up and decided they had the right to take another's life away.

What will it take for us to be Civil Human Beings? Share your thoughts.

Always stress free xo.

Who is Responsible? The Race Cards are on the Table

Happy Sunday to all, I will be enjoying another beautiful sunny day here in NYC but I wanted to leave you with something to think about today. If we continue to not learn from the past, what future will we really have?

Today I went for a walk after work. It was my first walk of the year, this winter was a mess totally kept me working out indoors.
I love my walks, they allow my thoughts to flow freely just like the breeze flows freely above, beyond and through the trees. During my walk I was overcome by a sadness and a realization that I had never honored before.

As I watched young and old, women and men and a vast mixture of races all walking among themselves I had a huge question come to mind. Now I want to be clear...these are my thoughts and I want to share them with respect.That my purpose in every word I write, every post I share is to start a conversation. To provoke questions, thoughts, understanding, some more questions and some more thoughts that all lead to talks. This was a bit difficult for me to address but here it goes.

I am a minority woman of Hispanic decent. Even using these words gets tricky if you look at Wikipedia. I am caramel skin in completion, I was born in the United States but my family comes from the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean Island next to Haiti. They came here by choice, to build a better life because their homeland was a poor country. Their dreams or at least for some of them was to build and return to their country. That choice afforded me the life I have today, the life I've lived and the freedoms I've experienced. But, as I read the papers, watch the news and talk with my daughter I see another reality.

illustration by viartis.com

I see a reality of a certain group of people who were taken from their homes, had no say in the matter, were ripped away from loved ones and bought to another country to do the work that lazy people didn't want to do. Again I will repeat myself...taken away from their country forced to do the lazy man's work. Not approached as humans with an offer of a better life, not with an option to say no and not with an option to say yes and be treated humanely.

Why is no one thinking about that in this day and age? Why is no one owning up to that most important fact to the fullest extent all these years later? Again I repeat...taken away from their country. Then! when perhaps a chance has presented itself to gain some dignity gain some respect some equality it is met with death, destruction, more humiliation and no humanity. Why? Why are so few disturbed by this and so many quick to shrug off and walk away?

Why is my skin color less than or worth less than another? Why am I a minority? Why am I not the right type for your standards? And why are your standards the norm? I ask why am I because in the world I apparently live in I am either White or Black. And though my history is not of those that were taken from their land I feel a connection to their poor treatment and blatant disrespect. Today I am a voice for that story.

How can nothing have changed in so many years? Why do some feel they are still better than others? Why can I see small children all play together with no concept of differences but somehow they have parents who feel the need to focus on that and then point it out? Why are the young so accepting and the old so bitter?

illustration by theunrecordedman.wordpress.com

To find the music, the clothes, the culture as a whole acceptable to mimic and follow but not the actual people is disturbing to say the least. To use a variety of tools to make yourselves look a "certain" way but again not accept those of us who actually look this way is madness.

Are we not the same, really? If your child needed a heart transplant or a kidney would you reject it and watch them die because it didn't come from a person with the "right" skin color or background? If three teens died in a car crash and burned, would they not all look the same until they were identified through their teeth?!!! If your spouse was in distress would you not want them to be helped by whoever was the closest? Would you really tell that person of a different color or background to leave your loved one to suffer?

This is the reality...that backwards thinking that some peoples ancestors had many moons ago and bought to our way of living is wrong and inhumane. It was wrong when they took people from their homes then and it is wrong now when people are being shot and killed right in front of our faces. Who is responsible? Who is going to step up? Who or what is going to stop this? No one is better than...we literally are all the same. If I am to throw religion into this and so many of us are always praising the "Lord" are we not made in his image? Did he make a mistake? Was he wrong when he choose to use different shades, forms etc...to make his people?

illustration by jezebel.com

I am a mother, a good mother in the sense I strive to teach my child respect and love and kindness to all. In the sense that I raised my child to do her best and work hard. I am a mother figure to anyone who needs it. The kid next door, the kids in the park, the kids in the shelter I volunteer at. I am a mother. No one should ever feel they have the right to tell me my daughter is less than. No one should look at my daughter and see less than. But some do, because of her skin color because of her hair because of her background. Am I furious? of course, wouldn't you if your child was thought of as less than?

So I challenge us today, every mom who reads this to look at their child or their loved ones for that matter and imagine them being looked upon or treated as less than. It starts with one change, one thought, one light! Shine brightly as a human made in the image of '"God"

What are your thoughts, experiences, shares?

Always stress free xo.