It amazes me how much we know about our favorite actor, singer or sports hero, but how little we know about people we see everyday. Do you know the name of your mail carrier or the person behind the register at your favorite store, or the grocery store? How about your neighbors, do you know their names or birth dates? Do you know when your cousins were born, would you recognize them on the street, could you talk to them? Your children .... do you know their best friend, their friends' parents? How about what they did yesterday afternoon? Did you tell them you loved them today, when was the last time you told them you were proud of them? Your spouse or significant other ..... do you know their favorite color? Their hopes and dreams, their deepest darkest fantasies? When was the last time you told them how much you appreciated them?

The world is becoming very scary. Get to know your family, your neighbors, those people you see regularly. When we are all hungry, it will be much better to be working together with people we know, then fighting and robbing the strangers that live near us. Big things are going to happen, not a half a world away, but in your back yard. The time to change the world is today. Pray for each other, mean it. Do something nice, because you can ... pay it forward. Smile, love the world around you. Change your thinking and you change the world.

We have to stop being victims and stop blaming others for our actions or lack of action. Go back to pride, honor, modesty and respect. It's not too late to change the world. someone once said "Life is what happens when we are busy planning for the future." Life is now, live it well.

I am responsible for my own life. I will not give credit to nor will I blame another for how I choose to live it. No matter what a parent, sibling, child, spouse, lover, friend, ex friend or stranger ever did, did not do, or tried to do, I know I have worth and I am in charge of my own actions and feelings. I appreciate all the help i was ever given or will ever receive. I forgive all that I feel have done me wrong.
I understand that everyone has worth and value. I know that each of us is trying to do the best we can with the knowledge that we hold today. I know tomorrow we will all be a little better.

I apologize to all I have hurt, even unintentionally. With that sincere apology, I will let go of guilt for those actions, for I can not undo them, but I can make sure I don't do them again. I thank all those who allowed me to help them, again, even unintentionally. For that is a gift from you, allowing me into your life so that I may give of myself. The best I have to offer is who I am today. When we can connect with another, we each become better tomorrow.

I have decided to live in a way to better my self, my environment, including those around me, and my planet. I remind myself often to be kind to everyone - including myself! I am responsible for my own life. I am in charge of how I feel. I have control of how I react to any situation, even if I have no control of the situation itself. I repeat these words to myself often, so they become a part of who I am. What a wonderful world it will be when everybody can recite such words - and mean them!