9-19-22
I just read a great post encouraging the importance of learning our history. There are many famous quotes out there, this one was from Howard Zinn. It brought me to a place of history in relation to the wellbeing of our youth’s future. Our ability to find the courage to accurately, honestly, and fearlessly look at our tragic human history is the key to our children’s tomorrows. Rewriting history to support one’s present beliefs, or to hide the mistakes of our race or culture, is not protecting the peace and productivity of our children’s future. But rather, it is denying them an opportunity to do better. Every race and culture have perpetrated wrongs onto others, and even onto themselves. Which means it is time to stop pointing fingers in blame, admit we have all created problems for ourselves and others, then to learn, and then do better. What is our other choice? Because more of the same is only going to get us more of the same.
I know I don’t want more of the same for the children’s tomorrows,
Vincent Dodd
I want to expand on the thank you I just posted to Facebook to all the people that message me to thank me for my post. So much positive feedback encourages me to push past my fears and continue to post. It takes courage, because I write to remind us, we are only human and accepting that faulted position brings us much peace and room for improvement. But, many do not like to accept their humanness. The internet is filled with harsh and negative replies to statements that courageously admit one’s limitations as a human, whether a mistake or an opinion we disagree with. Yet at the same time, I believe accepting our humanness is one of the golden keys to decreasing our escalating numbers of depression, anxiety, addiction, suicide attempts, and suicides since the turn into this century. Closely followed by remembering the current trend of believing we don’t need each other is unfortunately unraveling us as individuals, and a society. Our world, and days, are filled with both hard, exciting, painful, and goodness. The trouble is the hard sticks, and the goodness is often overshadowed by the hard. We get angry and frustrated with the hard, which includes the inconsiderate and the usual day to day bumps. Yet, that is the key to helping life calm. Day to day bumps occur, every day, and most of them we handle well. Yet for some reason we want them all to go away, but they won’t. Balance is a Universal law, bumps will occur, and so will goodness. My personal moment to moment goal, that has seemed to bring me greater peace and appreciation of the goodness: Is to stop hoping or expecting the hard not to occur, handling it with more grace at the moment, commit a little prevention towards tomorrow, and not taking all the goodness that occurs between the period hard for granted. So instead of spending my day thinking about the poor customer service I received, I spend the day thinking about the person that slowed in heavy traffic to let me move into their lane. All of this is the reason I started The Yandle, John D., Sheehan, and Daigle Foundation. The responses I receive have about the same ratio of hard to goodness as life. 95% tell me “Please keep going, this is so needed, more than ever now.” However, 5% tell me, “I don’t get it, what are you trying to do?” Or “You will fail, no one cares to support goodness anymore.” So, thank you all for continuing to encourage and thank me, you are the 95% goodness that I know is out there. I wish you peace in your thoughts, heart, and action. Life is teamwork, v
In reference to bad things happening, I hear the term, “It is what it is,” often said in forced acceptance. Yes, it is often a true statement, everything in the past “is what it is.” Yet to limit a bad situation’s potential to enrich or grow from that bad situation is a missed opportunity for less bad tomorrow. Difficult painful situations, just like joy, depression, happiness, anxiety, elation, anger, or ecstasy, are the inescapable balance of many days of our life.
However, “It is what it is,” can become less frequent and less intense if we follow it with, “But it can become more of what we think and act towards.” Let us not ever give up our free will and choice to steer a percentage of our life towards more ease and goodness.
Although we can never fully control a percentage of the naturally occurring difficult or even tragedy that will happen to each of us, or those we care about, yet we can have more control. You are worth spending a little of your energy to have an easier life.
New directions bring new. Trust yourself to explore both the ups and the downs of your days, it only helps us grow and walk on easier.
Vincent Dodd
Founder of the Yandle, John D., Sheehan, and Daigle Foundation
Also known as The Human Bonding Foundation
humanbonding.org
Thank you all for the magnificent positive response to my May 25th posting on my personal FB page. I will repost it below. I especially thank those of you who told me adding these small giving actions into their days and hours has helped them see the bigger picture of the cause and effect of our positive or negative actions towards others. But above all I’m knocked over moved by how many told me these minimal actions, that require so little effort, have helped them to feel more alive and hopeful. That is the level of actions and self honesty that can help change our tight, judgmental, angry, and tense world into a softer and more caring place for ourselves and our children. You do make a difference, and it is how we not only stay alive but feel more alive. The May 25th posting….
May peace joy and laughter also overflow your day,
It’s sad and tiring that there is still so much hate when
we are all so filled with weaknesses, mistakes, and
imperfections. We are all capable of sometimes being
part of the problem, but we are also all daily capable of
being a part of the solution. Empower yourself to
spread goodness, that is how we stop school
shootings. People who are loved, encouraged, and
supported for their unique and normal imperfect
humanness do not want to randomly hurt others.
Please, slow down to let someone in your lane, smile to
a stranger, ask someone how they are and then listen,
and hug your children more. We are capable of helping
people not only stay alive but to feel alive.
I wish you ALL, every race, culture, gender, sexuality,
and religion, some level of peace in your heads and
hearts while we recover, grieve, and heal, not only from
yesterday but also as we heal our tomorrows.
Vincent Dodd
Founder of The Human Bonding Foundation