Friday, December 30, 2011

A New Leaf

Life is short.  At the end of it, we will look back and regret every single moment we spent wasted in dealing with our own mediocrity, rather than pushing toward our own brilliance.

To blame others is easy - to say it is THEIR mediocrity that holds us back, THEIR inability to see what is so apparent, THEIR fears and limitations - but isn't it really our own responsibility for granting them that kind of power over us?  Isn't it up to us, to push toward the future we want?  To surround ourselves with the kinds of people who will build the world we want to inhabit?

Through my work on Joe the Bloodhound, I recently met a remarkable woman named Rachel Jackson, who runs a group called Patriot Outreach/PPP Recovery Program.  Her program serves all Service related warriors, law enforcement, DOD Military Contractors and their families, and she's just begun working with Joe.  She wants to help train returning military personnel in the art of working with dogs and other animals to locate the missing.

Think about that for a second.  She's helping the returning soldiers, many of whom have PTSD or other challenges in adjusting to civilian life.  She's helping family members with missing loved ones.  And what's more, she's helping animals -- she's using dogs and other animals like horses in the searches, many of whom would basically be wasted otherwise, some of the horses, I kid you not, winding up in a glue factory.

So, while you're bemoaning your fate, ask yourself:

Is that a better way to spend your time than kicking the sidewalk because of the challenges inherent in 21st Century Life?

Rachel's recently started an online petition to help JOE THE BLOODHOUND go to series -

2400 people go missing in this country EVERY DAY - and as Rachel says, if the show becomes a series, Joe can help find some of them, ease their families pain, and shed valuable light on this hidden epidemic.

So please take a moment to sign her petition: http://chn.ge/tPu33T.

Or, by all means, keep kicking the sidewalk.

I for one just came back from the shoe repair store, where the man was nice enough to charge me only $8 for repairing a boot whose front was helplessly scuffed up.  My hope for 2012 is to keep the shoe repair to a minimum.

Happy New Year to all.