Resolutions.

Normally I like to keep my blogs as short and as to the point as possible but today I'd like to get a little more personal and I'd love it if you read to the end of this post and commented.

I woke up this morning after a night of tossing and turning feeling guilty. Feeling guilty because I woke up in my warm house, my fridge with food and my espresso machine ready to grind out the finest Cuban coffee known to man. I felt guilty because I have all this, because I have two cars and three bedrooms, because I have hot water, because I have power, because if I'm hungry I just go to the store and buy whatever I want.

While I complain to my friends about the quality of programming on cable people half way across the world are being blown up, human beings are starving, people are having their opinions stifled, women are being raped, children are being turned into soldiers. My main concern today was: damn it's cold and I don't feel like walking the dogs. Compared to dodging bombs on the Gaza strip or scrounging in landfills for food it is a very insignificant concern to have.

Then after having a few coffees my feeling of guilt turns into anger.I can't feel guilty for the things I have or where I was born. The only thing I can feel guilty about is being a spectator, sitting by and doing nothing. Long ago I decided that I wasn't going to be a bystander, that I was going to do something and I have. I have gone places, sent money, been a volunteer and started this blog. I have nothing to feel guilty about.

But the anger... that is a feeling I never want to lose. The sheer outrage at the injustices of the world is my fuel and it should drive us all to act in some way. No matter if your cause is Darfur, Palestine, Cuba, Tibet, world hunger, homelessness or battered women; run with it. Do something, anything. From your anger will stem compassion and a renewed sense of purpose. Trust me, it works. Let yourselves be inspired by others, by the world, by people who are doing something concrete. Draw on their strength and make it your own.

Well... for me, this is the year. I'm not sure what 2009 will bring economically or politically to Canada or to the world. I'm even sure which direction this blog will take in 2009, the only thing I am sure of is the direction I am taking in 2009. I am bringing the fight to those who need to be fought, I am finally going to step up and do my part.

We, all of us bloggers and people of the internet, are not bound by borders or religion, color or creed, left or right, we have no borders, no government, no age or sex. We truly are a society of equals, in every sense of the word. Chuck D once said "It takes a nation of billions to hold us back"... show the world what we are made of, show thew world that we are united by our differences, show the world that we speak for the voiceless and that we are watching.

Muchacho Enfermo