What Inspires Me Today - The Book Of Mormon The Musical

Ma'hanibu eebowai!

These are some of the last lyrics in the musical The Book Of Mormon.

After starting out singing "F-you God" and all kinds of terrible things about God and faith... the Ugandans and the Mormons together sing the phrase "Thank You God" at the end of the show.

In a string of bizarre and hilarious circumstances, Elder Cunningham and later the rest of the Mormon missionaries share a not-quite-right interpretation of the Mormon faith with the villagers - who have been living for years under the oppression of warlords and evil, death, disease, and more. Having lost the respect of the Mormon church for not spreading the correct word of God, the Mormons, depressed and ready to return defeated, realize that it wasn't the tenants of their faith that "saved" the village... it was the hope the stories (made up of course) gave the villagers... who bonded together for the first time around a shared experience and in that, gave them the strength to rise up and surmount some of their worst problems.

Sort of like theatre / art / music / experiences

In difficult times we have to come together to share the tenants of our experiences. We have to find hope in our stories, find hope in our faith, and for those not of any faith, find hope in each other. Love, hope, faith all come together to allow us to surmount even the darkest of times. Sometimes this means overcoming physically and politically, and sometimes it's just overcoming the dark clouds our situations have rendered.

In all cases...

We need each other

We need our stories

We need to hear

We need to see

We need to love

We need that bond that the gives us hope for the road ahead

And the strength to carry on.

First Things: The magic of people

Last night I attended a memorial gathering for an old friend of mine from my early days in Detroit.

There are people you meet who, for good reasons, linger with you for the rest of your life. There is a magic about them that resonates with the universe and adjusts our molecules and energies in just the right way to change us for the better, if even we only spend a very short time with them. Chase Chapman was one of those people. My friend Andy Swan was another. Both of them were bright stars, snuffed out too soon.

We laugh, we smile, we talk for a while and then we're off to our own worlds. Before we know it the manufactured stuff of living overtakes us and that bill that you can't pay pushes away a caring word, the overdue report squashes a friendly hello, and the actions of an evil world pauses a confident gait.

We are more than those things. People like Chase and Andy, and countless others buoy us to be better... to not let those manufactured things pull us away from the magic of people, of living, of each other.

First Things: Betterment or Detriment

Last night, as Ian and I were driving home from visiting a friend downriver, we were talking about the HBO Documentary Tickle.  If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it. It's seriously messed up and completely fascinating.

Without spoiling too much of the movie, it ends up centering around someone who has a tremendous amount of wealth and time and uses that very poorly.

And it struck me, almost to the point of tears, that to do such a thing with the valuable resources and time you are given seems to be to be more "sinful" than the poor person who turns to drugs or crime.

I'm sure that in some ways the socio-psychological conditions by which both the wealthy person and the poor person choose to waste their resources are similar... but for the person who has much to offer the world - to squander that wealth is far more reprehensible that the person without.

It sits with me then, that we have an obligation to be wise with what we have been given. To use the little or vast resources that we have at our disposal for betterment and not detriment. Do we use our words to build up or to tear down? Do we use our time to improve or to complain? Do we spend our energy celebrating another person or belittling them?

When I look at the legacies those who have gone before us left, the legacies of those who used their time, money, and efforts to tear down are rarely celebrated - perhaps in circles for a season, but then they are gone, tucked away as a part of history we learn to not repeat. But those who enrich the world, who stand as a force for positive change, their legacies last both in physical memorials of statues, statutes, laws and books - but in the hearts of lives changed for good.

We have a choice every day as to how we will spend our valuable resources.
For betterment or for detriment.

First Things: Heart in action

Amazing things happen when we love and respect each other.

On Friday, as we inaugurated Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States and he and this congress promptly started dismantling healthcare for millions of Americans, the mood was as optimistic as the fog that filled the air Friday night. Thick, foreboding and heavy with fear.

The next morning the Sun rose, burned off the night's fog and my social media feeds began to light up with photos of people marching in support of women and people around the world. For more than a year, our now President spoke out against many different types of people. He took stands against people of different faiths, different skin colors, orientations and against women. In his name, many took to the streets to bully and assault minorities and people not like themselves. In his name, racism and hatred have found empowerment to move out of the shadows and into the light. In his name, bullying, hatred and fear have become a way of getting things done and making change.

Saturday, millions of people, mostly women, stood up against it. They joined together with different messages but a unified theme to say that we will not be bullied, we will not be threatened, we will not be silences, will stand up for each other, and we will LOVE.

And that was inspiring.

Love in action is inspiring.
Hope in action is inspiring.
A heart in action is inspiring.

First Things: Be The Good

This weekend ended on a sad note for many in my circle of friends as a dear family lost their mother.

It reminds me that in the midst of this bizarre and often difficult world, what matters most is the mark we leave on someone's heart.

On my Facebook Page this weekend an old high school acquaintance left a scathing, judgmental, hate-filled comment on a post that was followed by an equally hateful comment from a current friend which lead me to take down the post and step away.

No matter what the circumstances are in your life, to an issue, in a conversation or in a battle, you can be the good that someone needs.


Be the good for a world in need.
Be the light that shines in the dark.
Be the hope that seeks to be found.

First Things: Movement of the heart

A friend of mine very recently lost his mother after a relatively sudden and quick bout with cancer.

He was telling us about preparing meals for his family and his mom as she was in her last days and how much joy it gave him to be able to do something for her that she had done for him.

I could relate.

During the week after my mom came home from the hospital and we were in hospice care I got to make several meals for her and for my dad and sister. Our aunt and uncle brought food as well and after she passed, other neighbors brought food and various other rather boring but necessary items to help us get by.

Being able to do such a simple thing to take care of my mom in her last days gave me a wonderful sense of joy and peace. And I know that she appreciated it, and even more that she felt how much we all loved her in those last days.

And I think that's the point.  We do not have to go to extreme lengths to show and receive love. A very simple act can allow us to move someone's heart. And welcoming even the most simple thing can allow our heart to be moved.