How To Be Kind While Listening To Music

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“But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet, tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.” … William Butler Yeats

***

Music soothes my soul. Many times it’s a long journey, but it always leads me to a place of peace.

When life gets difficult, and questions become deafening, I turn up the music pulsing through my headphones, close my eyes, and pursue a world where the cries that only I can hear, drift away, and disappear.

I almost smile.

***

Felipa, a 55 year old woman from Peru surely has never owned a pair of headphones. She lives with her husband in Pisaq, has five wonderful children, and works hard to help provide for the family. She sells pastries from a kiosk in the Tambohauso community school.

Felipa couldn’t do this without a loan.felipa

María Antonia starts work at six in the morning. She and her husband raise hogs and poultry, and most days María spends ten hours tending to their small farm in El Salvador, which requires constant attention throughout the day. She also goes to the village market to sell produce from the farm.

María hopes to develop a more profitable business, which would help provide more opportunity for her family. For that to happen, María needs a loan.

Jose Nicolas runs a general store in Colombia. Having suffered through hardship in life, his dedication and desire to pursue a better life, have helped him to overcome the difficulties and provide for his family. Thanks to the sales from his store, Jose Nicolas is able to generate income, and support his wife and three children.

Jose Nicolas needs more inventory. Jose Nicolas needs a loan.

***

These are just a few of the never ending number of similar stories from around the world. Thankfully, there is a way to reach out and make a difference. It’s called Kiva.org.

Kiva has enabled me to make nine loans so far, with a total outlay of $100.00, and I have no intention of stopping there. Each loan has a value of $25.00, and when the loan is paid back, the money can be reloaned to another person in need of assistance. Or, you can keep the money you’ve been reimbursed, and move on. The choice is yours.

I have no affiliation with Kiva. I am what Kiva calls a ‘lender’.  I can open my laptop, connect to the internet, and make a loan that will help to make real the dreams of another. I can do this while the music plays.

I smile.

This is my chance to pass forward an example of kind and caring people making a difference, and I sincerely hope you will find Kiva.org to be an opportunity for you to make a difference as well.

Dreams will come true because of your kindness.

Kindness works. Be a part of it. The world thanks you.

***

There Are Journeys Within Us All

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“Man cannot discover new oceans unless
he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” … Andre Gide

***

I dreamed last night that I was walking in the cool, early evening of a parched Arizona desert.

The yellow white light of a setting sun invited me to wander from the safety of shadows. Seduced by billowing clouds, and rays of calming light that were like pathways to heaven, I left my footprints in the shifting sand. They would soon disappear, as would I.

desertsunset

The setting sun was not so suffocating as the scorching midday ball of fire. I felt as though I could walk for hours. Early in the day had I not chosen to deny death, I would not have kept pace with my companions.

A southerly breeze carried the promise of rain, and as I paused for one final look back, I saw that my footprints had already vanished from the path. No one could follow. I found comfort in knowing that Maria and Miguel would think it too dangerous to try and find me. They would continue north.

There were so many paths, I struggled to decide which one to take. As I grew weaker in the waning light, all the paths seemed to diffuse into a beautifully blurry sense of arrival. I could go no further.

No more footprints in the sand, no more dreams of a better life. For me the journey was over.

As I fell to my knees the softness of the earth embraced me. There was no more pain as I laid my head down, and felt tiny grains of sand roll across my face.

Tears flowed from my closing eyes as I said my last goodbyes.

***

I can only imagine the hardship and terror that migrant workers endure as they leave their homelands in search of a better life. Courageous souls risk their lives every day, daring to jump aboard the ominous mata gente, freight trains that run north across Mexico.

migrantsMata gente translates from Spanish as people killer. Have you ever attempted to board a train while it’s moving at 10 miles per hour? With your life’s belongings on your back, running as swiftly as you can, as careful as you dare, perhaps holding a child tightly under one arm? Again, I can only imagine.

I’ve had the pleasure of riding Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, and Empire Builder, among others. Their names are as inspiring as the routes they follow, conjuring images of twilight dancing upon curling waves, and diesel engines charging across snow laden mountain passes. Perhaps we could call these trains people pleasers. In the USA, land of opportunity and abundance, Amtrak has always allowed ample time to safely step aboard before the train leaves the station.

For the less fortunate, the gauntlet begins at the Guatemala-Mexico border. Perhaps encouraged by a false sense of success, a relatively easy, and cheap river crossing provides hope for what will become an arduous and unforgiving journey. No one pays much attention to the migrating herd unless they see some means of gain from the migrant’s prerequisite wealth.

Braving robbery, beating, kidnapping, and rape the journeys are fraught with danger. Even if the migrants evade the evil that their exodus creates, they must still avoid loss of limbs, and lives, while attempting to climb aboard the moving trains that run north.

For those that beat the odds, and manage to survive, another battle awaits as they must attempt to cross the formidable deserts of the Southwestern US.

Every year hundreds die.

***

I wake up and wonder, where is the kindness in my dream?

I place myself in the shoes of a migrant, I empathize with their struggles, I desire to change the outcome of their journeys; but as I recall my fugitive slumber, what have I done to improve their lives?

Many would say, “Who are you to influence the outcome of another’s life?”. And rightly so. My responsibility is myself, but I can be a kind person, do good things with my life, fulfill my purpose by giving to others, and perhaps someone’s life may be blessed with a little less pain.

Kindness is the greatest force in the world.

Where does one find kindness?

I believe the answer to be, everywhere!

There is kindness in a friendly smile, in a loving embrace. Serving food to the homeless, delivering clothes to a shelter. Listening when someone needs to be heard, speaking up when something needs to be said. Offering to stand so that another may sit, caring for others when others are sick. Volunteering in third world countries, volunteering in your home town.

Opportunities to do good works are endless. It’s up to each of us to help create a better world by sharing with the world our kindness.

The kindness in my dream is in the actions of my life. It is in my power to make a difference, to touch the lives of others.

Life doesn’t wait for me to begin. Time will continue to move forward, with or without me, yet life can be better, and lives can be made easier, if I step aboard this part of my journey, and make a difference.

There are journeys within us all. It can be no other way.

The world is my canvas. It is yours as well.

***