Dear Mr. Media.....

Dear Mr. Media....

I am writing you today, to ask you to please stop advertising and promoting your thoughts about 2012.

Please stop sensationalizing the wars, the dying, the natural disasters.

Please stop creating the video games, movies and music that bring violence into our homes and into our children's minds.

Because today my son asked me if he would live long enough to enjoy his life as an adult. 

And my youngest son is near sighted (which in energetic/emotional terms means he is afraid of his future).

And do you blame him?

I mean, as an adult I can make the choice to believe or not to believe in what you are supporting.  Our children on the other hand have minds that are ripe with imagination, they go to bed at night worried about what their dreams might show them.  They go to bed worried about what the world will look like when they wake up in the morning.

As a parent I want my child to feel secure, yet have a REALISTIC outlook on life. 

I believe it is my duty (not yours) to educate my children about why people decide to fight for things like land and oil, the changes the world is facing and the hunger and health crisis we have not only in third world countries but in our own backyard.

I believe it is my duty to teach my children compassion and understanding.  How to make their own decisions about how they should help this world to become a better place for their children.

What I do need is for the evening news to go on strike.

What I do need is for the people of this world to see how many are actually working towards peace for this planet.  In their homes everyday offering healing as my friends, colleagues and I do.  In our schools and office buildings, in our parks and playgrounds.  Showing compassion and understanding to everyone who meets us.  Inspiring others to change their perspective on this world.

Just one day a week without the media infiltrating our homes and holding our families hostage.

Please, just one day....

Sincerely,

Jennifer Merritt
Concerned Citizen

"But you're...a....Panda!"

Raise your hand if you've seen the movie "Kung Fu Panda"...

I got to watch it again for the gazillionth time last night...  I never tire of hearing Jack Black's voice, let alone watch that Panda realize that he is the greatest Kung Fu Master alive simply because he wanted to be!

I have a lot of favourite moments in this movie.  So many that my 11 year old son turned and said to me "Mom, why don't you just say you love the WHOLE movie!"

Where would the fun be in that?!?!?

Kung Fu Panda has a great message for us.  That each of us IS the special ingredient in life!

That there isn't anything we cannot do if we simply own up to the fact that we are brilliant, capable and powerful beings!

We can get easily sucked into the "I need to be more educated, smarter, skinnier, prettier, more muscular, etc. etc." crap!

We can easily look around at everyone else and reason as to why THEY are more deserving than we are.

Sometimes we even get stuck in our fear of actually doing something that may get us recognized.

Many of us are afraid that we might even be a Kung Fu Master ourselves!  lol   You know what I mean!


Po (that's the panda) experiences this too, when faced with the realization that he will have to face his greatest fear.  He doesn't believe in himself, thinks that the force he will fight against will be stronger and more able than he is to win the battle.  Until the one instant that he realizes that there isn't anything outside of him that makes him special!  No secret ingredient, no additional education, no more years tackling his fears.  Everything he needs to be a Kung Fu Master is already inside of him.  It's in his uniqueness, his crazy ways and his ability to keep going!

All any of us really needs is one of those moments of fearlessness!

One moment of wondering what would happen if we really just took that next step.

And then the beautiful moment of standing up, being ourselves and doing what WE do best.

And kicking the ass off that fear!

KADOOSH!

The Ugly Side of Hockey....

In the four years that my son has been playing hockey, I have tried to remain cool, calm and collected.

Now that he's reached the Bantam division the stakes are higher.  The hits are harder.  The parents.....are crazier!

I have begun to see the inevitability of losing your mind the more you watch your child play hockey (or any other sport for that matter).

You want them to skate faster, check when they need to check and hit the net with every shot they take!

You become a crazed lunatic... 

It's happened to me in moments when I've let my guard down.  Last weekend I could have used a massage after the game we watched.  The tension was so high I had a knot the size of a grape in my neck from watching!

(massage therapists take note, set up a table in the lobby of the arenas, you'll make a killing!)

There are parents that give the "slow motion" verbal playback after every bad hit or missed goal.  The ones that go blind to every misstep their team takes and blame the whole of the game on the referee's "bad calls".  Then there are the parents that have stood on the edge of hockey insanity for far too long and in one moment of weakness they fall off and find themselves being escorted out of the arena by the OPP.

Standing in the lobby waiting for your child to emerge sweaty and stinky from the dressing room, you can see the dazed looks on the faces of parents, like they've just ingested a drug that has rendered them brainless.  You see them congratulating the player that was evicted from the game for continuously checking from behind.

These would be the same parents that would string the ref up by his "jewels" if it was their kid that took that hit from behind.

They have to be high on insanity to be doing that?  Don't they?

Last night I had a mother mock me for congratulating our team members on a game well played.  She continued to shout out to all who would listen to her how stacked our team was and what a waste of time it is to come out and even play against us.

Okay then.....

Yep.  Strange things happen to the minds of parents in those arenas.

Maybe it's something in the air?