I was looking for a picture through my iPhone and ran into this picture of my wife and I that we took in beautiful San Diego last weekend. This picture just reminded me of how beautiful life is. I see the beach behind us, my beautiful wife with her angelic smile and this picture, at least for me, is filled with so much peace and love. That's how I felt when we took this picture.
Then we have the "news". There's so much crime and hatred going on in our world. And it's not just something recent, it's been happening for as long as I can remember. The first sign of world violence for me that I can remember was when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I don't remember the exact dates, but I remember the moment as if it just happened. I remember sitting on the couch with my grandma. I was helping her fold the clean laundry and she was watching the news on Univision, channel 34. That was back in 1979 or 1980. The news talked about a possible draft to the armed forces to send americans to go to war. I remember my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach, it hurt so bad, and I leaned over and lied my head on my grandma's leg. I still remember that feeling of fear, disgust and feeling helpless. Now that I'm 42 years old, over 35 years later, the crime and wars are still going on and maybe because I'm more aware, it's more and more noticeable. Our politicians are getting worse and worse, mass killings and shootings, videos of violent acts, and the list just goes on. I pray to God everyday to guide me and help me make this world a better place. But again, I feel like there's no solution for peace. The people we're supposed to trust, usually follow a law that has been changed and interpreted to benefit certain people. The laws in the United States seem to protect criminals. White collar crimes, robbery and theft, vandalism, domestic violence, welfare (from people who don't deserve to be on welfare), and so on and so on... so many people get away with what I believe to be crimes. A friend of mine saw his neighbor's house was being broken into and called the police immediately. Fortunately the police arrived before the thieves could get away. The thieves were caught as they were leaving the house, with the stolen evidence in the car, yet the police asked my friend if he would agree to identify the suspect. My friend asked why? The police said that because if they didn't have a witness identifying and saying that they saw the suspects breaking in and leaving the house they broke into, it would make a harder case to prove that it was them who broke into the house. When my friend told me this I was like... WTF! It was so obvious that it was them, how would it make it a harder case to prove it was them? Our laws make it so easy for criminals to get away with crimes. So why am I ranting on about this? Maybe I'm looking for a solution. Maybe I worry about my family. I believe in God and Jesus Christ and it's hard for me to believe that God would want us to kill each other and make each other suffer. I understand that we have to work hard to earn the things we want in life... that for me is not suffering, that's living for a purpose. People say, "we have to vote!" Vote for what? Vote for people and laws that only benefit certain people and beliefs? What about the Golden Rule? Treating people as we'd like to be treated. What does voting have to do with the way we treat each other? The older I get, the more I'm learning to focus on what's important to me in my life. That's my family and helping others as much as I can. Maybe trying to help a bunch of young talented men reach their dreams of playing soccer at a professional level isn't much, but it's the way I know how to make a difference in my life and in the lives of these boys. A while back I got tired of chasing the money. Instead I just started living the lifestyle that made me happy and I noticed the things I wanted just started coming into my life. Every morning I get up excited ready to go! But sometimes, like today, after seeing this picture, and with the mass shooting in Orlando that just happened... I stop and wonder if I'm doing enough. Is this something that I should be thinking about? Is there a solution to all this violence? Again, voting surely isn't a solution. It hasn't changed anything since I was 5 years old. No matter who we vote for, the same crap happens. More wars, violence, greed, hatred, fear, anger. So it's hard to know who to vote for because it seems like they're just puppets up there being told what to do, what to say and it seems like they're running for their benefit and not truly to make our country and our world a better place. That's my opinion, but who am I to judge, right? I believe there's more "good" people in the world than "bad" people. Like Jim Rohn said, the "bad" people just tend to move a lot. If there's more "good" people, why does it seem like we're losing the war? I see more and more posts on social media about God and Jesus Christ, but yet it seems like we're losing this war against evil. When I mentor and coach people in any area of life, what I see and hear a lot is that people worry and focus more on what other people do and say rather than focus on themselves. I learned to focus on my actions, to do the best that I can as best as I can and leave the rest in the hands of God. I learned that I can't control what other people say, do or think, but I can control my own words and actions. This is where I believe it all starts. What and who we focus on. I focus on my words and my actions as much as I can and maybe my words and actions will be an example to the people around me. I focus on Jesus Christ, and remember that he's always there, that I always need him and that everything that happens in my life is for a bigger purpose. When I start focusing on other's actions, I notice that it brings anger, frustration, jealousy and unwanted feelings... so I go back and remember Jesus Christ and focus on my own actions. All this came from this picture that reminded me of how I have so much love in my life even though there's so much violence in this world. A while back I started focusing on my life and stopped chasing other things like money and it's made a huge difference for me. I don't know how else to influence the world and make a change. I just know that I can make a difference in myself and hopefully my words and my actions will transfer in a positive way to my friends, family and anybody around me. I'm just a person trying to live with a purpose. A person lucky enough to be surrounded by people who love me and people that I love. A person who believes that Jesus Christ is looking over me at all times. A person trying to make a difference. God bless, Jose Nilo |