I Have a Dream!

Today is Martin Luther King Day. His most famous speech was given when I was just 8 months and 2 days after I was born. What I realize today is that I have a dream. I have a dream that we will view each other as the graceful and loving beings we are.

I have a dream that right now we will be judged by the character of our souls. I dream that today we actually step up and step into the TRUTH of who we are.

I have a dream that we give unconditionally. That we love without limit. That we celebrate all that we are.

We are standing on the dawn of a new day. A day when we have a choice. We can choose to be who we have always been or we can choose to be more, live more, love more.

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King’s message was on the surface about civil rights, sure. But it was a call to action… not just for the “black folk”… A call to everyone to look into themselves. To celebrate our differences, our diversity, but also to honor and cherish what we share.

Tomorrow, ironically the day after Martin Luther King Day, we as One Nation Under GOD, will inaugurate our first non-white President. One who dares to “have a dream” and one who gives hope to Americans and all citizens of the world.

In a New York Times and CBS poll 79% of Americans feel optimistic about the next four years under Obama, the highest level of goodwill attained by any of the past five incoming presidents… They have hope.

Martin Luther King had hope and “a dream”, he was just dreaming in a time when most others were unable to believe and share this dream.

I have a Dream that the time is here when it is OK to dream big dreams and not be labled a “dreamer”. When a critical mass share a dream, a wonderful dream. To paraphrase Dorothy Gale… to live in a world where “dreams really do come true”.

Today we can take a moment and honor all who have moved beyond what’s comfortable, those who dared to dream before us, those visionaries who saw what their peers couldn’t see, who believed what no one else did and who today give us hope that finally we will see the essence of these dreams come to pass.

I have included Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech below. If you have seen it, watch it again. If you haven’t please take the time really listen to the “dream”.

Here is the transcript of most of the speech.

“…So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up… live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will they be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring,

And when this happens,and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

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Magnificence Manifest

As we cruise through our lives, busy as bees, maybe we sometimes forget to notice the beauty that surrounds us every moment of our lives. The beauty can exist as the people we meet, the people we love but for my purpose here, the beauty of the natural world.

The beauty of the natural world takes my breath away. The first time I ever saw Yosemite Valley, the tears poured down my cheeks, I was overcome by the overwhelming beauty. For me, this confirmed the existence of GOD.

Yosemite Valley

I find myself venturing out into the natural world when I need to quiet my mind, connect to spirit and simply for renewal.

So interestingly enough, I found myself in the Muir Woods on a misty morning filming an interview with Actor/Activist Peter Coyote.

Actor/Activist Peter Coyote

The interview was about what it means to “Live your best life”. Peter spoke about his love of the Muir Woods. In the 60′s when he “dropped out” and became part of the Hippy Culture in San Francisco, Peter lived in the woods. I mean, really LIVED in the woods. He said a couple of things that really stuck with me. He spoke about the natural world being “magnificence manifest”. That was a WOW moment for me. Because what is the wonder that is our world, ourselves, our love if not a manifestation of magnificence?

Misty Morning in the Muir Woods

Do we take timeout everyday to stand in amazement at our lives? Or do we just exist. Life is what we are here to experience. Take a breath, slow down and gaze in child-like wonder at all that is around us. It will make your life fuller and richer… richer beyond your wildest dreams. Take time to pay attention to what Peter refers to as “Ceremonial Exchange”.

As Peter stood wiith our small crew in the misty woods, he looked at the redwood next to him and said, “This redwood gives off oxygen so we can breathe.” Sure we all know this… we couldn’t live without plants giving off the oxygen that we breathe, but do we think of it as a “ceremonial exchange“. Or the food we eat, nourishing our bodies… Do we view this as a ceremonial exchange? How about the love we give and receive?

These can all be viewed as something magnificently manifested in a spiritual sense… A ceremonial exchange.

Imagine a world where we take notice or these “small” treasures, instead of taking them for granted.

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Hope Springs Eternal

Sometimes you (me) get really lucky. We have magical experiences that, if we pay attention to, will transform us in ways we would never guess.

What started out as another production job turned into something much bigger, more personal than I ever imagined.

Let’s start at the beginning… I get a call for a job with Director Jesse Dylan (yup, Bob’s son, Jakob’s brother). The job is an industrial, kind of in house video for Oprah Winfrey’s O.W.N (her new network). It will be a series of interviews with real people and some “celebrities” in and around the San Francisco area.

Now we all know what Oprah’s about. She is full of Love, compassion, integrity… all she really wants is to do her part to make the world a little better. Cool agenda, if you ask me.

Interviews… cool, I’ve done tons of those (especially with Director Errol Morris). No logistical nightmares that I must figure out, just interviews… Kind of an AD’s dream. Well we did have 4 location moves on day one… with new interviewees reporting to each location.

The logistics, or the equipment ( 1 kinoflow when we had power and the RED Camera) aren’t the interesting part of the story really. It’s what these people kept saying… The common theme.

“It feels like there has been a shift of consciousness…” That’s what I kept hearing. People are hopeful. The economy sucks, people are losing their jobs and homes, yet they are hopeful.

Maybe it’s that we now have an opportunity to move past the fears induced by the last 8 years. Fear of Terrorism. Fear of people who are middle eastern. FEAR, FEAR, FEAR…

Maybe there is truly a shift of consciousness going on. Maybe we as a family, community, country, world want something more. More love, less hate. Less fear, less anger, less greed… More goodness… Why is it that in school the good kids get ridiculed… “Teacher’s Pet”, “Goody 2 shoes”? It should be cool to be good, to do right. Wouldn’t that make our corner of the world just a tad better?

What if we lived everyday with just a bit more grace…

a bit more respect….

a lot more love…

Human connection, making a conscious choice to connect, loving more, being more present. These are all choices. We have choices nearly every moment of our day, I for one, am choosing to to make more conscious choices. Because I choose to be part of this “shift”… See you there.

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A Cherished One Moves On

On Wednesday Morning, October 1st, 2008, my Nephew, friend, confidant and watcher of my back moved on from this life. June 15, 1978 – October 1, 2008

Dustin Huard was (is) an amazing young man. From the time he was born, until the day before he moved on to another cosmic dimension, Dustin presented me daily with the gift of his presence and his love. When he was 4 I spent the summer living with his mom, my sister Liz, while I worked my first summer job, after my freshman year of college. This is where our  journey really began.

It was during this time that I introduced him to the outdoors. He paid me back by getting me to the top of Mount Whitney (the highest point  in the continenntal US). Dustin Loved to hike and explore the outdoors. After moving to Sedona, his love of the trek grew. He knew the trails and special places amoungst the red rocks, probably, better than anyone. Dusty (d-lite, d-dog, Dusty-d) had a deep connnection to nature. He also had a deep connection to his inner world. He meditated everyday, created guided meditations and loved to explore these realms too.

That’s what he truly was: an explorer, a seeker…

Dusty was… well Dusty. He was deep. He was also a lot of fun. He was goofy and quirky. He didn’t just wallk to the beat of his own drummer, he re-created this drummer moment by moment. At his cousin (my nephew) Dylan’s wedding reception, he got the party started. The classic moment… the band (DJ, whatever) starts playing the music and everyone just sits on their hands… We’ve all been there. Dusty would have none of it, so he got up solo and free danced around the whole room, followed by my niece Arianna, then by the whole lot of us. This is what he did. He inspired by action.

Here is a little about Dusty from his MySpace page:

I’m interested in nature, and dreams. I’m interested in discovering the elements of self within the alchemy of life. I’m interested in space portals, and time warps. I’m interested in dimensional overtones, and metaphysics. I’m interested in motion, and balance. I’m interested in pure harmony. I’m interested in channels of love (not television channels). I’m interested in mass production of creativity. I’m interested in my interests when what I find interesting is something that’s interesting. Hmmm.. That’s interesting… It’s funny when people do things.

When you met Dusty, you were touched. He looked in your eyes and gave you love. Simply put, you were never the same. It is impossible to feel that depth of connection and not be forever changed. That was my boy. I have never met a more authentic being. What you saw was what you got. Dustin was free with his love. Dusty lived his truth, he was generous, he was wise beyond his years and above all, like I said he was authentic. In retrospect I am truly amazed by the sheer depth of his love!

I have an amazing family… truly amazing! But it was Dustin who always had my back. If I needed help with anything, he never hesitated. If I had to move, or do heavy lifting Dusty never hesited to volunteer his help. When my server crashed leaving 80 websites offline, it was Dusty who sat with me until they were all rebuilt and back online. If you asked, he showed up. He always showed up.

Dusty loved music, working sometimes as a DJ spinning records, but mostly spinning records for himself… for the joy. Dusty created his own mixes and recorded a few CD’s. I have only one sample, so here it is:

8 years ago, I got Dustin his first job in the film industry. And he took it from there, working on features like Training Day, commercials (he has been been working with Errol Morris for the last 5 years) and music videos. Dusty directed his own shorts and just a few weeks ago, shot and was editing a pro celebrity volleyball tournament for charity.

An amazing young man!

When Dusty first came to LA he lived with me. What is cool is that I am blessed with an extraordinary family. We have our issues but we love each other. With Dusty in LA we got to hang out a lot (in hindsight, however, it really wasn’t enough and I guess it never is). Before he left us, Dusty had a chance to reconnect with his cousin Dr. Dylan (a chiropractor and my other nephew). That is so cool.

This year had been a difficult one for my nephew, Dusty. He was robbed with a gun in his face in Las Vegas (they caught the guys and Dustin testified against them. They are all (4 guys) in prison.) Face down on the ground, Dusty asked the gunman for his walllet and credit cards back, explaining what a pain in the ass it is to cancel and get new ones… They guy actually gave them back, taking only Dusty’s cash and jewelry… f-ing ballsy, if you ask me… Remember, his own drummer.

This weighed very heavy on his heart and gave him much fear.

Then about a month ago, Dustin was in an auto accident, while on a run at work (driving his bosses car). Waiting to turn right, a car ran a red light, struck another car then finally Dustin’s car. He was taken to  the hospital, not seriously injured it seemed. He had pain in his knee, back and neck. The initial exam didn’t reveal much…

Then the case got handed over to the state (workman’s comp)…. This is where it starts to suck.

The pain grew worse. Dustin saw a different doctor who concluded that Dustin may need surgery on his knee, and requested an MRI. Workman’s Comp, denied him, instead they gave him crutches and pain meds…

For the last week or 2 Dusty had been trying to get this resolved, getting the run around from the insurance companies. During this time, always the one to watch my back, Dusty watched my house and took care of my cats and garden 3 different times while I was out of town… hobbling around my house on crutches and in pain.

Our feeling is that on Tuesday night Dustin took  the wrong mix of medications, went to sleep and never woke up. I take solice in the fact that he went gently into that good night…

Dusty, D-Dog, D-lite, Dusty-D… I miss you and I love you! Every day that have known you (since you were merely months old) has been a gift to me and I am richer for it.
Wonderful travels to you -

Love you – Uncle Lennie

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