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Showing posts from September, 2016

Tribute To Ray Charles

Watch video on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/WAlNYdLWG1A via CHANNEL TITLE

Our Shared Humanity and the Legacy of our African-American Pillars / #thisAmericanQuilt #positivedisruption #newday

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Seventy-six years ago, an experiment was conducted called the Tuskegee Experiment. As stated on the official TuskegeeAirmen.Org web site, the experiment was aimed at proving that African-Americans were able to fly and maintain combat aircraft.  1. Does the fact that there  was  seen the need of such an experiment a signal of the warped views and racial perspectives during that era, just seventy-six years ago? 2. Do the men and women who made up the Tuskegee Airmen serve as beacons of positive change? The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama was a formidable aeronautics school in the United States, but soon enough it became home base for the World War Two Tuskegee Airmen fighter-pilot wing. The Tuskegee Airmen included men and women, black and white, operating in different capacities as a team. The elite African-American pilot unit was held to the highest standards and the first class of African-American figh...

My #Adventures in #Hawaii / Appreciating our Natural Heritage #natureconservancy #USA #ohana #stewardship

My home in Oahu’s North shore town of Haleiwa was a 2 bedroom ‘shotgun’ plantation wood structure left over from the 1940’s. It sat on a raised level just across the towns only 7-11 store on Kamehameha Highway. My backyard overlooked the pineapple fields and the massive mountain range that shoots out to Kaena Point, the most westerly tip of O’ahu. While in Hawai’i, I worked as a life skills trainer to a young, feral girl on the autism spectrum. On my time off, I would explore the island, surf, join bonfires on the beach and race through the pineapple fields. There was always talk of protecting the North Shore’s natural environment and warding off big development was very important to the people of the town. Everyone liked the way things where. My neighbor, originally from Oregon, was an exceptional Mormon surfer guy who use to go out at midnight off Sunset Beach with a spear and long flippers to fish all alone. I was amazed he stayed alive.  A jack-of-all-trades...

Serving #EachOther Exercises the Heart & Mind / #servanthood #everyonematters #service #executivefunction #GoForthBoldly

Oscar Romero, child of God Setting time aside once a month to give back to one’s community where it is needed is an exercise in humility and gratitude which is not forgotten by one’s heart and mind. Does serving one’s community strengthen our cognitive skills, such as our executive function abilities? Is community service therapeutic for one’s heart of hears? 2.  How can parents organically do this with their family? My late-fathers congregation does something special once a month in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. At sundown they go and feed people who are down and out. Some are local, some are from the U.S. mainland, mostly all are homeless,  heroin drug addicts  and the down and out that roam the cobble-stone streets of the city show up. Built over five hundred years ago, the walled-in and fortified city holds the seat of the islands government and preeminence as the epicenter of the island’s culture. The youth skateboard area is not far in ‘Bal...

Unleash Your Heart In Service / #servantleadership #community #specialeducation #youth #success

"Practicing kindness and selflessness, you naturally align your life with the integral way." Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching Moments come and go, seasons change, opportunity flies by. What is all that matters? Is it important for the heart to live in accordance with God's will?  When I was fifteen I got on my knees and pleaded with the Lord to make me a Field General in his army. I wanted my life to count for something and understood that I was making a decision to forfeit a life of security and relative comfort in giving myself to the Lord.  Now I realize that he has been drawing me to him, rather than me approaching him on my own volition. In a world where the definition of success appears to be connected to money, my kind of success finds no ground to rest on, save in the eyes of God. In working with typical children and those with special needs, I recognize the value I bring to positively shifting lives. I bring hope, encouragement, enthusiasm, kindness and instruction...

Empty Clouds of Paper Stardom Can Become Full-On Forces Of Love / #servantleadership #thisAmericanQuilt #insideout

Man that lives for himself is of no use to mankind or God. Man that cares not for the plight and well-being of others forgets the commandment to love and treat others as we want to be loved and treated. Certain springs of energy in our America society push the notion in America that we must get our own and demonstrate an aggressive approach in how we go about attaining our success. God's word sais that this kind of posturing is like empty clouds passing by that may seem to bring shade for a season to others, yet drop no water.  Do nationally-recognized singers, entertainers acknowledge the gravity of influence that their words have on the psyche of their fan base? Taking to task well-springs which influence the hearts and minds of American youth Find your voice, find your tempo, begin to sing and pique the intellectual process of others, rather than devolve your profession into name-calling and empty-swag backed by nothing. Should irresponsible artists be allowed to r...

One Perfect Day in New York City / Lido Beach 9/15/16 / @SurfersHealing

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Servant Leaders are Spiritual Warriors of God #IHaveADream #RevMartinLutherKingJr #USA #positivedisruption #Harlem

Yesterday, at the New York City Surfers Healing event at Lido Beach in Long Island a volunteer staff member thanked me for helping out, to which I quickly pointed out that we are helping each other out and we are doing it together. Positive disruption use to be a market term for a product starting at the bottom of the market and moving its way up to the ‘top’ of the market using organic-grass root methods and integrating local community to spur its growth. There is no physical product with me, save what is offered. Not readily commodified, the positive disruption brought forth takes on many shapes with the aim of changing culture, how business is conducted, how special education is instructed, the way government is responsibly managed, strengthening the foundation of the family and pointing our compasses to God. It is a mission, it is an adventure, it is a logistical journey and it surges from the heart, through the mind and out into the open.  This is a labor ...

Surfers Healing : One Perfect Day: Belmar, New Jersey, 9:11:16

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Servant Leaders CreateOne Perfect Day at Belmar, New Jersey, 9:11:16 @Surfershealing #autism #DownsSyndrome #specialneeds

Servant Leaders Come In Full-Force / Surfers Healing #OnePerfectDay in Belmar, New Jersey Click above to see video.

Pirates of the Caribbean / #PuertoRico #BorinkenSailing #family #vacation

Jose Gustavo Ramirez, a father with one daughter, a thirty-six year old waterman, entrepreneur and consummate sailor operates as a pirate full-time off the coast of eastern Puerto Rico. His pirate ship Mirili, can be often seen and reported with prisoners on-board between the waters of the U.S & British Virgin Islands.  Mr. Ramirez, speaks three languages fluently, was born and raised in Puerto Rico by a Cuban mother and a Puerto Rican father and is a master chef.  A surfer’s surfer, Jose has traveled the world extensively and repetitively living in faraway lands, surfing seemingly impossible mammoth waves, and parachute jumping as a master of the air with his wing suit, allowing him to move horizontally at over 170 miles per hour. Be it living in Indonesia, or surfing in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica, or across the United States, Jose has been there, skied it or worked it as a sushi chef, surf contest camera man, or expert wing suit glider. ...

Servant Leaders Operate Night and Day / Remembering 911 / #grief #firstresponders #America #community #911

It was a 'normal' day. Like a magnet, Manhattan called its workers, its movers and its shakers to its shores for another full day of business and hustle. I was in Boston getting ready to go for a run. Still in a dream-state, Victor, one of my housemates turned on the circa 1980's television in our run-down college apartment showing that an airplane had smashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. I had been to the bar at the top many times with my college friends, Windows of the World. We liked to go there overtime we made the trip to New York from Boston. I still remember the ambiance and music. I remember my conversations with my friends. We felt we were on top of the world. It was magical. I went for my run through Boston's streets off Commonwealth Avenue. Victor and I ran 3-4 miles. Upon our return, the guys and gals who we shared the house were glued to the television. Another plane hit. This was big. Smoke was billowing out. People were jumpin...

Grandma Kathleen, Daughter of the American Revolution / #servantleader #Missouri #California #PuertoRico #heritage

My grandmother, Kathleen was born and raised in Missouri, the daughter of a devout preacher. She was my grandfather's second wife, joining the family when my father was a scrappy, 13 year old, back in 1945-6. A History and Social Studies teacher at his school in Pasadena, Grandma watched over Dad, who was a quintessential outdoorsy, 'sandlot' kind of kid in the California of the 1940's. In his preadolescent years, Dad would walk around with a sling-shot, and cuffed, blue jeans with his hair slicked back. Dad's real mom was a beautiful woman who had tuberculosis and was an alcoholic. She spent her time living in the arid desert or the breezier mountains of 'Cali.' to address her pulmonary condition. I never met her. She passed away in the 1970's before my birth. I wish I could have met her to know my father from a mother's perspective. Grandma Kathleen was 'my grandmother' and a loving, caring, nurturing one at that. She dealt with ...

Marching To Take Back America Full-Throttle / #positivedisruption #guns #America #SocEnt #allin

What will be the answer to the gun violence that continues on our American streets? How will we navigate protecting the second amendment and also keep the guns out of the wrong hands? Even with the toughest background checks it is not wholly unrealistic to assume that guns will end up in the wrong hands. Doing away with guns altogether is not the answer, yet an armed populace is an important counter balance to a very well-armed national government.  As the most armed country in the world we actually practice a great deal of responsible gun ownership when you consider the amount of weaponry owned by individuals compared to the level of gun violence that is perpetuated.  A 17-year old youth was shot in point-blank range in his temple in New York City this last weekend, another was gunned down in front of over forty police officers. The New York Post sais that, as with this case, even with a phalanx of police officers presence, even with flood lights ligh...

Battling Crime 1 American Town @ A Time w/ Competitive #Skateboarding / #Harlem #SouthNorwalk #Connecticut @Olympics

How many dollars is a life worth? Can a skatepark make hard crime, like murder, plummet in a given geographic area? Recently, I read in a New York newspaper (with all the news that is fit to print) about the top most crime-ridden sectors of New York City. The article identified rape, murder and robbery as the main issues. How would a top-of-the-line skateboarding skatepark benefit Harlem, New York?  How about South Norwalk, Connecticut’s, Ryan Park, right next to Washington Village?  In California, Pennsylvania, and in many smart towns and cities across the country there are mega skateboarding park facilities, complete with night lighting and ample skateboarding space.  These allow a greater number of athletes to skateboard simultaneously, as well as provide a longer period of time where people with different schedules can use the park. The intensive-cognitive-physical strengthening, plus the low cost of purchasing safety ...