The Awareness Needs to be Out There!

My step-dad thankfully arrived safely on Monday from his trip to Krakow, Poland. He spent 2 weeks visiting his friend who happens to live there. He didn't only plan to go to Krakow to visit his friend. He had been planning this kind of trip for other reasons over the last 6 months. He had an intense need to visit the Museum of Auschwitz. His need for this apparently remained dormant within him until my mother passed on last November. He never really spoke a word of it prior to that. Her death had triggered many emotions hidden within himself to emerge.

My step-dad was raised in a small, Christian town in Oregon. His father was Jewish and his mother was English Episcopalian. Through out his childhood, his father always told him not to mention a word to the neighbors or his classmates about his heritage. He never celebrated Jewish holidays and was raised as a Christian. Obviously, his father was terrified of antisemitism. My step-dad was born in 1953, only 8 years after the war had ended. Though he was American, he was still afraid. My step-dad admitted to me recently how much he resented his father for not opening up more about half of his ethnic roots all because of fear. He often wonders if he had family in Europe that was murdered by the Nazis. He is on a quest to find out more and he said he did get some closure by visiting the museum. He did not talk much about that visit, and I can't say that I blame him. I honestly did not want to hear much of the details of what he may have seen there either. But I am glad that he went. I can't even imagine what a time that was.

Even though I am not Jewish or a gypsy, or having any family killed in the Holocaust (that I am aware of anyway), I am extremely sensitive to the whole thing. I wish to not talk about the whole reason as to why. But I am going to say this much. My maternal grandmother was half Dutch. Her uncle was still living in Amsterdam during the war. He was obviously a very good man who hid a Jewish family. Unfortunately the Gestapo found them. They shipped the family off to the camps and took my great-great uncle and publicly executed him. My gosh what an evil, evil time it was. When my mother told me that story years ago, I felt extremely sick. My step-dad is not only on a quest to find out more about his roots, but he is helping to spread the awareness about the Holocaust and what had really happened. I am proud of him for doing that, because it needs to be known.

The Law of Attraction- Does it Work?

I've read The Secret and other Law of Attraction type books. I believe there is plenty of truth to it. When you have negative thoughts, a series of negative events are going to occur. For instance, if I constantly dwell on getting sick, sure enough I get sick pretty badly. And when you think positive thoughts, you'll experience more positivity. In my case, I still may experience illness but it may be mild and tolerable if I force myself to remain in a positive frame of mind. Thinking positively can be a huge challenge when frequently faced with extremely uncomfortable situations like constant poor health. But it can be done and this is something I am aiming to practice all of the time. In that case, the Law of Attraction definitely works. If you truly see yourself getting through a tough situation, you can do it. Or if you are certain you won't get through the situation, sure enough you won't. But I also believe that a lot of what was said in those books is too far fetched for me to believe.

I have a hard time fathoming that you can attract things that are out of your control such as making every green light to work. One book that I had read had a part in it that said if you put your mind to it, you can even get an apologetic phone call from someone who had hurt you from years ago. That is highly unlikely to happen unless you contact that person first and express your frustration with him/her. Even then he/she may still not either respond back or believe that he/she had wronged you in any way. It is impossible to manipulate events to occur that are completely out of your control with positive thinking. That is simply being stuck in a fantasy world. Sorry, not trying to be a pessimist- just a realist.

So does The Law of Attraction work? My answer is- Yes AND No.

Let the Man R.I.P.

Yes, I agree it was a shock when Michael Jackson died. He was only 50 and it was so sudden. He was very talented and unique- like many of us are. The difference is, he found a way to express his unusual talents. Many of us don't have the confidence to do that. However, just because he did that, and was considered "the king of pop" in the end did not make him any kind of God. He was an ordinary human being like all of us. He was a man who had challenges and experienced pain like us.

Lately, the world has stopped moving just to ONLY focus on the fact that Michael Jackson had died. There is war and hunger happening, which CNN and other news stations should focus more on. Instead, CNN spent their time to only talk about Michael Jackson and nothing else. And I am not even going to get into ET or the Insider. All I can say is that I have been very bored with it all. Scheduled shows have been continuously canceled to re-run the memorial service. And I think it's disgusting how they exploit his poor children the way they do. Aren't they suffering enough after the loss of their father? The media is so twisted and they just get off on beating things to death- like the death of Michael Jackson.

In an ideal world, a few things should have been mentioned about his death. A few things in the media should have been mentioned about his unique work and the unique man that he was. But not for days. And certainly not to keep his death the ONLY focus. But the media had to blow things out of proportion as usual, not realizing the impact they could be having on his children, or his soul! The media would never concern itself with that. No way, never! My gosh! Let the man R.I.P.