To me no one is ever less than...

I heard this song today called " Fuckin' Perfect" covered by Boyce Avenue and I really liked it because of it's message. I like how it asks, no, almost begs people to never let anyone make them feel like they're not good enough.  Usually I don't like the idea of perfection so much, mostly because I figure that things wouldn't be as fun if everyone was perfect since there wouldn't be as many things to work towards or to learn. However, in the case of this song, it felt  right to include the idea of reaching perfection since it also talks about struggles people go through in their attempts to feel truly accepted. It spoke to me because at least to me everyone is of great worth. No one should ever feel "less than." If you're reading this and for whatever reason you're feeling like you're inadequate, please know that whatever it is you're struggling with, I am rooting for you through this blog! I keep posting on this blog because the idea that the things I write here might help people to feel good inside, matters to me very much. To me everyone is of great worth and deserving of a lot of happiness! I wish you all the very best now and always. :)

Quack!

I've recently made an extraordinary discovery. My phone has a ringtone that sounds like a duck! I think this is so exciting because when I hear ducks quacking it sounds to me like they're laughing. I've set my alarm ringtone to the duck sound just so I can wake up to hearing someone laughing. This makes me laugh too and is thus a lovely start to the day! After all, my day is better when there's laughter in it! Quack! 

Life is so much better when a little laughing and dancing is involved!

I heard this quote on the Ellen show which I liked a lot: "It's important to laugh at yourself and it's very important to dance " I have done a lot of laughing and dancing (both together and separately) many times in my life. One of my favorite instances of this was once I was listening to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and I just couldn't help myself, I just started rocking out to the music and dancing. As I did this I realized I'd forgotten to close my window shades in my room but then again I also realized I didn't really care, if people wanted to stand and watch and laugh, so much the better. In any case, I felt really good when I finished.  I think laughing is one of the best of things and it is even contagious. So even if you don't dance at all, I hope your day is full of a lot of laughter even if it is laughing at yourself in the best sense. :)

The innocence of youth leads me to believe there's hope for us yet

There's something about cards kids send out when something touches their heart.Today, I read an article on the Boston Globe's website about letters received by Boston's One Fund (a charity set up after the Boston Marathon bombings in April to raise money for victims and their families,) from children from all over the country. A letter that was described in the article that touched me the most was from a 9-year-old girl who wrote: "“I pray to everyone in Boston and especially the ones that are ingerd  [sic] and have past [sic] away.” These letters reminded me of a letter that was sent by a little girl named Virginia to a newspaper asking whether Santa was real. (Her father told her that if that particular newspaper said something was true, then it was indeed true.) The letter and the reply that someone from the newspaper wrote back to her stating that Santa Claus was real and that he exists in people's love and generosity, became famous and the letter's reply is the most reprinted editorial in the English language.  

Just as Virginia's letter was used to bring a bit more hope to Americans, I think that the letters to the One Fund bring hope  not just to the people directly affected by the bombings but also to people in general. If our society can produce children who feel so strongly about an event that it influences them to send their well wishes and even to raise and send money to the victims and families, I think it shows that in the face of unspeakable evil, there is still a lot of good in the world and a lot of hope for the future. :)

As I couldn't resist posting it, below is a picture of another letter sent by a kid to the One Fund. 

Photo from the Boston.com website: http://tinyurl.com/le3dxf6.

To read the article about the letters click here.

Shakespeare in the park

I always liked Shakespeare, I may not always understand the language of his plays but I still think the language sounds beautiful and I also like how the plays are so translatable that they can be adapted to any time period and still be relevant/interesting to modern audiences. Last night I was able to get a group of friends together to go and see the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company perform Two Gentlemen of Verona on Boston Common. What I felt was really cool about the performance was that it included references to Boston sports teams and  a live band and band music from the 1940s and 50s. I felt the musical addition was rather clever as I like songs from the 1950s. The band made the performance seem like a cross between Shakespeare and a 1950s musical, which I thought was a lot of fun.

The performance also involved an actual live corgi dog-that animal alone stole the show for me. At one point the dog barked as if on cue at a very appropriate moment and surprised the actors as much as the audience, I suppose the dog hadn't done that before. Spontaneous things like that seem to make such performances more interesting. The only other outdoor Shakespeare performance I've been to was to go and see Hamlet with my family. There's a storm scene in Hamlet and just at that particular scene the skies opened and it started raining. Not torrential rain, (thank goodness) but enough to get my brother to start whispering repeatedly and energetically to my parents that he wished my dad had taken him to see a football match instead. Despite all that, I think my brother, my sister and I still did eventually appreciate the bit of culture our parents tried to instill in us. I think if my parents had not exposed me to plays like that, I might not appreciate them as much and have as nice a time as I did last night!

Although it's really short notice, there's still time to see Shakespeare on the Common. The last performance is Sunday July 28th at 2 and 8 pm. If you go, please give a standing ovation to the corgi!

I love foreign music!

What prompted this post is my mum's friend from France and her really nice taste in music. She sent me a CD from a group called Coeur de Pirate which I like very much and it got me thinking about how much I like musical groups from other countries in general. I like French and Spanish music best  because I understand a bit of  those languages so sometimes I can sort of follow along to what's being sung. Really though, I just like the way the music sounds. Even if I don't understand what they're singing about (for all I know these singers could be really singing about how much they love sandwiches or how they just went to the supermarket and really enjoyed that outing,) as long as they sound nice musically,  I'd think the song was cool anyway. Plus, if I like a song enough it spurs me to try and figure out what it's really about. The song I liked best from the CD I mentioned, is called "Comme Des Enfants" and I like it because it sounds playful. The only word I understood out of the whole thing was "enfants" (children-I think!) but it's a start! (Also a signal I really need to learn more French!) In any case, listening to music in another language adds a bit of culture and spice to my life which is another reason to like it!  If you'd like to listen to the song, see below. I've also included a song in Spanish that I like very much as well. It is called Al Otro Lado del Rio from the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries." As far as I can tell it's about rowing down a river and seeing a light on the other side of the river. It's a nice image!

(Comme Des Enfants)

(Al Otro Lado Del Rio) 

Disability Strong!

I went with a friend to a celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), in Boston today and loved it! (The ADA is a civil rights law that mandates, among other things, that people with disabilities have equal access to buildings, jobs, and services. It also prevents discrimination against these individuals.)   There was music and food,  speeches by Boston's Mayor Menino and other dignitaries and even a flash mob. What I especially liked about the event was the t-shirts that were given out to everyone who attended. (After all, one can never have too many t-shirts.) These particular shirts (as you see below) had Boston Strong on them with traditional disability symbols. The words on the shirt seemed symbolic to me in that everyone I know who has a disability shows strength to me in facing each day head on and refusing to let anything stop them. The fact that the ADA exists to aid these people in living full lives testifies to how people with disabilities have more of a voice and can be more active now than ever before. It is true that there is always more that could be done to help people with disabilities to live life to the fullest. However, the fact that people in high places are willing to support people with disabilities through passing legislation and that events are held to celebrate and recognize people with disabilities' capacity to live full and active lives, is inspiring. It is yet another sign that people in Boston and indeed throughout the country have a lot of strength and I think what's really admirable about that is that there are so many who are willing to use that strength to help people in general and people with disabilities in particular. It is with all that strength combined that I believe contributes to making society as strong as it can be.