I don’t know where I get my thoughts of what reality should be like. I honestly thought that I’d be on a sabbatical while undergoing treatment. In my mind I was gonna have time to learn an instrument, write more, start yoga classes, ha the joke has been on me! Treatment for this isn’t what I thought! I’m tired of it, I want to sleep in my own bed. I want to continue chasing my crazy dreams, I want to dream so many more crazy dreams and I don’t want to let go of any of them. I want to let go of my petty human frailties, but I’m faltering. I hope I make the most of my life and I hope that this is also the case for all of you. What dreams do we chase? What really matters? I guess all of us have our own dreams that matter to us. I feel like saying I’m sorry to anyone if I have ever harmed them, caused them harm or insulted them. I think that my sometimes abrupt manner is my defense against a world that I feel hurts me. Sometimes I feel like everything hurts people. At least maybe I feel like everything somehow hurts me. How I wish that all my actions only had positive reactions in this world and to the people that I affect. Maybe every time one hurts or one faces a loss, it makes one harder and stronger to endure a life that is filled with pain, maybe it is this quality to take a hit and keep standing that eventually allows us to enjoy the joyous moments in all their glory. If you are reading this I hope that your joyous moments are many, and that you have the chance to share them with others for they are much needed in this world. I saw a movie called Machine Gun Preacher… if you happen to see it… maybe we should all be preachers and carry ammunition to destroy pain and sadness but we should also now when to lay those weapons down and shoot with bullets of peace. As the song says, balas de paz, balas de justicia. Yes, how silly of me.
Are you the change that this world needs to see?
We wake up daily trying to get through our daily routine, seeking meaning in the actions we take. Often we are displeased with the world that we see. Often we are discouraged at the changes that would need to take hold in order for the world to be a better place. Often we leave the banner of change to someone else. Some one who has the time, has the money, doesn’t have family responsibility, someone who knows what needs to be done. These are some of our justifications as to why we are not the right people to bring about the changes to make a better world. Lately, the question I have had every morning is this: Are you the Change that this world needs to see? Is advancement waiting for you to take up a cause, to put forth your passion and your energy into service for others while simultaneously gaining self fulfillment for ourselves? Why not you? Who else but you? It is time to use all the talent that we have and to funnel it into something positive. The world is waiting for you to DO GOOD FOR GOOD (a borrowed title from my friend Melissa Sustaita’s blog: http://dogoodforgood.wordpress.com/)
Each an every one of us has been impacted by an issue. For some it has been poverty, for others it has been health for some it is the loss of loved ones. We all stand at the edge of our world during these times, hurting, aching wishing that the world wasn’t so. Yet within in us lies an immense power and potential to stand up and take a chance so that the banner of change may advance and in doing so find that our actions starts to heal the pain of that loss, of injustice of the wrongs we perceive in this world. So as you wake up ask yourself this question: Am I the change that this world needs to see? Have full confidence that the answer is a resounding YES! You were made to shine your light. Step forth into the shadows of this world and shine your light. Pledge to take up a cause, do take action to be a leader in your own right. If you are afraid trust that all of us have fear but if we do things in service to others that fear dissipates because we know that if someone doesn’t do something for somebody else, no one will do anything for anybody. That would be a sad, dark world indeed. Transcend the fear, for your cause is just. Mahatma Gandhi said it best, ” Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Social Change. Let’s have a conversation
Daniel Diaz my colleague and friend in crime starting the dialog for change in our disenfranchised communities in South Texas. Together we aim to start a dialog and to provide a platform and a voice for those who because of circumstance cannot be heard. One person at a time, one change at a time because it makes a positive difference to one person at a time. There is a value in all of our lives, there is a voice that we can all use to declare the changes we want to see in this world. From healthcare to poverty to providing opportunity which is what all of us really seek. Opportunity to thrive, to create, to make a difference.
Issues like healthcare, jobs, immigration, education, and poverty along with other issues affect us all in one way or another. This is an invitation to begin a conversation about how to make social change happen. To create a discussion of how government and politics play a very important role in all our our lives, on how to make politics and government more accountable, and how we as citizens can become part of the solutions.
Miracles happen, made possible by people like you!
All you can ride bracelet at MD Anderson!
We never know the impact that our actions have in people’s lives. When we decide to take action in spite of he fear, in spite of the trepidation of failure, when we take action we inspire faith in the world, faith in people. It is this faith that bears hope for us all. I write this to thank all of you who are taking action on my behalf to raise the needed funds so I can start the treatment necessary to defeat this cancer. A special thanks goes out to my friend, and Phi Kappa Theta brother (who wishes to remain anonymous) who has fronted the needed money so I can start treatment immediately, having faith that all of us will raise the funds to repay it. Through your actions you have declared your faith in me, in God’s healing power and his future plan for us and given life to hope as others see you taking action on behalf of your temporarily down comrade!
Your direct action is a Miracle in the making, I have now been admitted to MD Anderson as a patient and am in my first week of treatment. I uploaded a picture of the bracelet they give you. It feels like one of those all you can ride bracelets at the carnival. So here I am getting on the amusement rides at MD Anderson! Slight stomach nausea here I come!
A bit of details:
The cancer is in stage III with just a little bit of spread to liver, but the doctor was very nonchalant about it. He seemed confident that the chemo and subsequent surgery would remove it. 3 seems to be a good number:
So far my favorite part of this process is the naps I take in the dark lounge room after my radiation treatment. They give you warm blankets! If you haven’t tried this, I highly recommend.
Thank you all for being a part of this victory and please know that I am taking action to create a fund that will bring hope to others that face a similar challenge when it comes to medical care. I will need your help. We must take action for others, for we are all affected by the circumstance of disease. I know that when I call on you to be part of this Victory you will rise to the occasion just as you have stepped up so courageously, so unselfishly for me.
The Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,- These are the elements of Miracles, these are the virtues that all of you are sharing with me and the rest of the world by your actions.
Gracias.
In CHANGE lies the power of opportunity- Let us revel in it! Let us create and eliminate the threat!
I believe that a challenge is a call to change. We must change ourselves to change circumstances and those of others for a positive. Thus every challenge is an opportunity. I have been given an opportunity in the form of a threat and I am lucky that with my perfect vision I can see it for what it really is! ( Those who know me are aware of my lack of visual acuity! In college my Phi Kappa Theta brothers named me Mr. Magoo. Pero tengo ojos en el alma que sienten!)
I see that I have strengths that others may not have, I have friends, family, colleagues and supporters when others may not be as lucky. I have the opportunity to be a voice for those who may not be able to speak on their own or whose voice may not be heard because of circumstance. At the moment people are organizing events to help me raise the needed monies for treatment. I am grateful for that. The bible tell us that to, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” With confidence in these words I would like to ask something from you. I want us to walk in solidarity to start a medical fund that will help others who may be affected by illness and who may not have the means, the network, the skills , the time or the voice that we have. I envision that this fund will live eternal for those who are affected by illnesses so that it may serve as a beacon of hope and a reminder to change their lives and see the threat as an opportunity to do something bigger that is beyond themselves . Civil Rights leader Cesar Chavez said , “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” Many have offered to do help me take on this challenge. Many have asked what they can do. I ask you know, this is our time to step forth as leaders and to do something for ourselves and for others. At first this fund will be used to help me fight this illness but after I heal, this fund will continue for others.
I spoke earlier about having a passion. I ask each of you to seek what your passions are and to use them as a conduit to help us achieve the dream of establishing this fund. We can all do something, This is what you can do.
No matter where you are (From Coast to Coast, YES! I have a wide network of friends!)
Take something you enjoy doing and step out as a leader and organize a fundraiser. I have friends who are thinking of organizing a benefit bbq, a benefit poker game, a 5k, a benefit karaoke night, a benefit paintball tournament, a benefit dance, a zumbathon, a benefit baseball and basketball game, a golf game, or rummage sale, an mma fight night. The amount raised doesn’t matter, what matters is that we have answered the call to action for others. I will offer my help by guiding you through logistics, writing letters, and putting to use my skills as a community developer. Together we will tell our stories. Remember that this will be a commitment that you do every year as your personal service to a greater cause. The event doesn’t not have to raise lots of money or be super professional, rather this is a call to action to give of our hearts. Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” That is what I ask of us today to do small things with great love and together we will make a positive change for many.
If you are ready to step out as a leader for the cause and to help us feel free to contact me and we can chat and strategize. I offer an example, my 15 year old cousin is a talented artist who offered to do a series of drawings that will weave the story of the challenge and hope and rebirth after this battle. He is taking action and stepping forth as a leader, and I hope it leads to a bigger realization for him and for those he loves.
So I am asking today will you join me in this opportunity? Will you be an agent of change ? Will you lead today for the sake of others?
Will you, ” Give expecting nothing thereof” ?
If you want to be part of this change I can be reached by email at martindelacruzmedina@yahoo.com
I do not know where this road will lead, but I know that we have started, Caminantes si no hay camino vamos abriendo brecha!
Juntos somos FUERTES, Juntos LUCHAMOS, Juntos SI SE PUEDE!
A bit about me
When you meet people they always ask what do you do for a living. I prefer to ask, ” What are you passionate about?” I think that if we can tap into what calls us to action we can free our creativity and have fun doing our work. As for myself, I am passionate about poverty. A friend told me that passion is derived from the Latin verb patī meaning to suffer. It hurts me to see how poverty affects so many in our world when we have so much abundance. We work from a deficit perspective when in reality we have more than we need to solve and alleviate the suffering of people. People have the power within themselves to make the world a better place for themselves and for others around them who at the moment might be powerless because of the clutches of circumstance. I am lucky because my passion can take on many outlets in the forms of jobs, careers and volunteer opportunities. I am grateful because by giving I feel fulfilled . By protecting, I feel protected and by caring my heart grows and I have the opportunity to forge a conscious within myself and more importantly to create a Community of Conscious. This is people building together, realizing that we are all connected and that if we tap into our energy for good we can accomplish much and do what we can for those who suffer. Because in the end we can all empathize with each other after we throw off our facades that we carry for we all suffer. We all experience pain but yet we all experience hope.
As for a job defined- I am a professional pediche- aka a grant writer, a strategizer and a advocate of empowerment through affordable housing, civic engagement and social entrepreneurship. I invite you to see the great work that is being done for our communities by the two non profit organizations that I have worked with. My previous employer Affordable Homes of South Texas, Inc., where I was the Director of Strategic Initiatives. AHSTI provides homes to working low income families With my fancy title I merely helped to tell their story which has provided over 2800 homes for working families! Visit them at www.ahsti.org .
And my present employer La Union del Pueblo Entero or LUPE for short. LUPE is a community organization that organizes for social justice and was started by the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. We believe that together we can organize to create the change that is needed in our lives while empowering people to be leaders in their communities. Please visit us at http://lupenet.org/ to learn more. And a big Hello to my brothers and sisters fighting the good fight for our community through community organizing!
In the end my work and my fun is about learning while helping and experiencing life. Both the ups and the downs and the plateaus and remembering the experiences created with all of you.
Las palabras de un Martin Medina
Hello friends, unknown acquaintances and yearning idealist. This is my medium to reach out to the electronic world. This is where I will free my rants, musings and other thoughts on my human experience. I hope that if you wander onto this you may find something that may be of utility. I hope to share the passions in my life and issues, views, observations and humble opinions that in some way shape or form may help make the world a better place. I had always wanted to start a blog and I figure that my time is NOW. I am 33 years of age and in a state of change in this stage of my life. I have always thought that time is our biggest commodity and the most important thing we can share with those we care for. At the moment I am defeating the illness of cancer that has intruded in my life. It is a reminder of living life with the , “fierce urgency of now”, as Martin Luther King Jr. preached in his I Have a Dream speech. I am embracing the changes in life, freeing the fear and learning to share any gifts that I may possess. I live my life, to my satisfaction hoping to make alleviate the immense poverty in our world, our communities and in our lives. I have many hopes and dreams for a peaceful place and I will strive to do what I can to bring those to fruition one change at a time, one act at a time, one dream at a time. -Martin De La Cruz Medina
martinagentofchange 