BLOG ACTION DAY-THE HOMELESS: THE POOR RIGHT IN OUR BACKYARDS

If you’ve been following my meadysmusings blog you would know that last month I experimented with eating only raw foods (by about 70%) for a period of three weeks. It was a very interesting experience for me and although I’ve fasted for about a day on many occasions in the past this was my first experience like this- a more prolonged period of restricted eating. I’d have to say I learnt much more from this prolonged period than I had so far in my various one day fasts over my lifetime. That experience made me realise just how little we really need to eat to live and how much all the other stuff were just excesses…incredible luxuries really! When I was coming to the end of my time raw it was when the big financial crisis the world is now in had only just begun to explode in the US. Lehman Brothers liquidating like a snowman on a hot summer day…while other financial giants were flapping their arms as if wings in the air hoping to perhaps fly away or at least not topple over before Uncle Sam could prop them up. The world lost ‘a bull’…aaww… cause really and I don’t mean it sarcastically even as an outsider looking in I always admired that symbol Merrill Lynch had…I mean what could better symbolise financial strength and stability than the Merrill Lynch bull! And now he’s gone…aaww …he would have been 100 in 2014. I’m sure he will rise again like the Phoenix in the merger with Bank of America or perhaps reincarnate to live another life in a new identity. I’m not American and so the financial crisis then was not a national or personal issue for me but I did anticipate it would trickle down to the national consciousness here in Trinidad and Tobago sooner or later and I think it is just about happening now. However, I am a member of the Intent community which I like to call Mallika Chopra’s experiment (Deepak Chopra’s daughter) and on there you could feel the feelings of the Americans…So the financial crisis was on my mind and to be honest it made me wonder how people could be so impacted by these things although I continued to mourn the bull…cause I mean really how much did we need to live? I mean you didn’t even need to eat much as I had recently verified coming out of my raw experiment. Why so much worry and fear? I think Mallika Chopra’s dad Deepak Chopra was giving out some of the most complete and sound advice for the times there though…so lucky to have him as a voice out there! All the same fear was still rearing its ugly head and causing many an American to take their life! Sad and disturbing really… But the financial crisis was on my mind and I was just out of being raw…

Then one day at work I ended up literally walking down a path I had not walked in a very long time…I parked my car at one end of the Main Street in the town where I work. I had not intended it or planned it…it was just one of those, one of those things leads to the other walk based on what I decided to eat causing me to walk all the way to the other end of that street to the local Subway. An American icon that has made it to our island and is doing much better than ‘the bull’ some might like to know. Now in Trinidad this means leaving normally air conditioned offices (18-20 deg C/ 65-68 deg F) and walking on a street that is about 33 deg C (just over 90 deg F for my American readers) but it was not so shocking for me that day as I was on a field day but what was perhaps outrageous if not shocking was my orange work shirt with company logo and my name sewed on and everything! Now it’s an energy industry kinda town so it should not have been so different or unseen I’d think but perhaps some how the speed or manner with which I walked or my appearance in some way made me stand out more to the people on the street but I had people staring at me and calling out the company’s name and stuff. For a second I thought… oh no!… I’ve just made myself a target for so many things! But then I figured so what?…surely I’m not the first and only person to be walking on the streets in something like this cause as I just noted above it is an energy industry kinda town! Also many girls work in industry here too so?! I think it was more too that I was walking about in the town and I didn’t just stop my car jump out get something to eat and jump back in perhaps that was it…?! So anyway I get to the Subway and buy my ‘6” Vege Delite’ sandwich (parmesan oregano bread, no extra cheese, all the veggies except pickle and add pineapple and no sauces except for the Trini pepper sauce!). I normally don’t eat there but usually come back to my office but I had some meetings lined up at our main building just before I got back to the other building where my office is and so I decided not to go back to my office today as it made no sense. So I looked around for a table that was as secluded as you can get in a place like that and there was just one free corner table although not totally free as it had a co-worker (not in orange however but office attire) sitting there waiting on another one who was buying in the line. Of course when I moved towards the table she welcomed me to sit and while she waited I sat there chatting with her and eating my sandwich. Somewhere into our chat I realised when she realised and started looking towards the sandwich line that there was something going on…when I grasped what it was… I realised it was the lady behind the desk telling a lady to leave and get out of the place!…but I wasn’t 100% sure what it was that was going on until I saw a lady that I’d figured was a vagrant of some sorts was reluctantly agreeing to leave but the shop is small so on her way out she almost grabs the sandwich from my hand if looks could turn into action. It was happening so fast I …I couldn’t think quickly enough but I did feel how much she was to me, angry and hungry but violently so…it is like she was considering to beat me up and grab that sandwich from my hand and run! But in a moment of hindsight she didn’t and left the Subway. My back was turned to the exit but my co-worker at the table said: “She doh want to go nah…they telling her to leave but like she doh want to go…she going but she still only looking inside here.” I didn’t turn around to look at the commotion but I said to my co-worker when I had a second to get over the startle of it all…“Well maybe she is really hungry?!” I got the feeling that the silence it brought my co-worker to was perhaps her feeling just as I…guilt? Or genuine concern but knowing that she had her own life to live and so reconcile with perhaps she couldn’t save the world. Now I don’t know if this is how the girl felt …It is just my feeling the feeling moment! :) But I also started to wonder…the lady I will have to tell you did scare me…but really if I had enough time to think I would have given her my sandwich you know…and I’m not trying to make myself out to be a saint here…but really I had just been raw…I didn’t even have to be well off enough to buy her another sandwich or get another one for me to eat…we need so little to live I could have literally shared half my food with her and be fine anyway! However I’m so far lucky enough that I would have been able to get her a sandwich…?!

I wish it didn’t all happen so fast …that I could have done something…but what? On top of it I was already in official company attire orange and all…Subway is a very by the book kind of place like all chain stores…the employees are told exactly how to wash their hands how to wrap the sandwich…would they answer an orange freak who wanted to know if they knew what was that lady’s story? Also I didn’t know if the lady was indeed harmful…from my brief look at her she didn’t seem very thin…so she could have very well been just a trouble maker type…or one of those people who are on some sort of illegal drug and addicted or an outright hoodlum! So I played with the idea of asking the Subway people but didn’t. Instead I walked around outside the area trying to see if I saw her. I didn’t feel incredibly sorry for her though cause she didn’t look thin (like she was about to die) and really I was not going to get into trouble with my orange self in some alley way. So conscience or not I wasn’t going further than that. But I did feel her anger and her hunger. Really I wish she could have been fed when she was hungry cause no matter what… a person shouldn’t have to beg for food like that and be ‘buffed up(yelled at)’ cause they wanted to eat?! Surely there is enough food on this earth for all of us?…I’m no saint walking the earth though…is what I reconciled in my orange self but the incident made me more aware...

More aware of things in this little town where I’ve worked for ten years but never thought to look…right in my backyard. I could tell people bout the state of homelessness in San Francisco…by the way it is appalling indeed for such a rich city too and that man who hides behind a bush in the Fisherman’s Wharf area-he got me in 2001 and he got me in 2007 but I’m sorry I did not tip him for jumping out of a bush and scaring me twice in one decade! But perhaps some people like the adrenaline rush and so pay. Must be some reason he has been there so long?! But that is a strong sign of the homelessness there that a man has to resort to that ‘to make ah little end (Trini) or make ends meet (American)’. Not to speak of the vagrants that slept outside my door every day for two weeks in 2007 and the man who came off the cable car that was having this re-occurring talk in his head aloud for all to hear bout …“But you know I’m not like that…I’ve told you...” I can tell you of the rat man that lives outside the park in Toronto and has become an icon there and I can tell you that I find it amazing that while I saw rampant homelessness in San Francisco and Toronto with for sure San Francisco taking the prize for homelessness I never saw a homeless person in all of London. Are if there aren’t any homeless people in London and it’s not just that I happened not to see any…what’s their secret there? But I could have told you all that and I never realised that right there in my own backyard (of work at least) was Homelessness…cause after I didn’t find that lady who came into the Subway…I did see others…not many…it is a small place…but it made me realise how much you see when you really look and become aware…What saddened me more too was these people were also aged…and they were very thin and they looked as if they had given up just hanging on to this little corner on the earth someone wasn’t chasing them away from perhaps who knows waiting to die…but what could I do? One of the ladies I saw I did happen to see before and had given her a few dollars and I did feel bad then too…that I couldn’t do more or wondered if she had any family?

So I walked on…I thought about blogging it on that day itself when I got home perhaps…but what good would that do? And wouldn’t it just sound like I was making a big deal of nothing? Stating the obvious and crying out to the world on my blog like if only I had feelings …only I knew there were homeless people world over and in my backyard? What good would come of me spilling my guts out on a blog? And also at the time it had bothered me so much that I felt I would be too emotional to write it and also I might be divulging too much bout my personal life on a blog that I originally set up to be a place of yes spirituality and enlightenment but in a positive way and a fun and light hearted way. However when Dave from the Intent community told me bout Blog Action Day and how it was going to be about Poverty I said there…I’m going to write bout homelessness and tell that story! Didn’t know how I was going to do it or how it would come across to my readers but I guess I just told it didn’t I?

All I can hope is that by telling my little although perhaps a bit longwinded story (no editors when you blog!:) ) Is that it will make my readers also perhaps feel the feeling? I’m not sure yet if I am ready to put Arts in Action yet like I did on Sunday but hmmm…I’m feeling the feeling on that too…so stay tuned…but for sure charity begins at home or right in our backyards…but of course we have to be ready within ourselves to truly give before we can do so…cause if I’m going to put Arts into Action here I will have to dig deep and I have to be ready…of course if anyone is reading this and already has existing systems or resources that can already put Arts into Action well please contact me! Who knows perhaps Habitat can look into building a homeless shelter as a project? Or Elspeth can do a film to raise awareness further? Shovels or video cameras anyone?

Arts In Action!

On Sun 12 Oct a group of friends visiting from London (two celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary)and myself chipped in at a Habitat for Humanity Project in Cunupia, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. The project is fondly called Veronica's House by Elspeth Duncan who is a fellow blogger and multimedia artist. For details you can check out Elspeth's blog that makes us sound much grander than we are I find! I encourage all my readers to learn more about Habitat for Humanity worldwide and in Trinidad and Tobago. . The official main site is http://www.habitat.org. Elspeth calls it The Foundation of Love in Action but I'd like to simply call it Arts in Action!...cause Elspeth did a documentary film called Invisible that inspired a dance that inspired me by reading her blogs and seeing the film at the TT Film Festival and part of the dance as well. Led me to tell my friend Nerissa about it. And she and her husband James had decided that since they didn't need anything in the form of material presents for their 5th wedding anniversary from friends it would be nice for them and friends to give to a charity. On hearing bout this one they decided to chip in their labour and ask friends to do the same. And there you have it below the result of this decision!-our group co-mingled with members of Habitat! Some might say Arts in Action some might say Love in Action ...perhaps truth be told its both...cause Love and the pure expression of Art comes from the same place :):

Guest Blogger: Raj Dubay On Prosperity

Acajou Hotel, Grande Riverie, Trinidad -Meady's Musings Production 2008.

Will a million dollars make you happy? Are you necessarily prosperous if you have a million dollars? Or is prosperity something else?

Is it a state of mind constantly connected to being joyful, to seeing the beauty in everything that surrounds you?

Is it the joy you experience when you hold a newborn in your arms?

Is it the happiness you feel towards a young couple in love walking down the street hand in hand?

Or is it that special experience you have when you doing that one activity that only you can do in your own special way?

So then, is prosperity the development of a state of mind which is constantly joyful, which is consistently upbeat regardless of one's circumstances?

Is prosperity seeing the glass always half full and not half empty?Is prosperity having a continuous experience of happiness and peace in spite of prevailing difficulties?

Can you learn to develop a prosperous attitude whether or not you have a million dollars

Learning initially to quiet the mind helps. Meditation and prayer are the keys. Also spending time in nature would help.

Spending quality one-on-one time with someone you love would help.

Finding meaning in the job that you do would help. Finding your place of beauty in our troubled world is the goal.

Ask yourself, as you embark on your personal journey of prosperity, "What is that one thing I can do better than anybody else?"

And when you have found it, start doing it immediately.

Secondly ask yourself this: "How can I use this one thing to serve others?"

When you know the answer, go out and help. You would be amazed at the joy you can derive from selfless service to others!


Raj Dubay is a motivational speaker and business consultant. Raj is also a business lecturer at the University of the West Indies open campus, and conducts business training and motivational speeches to corporate Trinidad and Tobago.

You can email him at rajaduba@hotmail.com or phone him at 868.762.4433.

Guest Blogger: Xenophobia or Race Issues? An Interesting Experience that Culminated just outside the CN Tower!

Picture of CN Tower a stone's throw from Ajay's parents place taken by Babita Dubay 2005.

Now here's the Guest Blog by my 2nd Guest Blogger in one day!- Ajay Parasram. He has shared this story with friends and family on facebook and is allowing me to republish here cause I wanted more people to hear this true story. He titles his story:

ON BEING CONFUSED FOR BEING WHITE
I kid you not, the events of this tale is 100% accurate. No exaggeration, as I am normally proned to.

About two weeks ago, I arrived in Toronto from Vancouver. Travel weary because my flight was 3 hours delayed and it was now 4 - 430 am in Toronto, I collapse into the first available taxi to get myself to my parent's place in downtown Toronto. I was on a business trip, so my employers were footing the bill thus my disregard for paying 50 friggen dollars for a "limo-cab" (I took a regular cab on my way back to the airport that cost 3 dollars less...)

The gentleman driving did not get a good look at me. I was wearing longsleeve shirt, pants, and a big bowler of a hat and was sitting in the shadows in the back of his large vehicle. We get to talking about all sorts of things. I ask him, what do you find different about Toronto now from when you first moved here. He tells me he is Austrian and moved here 40 years ago. And the problem in the last twenty years is that there are too many visible minorities that over-running 'normal' Torontonians

Looking past the obvious irony and hilarious oversight of this comment, I proceed to explore the notion of Toronto being over-run by visible minorities with my Austrian cab driver. "The problem," he maintains, "is that all these immigrants and refugees come from third world countries and they don't like whites. They don't do business with whites, they don't speak our language (remember, he's Austrian), and they bring their ways with them." I offer the man an out, suggesting, "Do you think the government needs to play a bigger role in helping integrate new immigrants into the social fabric of Canada (whatever that might be) or matching their immigration policy to niche requirements in Canada to avoid these clashes?" He cuts me off to say, "Absolutely not. There's no need for any of that nonsense when you have perfectly good white people in Eastern Europe waiting to come to Canada who already share the same culture."

It became clear to me at this point that raising the issue of First Nations would pay little dividends to this otherwise stirring debate. I tried instead to point to the fact that many Eastern Europeans are in fact seeking entry to the EU and end up in Germany rather than traversing the Atlantic, away from their homeland and familiar connections. He concedes that this is true, but this is also why we need to step up the effort in attracting this kind of immigrant - a white immigrant - and there-in lies the problem with our immigration policy.

Continuing on his monologue as to why Canada needs to be white, he explains to me, looking through the rear-view mirror. (and this is verbatim!) "My friend, I am not concerned for me. I am approaching retirement, I have my own businesses, what they do doesn't concern me. But I worry about young white men like yourself, because these people only hire people who look like them."

At this point, I resign myself to the possibility that I may be being driven by a madman or a Ku Klux Klan Dragan master. I pull out my cellphone, sending a quick note to my wife and Adam, explaining that if they don't hear from me in the next hour or so, to be alarmed.

Realizing that it is probably too dark to see me clearly and that I have a bit of an East Coast accent in any case, I proceed. I mentioned to him that Canada actually had a white-only immigration policy straight into the 1970s and that coloureds tended only to come on temporary work visas. I also added that Chinese and Indians were among the early settlers of Western Canada, building the national infrastructure (railway) that helped Canada in its colonial endeavours with the 'savage' and so-called "Indians" of the west. I mentioned that the government, under Pierre Trudeau, made a concerted effort to CHANGE this immigration policy because it was deemed to be unjust.

He then told me this is why he has always been an adamant Conservative supporter. HOWEVER, he can no longer support the Conservatives, because Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave 10 million dollars to that 'liar and terrorist, Maher Arar' who is in cahoots with the Syrian government. "Why," he exclaims, "would the Syrians torture one of their own?" I explain that though there may be terrorist cells in Syria, that doesn't mean that the government of Syria is a terrorist agency. Furthermore, that terrorist cells in Syria may likely be targeting the SYRIAN government as opposed to the Canadian or American government. He tells me I am naive, and corrects me by saying that indeed "ALL" Syrians are terrorists, and he does not know who to vote for in this coming election because Harper sold out to the terrorists.

At this point, we pull into my parents place. We both get out of the cab, the cabbie coming round to shake my hand. I give him a generous tip, and I take his hand in my own, look him directly in the eyes, and say, "Thanks for a stirring and informative conversation." The awful realization that I am, in fact, NOT a white guy from Halifax but am instead a Trinidadian Indian who is anything BUT white in complexion sinks in. HE turns 5 extra shades of white and can't speak. He stutters, never taking his eyes off my face, stammering 'your welcome' and confusedly gets into his car and drives off.

I wrote an article a few weeks prior to this (that was rejected by all places I sent it to!) exploring the issue of benign racism and the rapidly changing ethnic make-up of Canada which is why I was so interested in continuing this dialogue with my Austrian teacher as long as it would go. In it, I argued that many Caucasian Canadians feel, within themselves, that the ethnic composition of Canada is changing for the worse, but are too afraid/ashamed to vocalize this for fear of being seen as racist. Indeed, they may or may not be racist. But I maintain that it is both healthy and necessary to engage in this discourse if we are to ever come to terms with ourselves in a pluralistic society. Some friends who are tagged in this note added the very potent note that perhaps liberal-pluralism is enough and that we need not go any further. Perhaps, perhaps not, I don't really know. But I thought I would tell the tale, for what it is worth. Hope those of you who made it this far enjoyed it!

Guest Blogger Raj Dubay On You Are What You Think You Are...

Photo copyright of Meady's Musings Production 2007. Photo of dam Petrotrin, Point Ligoure, Point Fortin, Trinidad.

Imagine it, feel it, experience it, believe it, live it and yes, you will have it. Whatever you constantly focus on and think about, will eventually come to pass in your daily life. Therefore, choose your thoughts carefully.

Focus on positive, you will attract positive into your life, focus on negative and yes you will attract negative into your life.

One of the keys, is to always have good wishes for everyone you come into contact with. Even those who you may not always get along with.

By having good wishes for others, good wishes will also come into your own life. This is a natural law, it is the way things operate. Always seek to bring out the goodness in those who you come across.

Be good, do good and goodness will follow you.

As Mother Theresa has said, “It is better to be FOR good than against evil”. Always be FOR a cause, never against.

We all have problems, and as long as we continue to live we will always be faced with problems.

How we choose to bear these problems, is what matters most. Do we bear them with a smile, or do we bare them by being in a state of constant frustration?

When last have you paid a compliment to someone, especially someone close to you who needs to hear it the most?

Do it today, pay this compliment today.

Please, do not take people for granted; cherish every moment you have with your loved ones.

Be grateful, give thanks everyday for what you have, even give thanks for what you don’t have, because there is a reason for it and also give thanks for what you might have in the future.

It is in giving thanks and showing gratitude that we are transformed everyday and through which we can focus on the positive and do everyday what matters to us most.


Raj Dubay works as a Motivational Speaker and Marketing and Business Consultant in Trinidad.
You can reach Raj at 868-762-4433 or send him an email: rajaduba@hotmail.com

Magic! And the Launch of My Newest Blog-Books and Films Corner

Hey everybody my raw story is about complete but I'll let you know if I have any more drastic changes in the things I eat. Until then I plan to soon talk about reincarnation some more as I've done a lot of reading on that in recent months and it's on my mind...

While I frame those posts...thought I'd post this fun little video someone sent me to my superwall on facebook. Hope you enjoy! And you can do Magic! You can have anything that you desire or once you frame your intent like the people on Intent.com! Till I write again I hope you enjoy the blast from the past classic tune...You Can Do Magic! by the band America and take some time to drop by the corner the Books and Films Corner that is! 'You can do magic!You can have anything that you desire...'

At the Crossroads of Being Raw...What Lies Ahead?

This is a view of Grande Riverie, Trinidad where I went on a nature retreat about a month ago...I'm using it to show my road ahead...
Photos by Meady's Musings Production Copyright 2008

Here I am 3 weeks raw complete! With what I thought would have been a truly impossible feat! Here I am! Now here's the thing...I've decided to continue to be raw! I didn't think it would be so easy far less the food would be so yum so tasty! But before I get hasty...I'm gonna do it kinda kinda so like if I feel to munch on something really really then so it shall be once it's not a member of my sentient family! And once I don't abuse it a plenty!

I've eaten a run of cooked and 'normal' food today to see but it seems it hasn't been agreeing with me! So on fruits and veges I will continue to gnaw! Therefore below is my dinner of tonight and I ate it to my heart's delight!



The things I've been missing are my tea (non herbal)and with milk (evaporated) in it. And the occasional milky dish like warm oatmeal with milk or sweet rice (kheer). In terms of carbs I feel I more miss pasta...not so much rice or flour. I thought potato but I don't know after the reaction it had in my stomach...the reaction food has been having is similar sounding to me to what people who eat meat and stuff tell me they have when they first go back to meat. And I know some who has as a result never went back!:) I don't know how raw is good or if we were meant to be and live this way and I don't think I can be fully raw and exercise frequently too after my normal day's things...but the next experiment will be to see how I can incorporate forms of exercise and raw or well kinda raw...

Of course I also love chocolate as I've kept saying and I also like ice cream and I find it nice especially when it is made as natural as possible and with the least amount of sugar possible. So today after my raw meal I've had one tablespoon of Nutella flavoured gelato (italian ice cream) and perhaps the same rule applies with European ice cream versus North American and so the gelato is probably less packed with sugar than leading North American brands. I'm also looking forward to the European chocolate that a friend is bringing for me from abroad soon...that is made from cocoa beans from Gran Couva, Trinidad which is just about 20 minutes from my home but made in France (I think). Below see the pic of the chocolate I'm hopefully soon having...pic courtesy of the website for gourmet chocolate http://www.chocolategourmet.co.uk and with below description:

'This bar is made from the finest Trinitario beans. Gran Couva is an exceptional chocolate, long roasted. The beans are from one Trinidad estate and only a limited quantity of each vintage is available. Making this a rare chocolate it has a smooth lasting taste, the initial roasted nuts and spice subdues itself progressively.'