hope always arrives unexpectedly

Interesting that it always seems to work that way...that usually the ones who bring the greatest beauty, hope and possibility into our lives don't even realize they're doing it - it's just part of who they are - they inspire greatness in others without effort. To all those who are rightly scared about what the future will bring, take a moment to breathe - no matter what tomorrow brings, it's just another day. And to all my mentors, I just want you to know how sincerely grateful I am for all that you have taught/are teaching me. I don't know if I'll succeed in the monumental tasks ahead of me, but it doesn't matter - I'll either succeed in my mission to help save our world, or I'll be destroyed in the process. Either way, I won't be sitting around wishing I'd done more for my people - and I won't have the next generation grow up to learn that I stood by and did nothing...

There are many difficult tasks ahead of us, but by coming to the table and sharing our thoughts openly as *equals* - we can become unstoppable. Peace and freedom to everyone out there; remember that even if you can't see them, there are always those who work tirelessly to honor you.

Much loneliness, but also much love;
-Aya

frustratingly slow, but still swimming

When standed at sea on an old busted ship, the overwhelming majority of people are content to keep frantically patching and plugging holes. They do so with the hope that they won't ever see a day when the holes are showing up faster than they can patch them, figuring that's the best they can do, and it's worked ok for them so far. But there are a few who recognize the sad fact that this method won't work forever, and who have paid attention closely enough to see that there's another ship out on the horizon - it's made of much stronger material, doesn't have any visible holes, and is big enough to hold a thousand of the ships they're standing on.

For those willing to throw their busted ship away and undertake the fearsome and dangerous swim, they'll find that this ship is not only big enough to hold them and all their friends on the busted ship, and sturdy enough to last a thousand years, but that it's got enough food to hold them all until they find land. And yet even among these noble few I still feel alone. Because while we're swimming together and they're thinking of how great it will be to finally rest once we reach land, I have only one thought on my mind: I can't wait to reach land so I can continue working on the spacecraft that will make ships obsolete - and give me the power to go looking for every ship - so I can save and protect everyone - and then blast off into space without credit or reward, onward to see what the next planet has in store for me.

I'm never able to make progress as fast as I hope to, but I swear that I'm working as hard as my life will let me to honor and serve you all.

"Ad astra per aspera"

much love to everyone on this big rock, wether you get along with each other or not :)

-Aya

Protecting the future

And so...whether you're someone with lots of power and influence or someone who feels helpless and crushed, it still comes down to a very simple concept: there are great numbers of us who understand that our hope for the future must outweigh our fears of the present. No matter what dire circumstances we find ourselves in, we must press onward with the constant knowledge that our legacy to our children will only be as good as the work we do. And only through cooperation will we be able to build the kind of future they deserve to inherit.

yes we are

So a new year begins and all my work and study begins to pay off; slowly but surely I am making progress. Managed to begin the first phase of my effort to repair and bring honor to state government on the homefront; I at least want to tip the scales in favor of those with common sense! In looking at the situation it seems part of the reason ya'll pay such high taxes is because someone with no knowledge of software and business processes gets to be in charge of the checkbook, and they walk into a vendor's sales pitch going "I need to buy something that does X." Well of course the person making the sale has "exactly what you need"; they kind of have a vested interest in that don't they ?-> But don't get me wrong though - I've come to understand that open-source can't solve it alone, and neither can proprietary stuff. The answer, as with most things, lies somewhere in the grey area and requires some (say it with me...) C-O-O-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N! We have to resist being told that we must choose between two extremes, because the really far thinkers have been the one's capable of saying "NO...it's both and it's neither at the same time."

The times I've made the most astounding progress and amazed even myself are the times when I've quit worrying about what is "possible" or "feasible", and worried only about what I must do to give the perfect solution to those I serve. I see I've actually got a couple of people following which is just a tad exciting for me; definitely check out Bettina's group "Not Possible IRL" - those folks have some big ideas that are very much along the lines of what brought me into Second Life. The reasoning is as follows: If those in the real world insist on staying ignorant; if they don't want me bringing all the beautiful solutions I would implement into their world, well then I'll just have to drag them kicking and screaming into my world. Then they will see the power and possibility of what a single person's desires for a better future can bring...

Just remember that anytime someone tells you something can't be done, it's generally because THEY are the ones who stand to profit from it not getting done :) Keep hopeful everyone; we're about to have the most productive year in decades - and the next generation is depending on us.

much love,
~Aya

Now is the Time

Okay so I just finished "Taking on the System" by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, and have made it the first book on my favorites list - this guy is freaking amazing and fearless! I can't claim to be very well educated about national politics or office politics, as they both make me cry with confusion, but he repeatedly brings me back to the simple feeling I've had for years but haven't been able to quite put into words - this is OUR world too. Currently, well-paid administrators with huge salaries and really fancy clothes control all the decisions about how your tax dollars are used behind closed doors in budget review meetings and policy meetings and cake-flavor-choosing meetings, but that's only because they haven't yet seen thousands of concerned citizens banging on the door, demanding that the meeting be televised for public review. Well, in case some people haven't been personally inconvenienced enough (yet) to notice, our economy is in the toilet and we now find ourselves in a situation where we MUST find a way to make due with less; to work smarter not harder. And that doesn't just mean telling the people you serve that you can't hand out as much help this year, it might also mean telling your cohorts that we don't have the leeway to blow taxpayer money on useless solutions when we already have the information and capability to solve the problem ourself with resources we already own. For example you'd think that in a time where agencies across the nation are facing massive budget cuts, there might be more pressing matters to discuss at the monthly meeting than where the Christmas dinner will be held. But this is just indicitave of a self-appointed "mini-majority" that's forgotten that every second counts; every second is time on the clock at the expense of the taxpayers. And there will come a day when the People demand accountability and transparency in government. And with the state of the US economy and the general state of things on this big rock we call Earth - that day may just be coming sooner than anyone thinks...

That's what I'z thinkin!

So I've always felt like the public sector is supposed to be the selfless and pure environment that sets the example for business, not the other way around. I always thought that Government should be the place that houses our best, brightest and most honest to accomplish the impossible, because public servants are the ones motivated by something more important than money - the desire to save their people. As it turns out, someone else seems to agree with me (to some extent anyways :) I definitely encourage you to check out "Good to Great and the Social Sectors" by Jim Collins - here's a link to an excerpt from it:

http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/articles/socialsectors.html

I'm sure you can buy it off his website/Amazon/somewhere, or they may have a copy at your local library. It's a short but great little piece; I'll have to check out the full book too. And since I'm such a sucker for inspirational quotes these days here's your helping for today (yes I know I'm sucha dork)...

"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline." -Jim Collins

Let's get to it then!! ;->

Okay so this is just my first test post. Now I can tell the whole world what I think, once I can articulate exactly what I have to say... I will say I can't wait to see the real world (RW) presidential debates tonight; maybe we'll even hear something specific!! Oh well; ttfn!