In My ‘Skine Podcast Episode 7 “Gratitude” Posted on: 06/12/10 Category: Media

I am grateful for something
It's not even tangible
I cannot even reach out and grab it
I cannot even see it
I can feel it fill up my lungs every time I breathe in
I can almost see it on cold days when I'm talking about it
On really strong days I can see it push people right over
On days I need it most it's always there for me
I can trust in it
It can stop me dead in my tracks
I don't think I can ever have too much of it
When I put up my sail, it carries me over all of the bull shit
When I turn off my light it's there for me at night
Every time I think I understand what it's doing it changes what it's doing
Every time I think I know where it's going it changes where it's going
However, I follow it constantly
Without it I know I will for surely die
It obvious I cannot live without air
But I would have died a long time ago if it wasn't for love
What did you think I was talking about

"Get up and GET M.A.D." (MAKE A DIFFERENCE) Hey Doc, and Philip... we gotta get up and make a difference... Here's a basic list of the stuff I'm grateful for...

1. Air, Food and Water-cuz' without that stuff, one, I'd be dead, and two, if I wasn't dead, I'd be hungry, which would eventually lead to my death... thus, Air, Food and Water, gotta be at the top of the grateful for list.

2. A flushing toilet-dude... I don't wanna live in a puddle of my own excrement, so flushing toilets, and running water=epic win!

3. A loving and supportive family and friends- they've always supported me, and I suppose that they're "supposed" to do that, but I know that the way things are these days, families are killing families, and people are getting crazy, so the ability for me to sit down, at the dinner table with my family and my friends and have nice, civil conversations, and be able to tell them "I Love You" and really mean it, man, that's special, and that's something to be grateful for.

4. All of my material possessions-now I know this sounds really superficial, but my material possessions do several things for me. They make my life easier, (see car, computer, iphone, etc) and they also are symbols that, I have enough money, and wealth to have said material possessions. I have a job that pays me enough so that I can buy these material possessions. That's something to be grateful for too.

5. Having found my passion at such a young age- I'm 28, and I have found the thing that I know I want to do for the rest of my life. Storytelling. Now, I'm not going to go enter that wala'au competitions at Kapiolani Park every year or anything like that, but I'm telling the story of military veterans onboard the USS Missouri. I'm teaching people about the history of the Mighty Mo, I love it, I'd do it even if they didn't pay me to do it.. I GET to go to work in the mornings, I don't HAVE to go to work... that's something to be grateful for.

Those who are less fortunate than we are, often times don't realize that they are less fortunate than we are, and live "within their means" those people are usually the most genuine, caring, fun, loving, and GIVING people... They don't know what it's like to live WITH, so they make do WITHOUT... and once they end up WITH stuff, they're super, super grateful for it... I remember once, I have some homeless dude a teri burger from like Mc Donalds, and his eyes lit up and he was ecstatic! I felt good about it, and I'm sure he did cuz he now had a teri-burger to eat. I was grateful that I was able to brighten his day, and I'm sure he was grateful that he got to eat that day. It was a win-win situation.

Thanks for posting, and inspiring those of us who watch, to BE GREAT...