I’m sitting at Kollaboration – San Francisco right now with my friends Veronica Porras and John Chung. It’s a great show.
We’re sitting in the back row of a big theatre called the Palace of Fine Arts. It’s funny to – I just put my phone down to clap – look down and see all the back-lighting of cell phones.
I don’t think it’s rude any more. Think about it. You watch TV and text or surf Facebook. (Does anyone “surf” any more? Guess the same people who use “multimedia.” What happened to those words?)
So, in this case, we’re watching a stage instead of a screen. As long a I laugh and clap, it should be cool. I’m engaged.
As a parallel situation, the next time I’m on my phone when you an I grab coffee, realize that your competition is not my phone. It’s the REST OF THE WORLD that’s available on my phone.
Trust me. If we’re in a deep conversation or you’re telling KE something really important, I won’t answer my phone. You have my undivided attention. But if you’re just talkin’ that blah-blah-blah, don’t blame me for tuning out. Step it up and be more compelling. Bring your A-Game, son.
Back to the show.
April 11th, 2010
Ever wonder how I got started in standup? Well, it’s told here in its entirety for the 1st time:
http://tinyurl.com/yegvalq
This enterprising guy by the name of Daniel Tweedall started a site that allows our generation to tell its most legendary stories to the world.
I love how he describes the site – a grand social experiment. Just sounds cool, huh?
Check it out – and you could win $5,000 if you weave a great yarn.
But of course, you gotta top mine. Good luck. = )
April 9th, 2010
Welcome to my new friends up in the Bay! You’ve been a great audience so far – who’d-a-thunk a corporate headquarters could be this fun?
I don’t normally write posts directed at one group of folks but I wanted to give you sort of a “landing page” as you visit, since I told you to at the end of my presentation, “Randomly Selected.”
Oh, and to push that GQ Rihanna cover a little lower. Ha. See what I mean w/ the context of jokes? Some things will play in one environment and not in an other. = )
There are actually 3 more points that I didn’t make in the 10 am presentation that I wish I would’ve and will endeavor to do for the 4 pm. And that’s not because I think people got the wrong message. I fully believe that people got the right one. But it’s important to underline/phrase more memorably:
- Re 51/99: It’s true, in my own experience, that stereotypes are 51% true, i.e., sure, they’re a trend within a group but shouldn’t be broadly applied to all individuals within that group. But remember – the 51% thing is my own experience and POV. It need not be yours. It’s not the Creative License concept I discussed to say whatever you want. Sure, I’ll be your “Indian friend,” when you tell Indian jokes. But not every Indian will be. = )
- Re telling jokes in the workplace: This kind of ties in with the 1st point. The vast majority of the jokes today worked – much to my surprise, as I indicated, because some of them were supposed to bomb to illustrate a point – and they didn’t. (Well, a little more so in the 7 am. Ha.) Just realize that I didn’t bat 1.000. I still had some misses. Even with a lot of setup, a joke can tank. As such, “Don’t Try This at Work.” As Richard Pryor said, when doing stereotypes, “you’re playing with fire.” Just see what happened to Kramer. Tho not a standup, he’s certainly a comedian – a seasoned comedic actor. If he can go down in flames (It IS fire), imagine what can happen to you. Leave it to the professionals. Having said that, hey, start practicing on your personal time. We need to laugh more and lighten up. Just be careful at work.
- Re PC going too far: I wouldn’t want people to think that the final message is that PC has gone too far and that’s it. Political Correctness HAS gone too far and it’s very annoying. But that’s only the symptom. The underlying problem is that we are letting the WORDS take precedence over the IDEAS. PC’s true problem is that it’s ironically preventing honest debate. People feel like they’re navigating a landmine when talking about anything related to diversity so they just check out on it and don’t discuss it at all. This only feeds Group Think (the slide about The Emperor’s New Clothes). So, but all means, keep this in mind… deepen and elevate above words to focus on ideas.
Thanks!
April 9th, 2010
“ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.”
I’m warning you now that this is the most confusing and random blog post of all time. It’s about as close as you can get to a snapshot of 2 minutes of my brain.
Wikipedia, according to Wikipedia (a search I thought would make my computer spontaneously combust), is “a free,[4] web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project.”
So, it’s basically an encyclopedia written by the people for the people.
Then, why is something written by the familiar US so much harder to understand than something written by the proverbial THEM?
I wanted to look something up because I’m a big LOST fan. I won’t give anything away in case you’re behind. (And by that I mean even those of you who’ve never seen an episode. I don’t consider you non-fans. You’ll become a believer eventually. Please do, because I’ve dichotomized my friend list.)
So, a “real” friend of mine theorized that one of the big players may be like, “You know in mythology I don’t think that the keeper of the undrworld was consideered bad per se. Just the badass that could keep everything in check.”
I’ve always been fascinated by people (or things… let’s just say “nouns)…
I’ve always been fascinated by nouns who were neither good nor evil. Maybe that’s why my favorite Transformer was Skyfire. Or Jetfire, depending upon the episode. (And I loved how there was even ambiguity in his name. Kind of like the color gray. Or is it “grey”? Q.E.D.)
Alright, so I’m going to step into some rather large topics I probably don’t know well enough to really discuss. So, take this with a huge grain of salt… and pepper, to continue the theme.
Perhaps this is why I like Hinduism. See, in Christianity, God is Good. He’s the standard of Good. In Hinduism, God is beyond Good and Evil. He’s above it all. Or maybe we just like not answering questions. We like being in the middle on everything. After all, like I say in my act, most Hindus are Indian… and we’re not black or white. We’re brown – we’re the new Gray.
(Grey?)
Hinduism isn’t theistic (God is above us) or pantheistic (God is within us) – it’s panentheistic. That’s right, WordPress – red-line that word. We made it up to convey that God is both above us and within us.
I think we all have the choice to be good and evil… and while both biology (our DNA) and sociology (“geography is destiny,” “victim of circumstance,” etc.) play big roles, I think it’s God/Fate/Luck/The Plan/The Way/Destiny that really determine what’s up… and what’s going down.
When I’m trying to solve the mysteries of life, I turn not to the Gita/Bible/Koran/Torah but rather to Hollywood. (So, the Torah).
“You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain… and an athlete… and a basket case… and a princess… and a criminal… Does that answer your question?”
Yes, it does, John Hughes. And I think that, while we’re predisposed to becoming one of these archetypes, we’re all capable of becoming any of them… in that way, we’re all capable of great good and great evil, as has been demonstrated by several experiments (tho the results are not universally agreed upon). That rightfully scares a lot of people.
ANYway, I’m drawn to that which is beyond… that shatters our paradigms or things that should be… a paradox… irony…
So, I Googled “You know in mythology I don’t think that the keeper of the undrworld was consideered bad per se. Just the badass that could keep everything in check.” And of course, Google knew.
Although the top entries are generally all Wikipedia. Really, Google? Wikipedia is like the kid you copy off of for all the answers.
So, the answer is Hades. He’s the dude. Not sure if you’re supposed to capitalize “He” when referring to Him/him. I mean, Hades is a God but he hangs out in Hell. Or Hell-Adjacent. Talk about a crappy assignment. This is like a Navy Seal in Iraq who writes parking tickets.
Now, here’s the first paragraph of the Hades entry:
“Hades (Άδης or Ἀΐδας; from Greek ᾍδης, Hadēs, originally Ἅιδης, Haidēs or Άΐδης, Aidēs, meaning “the unseen”[1][2]) refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive ᾍδου, Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: “[the house/dominion] of Hades”. Eventually, the nominative, too, came to designate the abode of the dead.”
WTF?! And you thought this blog was hard to comprehend. (I think a scarier river than Styx is “Rajiv’s Stream of Consciousness.” Clearly, you’re in Hell reading this because it’s painful and goes on forever.)
My point (if I have one) is that I’m mystified by nouns that are both or neither Good and Evil… those things that fall in the middle… Charon, that row boat captain of sorts in the river Styx in Dante’s Inferno.
(Btw, who the “hell” did Dante think he was, anyway? What in the world gave him the right to profess that he knew that much about Hell and furthermore to just place people in whichever circle he wanted? That’s power. He was the last person in history you’d want to have beef with. I mean, you like eat the last piece of cake at his party and then you’re relegated to being perennially chased by a rabid pack of dogs. The only thing I never understood is why he picked Virgil, the poet, to be his guide? He’s a poet. Since when are drama fags bodyguards?)
Maybe a better example is Glenda, the Good Witch of the North. Or Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad.
Maybe not that one so much. But I figured putting her picture at the top (and she’s hotter than Hell) might drive readership. Hopefully, that doesn’t make me a Rude Boy.
April 1st, 2010
Just like the post below is written for my friend Nancy’s blog, this one is written for my friend Menx’s. Who is Menx? Well, that’s answered here. I mostly updated an old post from this site and placed it on hers. And now I’m calling attention to that new post that is really an old post. Confused? Well, enjoy, anyway.
—
Hello, World! That’s the thing you’re supposed to write as your first message in any new medium. At least, that’s what my programming friends tell me. And apparently I’ve been programmed.
That’s OK, because I live in an area that’s “famous because we program… worldwide, let ‘em recognize from Long Beach to Rosecranz…” Did Tupac know that, according to Google Maps, the distance from Long Beach to Rosecranz is only 18.6 miles? Hardly “worldwide.”
Unless he meant that we’re “famous because we program_worldwide.” Yeah, that makes more sense, I guess. Without misplaced modifiers, I wouldn’t have a comedy career.
Well, program is what we do from right here in Los Angeles. When I went into comedy full-time in October 2006, I started blogging everyday. In fact, my website STILL has the section I so cleverly named “ON 2 RAJ.” It was 731 Days in the Life of a Comedian, which reflects the two years I was giving myself to “make it.”
Too bad there were several problems with this:
1.) What is “making it,” anyway?
2.) Man, is it really this hard to blog everyday?
3.) “Is this thing on?” Was anyone reading it (besides my parents)?
But recently, a few friends got in-touch and asked me to provide content for their publications/sites. The illustrious and glorious Menx is one of them.
Since she told me she reactivated her Facebook account just to talk to me (Am I the only one? Is that what she told YOU, too?), I dedicate my very first blog post to her and how I met her. The rest of this is appropriated and updated (note all the parentheses) from my original post written on November 17, 2005.
—–
I was in the midst of a nationwide (if not worldwide) tour with Russell Peters. As my roommate, comedian Hasan Minhaj, now points out, a historic run that would help establish Russell as one of the (if not THE) biggest comics in the world.
Boston. 5 am. I stayed with a friend of mine from college. Her boyfriend (now husband) woke up at 5 am to take me to the airport – yep, he’s a keeper (and apparently he is). He had to drive like a madman to get me there on-time. I fell asleep on the plane and then woke up to change planes in Newark. This was the itinerary from hell. I called my brother who lives in New York since, while I couldn’t see him, I knew he was somewhere on that island across the Hudson. It is the Hudson that separates Jersey from Manhattan, right? No, wait, it’s the East River. I’m supposed to have a good sense of geography but I’m blanking out.
ANYway, I slept again and woke up in DC. Clayton, Russell’s brother and manager, graciously booked me a hotel room at the Marriot in Georgetown. What a guy – that was much-needed. I had some friends I could’ve looked up on Capitol Hill, as I had interned in Rep. Steve Chabot’s office in 1999 – post-Monica. But I was exhausted. Plus, it was Veteran’s Day and so they weren’t working. Well, they’re never working – what I mean is they weren’t there.
I had run out of business cards in Boston and so wanted to have some more printed but that was going to be a huge ordeal. So, I didn’t do that but rather wrote the content for the February Home Made Simple newsletter (carryover from my Procter & Gamble days) and rehearsed my act for the night, since I was doing a half-hour. Plus, while I of course took Boston very seriously, that was 1500 people in a 2700-seater, whereas this was a sold-out 1800, I believe.
I met Russell and Clayton at their hotel. I got in a cab to find out that their hotel was 2 blocks away. I won’t tell you what I paid, but it came to $4/block. What a waste. But them’s the rules. Rode in the limo to the Warner Theatre. Once again, the promoters and Clayton were very cool about tix, so I hooked up an old girlfriend (and her husband – that’s wild, huh?!) and two other friends from Cincinnati who happened to be in-town.
The show was good – again, we had to work hard, and it was only Russell and I this time. I did 31 minutes and then went to intermission. Brought ‘em back and did another 5 minutes and then brought up Russell for 50 minutes. I really enjoyed them as much as I did Boston – they were more responsive and “yell-y,” as Russell said, but they were just as fun. (Boy, looking back, was I not ready to do a half-hour in front of such a large crowd. They must’ve really been nice.) Really had a great time both nights. It was a great feeling to do 35 minutes in front of 1800 people. Oh, I wrote “1800″ above. You have to increase it every time. It was really great to do 40 minutes in front of 2000 people. A friend of mine taught me to always do that – exaggerate. Same friend who told me about that movie, Thirteen Monkeys.
I also want to give a shout-out to Vinoda, the promoter of the DC show. He was there when Russell was just coming up and is a really great guy. Azhar Usman had connected me with him originally to try to do a show. Most promoters are douchebags. They are all about image and style over substance. They don’t really know what they’re doing and are all about showing up at the clubs with their femininas and their bling-bling. Not this guy. He’s polite, down-to-earth, and smart as hell- my boy is enrolled in an Ivy League MBA/JD program! I wish you the best, my man! (Vinoda Basnayake is now one of Jay Sean’s US managers. Yeah, he’s doing OK.)
The night got really interesting after the show. I had another 6:something flight so I convinced Russell that he had to stay up all night with me.
Here’s an interesting Rajiv factoid: I’ve never stayed up for 24 consecutive hours. (Still true.) This goes back to my sense of supersleep. I’ve stayed up all night, but I will always doze off for a few minutes at some point or sleep early the next morning. I never even did it for school – at some point when the birds are chirping and the sun is rising, that term paper just doesn’t seem as important. I’m also not much of a procrastinator – I always had at least enough discipline to not put mysef in that situation.
“I’m a dork” is a shorter version of that paragraph.
So, anyway, the night became the Quest for Ahmed Ahmed. Or the “Egyptian Magician” – remember that skit by the Jerky Boys? He was really a disappearing act. Oh, I don’t think I told you who he is. Here’s his website. I had met him – oh, yes, I told you who he is – see previous post “So, this Indian and this Pakistani walk onto campus and…” So, read that one real quick and come back. (You don’t really have to (obviously). My website contains more flashbacks than LOST.)
Waiting…
oK, so I was trying to arrange a meeting. That was the theme of the night. There was an official After Party but Russell and Clayton were in a chill mood so we went to this restaurant. I should remember the name of it – it’s some glorified pub at which every President since Lincoln has dined. Anyway, we had a nice time there. We then decided to pay a quick visit to the After Party while I got in-touch w/ Ahmed. It was difficult to track him down – I know he wanted to meet b/c he had called me on Tuesday of last week to let me know they were moving his After Party from a place called 360 to a place called Panache. We got to Panache, which was pretty packed. Man, were there a lot of Muslims in there. Or a lot of Arabs. Not to be offensive but I don’t know the difference. (A nice guy wrote in to my site and clarified. So, SOME people read it.) What’s hysterical is that in his stand-up, Ahmed talked about the fact that there are differences b/w Muslims and Arabs, but he didn’t say what it was! Let’s Google it – this website (now defunct) seems to explain some of the differences. It seems that the major difference is that “Arab” refers more to a region, whereas “Muslim” refers more to the religion of Islam. Anyone want to comment on this?
We went to Pearl, another club, before giving up. I did connect Ahmed and Russell by phone, so I can add that notch to my 29-waist belt (still 29).
We did meet up w/ a fascinating figure named Mehreen. She was standing outside Odeon Cafe, the site of the official after party, wearing a pashmina shawl – did I spell that right? Every now and then, you meet someone like Mehreen who is an enigma. She is the definition of a Connector, as defined by Malcolm Gladwell in his groundbreaking book, The Tipping Point. (I just read this amazing book, btw – it really does change the way you look at the world, as does Freakonomics.) She has over 500 friends on Friendster. (OMG – Friendster!) That’s insane. And I’d write more about her but she already covered us in her blog. Check it out! You might have to scroll down to Saturday, November, 12, 2005,” find the picture of Russell, and start reading.
We then dropped off my Cincinnati friends at their car. I had a sneaking suspicion that I should walk them to their car like a gentleman, but it was late – probably all the more reason to do so, but hey. Not two minutes later, they called and said their car was locked in the garage in which they parked. So, Russell, Vinoda, and I picked them back up and they came back to my hotel room. No, it’s not like that! 
I had to pack up in 15 minutes and leave to catch my shuttle to the airport – I had indeed kept everyone out late and it was 4 am. They slept in the hotel room while I caught my shuttle. I met a really cool girl named Ashley, who was surprised that I was from Cincinnati. She thought I was from the coasts. She didn’t say which one, but I’m getting that a lot these days. (We ended up staying in-touch for quite a while. Wish this had more of a bowm-chicka-bowm-bowm ending. Kind of like years later when I scooped this really attractive girl at The Grove in LA and gave her a ride to her car. She later came to shows, etc. Maybe that’s my thing. Instead of nailing all these women, my web series is some guy who just gets into all of these platonic relationships. Yeah, not as exciting. Funny, maybe, tho?)
I’m not sure where to end this post (No kidding!) since I stayed up all night, so now’s as good a place as any.
—–
Wow. What a trip down memory lane. Well, I’ll hopefully find it in myself to contribute regularly and tell you what’s going on in the life of an LA-based standup comic who’s still trying to make it… and is doing so with a little help from this friends.
Hopefully, I haven’t scared anyone off with my length. Wouldn’t be the 1st time. Ha.
—
Well, that’s that.
March 25th, 2010
I was asked by my friend, Nancy Taylor, to write for her site, thisgeneration.net. I love the fact that it’s not a .com but a .net because it looks like it reads Generation Next. The next month’s focus is “The Biggest Joke in Life.” Here’s my entry.
—–
“Why?” is the eternal question. Isn’t it?
I suppose I shouldn’t ask a question about a question. (That reminds me of my favorite Dear Abby entry ever. (Not that I have a ton.) A “Tony” asked, “Why do Jews always answer a question with another question?” She replied, “How else should they answer?”)
It must be the most ubiquitous query ever. Since the dawn of time, man has wondered it both aloud and in silence.
It has an existential, metaphysical, and ethereal quality to it. I don’t really know the definitions of those words, but I have a feeling you know what I mean.
Many the philosophy class exam has contained only the simple question, “Why?” My two favorite responses are, “Why not?” and “Because.” Hey, return vagueness with opaqueness. Or, as I say… if you can’t impress, amuse.
It’s also a great “topic” to explore in comedy. Louis CK did it masterfully. [The whole thing's hilarious but cue to 7:25 for this specific part.]
To me, good comedy talks about WHAT, WHO, WHEN, & WHERE and very good comedy talks about HOW. But great comedy talks about WHY.
WHY are things they way they are? We as comedians have the chance to offer up hypotheses on any subject we choose. The things we choose to discuss tell audiences a lot about what’s going on in the world, since we’re essentially society’s zeitgeist capturers. It also tells them what’s going on inside of us, as standup is perhaps the most public of all self-discovery journeys.
My favorite is probably Chris Rock’s theory that the reason marijuana is illegal is because it’s not owned by the white man. I don’t know if it’s true but it’s certainly compelling. That’s why Rock is the best to ever do it… he makes you laugh while you’re in the room and think on the way home.
His comedy also dichotomizes, another trait of legendary standup. He breaks down the difference between “rich” and “wealth.” (The parallel misalignment of employing an adjective and a noun always bothered me, though.)
Recently, when I had a “Why?” question for my Mom, she suggested I asked Punditji (the priest/minister of Hinduism). She then paused and said, “Or Google.” I wonder how holy man feel about being replaced by a search engine.
So, I typed “Why” into Google and I got no further because I was astounded by the suggestions.
Google Why
OK, the first one is amusing…
“Why Can’t I Own a Canadian?” This one was a question posed to Dr. Laura Schlessinger by a listener in an open letter when she cited Biblical reasons for being against homosexuality. He pointed out the Bible allowed for keeping slaves.
“Why is the sky blue?” and “Why did the chicken cross the road?” are legitimate. Those are one of the most common questions (the answer is “scattering”) and one of the most common riddles, respectively.
However, it breaks down after that. I find it terrifying that, out of the 10 lines in the drop-down menu, 2 are about poop. 3 are about animals (dogs, cats, and chickens). 3 are about colors (green, blue, and the Facebook one). The third one is about a Tyler Perry movie. And the last one is a misspelling. How do you spell “Why” wrong?
At least one is now gone from this list since the last time I searched… “Why does my vag smell?” That was beyond disgusting. I think the fact that she (assuming a “she”) referred to it as a “vag” instead of a “vagina” is pretty much her answer. Only a skank would call it that.
So, reducing the most important question of all time to a series of mundanities and minutiae via the most revered and trusted source in the known Universe is, to me, The Biggest Joke in Life.
March 24th, 2010
Fatbook.
That’s what a friend of mine recently called Facebook due to all of the now-overweight people from high school who are sending her requests.
In December, my friend Casey sent me an article about how Facebook is ruining our memories because it’s allowing us to peer too heavily into the lives of people we associate w/ our pasts. Click on that link – it’s worth reading.
When I read Back to the Future (which is actually a pretty darned good book), it was interesting to read Doc Brown talking about how the past can be changed because of events in the present and future. I agree – maybe it’s not the actual past but it’s the perception of it and that’s what matters.
Or maybe the past itself can change. Watching LOST this season will make you think that.
Anyway, here was my (somewhat edited) response to him… and hopefully my high school friends’ perception of me isn’t changed for the worse… I’m still the same guy. (Hope that’s a good thing.)
—
this was interesting. and this time, my delay is appropriate – it probably feels like you sent this email in high school.
tho, since i know since you’re a year older than i, that’s not likely. 1994 was the 1st year email was used in a widespread sort of fashion. at least in my experience.
which brings me to an interesting point. we were always told that we’d never see our high school friends again – or very few of them, at any rate. the internet changed all of that, specifically in 1994, the year i graduated high school, and to me a significant year for many reasons.
indeed, i remember the most exciting time of my life as being fall semester of freshman year. not only was i quickly making all of these college friends, each week brought several electronic messages from friends w/ whom i really wanted to keep in-touch. i looked fwd to this flurry of missives almost as much as i did meeting new people in class or at parties. it was a way to stay connected w/ the past. i, for one, have very much been able to keep the past and future (present) separate.
i just threw our 15-year reunion and was quite disappointed. (and to anyone who attended, i certainly don’t mean that i didn’t like seeing YOU – i had several very good conversations and really enjoyed speaking to many people there.) it was just quite a contrast from the 5- and 10-. some people wondered why we even did a 15. most schools don’t. but a lot of people were mad they didn’t find out about the 10. “but when is it?” despite the fact that we advertised on TV, radio, and in print… sent it out on myspace (then more of the rage)… and emailed and called people and sent out mailers.
besides, their class president is one of the most findable in the known universe. and the fact that anyone SHOULD have been able to add 94 and 10 and get 04. “but when is it?” that’s public education for you.
so, when we had a very low turnout for the 15 (including many of the same folks who complained about missing the 10), i think i finally resolved to throw the 20, but not worry so much as to whether people come. the point is that some people did show up. and it was worth it for those of us who took it for what it was – just seeing people and what they’re up to. so, now when i think of that night, i’m not so concerned w/ the people who didn’t make it but rather enjoy remembering the good times i had.
i think facebook gives folks an option of looking people up and staying connected. it’s neat. there’s no rule – or even etiquette – that states you must accept people’s requests.
i think a lot of people run away from their high school memories b/c they were mostly bad. this is b/c most people are losers and were even bigger losers in high school. i see it all the time in hollywood. just this past week, someone was talking about wanting to make it just to “show all those dicks back home.” i’m so sure. what a terrible reason to do anything.
personally, i don’t want to make it to show people that i’m better than they are. i’m GOING to make it BECAUSE i’m better than they are. (this calls for the much-desired sarcasm font.)
if you’re secure, and had a good upbringing and good experiences, connecting w/ people – both old and new – should be a delight.
if it’s not, you’re probably a douche-b and you should get that checked out.
February 15th, 2010
When I was at P&G, this was hanging on my wall. Not sure from whence it came but it’s still one of my 5 favorite quotes. It’s inscribed on the tomb of an Anglican bishop in Westminster Abbey.
—
When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change. So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, but it too seemed unmovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for only changing my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.
And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first, then by example I might have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country.
And who knows, I might have even changed the world.
—
February 14th, 2010
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