Five tribal leaders from the remote South Pacific island nation of Tanna are sent to the U.S. by their supreme chief. Their mission? To bring the message of joy and peace they learned from a very special soldier during World War II – a man they called ‘Tom Navy’ – back to America. The journey is being documented by the Travel Channel in a six-part series, Meet the Natives, which premiers with back-to-back episodes at 9 and 10 p.m. E/P tomorrow night, November 29, 2009.

As a travel writer, the Travel Channel provided me with a special link to preview the first two episodes and frankly, I was blown away. Amidst much hilarity, these traditional hunters and farmers who wear grass skirts and live with no electricity or television, don layers of clothing and learn how to operate a video camera before departing for their first destination, a cattle ranch in Montana. I laughed out loud as they struggled with sleeping bags on the floor of the cabin and then again when they helped the wife cook breakfast – a first, since in Tanna, women do all the cooking. Coming from a culture that produces everything required to sustain the tribe on a daily basis, it is difficult for the men to understand why the Montana ranch contains 5,000 head of Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, yes, I have been strangely silent for a few days. I have learned that when this happens I must just “let it be” and allow the process to happen. These are times of great introspection. Sometimes, the result is an epiphany. Other times, the stillness allows me to hear the answer to a question I have been contemplating.

Since walking away from my lucrative real estate career to pursue a life of travel, photography, and writing, the way I see myself has changed significantly. During my six-month trip around the world in 2007, a friend insisted that I print up business cards that said I was a writer and photographer. Initially I resisted. Although I had been blogging for some months by then, I still didn’t see myself as a writer. Thankfully, she finally convinced me that this was a necessary step. The business cards shifted my belief about who I was – it was in print, so it must be true. Gradually, I began to tell people I was a writer whenever they asked what I did for a living. The more I said it aloud, the more real it became.

Upon returning from my around-the-world trip I began soliciting freelance writing assignments. I had some small success but soon realized I was writing about subjects that did not interest me just to get published. Simultaneously, the blog morphed from a narrowly focused travel site to Read the rest of this entry »

If we’d all treat each other the way the girls in this video did, it would be a better world.

Master Taisen Deshimaru said:

“To think is to choose to observe and comprehend, even if one is disturbed by oneself or others. Ultimately, to think means to understand, to understand primordial matter, the first thing in history.“

Master Ok-Sung An-Baron said:

“Between he who has conquered a hundred thousand men in battle and he who has conquered himself, it is the latter who is the greater victor.”

I originally read these quotes on two consecutive days. On its own, the first quote was thought provoking, but when I read the second quote Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been writing a lot lately about how we seem to have lost our way in this country; about how we value material possessions over family, friends, and belief in a higher power of our choosing. Today I was reminded that there are people who have never lost sight of what is most important in this life.

Dick Hoyt is one of these people. Soon after the birth of his son, Rick, he learned that the child had Cerebral Palsy. Doctors counseled the parents to put the child in an institution, since they were certain he would never walk or talk and would spend his days in a vegetative state. Fortunately, Dick did not listen to their advice. Instead, he raised Rick alongside the other children. When the other kids swam in the lake, Rick was supported in the water. When they traveled, Rick went too. And he responded – in a way that the doctors would have deemed impossible. Watch the inspirational story of “Team Hoyt” in the video, below.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-

Thus begins what is my all-time favorite book, A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel about the French Revolution written by Charles Dickens in 1859. Dickens described in detail the savage brutality of the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats. Yet in the midst of this horror, Dickens finds redemption, resurrection. He illustrates a great paradox: evil generates good. The novel ends as it begins, with regeneration.

I am currently re-reading A Tale of Two Cities and I am struck by the comparison between our current times in the U.S. and the time of the French Revolution. Our government has repeated many of the mistakes of Read the rest of this entry »

Occasionally I write about my desire for a kinder, gentler world; one where unconditional love and acceptance is the norm rather than the exception. On a daily basis, I try to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Something as simple as a smile can change a stranger’s day. When I perform a tiny kindness, the recipient of my action feels good and unconsciously passes that kindness on. By the end of the day there’s no telling how many smiles my action generated, how many doors were held open for strangers, how many traffic accidents were averted because a driver let someone merge into the lane in front of him.

Many of us are examining our lives and finding that they have fallen short of our expectations, our desires, our dreams. Some of us realize that we had our values screwed up. We placed importance on things that did not really matter; things like money, fame, success; rather than the things that should have mattered, like honesty, respect, compassion, love, family, and friends. And many of us, myself included, are trying to make up for lost time.

Some days I can feel the world changing. With increasing frequency, I learn of situations where people have done the right thing rather than the convenient thing or made a compassionate decision with foreknowledge that the results may not be in their best interest. The video below is just one such instance, and it is worth a watch. It inspired me and renewed my commitment to treat everyone I meet with loving kindness.

By now, most everyone in America knows that Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses with a whopping 38% of the vote. What many Americans may not realize is the extent to which the world community is watching…and hoping. Most of my readers know that a year ago I decided to quit my job and travel around the world. I did this for a number of reasons, many of which I have previously discussed on this blog. However, one of the reasons about which I have not been so forthcoming is the fact that I was totally disgusted with the United States and I thought I might find a better place to live. I was sick of our government, of politics in general, and of the corruption and dishonesty that was endemic in both. Although I fully support the concept of free speech and the accompanying rights of a free press, I believe that corruption and dishonesty pervades our media as well. Most of the time they seem more interested in scraping up the dirt on the candidates than reporting their stance on the issues. Frankly, I think everyone has a skeleton or two in the closet – I know I couldn’t stand up to the scrutiny to which the candidates are subject. Read the rest of this entry »