Boom Boom! Revolution

I have always had dreams of being a pop star. I am convinced that, given another chance at this life, I could be a household first name, you know, like Madonna or Cher. This assumes, though, that my mother would’ve been out of her “Little House on the Prairie” phase when naming me because “Mary Beth” just doesn’t quite have the singular name pop star ring. Nonetheless, pop stardom is my secret desire and has been most of my life.

However, now in my (holy crap) forties, that window has closed for me without even so much as a sliver of air to breath life into that dream. So, I settle for just listening to music, rather than creating it. I listen to all genres and love most of them. I believe the last fifteen years has produced some of the best music of our time. For all the controversy, Eminem has made some music that actually speaks to me. Going back a ways, so did Gun’s n Roses. It’d be a lie if I told you I didn’t have Neil Diamond on my iPod. Currently, Kanye intrigues me and I’m listening to him a bit. There’s also this new kid, Brett Dennen, who is a hippie soul trapped in the body of a vibrant, red headed twenty something. He produces cool folksy music and I insist that everyone I know checks him out. I am serious, I am religious about this guy, he’s pretty awesome.

Anyway, about five years ago I was driving in my car when I heard a song on the radio that knocked me out. Then, a few years later I heard another song that gave me the same reaction. Later, I found out both were done by the same artist. You might not know John Ondrasik by name, but you will undoubtedly recognize the band name under which he performs: Five For Fighting. His song 100 Years was my anthem for a while. It came out around the time my grandfather was dying (at the age of 84) and it just seemed so apropos. As he lay dying, I was wondering what Poppa was thinking about the 84 years he had spent on the planet. Had he done what he wanted? Had he accomplished enough? Was he happy with his legacy? This line of questioning, of course, brought me to this thought: Was I? Half my life down, half my life to go. Was I satisfied with how I’d used my time thus far?

I have always been a driven person with ridiculously vast and, at times, unrealistic vision. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you this is true; they will also most likely tell you that it makes them absolutely crazy. What they might be surprised to know, though, is that it makes me crazy, too. It’s a lot of pressure. And I suppose it’s because of this relentless drive I have, that the song resonated with me on a level that was nothing less than guttural. Was I doing enough? Was I using my time responsibly? It’s only 100 years. Holy crap. Time’s ticking…

So, for the last few years I have pondered those questions. That is, until I heard another John Ondrasik song called World, in which this question is posed:

“What kind of world do you want?”

(If you haven’t heard the song, or seen the video, I highly recommend taking a few minutes right now and checking it out.)

After I heard that song I found myself asking, “Are WE (capital WE) doing enough?”

And that question changed everything. I realized, this life is not so much about a vision for myself and what I can do for me, but more our collective vision for the world and what we can do to make that vision manifest.

Seriously. What kind of world do WE want? It’s a valid question. And no matter what you or I may think about the state of the world we currently have, it’s hard for me to believe someone would answer this question with: “Hey, I know! Let’s create a world of poverty, war, insolence and unfathomable inequity.” This might be a naïve opinion, and I am willing to accept that but, by and large, I genuinely believe that people want what’s good and right for themselves as well as what’s good and right for all; it’s just that sometimes the “what’s good for themselves” part gets in the way of “what’s good for all.” And then we lose sight of what it means to coexist.

“Build your army, choose your steeple…”

In the world we have created, this mode of thinking appears to be the priority. And, interestingly, it seems to have generated only more armies and more steeples fueling the belief that fighting for some sort of entitled righteousness is not only noble, but justifies imbalance and hatred.

What kind of world do YOU want? Yes, YOU. Think about it.

“Think anything.
Let’s start at the start.
Build a masterpiece.
History starts now.”

It ALL starts now. In fact, in the history of our species, there is no time other than NOW that anything has ever started. It all starts the instant we decide it should start. Why not decide it should start NOW?

“Printed on the box I see
‘ACME’s Build-a-World-To-Be’
Take a chance, grab a piece
Help me to believe it.”

What if it was just that simple? We’d get a box with some instructions, everyone does their part and voila! New Awesome World!

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a Presto Magic Kit that could move us all forward and catalyze some type of new world order? Could there be such a thing?

Ok, probably not.

But, why not try?

Thus, Boom Boom! Cards. It’s not much, but it’s a step toward something. And the beginning of what we hope will be many more items of its kind. Products that serve to move our human race forward. Forward in connection. Forward in hope. Forward in creating the world we want.

Afterall…History starts now.