Greetings to all who are reading! This Week In Peace chronicles the lively adventures of the citizens of San Jose as observed by yours truly, Khalilah Peace Dancer. Fortunately for me, San Jose is a most interesting city. It is alive with art, events and controversy. It is a fun honor, a giddily exciting privilege to serve and observe in this way. Based on my interactions with people, feedback and personal experience, many organizations make it their personal, full time business to make San Jose an even better city. A city that provides everyone with liberty and equality, not just a city of tech, luxury and astronomical housing costs. One of these diligent organizations is Silicon Valley De-Bug, publisher of this column and relentless fighters for social justice. If you’re reading this, you probably already know about De-Bug. It is small group of committed souls who are deeply invested in improving our legal systems of operation. They educate the public about their rights, rousing others to action. De-Bug partners with countless people, organizations and lawmakers to bring about fair solutions. Besides all of this serious responsibility, they also help throw an awesome party.
Earlier this month Serve The People, a new local group calling to reject a Google San Jose development, hosted a Rent Party at Zapata’s Taqueria. It was a fundraiser, the proceeds benefitting those still affected by localized flooding last year. There was music, a raffle, and tacos! Yet none of those things compared to the best thing they had there. People! If you’ve ever hosted an event in San Jose, you know how hard it is to get folks to leave their homes on cold winter nights. People filled this small space near capacity, talking, collaborating and encouraging each other. Early in the festivities, it was announced that the fundraising had already been successful beyond expectations. Now it was time to celebrate! As a peace dancer, an important aspect of my work is to get parties cracking in the spirit of peace. This time I didn’t have to. Adriana Garcia, a freedom fighter/magical dancer who I am proud to call my friend, had taken up the mantle while I was busy munching juicy tacos. Dancers at this event were adventurous! They cared nothing about hearing the latest trendy tunes. They brought their best moves and made it work! Another rare element present that night was the element of song. Everyone on the dance floor sang along with gusto as DJ Cib played Michael Jackson’s timeless classic, “Billie Jean.” Singing aloud with others is one of the most organic, authentic ways in which human beings were designed to bond. As soon as we activate the power of these natural forces, we raise the vibration of harmony right where we are. Here are a few lessons that we can learn from the success of this great event:
A) Cease complaining. Begin planning. The Serve The People organization has the enormous goal of stopping Google’s plan to move to San Jose. In the face of this monumental task, they manage to remain lighthearted enough to throw a party. We can, too.
B) Music is its own reason why. Where there is music, there is the potential for fun, dance, excitement and positive action. Music is an important tool for health and healing. It’s even a part of our genetic makeup as a species. The heartbeat is the first drum. It expands from there to infinity. If this statement contains doubt for you, stop reading immediately and go listen to music.
C) Love your money. Despite its reputation as ‘the root of all evil’ money is made of pure energy like everything in life. Like everything in life, too, it grows the more we bring our loving attention to it. Invest in things, people, products and services that you love. Actively appreciating the money that we currently have will draw more funds to us.
Lastly, this truth: Life itself is alive. It is always seeking greater expression. That greater expression of life is you. It’s all of us. The more we contribute to joy, beauty, art, justice or whatever is important to us, more of the same comes to us.
It is the responsibility of each of us to grow in ways that expand life for us. What are your ways? Enjoy pondering and acting upon this personal inquiry in the weeks to come! Thanks and see you out there!
Check out more of the This Week In Peace Column:
Lessons From Black History Month: A Path To Greatness
The Light of Peace Laying Down the Weapons of War
If You Can Talk You Can Sing, If You Can Walk You Can Dance
