“Wherever you go, there you are.”

Maddy and I ran on the beach this morning and then settled into our morning Yoga. Balancing on sand presents a unique challenge while feet attempt to grip the shifting surface. Poses such as “standing half-bow-pulling,” Ardha Dhanurasana present unique difficulties.  So I went indoors to finish the series. Later I meditated with the waves lapping in the background.  Even Sukhanasana, “easy sitting pose,” requires modification on the beach. How do we plant our seats?  Where do our hips, knees and toes goes? By the end of this month we will have our set of mods’ (modifications) ready. Until then we’ll just be n00b yogamers (Yoga + Gamer).

After Yogaming, we went on a walk toward the peer. At the foot of it we found a park dedicated to the arrival of settlers in the New World. From December 1606 to April 1607 the British ships Sarah Constant, Discovery and Godspeed traveled to Virginia where they eventually settled in Jamestown.  They initial claimed this landing in Chesapeake Bay for the Crown and King. It took them four months to travel while today we make the journey in less than a month on a single 24′ boat!  Don’t expect to see me take a tiny puddle-bucket like that in the winter. Witness me in a 35-40′ Catamaran during the Summer passage along the Southern Atlantic route.

Now colonization and race consciousness have permeated the Western mind. It is ironic that the self-reflection and criticism sourced in the Age of Enlightenment and Reason form the basis of its enemies critiques of it. Furthermore, this “love those that hateth you,” give others all of our resources” of Atheist Leftism actually source from Christianity.  Self-loathing and ignorance on display, full force. Nonetheless I make an interesting witness to this phenomenon as both an insider and outsider.

When my parents immigrated from India blatant racism and discrimination still existed in the USA. Even in my childhood as a native-born American with perfect English I was often treated as a foreigner. My preschool teacher asked me for a Green Card, the one that signifies authorized residency in the United States. In fact every war I got a new racial slur. In 1979, “GO BACK TO IRAN!” yelled at me got modified to “GO BACK TO IRAQ!” in 1991. Ten years later I got profiled while flying in May 2002.

My rich white colleague from Microsoft in Silicon Valley came to me after I told him about the airport enhanced security check and exclaimed, “You know I never believed in racism until today. You, not only an American born citizen, but an Army veteran got searched for how you look!”  To which I responded, “When the 9-11 attackers pictures were shown on TV I got worried. Starve me and skinny me up a bit and I look just like them. The question isn’t whether I was profiled, it is shouldn’t I be profiled?”

Many people get angry and upset by this basic idea. They say looks do not matter, that what is inside counts. While what is inside matters so does our appearance. Dress like a gangbanger and we’re going to get treated like one. Dress like a police officer and expect to get called to help out in a domestic violence case. Appearances matter. Would we show up to our grandmother’s funeral in lingerie? I hope not. How about a fireman’s uniform at a funeral for someone who died in a house fire? Doubt it.

We must make peace with the human condition. We often hear that “we are imperfect animals in an imperfect world.” More accurately, “We are imprecise beings trying to create a precise world.” Your consciousness, your awareness, “you,” exists consistently across all situations. However, as we visit different situations by the time we think, reason or act in them, they have already changed. This divergence forms the basis for all joy and pain in our lives. It’s like playing a game of peekaboo with ourselves. “Where am I?  HERE I AM!”

So when acting in the world, give yourself a break and everyone else too. Best do it at a distance for the time being as everyone’s has raw emotions. Remember the media are trying to control our behavior and resources. In fact the entire material world seeks to distract us like a bird doing the cartwheels of a mating dance. Take a break and do not be so harsh on the past, present, or future. It really will be alright. No one group of people is so different than the others.  The irony of Nazism is that the Nazis were people exactly like us. When we seek to punch Nazis we are in fact being Nazis!

Take a break.