June Update

It is about time for another personal update. The biggest development is that my language school is opening on the first of July. I will be happy to get back to work. I have been enjoying my isolation for the most part, but let's be honest, enough is enough. It will be good to rejoin normal life. There are talks of a second wave of the virus. However, if all the necessary precautions are taken then it shouldn't be a huge wave at all. And in fact, the impact of the virus in Thailand was only a fraction compared to other countries. People were wearing face masks in Hatyai long before a single case occurred here. It must have been a nightmare to live in areas with parts of the population protesting against wearing medical masks. 

Meanwhile, there have been other kinds of protests all around the world too. These protests were sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA. It is sad that those three words need to be said because in a normally functioning society, no such words would need to be said. It has gone over the limit if those words have to be said here and there and recently, the whole movement has gained great momentum. People all over the world started protesting for the same cause. Some people likened police brutality in the States to Israel where Palestinians deal with similar things on a regular basis. 

I support the BLM movement, no doubt. I don't want to live in a world with racism and prejudice. And I feel thankfulness for Canada where such matters aren't as crazy as they are in the US. It is worth mentioning that Canada was the destination for people using The Underground Railroad to escape slavery back in the day. I'm not saying that Canada is perfect but compared to our neighbours down south, the violence levels are certainly much lower - it should come as no surprise either that we don't carry guns in Canada! There are many Aboriginals in Canada who feel there is much work to be done. I agree that we should always seek to improve the land but we may have different methods to choose from.

I don't agree with protesting as a method of bringing change. Whenever you push against or resist something, you are inviting more and more of it into focus. In other words, when you put your focus on anything, it becomes a part of your reality. Where attention goes, energy flows. Protests are a mass invitation of more of the same. You could say that there have been positive results of the ongoing protests. Yes, many institutions have apologized for past historical traumas. Some laws have come under review. And the average citizen who feels that they aren't affected by racism may have to think again. However, there have been negative results too. Instances of police brutality have also risen since people have taken to the streets. Even greater change could happen but first people will need to review their needs to protest.

Creation is the alternate route to protesting. We are in a new dawn and we can create further from this point on. By focusing on creating a new paradigm, we can uproot racism. Education is the way. I am not talking about an institutional kind of education with schools and such, but a universal kind of education with awareness and energy. Souls coming to planet Earth need to know that they are powerful and capable of creating their own reality. It is with a feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness that people take to the streets and protest. It gives the government too much power when you hold them accountable for every change. Take back the power and stop subscribing to the government everytime you need help. The government is just one collective of people but there are tons of collectives who are active and working in the community. Instead of protesting, why not get together with your community and create. By the way, I do have to add that the images of racist statues coming down are a powerful symbol of changing paradigms.

You can create positive messages all around your neighbourhood by putting up signs with empowering slogans. Artists can paint the walls of your buildings with empowering images. Those are the seeds to greater change. Words are important and the words we use determine the paradigm. That's why I created a new mix of an old track I had made two years ago in June. The track has been labeled with a (BLM Mix) tag as well. The original track wasn't made with the BLM movement in mind but I feel that the words in the track fit the situation well. Kindness is the alternative. Through a paradigm of kindness, nobody would be the victims of racism. 

I will be uploading the track as soon as the cover art comes through. My younger sibling is working on some art for the occasion. I want to go into greater details about the track with a future post. For now, my main message for the BLM movement would be that I support you. Good people around the world support you and the side of good will be victorious. 

Peeling the ginkgo biloba took a while but I also ended up recording some of its sounds and making a drum kit with it.

In other developments, we went to Pakpanang this past weekend with Ying and Jeen. We stayed with their relatives. We also took the opportunity to make a dance video. Ying took my offer of being the director of the video. One interesting factor that played a role in the creation of this video was the past videos from Pakpanang. I was in Pakpanang visiting a friend two years ago in June. I travelled around and shot various video clips but upon returning home, I never got around to editing the videos until last week. Last week when Ying told me about the trip to Pakpanang, I told her about the videos I had taken there and that I hadn't produced the final product yet. That propelled us to sit down and start editing the videos. Ying had asked me to teach her about video editing and so it was an opportunity to sit down and finally make the video. Thanks Ying for being a propellor. 

So in the upcoming days, I wish to upload the two videos from Pakpanang from 2018 and 2020. There are also a bunch of photos worth uploading from both trips. Also, I have the BLM Mix of one of my tracks from June 2018 waiting to debut. So there will be further updates before we start July! Let's end with a quote.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti