09 | May | 2019 | I am an Interculturalist

I am part of the conscious community of Melbourne, we love dancing, workshops and parties. A lot of the people make there living from offering healings, workshops, and dances to the other members of the community. One thing people in the community are naff at is self-marketing. There are over 15 Facebook groups and several Webpages they could offer their products on for free, yet many do not seem to know of their existence.

They post on their personal page and their business page and cross their fingers that it will land on enough of their friend’s pages for people to find out about it. One thing that fascinates me is that not many people take the time to share their friend’s offerings on their personal pages. It takes at a maximum, 30 seconds and is one of the ways that you can best support their endeavours. Facebook algorithms are getting mean as fuck, so reliance on them is at best, stupid. I made a decision several years ago that I would share every event that I came across in the community as my gift to my friends. Recently this is a message I received from a friend I did it for Wow. Rod that is so incredibly kind of you. Thank you! I do often feel I am promoting a million things and it makes it hard to find a genuine connection to my community and audience (even though I know what I offer has value and worth). Having others spread the word is an incredible gift for me. Thank you.

To me, supporting local creativity is a no brainer, but what has society said about supporting each other, let’s have a look:

1. As I said, it takes 30 seconds to post an event on social media.

2. From an often pilloried POTUS, comes this beautiful request: Where Is The Love.

3. You may never know who you heal with your kindness, just be kind.

4. I was stopped in the central mall in our city by a young family one day, He said you may not remember me, I used to be a heroin addict who came to your Centrelink office, your kindness to me over time helped me get off it, you saved my life. What do you say when someone says that to you: People Help The People.

5. Hearts, Ears, and Hands. Everybody has them.

6. Cheap at half the price: Inspiration from Muhammad.

7. Empowerment is what works, jealousy is the booby prize.

8. Shadow and Light, they travel together. That which you focus on has the power in your life: Faded.

9. I have been working on this for over 40 years, it is not as easy as it seems.

10. That’s what friends are for, only one song really: That’s What Friends are For.

11. Find yourself, by losing yourself, not totally logical, but it works for me.

12. Who have you lifted up today, this week, this month, etc. etc: I Can See Clearly Now.

13. This means something totally different down here in The Land Down Under, check out Australia Slang Terms.

14. Pass it along: We are Family.

15. The final lesson is from the world’s curly-haired genius, Albert. Lets live a worthwhile life.

So my call out is every time you see an event shared by a friend, take the 30 seconds to share it, you could be paying their child’s school fees.

The Playlist today is a very positive one. Black Eyed Peas and Ariana Grande kick it off, then Birdy shares a very positive number. The spoken word is from Muhammad Ali today, New to me Alan Walker with his over 1 billion hits follows. Then a posse, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight combine. We head to the West Indies next to hear from Jimmy Cliff and finish with Sister Sledge: There’s Enough Sun For Everybody.

I love my community, it is a place where my paradigm, Love and Respect For All, Everyone Included is very close to being fulfilled: