This is my message to you, ooo ooo.

I watched the “Marley” (2012) documentary last night. I expected screen shots of Bob’s home country that I grew significantly in and learned to adore. I expected a celebration of the music that sprinkled my childhood with light heartedness. I expected an explanation of how marijuana can bring you closer to God. What I did not expect was a rush of emotion and contemplation for my generation.

Parts of this documentary made me nervous because it is always an eye opening experience when your idols show vulnerabilities. We experience this with musicians, politicians, religious figures…even yoga instructors. If you’re lucky, these vulnerabilities will only widen your heart a little bit more for these icons to shape our perspectives. I caught myself forming mental judgments. “What do you mean Bob wasn’t faithful to one woman? What is this Three Little Birds bullshit?” “What do you mean Bob didn’t go in for routine checks on his growing cancer?” “What do you mean Bob thought women that changed their appearance from anything other than their natural state were ugly?”

Bob quickly reminded me. It is not my definition of wealth in this life that matters. It was his own definition. I saw what Bob’s words did to Jamaica first hand during two mission trips I attended in 2004 and 2005. The second I stepped into this country, I was greeted with a “welcome home.” Welcome home indeed. When you step outside the lines of the white sand beaches and all inclusive hotels, you see a landscape of simplicity that Western definition would belittle. If poverty is defined as a lack of monetary wealth, a less than satisfactory education and employment market and few export goods then yes, Jamaica is an impoverished country. If poverty is defined as a lack of zest for life, laughter and the ability to create abundance…then Jamaica is one of the richest lands I have walked.

Amidst jumping obstacles, I have structured my life on how I can find this same air to my mind and heart. I have found it in yoga and sharing yoga. I have found it in music. Sometimes when you combine the two something spectacular happens.  When Angie and I first went through yoga teacher training, we looked at each other and said, “Wow. Yoga can cure the world.” There is something to be said about movement, but there is more to be said about message. Bob Marley reached the entire globe with a message of love. Today my heart searches for a revolutionary that we seem to have lost.

Yesterday there was a shooting in CT where 20 children’s lives were taken. I am overwhelmed by the alarmed voice of social media. Is this enough? Have we succumbed to the fact that making a statement on a digital realm is enough? Yes, I have seen beautiful things come from mass communication. But are we still brave enough to stand in front of a crowd, fearing gun shots and violence, and look humanity in the eye and say the answer is love? Not a million loves, but just One. Love.?

Of this I am still unsure, but if my plea for revolutionary love reaches you in any way…I encourage you to share it. Every day. Share it.