Item number 10, Item 10, Approval of the El Paso County 2022-2023 Strategic Plan, Brett Waters, County Administrator, Jeff Eckhart, Executive Director, Digital Strategy and Technology Department. Good morning, commissioners. As Kenny said, Jeff Eckhart, Executive Director of DST, wanted to come back and since our informal discussions of the strategic plan in May, give you a few updates of what's happened in the interim, starting with a presentation to the non-board elected officials that included the sheriff, the DA and the clerk back in July. We had a presentation to the citizen's outreach group yesterday for their comment and feedback, and today we're here to request your formal adoption. Before we go through the plan one last time, I wanted to take just a moment to recognize first of all Brett Waters and his unwavering sponsorship. We were just started off this plan when he came on board and he jumped in with both feet and has been a great supporter. So thank you, Brett, for that. Behind me today is the strategy planning team, and these folks have met all through the winter and spring and summer and cleared their calendars. They're all, most of them are executive directors also. So I just wanted to call out Crystal LaTeer from Economic Development, Pete Carey from Justice Services, Stacy Quiddick from Human Services, my deputy Joe Palmer, Nikki Simmons, our CFO. Of course, Kenny Hodges was on that team before transitioning off to the county attorney's office, and then Jim Shields, who was our consultant and facilitator. I just wanted to also give a special call out to Joe Palmer for his leadership in providing a framework for us, and then of course, Jim Shields and all the outside expertise that he gave us. So like we did in the informal meeting, Brett and I are going to tag team this. Brett is our sponsor, so it's important that you hear from him and let you know how he feels about the plan. So Brett, let's get started. At the strategic plan up on the screen, let's go ahead and reconvene. Good morning, commissioners, Brett Waters, county administrators. Real honored to visit with you about our strategic planning process. We visited with you previously, and it's really a team effort. As we've discussed previously, our strategic plan really is the primary filter for how we're going to make decisions in the years to come. One of the things that we've all struggled with, at least I have in years past with other organizations is strategic plans often remain somewhat stale. Once you do it for a year or two, they may end up on the shelf and they lack flexibility. And so we've built in a flexible framework, and so we'll continue to adapt. Things are going to change, and so we want to make sure we adapt to those changes. Big part of a strategic plan is accountability. And so we'll have a public facing dashboard with performance indicators to keep us on track and to make sure there's accountability and that we're making progress. We've, as Jeff talked about, we've talked to the county-wide elected officials who are excited to engage with this on the strategic planning process, clearly some of the bigger organizations already have strategic plans, but there are some clear intersections between our plans that we can work with, and then we'll connect our annual budget and our performance plans. Can you slide that page up? Thank you. So this is the framework that we'll be using on an annual basis. And what I want to emphasize here, as I did before, is this is a flexible framework. We're going to be doing planning in one-year intervals so that we can account for and adjust to rapid changes in our environment.  So we start with a set of three to five-year fundamentals that includes our principles, our vision, our purpose, and our values. That work is all done. We'll be sharing that with you momentarily. From that step, we move into annual objectives. These are the three to five vital things that we must do every year and do them well. If everything is important, nothing is important. So what are the things that we must laser focus on and make sure that we're accomplishing? And if the annual objective is a destination that we want to get to, our key results tell us the progress that we're making. Are we making progress towards that? Are we coming up short? Do we need to make changes? And so key results are very important in helping us track the progress of our overall objective. From that, we move into the action planning step. These are the specific projects and initiatives that will help us accomplish the annual objectives. That's when we start to push the plan out and involve more folks from outside of just the strategy planning team, but also departments and offices of elected officials. From there, we move into the monthly monitoring stage where Brett will be chairing a monthly monitoring meeting. If he's going to be a great sponsor, then he needs to know that things are happening and that we can report out to him on what that progress looks like. And finally, we can see we'll have a few departments in the first year where they too will adopt the same framework and develop department level strategic plans that help support the overall countywide plan. Some of the core principles we've discussed are number one, we're a low tax county. Our community has clearly stated they prefer low taxes, low costs. But with that said, we also want to provide quality public services and we think we can do both. Is that we essentially have a community that values transparency and we want to continue that tradition with publishing data and analytics. We talked about the dashboard that looks at our overall county, the progress we're making, the condition of our infrastructure while delivering quality public services while continuing to have low taxes in our community. Our vision statement as we propose it is El Paso County will be a trusted regional leader known for excellence and county service delivery. We feel good about that. We've talked a number of times on different visions. We feel and we've talked to use the board about this vision. We feel good about moving forward with that vision. Purpose is we provide essential public services to our to the Pikes Peak region in support of residents, businesses and communities enhancing the freedom for all to thrive. We want to make sure government is assisting residents and their opportunities in El Paso County with the emphasis on its essential public services is what we provide. Core values. We've you've seen some of these values before. I assume some of these are in our previous strategic plan and even with organizations have a number of them. But one of the key points from my perspective is number one is that we are here to serve the public. We are funded through tax taxes in El Paso County and we are here to serve the residents of El Paso County. That is a core value that we have in our organization and in the county. We want to be accountable to the community needs. We want to be collaborative. We understand that we can't do everything alone that we have to work with regional partners to accomplish the goals that we have. We clearly want to be trustworthy. We want the community to trust us to residents to trust us and we want to build that trust and enhance it. And as we've talked about, we want to be transparent. We want to be open and honest, respectful in our work and in our communication. So objectives, again, are as a simple description of a dedicated goal and objective sets a clear path to be undertaken while also providing motivation to get there. The target can be likened to a destination on a map. So our annual objectives this year will have four and you'll hear we'll go through each of those today. But they were developed by this planning team that I spoke of earlier. Each of these objectives has a sponsor who directs and provides oversight for that. And so for three of the four objectives, you're going to hear from that sponsor today and they'll explain why that objective is important to us. We'll follow it up with detailed objective action planning or action plans and that will include members from other offices and departments. We intend for this plan to have a direct and clear linkage to our investments, meaning it's tied to our budgets. It's important for us to do strategically. It's important for us to fund. And in a similar way, our technology investments need to be wrapped around what it is we're trying to accomplish strategically. And finally, every employee in the organization needs to have some kind of link to the strategy. What is my portion or how do I contribute to that? And so with that, we're going to go to the next slide. I'm sorry, not quite yet with key results. Key results are the primary indicator of performance progress. How are we doing? We're going to leverage a nascent but developing data analytics practice. We are going to public or publish public dashboards to track how we're doing. And that could be great stories and that could be not so great stories. So we'll show that organization success is in struggles. And if we're struggling, we'll bring forward ideas on ways that we can close gaps. So key results compel ongoing attention to meeting these tangible targets. Talk to this one. Yeah, that sounds good. Kenny, you want to talk to this one? I'm just joking. Kenny was the was a sponsor on this before the board stole him to be the county attorney, but he was a sponsor real. We will find another sponsor is big shoes to feel, but we'll do that in the near future. This is a big one. Our first objective is infrastructure and really it's an assessment across our infrastructure, including roads, stormwater, facilities, fleet, park assets, and then implementing strategies on how we sustainably fund them that we manage them. And essentially, there's a laser focus on this objective that we're focused on infrastructure, but we need to have a complete and comprehensive inventory of our infrastructure and really condition assessment across the board. We don't want, say, roads assessing differently than stormwater. We want a organization wide, county wide assessment of how we manage and how we inventory and how we assess our infrastructure. A life cycle management strategy is what we want in those five major asset classes. And then again, publishing a public facing asset scorecard that is comprehensive throughout the county. Commissioner Bremmer, I believe has a question. Just a comment, actually, you know, this is, I know that sections of our county government have been able to do this and it is way more difficult than it may seem to be. But I think that what strikes me as you put these five categories out here like this is the overlap that this inevitably will have with other objectives of transparency and fiscal responsibility. Actually, overall strategy vision because once we can get this done, the comprehensive inventory, and really know what we have where we're much more able to show the public what we're doing with their money and with their tax dollars. And we're also probably able to make those go further by being able to quickly apply for grants as they come up. We all know how quickly those federal and state opportunities for grant funding may come up. And if we can be ready to go on a dime, this is something that tangibly helps us be ready to do that at any given point. So I'm pretty excited about it all being organized like that. Thank you, commissioner. Yes, please, if you have a comment. No, I would simply add to that. Yeah, we wanna make sure we're organized, prepared, we're shovel ready with project for federal and state grants. We understand that these dollars are precious and we have limited resources. So we wanna be prepared for those. So thank you for those comments. Great, and just a quick comment from me as well. You've mentioned it already. I'm looking forward to getting into public domain, the different objectives you're starting here with infrastructure and we'll see more. But I also like kind of this connection of a dashboard. You know, these indicators and measures because in my experience, my professional experience, if you're not measuring something, you tend not to act on it. The measures are really helpful to provide insights that allow the senior staff to recognize something and then act on that going forward. So having kind of that embedded into this and we were doing some of it before, but I think this is a lot more focused and a lot more designed to focus on the things that we can change and that we can move. So I really like having this dashboard and these indicators. So I'm looking forward to seeing more of that going down the road. And I think you've got more to follow, more objectives, so please go ahead. Yeah, thank you for that feedback. Okay, we'll turn it over. Lucy, thank you. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. Stacy Quiddick, Department of Human Services. I'm so pleased to be the sponsor for our second objective, which is improve the quality of county services with a qualified and engaged workforce dedicated to continuous improvement. So there are three primary areas of focus in this objective. Develop resident satisfaction metrics and basically that's to develop a system to gain timely feedback about our public service delivery. We wanna look at employee attrition rates and implement strategies to improve employee retention, which we've already really been focusing on throughout the county. Implement action plans to address the issues that were resend during the employee engagement survey. So we know as public service, public servants were driven to provide top quality services to our residents and we know that the only way to do that is through our amazing staff. And we need to continue to invest in them through training, compensation and other strategies to improve their employment experience, basically helping them recognize how valued they are. Improving the quality of public services directly correlated to the investments made in the workforce. Basically satisfied employees result in satisfied residents. Do you have any questions on that one? Great, I have a comment to that, but I'll reserve that in case other commissioners have a comment. Okay, thank you. I think this is a great objective as well. And in the two years of COVID that we had, it has been tough on employees, it's been really tough. And so that translates to employee retention, you know? So I like the fact that on this objective, we're gonna have a focus on that. I know that we've gotten more intensive already with regard to employee surveys, getting an understanding about what they like about the county working in the county and what some of the challenges are and working with the county. And I think that again is gonna be, right? An indicator and a measure that will allow us to make better decisions going forward to hold on to the most valuable asset we have, which is the team. Absolutely. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Good morning commissioners, Crystal LaTeer, Executive Director of Economic Development here at El Paso County. I'm honored to be the sponsor of Objective Three that is focused on community trust. This one is really focused on community trust by increasing community trust through improved communications and transparencies. Some topics that we've already discussed earlier in the presentation today. Those three key objectives that will be related or those three key results related to this objective will be first, implement external and internal communication strategies through and by December 2023. So as you all know, this is something that we already do here in El Paso County. As we've heard from previous presenters today, this opportunity will allow us to ensure that those communication strategies, both internal and external, are more comprehensive and aligned, and really aligned not only with El Paso County County Administration, but those elected offices. The action planning team that will be working on these key objectives will have representation from other public information offices from elected offices here in the county. So that will really just ensure that we have that aligned communication strategy, both internally and externally. You all are likely aware of many efforts that are already underway here at the county, including new weekly communications internally that we've heard has been, have great success. We've heard as we've moved through that initiative. Second is really to develop a data and analytics practice to inform decisions and publicly track progress towards the performance measures of each of these strategic objectives that you're hearing about today. So County Administrator Waters has shared that and you all have commented on that as well, but this will ensure that there is a dashboard related to each of the four objectives that we're presenting on today and then any objectives in the future. And then lastly, evaluate resident satisfaction with their county experience and develop strategies to continuously improve metrics. So as we all know, we are all dedicated to quality public service. We are public servants to our community and it is important that we have that great communication and feedback loop, so we can continue to improve. Great, any comments on this section? And I'll just, oh, I've got something to say, sorry. I'm really glad that this is one of the objectives because in my experience as a commissioner, I have seen an enormous, enormous amount of great work done by the employees on behalf of the citizens of El Paso County and because that work is done well, it often means there's no controversy connected to it because we're solving problems and getting those issues addressed, but because there's no controversy, it often doesn't get expressed into public domain about what the county is doing. So here we are achieving a bunch of things, delivering great services, providing for the citizens, doing that in a frugal way with the taxpayer dollars and there is a large part of the community that doesn't even know that we're doing those kinds of things. So I think this outreach to the public is a great project for us to do. There's two great things about it. One is for the community to know more about what the county is doing, but I think it's also an opportunity for the community to increase their feedback to us so that we can bend and flex based on what interests we find. So I think this is really important and I think it's something that we can really do a lot better on and achieve, but it's hard, you know, because when you solve problems and there's no controversy, it doesn't seem to rise to kind of community knowledge about it. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Pete Carey, director of justice services for the fourth objective, which I will be the sponsor for. It deals with health and safety. Develop partnerships to support community efforts to improve the health and safety of residents. I know that's kind of a general comment, but the focus of this will be on coordination and strengthening partnerships in the county. And by my calculations, looking at kind of what's ahead, I think this effort will include economic development, DHS, public health, district attorney's office, the sheriff's office, the courts, justice services, my group, and all of our partners, both public and private. So I'm hopeful about this. It sounds like it's going to be a very, very interesting project to work on. There's already great work being done as it relates to health and safety in El Paso County. I think that the county can play a bigger role in coordinating those efforts and being an active participant. I'm reminded of some of the groups that are already working in areas like this, the criminal justice coordinating council, which Commissioner Geithner is a part of, the region 16 opioid council, which Mr. Hodges started, and we're going to have our second meeting coming up in September. That I guess I inherited from him, right? Yes, sir. And also the district attorney's office has a really highly functioning opioid group. So some of the ones are already working. So we're going to identify and develop strategies and evidence-based practices that affect the health and safety of our community. We're going to develop a way to share this information through public dashboards and through information campaigns. So I'm very, very excited to do that. Thank you. Great, thank you. Any comments or questions on this? And I'll just make also a quick comment on this. We've got some golden nuggets, I think of great performance in this arena, but I think kind of treating this as an overall objective is a great strategic concept because I think there's more we can do. And we've worked a lot on like teen suicide and we're certainly approving an enormous number, record numbers of single-family homes and multifamily developments and things like that. But I think thinking of this kind of strategically as a package will be really interesting. I think we'll find some really interesting things as a result of doing that. So I think it's great to have this as objective for. Yeah, I think coordinating these efforts and just so everybody knows exactly what's happening and what the state of affairs is as far as that public dashboard, I think we'll move it down the line further. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Mrs. Commissioner Williams. Please go ahead. This one is a really good one. So I was just thinking as we've gone through this that I appreciate this one being in there because we've spent two years where it seems like our primary public health focus has been on COVID. And during this time, we have a lot of things going on out in our community that are very, the fentanyl crisis is very harmful to our community and it's harmful throughout the United States. So we have a lot of other things now that COVID has become a permanent part of our lives. I think that we need to turn our focus on including the opioid crisis and fentanyl and public safety. These are the kind of issues I think that we're going to face as our county continues to grow. So thank you for this. Thank you. Yeah. Well, Patricia, we very much appreciate your support. We're excited to move forward with our strategic plan. I think we've got a great team behind me to move this forward with your support and vision. But we appreciate your approval or any other comments or questions you may have, but we appreciate your support. Great. Commissioner Bremmer, did you have some comments or questions? Sure. Can I actually, can I have the team of sponsors behind you stand up? Because I can't see them from this spot. Sorry. You don't have to come forward. It's be comfortable where you are. I just wanted to say, I think this is so well done. So kudos to the entire team who helped facilitate it, who put this together, who put the organizational framework and backbone behind it. I think it's pretty brilliant, first of all, that you have perfectly chosen the sponsors of each of these objectives. Because first of all, I know they're going to get done to the letter of what we've just seen on the screen. And that's incredibly confirming, but Crystal, you embody creating community trust and I've watched you do it over and over and over again. And Stacey, same thing can be said for you for customer service and engagement both within your employee population and with your external clients. It's quite impressive. And Pete, you are Mr. Health and Safety. So I am, I'm excited to see that, you know, I mean, this is the beginning of it. And you three in particular are leading a charge and Kenny on public infrastructure, previously as well. But I think, you know, you, if we're going to talk about a strategic plan, it's wonderful to have words and goals on a paper and it looks wonderful. It sounds wonderful. It sounds exciting. And to see the right people in the right places with the right actual bullet points under all of those objectives, I know that this is gonna get done and it's going to ultimately better serve our citizens. I'm so excited about that. And just kudos to the team. We have a lot of work ahead of us. And I think we have all the right people in all the right places to actually see this get done. And I think our citizens are gonna see, you know, see a redefining of who the county is and how we do work very, very quickly, quicker than any of us could have ever hoped for because of who we have in place. So thank you very much. Great, thank you for those comments. Other comments? This is commissioner Williams. Go ahead. Yeah, I couldn't have said it better than commissioner Bremmer. A wonderful team in place to do this, wonderful objectives. And just knowing that, you know, as we include everyone in the county in the process, and we're trying to be better as a county, this is I think a very flexible plan, very much ability to react to current situations and trends if we do have emergencies. And but it also, I appreciate the transparency and the dashboard. And so the public will know where we're doing what we're working on so that we can be accountable to our taxpayers and our voters as well. Thank you. Thank you commissioner and to commissioner Williams point, you know, we've had strategic plans for the county in the past and we've had goals and objectives and those things.  But this plan has another component that I think is really, really important. And that is your work to connect it to budgets and to do it in an annual way instead of say in a five year or four year kind of process because stuff happens. I mean, you know, in January of 2020, nobody knew that we would have a gigantic pandemic in February of 2020, right? We can have economic up turns and downturns that can really cause challenges for us because of loss of revenue, because of an economic downturn. And that forces us to work really hard on flexibility both within budgets and where we pivot to service, providing service to citizens because things happen and they can sometimes happen very quickly. And my gosh, have we seen that here in the last few years? So this is another part about this plan that I think is very interesting is hooking it to the budgets and kind of reassessing so that we can move those dollars where we need to based on things that happen that might be outside of our control but we can do something about them as a result. So I like the fact that the strategic plan connects to that. Thank you. Mr. Chair, may I move approval of this item? Please, I think it is time for a motion. Please proceed. I would like to move approval of item number 10, the El Paso County 2022-2023 strategic plan. Second. Yeah. All right, that's been moved and seconded. One last opportunity from the commissioners if there's any comments or questions. Yes, please go ahead. Just to make a note, I was remiss, Jeff Eckhart has been really the driver in this strategic plan, him and Joe, but particularly Jeff has a great mind for strategic planning. That's why I was put in his shop before I got here, but thanks, Jeff. I think he's been a great asset, so thank you. Yeah, I think in military parlance that would make you the strat plan director, right? Something like that? So, okay, great. All right, thank you so much. And we have a motion and a second, and I don't think we've got any other comments or questions, so let's proceed with the vote. Commissioner Williams. Aye. Commissioner Gonzalez. Aye. Commissioner Bremmer. Aye. And the chair votes aye. That passes 4-0 with commissioner Geithner excused. Thank you very much for the really hard work that you guys have put into this. I'm looking forward to it helping us produce a lot of success going forward. Thank you very much. All right, thank you very much.


Another exploration into everyday psychology. Today, let's delve into the colorful world of color psychology. Let's begin. What is your favorite color? This is a question that tops your childhood FAQs, right? The uniqueness of each human's mind makes it almost impossible to have a set of rules that applies to everyone's choice. Preferences you might have can be linked to your overall behavior. But did you know the characteristics of your personality can be based on what your favorite color is? Here are your favorites and what they say about your personality. One, black.  People whose favorite color is black look for power and control. According to a study in 2018, they are perceived as serious, almost intimidating. You want to be seen by your internal qualities rather than your outward appearance by wearing black clothing. It personifies your independent and mysterious nature as stated in a study by Peck in 2020. If your favorite color is black, others view you as a private person who masks their emotions. You only share your thoughts and feelings with close friends and relatives. Two, white. Peck claims that the color white has a close relation with purity, birth and innocence. A study by Myers in 2018 found people who favor white are very organized, independent and logical in the way they solve problems. You are known to be optimistic and focused on the bright side of life. You strive to find peace, but might come off as uptight and self-righteous, which results in decreased popularity within your circle of friends. Your nature can be condescending at times, which does more harm than good. Oopsie daisy. Three, red. The color red is closely related to passion, desire and aggression. You are outgoing and adventurous. You enjoy being the center of attention and have very intense feelings. You are not afraid of letting others know about your feelings, whether they're good or bad. Speak less, do more is your motto and you have a very action-oriented style in life. As a natural born leader, you are respected by people easily. Four, blue. The color blue symbolizes peace and tranquility and is the most popular color. If your favorite color is blue, you are reliable, calm and loyal. Your level-headedness allows you to operate under pressure. Finding inner peace and absolute truth is of the essence of you. You live life according to your ideals and beliefs. A study by Meyers in 2018 states that you find fulfillment in being of service by thinking about others and putting their needs before your own. But a word of caution according to a study, self-destructive behavior can be developed when you find expectations and outperforming yourself too hard to handle. Five, green. Is green your favorite color? If so, you have strong time management skills due to your ability to quickly prioritize. You are open-minded and curious, always looking to learn new things and to become more knowledgeable. They stand their ground on their opinions and do not believe anyone or anything easily. However, if they do, they will do it very strongly. A study states that the color green represents nature, good luck and fertility. On the other hand, it also represents jealousy and greed. People whose favorite color is green consider their reputation in the way society perceives them as very important and lead an active public life. Six, yellow. Does the word yellow bring to mind the sun on a summer afternoon or maybe that egg yolk on your plate during breakfast on your favorite holiday? Yellow is the color of happiness, sunshine and laughter. When your favorite color is yellow, you love to share with others but also have a focus on expressing your individuality. You are very light-hearted and have a very positive outlook but tend to go overboard with your optimism. Whoops. You are seldom sad, but when it happens, you can be in that mood for several days. A study found such people are spontaneous and willing to take action, giving them an advantage for people who are indecisive. Seven, orange. Would you describe yourself as highly productive? Do you like to work and get things done fast? Chances are your favorite color must be orange then, right? This color represents energy, warmth and enthusiasm. It gives you a party-like vibe, doesn't it? People whose favorite color is orange like to socialize. You aim to be accepted and respected in a group of people. Just like people who favor yellow, you are very optimistic, always expecting wonderful things to happen. You have a black and white perspective on life, either going after something with everything you have or not going after it at all. Eight, purple. Do you remember the color of Rapunzel's royal flag entangled? Purple is the color associated with power, royalty, spirituality and prestige because back in the day, only monarchs and nobility could afford purple clothing. So yeah, you guessed it right. The color of the flag entangled was also purple. People whose favorite color is purple are helpful to others but require significant emotional security in their lives. You are creative and love unique things, wanting to stand out from the group. Known as unpredictable, dealing with you can be either very easy or extremely difficult. Having a balance of both charisma and cool exterior makes climbing to the top all the easier. Nine, pink. Did you just think of the pink panther? The color pink symbolizes femininity, love, playfulness and to a certain extent immaturity, claimed to study in 2020. People whose favorite color is pink express themselves very well and believe in being loved and accepted unconditionally. You prioritize love, family and kindness above everything else. You are very compassionate to those closest to you and are very dependable when others need emotional support. This color is the most calming and sedative one, which is why some institutes paint their walls pink to reduce aggression. 10, gray. Gray is associated with balance, being neither dark nor light. People whose favorite color is gray usually prefer not to be the center of attention. You are known as very mature but are difficult to characterize due to the nature of the color. Your taste is very modern and sophisticated. You are naturally fair and can see problems objectively without letting personal feelings affect the decisions made. And 11, brown. Is your favorite color the same color as chocolate and coffee? Brown, like green, is a color connected to life, growth and the color of the earth. Brown and color psychology is a color of reliability, loyalty and sincerity. It relates to maturity and being sensible. So if you're into brown, you're down to earth, practical, straight talking and always to the point. Not only that, you have a keen sense of duty and responsibility. You take your obligations very seriously. Your family and friends are extremely important to you and you like physical comfort, simplicity and quality. Did you relate to your favorite color? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to hit the like and subscribe button and share it with someone who might benefit from it. Thanks for watching and we'll see you soon. Did you relate to any of the points in the video? What do you think of the animation?


A victory against Port Vale, mid-week for Bradford, ended a run of 13 games without a victory in the league. Today, they host M.K. Donns. And they won two of the last 21 league games for Bradford City. They've got a chance to take the lead. And that, they could say, from Martin, who has been busy, it's time to keep our car bent. Chadwick. Good running from Clow. Good bit of help. Might go it alone. It's off the line. Brilliant defending. M.K. Donns, beaten in three. They've won two of the last three in that run. Here's Hanson. Oh, he rattles the bar. Well, James Hanson. Stimped over the top. Hanson chasing down Martin. Oh, it's an absolute disaster. Bradford City take the lead. A moment to forget for David Martin. They're swinging amiss. It's routine, really. And he completely misses the ball. It's a gift as Hanson gets his 10th of the campaign. Hanson with a knockdown. It's a decent strike. And he looks like Martin. He's got a fingertip on it. It's just over the top from Nathan Doyle. Way at the near post. Bradford actually looking to add to their one-goal advantage here as he head into the final moment of the game. It's a good header. And Hanson tonight a second. Martin makes the save this time. That's it. Too little, too late. Bradford City pick up all three points. James Hanson with a goal. And they're starting to put together a decent run.


From a vital World War II logistics and materials hub to an enabler of global combat capability, Robbins Air Force Base is at the forefront of our nation's defense. As the economic engine of Middle Georgia, Robbins contributes more than $3.3 billion annually to the economy and employs more than 24,000 airmen, military and civilian personnel in defense of our nation from its humble beginnings in 1941 to a 21st century installation of excellence. Robbins is the best base to live, learn, work and play. Today, Robbins Air Force Base is host to 54 mission partners supporting five major commands, three wings and air logistics complex comprised of active guard and reserve airmen. The Warner Robbins Air Logistics Complex is the largest mission at Robbins and executes program depot maintenance for all Air Force F-15s, C-5s, C-17s, the Air Force and Navy C-130s and the Global Hawk aircraft and does extensive work in software development and commodities repair. Air Force Reserve Command headquarters is located at Robbins and provides combat-ready forces across the globe to fly, fight and win. They ensure more than 70,000 reserve citizen airmen across three numbered Air Forces, 34 flying wings, 10 flying groups, one space wing, a cyber wing and an intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance wing are prepared to accomplish their total force missions. The Joint Surveillance Target Attack radar system fleet known as JSTARS employed the world's premier command and control intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platform allowing the detection and targeting of enemy assets. Members of the active duty Air Force and the Georgia Air National Guard work in concert with Army counterparts in this total force integrated mission. The Lifecycle Management Center specializes in sustainment and modernization of more than 4,000 aircraft in support of national security and defense as well as 76 foreign military sales customers. The Fifth Combat Communications Group or Fifth Mob has called Robbins home since 1964 and is the only active duty combat comm group in the Air Force. More than 450 combat-ready airmen provide support to combatant commanders across the globe by delivering tactical communications packages large and small for both the warfighter abroad and for humanitarian missions closer to home. The 638th Supply Chain Management Group provides life cycle sustainment support for aircraft structural communications armament and electronic commodities it employs 700 specialists who manage a catalog of more than 89,000 repairable and manufactured items. Defense Logistics Agency services and document services at Robbins play a critical role in DLA's total supply chain in support of the warfighter. Over 700 DLA employees provide logistical support to the Warner-Robbins Air Logistics Complex, Robbins Air Force Base and worldwide customers handling billions in local inventory. The Museum of Aviation is the second largest Air Force Museum in the nation with more than 85 aircraft and static exhibits. Also home to the National STEM Academy and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame the Museum of Aviation hosts around 600,000 visitors every year. The 78th Air Base Wing provides installation support and is a power projection platform for the Air Force. It provides security, logistics, personnel, morale, welfare, recreation, civil engineering, cyber support, medical services, airfield operations, finance, public affairs and legal services to keep this city within a city fully operational in support of its customers. Together Robbins Air Force Base is the model for Air Force mission partnerships and community integration and is paving the way for success from its humble beginnings of a small army depot to the most advanced mission capable facilities of the 21st century. Robbins Air Force Base deletes combat power around the globe.


of the Lord be with you. It's wonderful to welcome everybody to St. Bartholomew's. My name is Andy Loban. I am the rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church and on behalf of the Church, the warmest of welcomes to each and every one of you. This is the third year that we have had the opportunity to participate, whether it was in this space or over at the Muslim Community Center in an interfaith iftar, and it's always such a blessing and such a glorious opportunity. I'm not going to stand up here for very long because we have a wonderful panel of speakers. We have Sister Uzma Fatima Hussaini from the Muslim Community Center. We have the Reverend Harriet Hawkins from the Center for Spiritual Living of Livermore Valley, also known as the Lighthouse, which actually meets here in this space on Sunday mornings. And we have Rabbi Lawrence, Larry Milder of Congregation Beth Emek, which meets over in Pleasant Tenants. So we're going to have three voices, and our theme this year is loving across the difference. And the idea really came out of the solidarity gathering that we, I wish we never had to have, but we had in the aftermath of the shootings at the Christchurch Mosque. And we really thought that this year it would be good to speak in terms of, you know, when we are at our most authentic, of course we seek the places of unity, but we also know that there are many places of true difference. And rather than trying to ignore those or erase those, both of which seem to end up erupting into discordant violence, to rather embrace them, shine the light on them, celebrate them, and ultimately love one another, allowing it to be a bit of a mystery how these differences came about and how how they can be resolved over time. And so that's our theme tonight. And I know our speakers are going to do a wonderful job. Just a couple of practical things. Probably the most important practical thing is should you have a need for the restroom. If you either go all the way outside or through the door to the back left from my perspective and then continue through the kitchen and lounge area, there are men's and women's rooms in the small hallway there. The ladies is on the south and the gentleman is on the north. I think that's all you need in terms of the practicality. So I know we have about a little over an hour before iftar, so I'll invite the speakers up. Can everybody hear me okay? Well, I wanted to first start out by saying happy Mother's Day to everybody. How many of you here are mothers or grandmothers or aunties or happy Mother's Day to all of you? Congratulations. We celebrate you today. There's actually a hadith which is a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, which says that paradise lies at the feet of mothers. So it's important for us to remember all of our mothers and grandmothers and aunties and all those who take on those motherly roles at some time or another. And in commemoration of this very special day, I'd like to remind us all about the origins of Mother's Day. This is something that I actually, it's a handout that I have for my class. In the United States, Mother's Day was originally suggested by poet and social activist, Julia Ward Howe. Could you speak directly into the microphone? Oh, I'm sorry. Is that better? Yeah. I'm actually not a public speaker. I wasn't the person that was supposed to be here was double booked. And so I'm filling in for her. So excuse me, I'm just going to try to do my best here. But please do help me with whatever suggestions that you have. So in 1870, after witnessing the carnage of the American Civil War and the start of the Franco-Prussian War, she wrote the original Mother's Day proclamation calling upon the women of the world to unite for peace. This Mother's Day proclamation would plant the seed for what would eventually become a national holiday. After writing a proclamation, Howe had it translated into many languages and spent the next two years of her life distributing it and speaking to women leaders all over the world. In her book, Reminisances, Howe wrote, Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they long bear and know the cost? She devoted much of the next two years to this cause and began holding annual Mother's Day gatherings in Boston, Massachusetts and elsewhere. In 1907, 37 years after the proclamation was written, women's rights activist Anna Jarvis began campaigning for the establishment of a nationally observed Mother's Day holiday. And in 1914, four years after Howe's death, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day as a national holiday. So just to read you a little bit about Julia Ward Howe, her profile, she was a poet, writer, and activist who fought vigilantly for peace, the abolition of slavery and women's rights. And the years leading up to the Civil War, she co-published The Commonwealth, an abolitionist newspaper with her husband Samuel Gridley Howe. In 1860, she penned the battle hymn of the Republic to inspire Union soldiers fighting in the war. The song became a rallying cry for the Union throughout the war and remains her most famous work. The horrors of the war moved her to campaign tirelessly for peace. She served as president of the American branch of the Women's International Peace Association. And in 1870, she wrote her Mother's Day proclamation. Julia Ward Howe was also instrumental in the women's suffrage movement. She was a co-founder of the American Women's Suffrage Association and served as editor of Women's Journal. Her influence on the movement ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cody Stanton as one of the most important voices of the period. In recognition of her tremendous effect on the American culture and history, Julia Ward Howe was the first woman elected to the American Association of Arts and Letters in 1908. A true American pioneer, she remains one of the most influential figures in history of both civil and women's rights movements. So I wanted to read her proclamation, her Mother's Day proclamation, because it's really beautiful. Arise then, women of this day. Arise, all women who have breasts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears. Say firmly, we will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us reeking with carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, disarm, disarm. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil of the summons of war, let women now leave all that they may all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God. In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general Congress of Women, without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient, and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace. So I think it's really important for us to remember the origins of this very special day. But I think at times like this, I feel that we really need the wisdom of poets because they remind us in the deepest sense about our humanity. When Dr. Martin Luther King was killed, Robert Kennedy had the presence of mind, or I should probably say the presence of heart, to quote Escalus, his favorite poet when he said, he who learns must suffer, and even in our sleep pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until and our own despair against our own will comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. And then Kennedy continued, what we need in the United States is not division, what we need in the United States is not hatred, what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but love and wisdom and compassion towards one another. We've seen so many tragic events in these last few years, it has almost become a weekly headline that someone has shot up a school or a synagogue or a church or a mosque or a temple, and those of us who recognize the madness of this have to do our best to restore sanity to the situation. And the best way that we can do that is not by being silent when these things happen, but by speaking out, by coming together, as you have today, even if it's a candlelight vigil, to light that candle in the midst of darkness is an affirmation that we are more than the sum of our worst members, that humans are something extraordinary, and we can't let the small minority of fanatics in any way to represent us as a species, because at essence we are builders, we are not destroyers, we are people that create families, we don't destroy them or break them down. Our species is a species that shows more mercy than it does wrath or cruelty to that fact. Every teacher that spends that extra hour with the pupil in an effort to help that student understand something is a testimony to that fact. I could go on as their countless testimonies to this truth, and this is a truth that we all have to affirm. Our prophet Muhammad is called a mercy to all the world, and the first saying of his that every Muslim student of knowledge learns from him is this. Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the merciful, meaning God. Have mercy on those in the earth and the merciful in heaven will have mercy on you. The wording of this saying is manfil alb, which means everyone in the earth.  I'd like to end this with the words of the poet W.H. When the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, he was inspired to write a poem. He wrote this. All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie, the romantic lie in the brain on the sensual man in the street, of the sensual man in the street, and the lie of authority whose buildings grope the sky. There is no such thing as the state and no one exists alone. Humber allows no choice to the citizen or the police. We must love one another or die. Defenseless under the night, our world in stupor lies, yet dotted everywhere, ironic points of light, flash out wherever the just exchange their messages. May I, composed like them, of eros and of dust, beleaguered by the same, negation and despair, show an affirming flame. Thank you all for coming here today and doing so on the very day that honors those who gave birth to us and raised us with compassion, love and mercy, you are showing that affirming flame. May we all continue to fight negation and despair and to show an affirming flame. Thank you very much. Asalaamu alaikum. Greetings to all from congregation Beth Emek which serves the Jewish community of the Tri Valley. Thank you Munir Safi for the invitation to speak to this community during this holy month of Ramadan. Thank you to Father Andy Loban for the way you continually reach across religious lines to bring us together and for the kind hospitality of Saint Bartholomew's and the Muslim Community Center. I recognize that this is a sacred time on the Muslim calendar and that those of you who practiced the faith of Islam are at this very moment engaged in a spiritual discipline that brings deeper meaning to your lives. Jews are familiar with fasting though our practice is different. We have one major fast on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur our fast goes from sundown to sundown, actually a little longer because one must finish the evening meal and get the synagogue before sundown. A lot of Christians wonder about these rituals of fasting. Isn't it difficult to ask? I will say that I believe the discipline required of Muslims goes way beyond the effort that we Jews make that one day of the year. But I don't know about you. I don't find fasting all that difficult and that's because on Yom Kippur we Jews are engaged in prayer for that entire day. It's spiritual immersion. You're going to a different place. Food is like an anchor keeping you from the zone you want to get to, luring you back to your physical self, your sense of I need, I need. When most of the time what is really true is nothing more than I want, I want. Prayer is liberating and food is in so many ways a security blanket we hold on to in order to protect ourselves from a deep confrontation with the self. So that's common ground. Christians have lent. Catholics used to have fish on Fridays. We all understand the intertwining of our spiritual lives with letting go of the physical. Personally I grew up a little naive in my understanding of other faiths. In elementary school Fridays were always the best lunch because that's when they serve fish sticks. I was Jewish. I had no idea that they did that out of religious sensitivity. So we all get this. All of us, all of our religions, we get this idea of letting go. It is meant to ennoble our lives, to set us on the right path, to raise our sights, to envision a world infused with holiness, kindness, forgiveness. And in that sense, we all have a spiritual common ground. Let's acknowledge that truth because without it we can't appreciate the differences. Now I will admit that whenever someone tells me, and it's usually a fellow Jew, that all religions basically teach the same thing, I bristle. In my head I'm thinking you really don't know that much about Judaism and you probably don't know that much about their religion either. What people are usually referring to in this highly reductionist view of religion is ethics. You know, love your neighbor as yourself is a good rule and it is shared by most religions. But Immanuel Kant said the same thing and you don't have to be particularly religious to adopt that point of view. Even if religion were just ethics with some nice colorful rituals mixed in, a principle that I reject, we would still be stuck with the question, do we all really teach the same ethics? Sooner or later, if our religious beliefs are indeed tied to an ethical outlook, an honest comparison is going to reveal differences. For example, shall I turn the other cheek? That might be the Christian thing to do, but I don't think that is the Jewish way. Let alone when we consider politically charged ethical questions, like abortion, questions that are rooted in religious beliefs about life and personhood, any thoughtful student of religion will sooner or later recognize that with regard to ethics, we don't all teach the same thing. Religion, though, isn't just ethics. It is the life of the spirit, something that Ramadan and the Jewish High Holy Days and Christian Holy Week all point toward. And it is in regard to spiritual questions that we reach the more fundamental differences between our faiths. Ironically, I think it is often clergy who have the easiest time accepting religious differences. We are so at home in our own spiritual traditions that encountering another tradition is like visiting someone else's home. Isn't it beautiful, we think? Now, I would never decorate my house that way, but what care and creativity they have exercised. This is how I feel, say, going to the Hindu temple here in Livermore. I marvel at the faith expressed there, even though it is a far removed from Judaism's an iconic approach. You could say, well, we are all really pointing to the same one God, the same Akman Brahmin. And that may be true, but somehow it misses the point of Hinduism. The same way that saying that the Trinity isn't really what's important about God entirely misses the point of Christianity. You want to know Christianity? You've really got to go deep into that Trinity thing, not gloss over it. You want to know Judaism? We are really into that God has no form thing, not invisible, no form beyond nature to say that God is a being, is itself a kind of form. Judaism requires this tremendous leap of faith that the transcendent is real and exists beyond any physical dimension. I was fortunate to go to the Mormon temple in Oakland this week. Some of you went on the field trip. If you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you are not allowed into their temples, though you can go to a local chapel, say, here in Livermore. But the temple, the one in Oakland, is holy ground. It represents the way things should be, but only the faithful are permitted to enter. Fortunately, for those of us from other faiths, they've been renovating the temple in Oakland, so it is in a kind of decommissioned spiritual state and visitors are allowed in. Now that renovations are complete, up until the time that they sanctify the temple again. When everything was foreign to me, the architecture of sacred space, the rituals that form the Mormon faith, the belief system which is represented in that space, it strikes me as being as far removed from Judaism as you can get. And yet, you know what? The LDS Church sees itself as intrinsically related to Judaism. It understands itself as a direct outgrowth of Judaism, and represents that understanding in its art and architecture. A person of faith has humility, enough humility to know that the answer to such claims is not, no, you are wrong. They get to own their interpretations. Okay, so that comes to question. Aren't there then any boundaries? How do we uphold the integrity of our own? Yes, there is a line, and that is respect for the right of the religious community to define itself. If someone tells me that Judaism requires being a Christian, I would maintain that they have not understood Judaism, and that it is not their place to tell me what a Jew must believe. To be any less than honest about this is to not be willing to stand up for one's own faith. Part of being Jewish is learning to accept being a minority faith, learning to hear the truth as others see it, and still be proud of who we are and what we believe. My faith is richer because of my encounter with other traditions. Indeed, sometimes that encounter affects what I believe. I remain open to that. A deeply spiritual life has some fluidity to it. It is not rigid. At the same time, it values integrity, a willingness to stake oneself spiritually. Seeing Judaism as simply a flavor of some universal truth deprives it of its authenticity. It reduces my particularism to a subordinate position beneath universal values. My particularism, however, is not secondary to being human. It is the way I am human, and therefore has ultimate value. Just as I seek to find the beautiful and meaningful in other faiths, I believe that appreciating one another's traditions means recognizing that they too have absolute value. We don't all believe the same thing, and the world is a richer place because of that. I feel a little nervous after those two amazing talks. Thank you so much. Wasn't that inspiring? Thank you. Thank you, Maneer, for inviting me. Thank you, Reverend Andy. You're so welcoming. I'm so honored to be here. I was contemplating the theme, loving across the differences, and I think many of our favorite Sufi poet, Rumi, one of a quote from one of his poems came to me, out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field, and I will meet you there. It seems to me when we start with the field, we are in a place of love that is all inclusive. I hope you indulge me. I'm going to share a little bit of my own journey because it has been a journey of loving across the differences. I was raised in a liberal Protestant Christian church, United Church of Christ. My parents were atheists and agnostic. They wanted me to go, and my three older brothers, to go to a church to introduce us to Judeo-Christian values, but then they wanted us to think and feel for ourselves, so I went there until I was sixth grade every week. I also went to a Jewish Montessori school for two years from nursery school and for kindergarten, where we had Shabbat every Friday. We learned a little Hebrew and holidays, and I loved it. My brothers did not care for church. I loved church, and I loved the Judaism. I was learning my best friend was Jewish, so I asked my parents when I was in third grade if I could be both Jewish and Christian because I didn't see any conflict because what I was hearing it from the child perspective was there about love, and that's what I loved about church. I came from a very academic family, and emotional life was not talked about very much, so I was so grateful to be at church to hear about love and to be able to talk about love and express love. It went to my heart, and one Christmas morning or Christmas season, I was in the living room and I was singing Christmas carols and I was imagining baby Jesus, and I started to feel my smallness next to my three older brothers who seemed very big and brave and strong.  But in that moment, I remembered those lessons I learned that we're always loved, that this divine presence, this infinite love intelligence of the universe always, always loves without condition. It does not matter who we are, and in that moment I got it, I knew, and in that moment it was focused on this idea of baby Jesus, and I focused my attention of just so much gratitude for this love, and as I did that, there became this extraordinary light and in the mystics call it uncreated light. It's not electrical light, it's not light from the moon or the stars, it is of another dimension, and this light just grew and grew and it came and it immersed me in this extraordinary, vast, unconditional love beyond anything we can ever describe humanly. It was transcendent as a little one who had three older brothers, like so many younger siblings. I adored and worshiped my brothers, I loved my parents, and yet I remember so clearly while I was in this state of love how small my human love is and was that it was nothing compared to this God love. And my life was changed forever from that moment because that was something that I could not find in this world, I could not exist, but I knew as my mentor teacher said it was more real than the chair on which I was sitting. There wasn't a question of is this a hallucination? Is it a dream? When we know that we know that we know, I had come in direct contact with this infinite love and there were no walls, there were no borders. As one teacher said, as his definition of spirituality is, is that it's when our hearts are open to infinity and there are no boundaries, there are no limits, there's no place where we constrict because God's love has no boundaries, it has no limits, it just simply is in through and as all time and space, including all life and yet transcends all of it. The challenge of this experience was that I wanted more of it. I hungered and thirsted to have more of it and I couldn't find it so often when I would go and I tried different Christian churches because I was trying to find this experience again and so much of it was based around Bible study and I just, it wasn't it. I'm just like no, this is too small, it's not, it's not it. So the one thing I grasped on to was when Jesus said, worship me in spirit and I decided that was the way to go because form was not doing it for me so I had this constant conversation and less with Jesus, just more with God. I just had this running conversation with the divine presence and I explored. When I went off to college, I started learning, taking classes on the world's religions and I love learning all these different perspectives and ways of understanding this divine love intelligence of the universe and trying to fit myself. I remember just lying in my bed and trying to see what it would be like to see the divine from this religious perspective and see, it's expanding. And then several years later, this is after I was in college, I had a vision dream and this divine voice in which I've been talking with most of my life in which I trusted with my entire being. It presented me with two teachers in front of me and it said something that was very important to me, it said, you can trust them. The teacher in front of me was Paramahansa Yogananda, who is a Hindu teacher who came over from India in the early 1900s and behind him was Juna Suzuki, who was a Zen teacher who came over to the United States in the 19, well he came over in 1959 but in the 1960s he landed in Haight Ashbury. Wonderful time for a Buddhist to land in Haight Ashbury. I wanted to know who these teachers were, this presence that I trusted with my whole being so I could trust them. So I read autobiography of a yogi, which was Paramahansa Yogananda's primary way of expressing in the world. Many people have read his book and then I started taking his lessons and there, I don't know if anyone has been, there's a lakeshine temple in Pacific Palisades in the LA area. If you ever go it's beautiful, it's a lake and around the lake there's statues to all the world's religions. There's even a place with Gandhi's ashes there and this was the temple that one of the temples that Yogananda created built and so I would go to the meditations there. There was two or three hour meditations Friday and Sunday night but as I went something started to bother me. When I noticed he was inviting me from the other side of the veil but just this energy of teaching to love him, to learn more of what he was teaching by loving him and what I recognized is I felt like I was betraying my roots, that I was turning my back or there was a there was a competition between Paramahansa Yogananda and Jesus and intellectually it was one thing. I love studying the world's religions but my heart to give my heart to something else was really hard and so I prayed about it and talked about it and just trying to understand it and as I continued this this revelation unfolded which is that is just a human idea. We have all these ideas of separation of otherness but in the divine that does not exist. Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, Krishna, Buddha they are all serving the same energy in the same source. There's only one power. There are not multiple powers there's only one and it is infinite and it transcends all creation and so we arise when we find the truth of that being within ourselves the Allah that we experience that you experience the Yahweh or that which has no name God the ground of all being the way it is the same those all concepts those are all forms but spirit itself is beyond all form it is beyond all concepts and that's the place where we start that's the place of our home is to discover this infinite love intelligence the way I look at it itself is like a wheel there's the hub of the wheel and this one is the source is the source of all creation and the all the different spokes or the different religions and races and cultures and sexual orientations and and we all know even within our own faiths there's so much diversity I believe there's as many paths to this hub to the knowing the oneness within us as there are people just as there we each have our own unique thumb print seven billion people we each have our own thumb print we each have our own own soul print and our journey is discovering that we discover it within our religious faiths within our cultures within our families those are all paths to find that oneness what I noted about my teachers Yogananda and Shinra Suzuki is when Yogananda came over he was not interested in teaching Hinduism what he was interested in was teaching people how to know the divine presence to have direct contact he used techniques that he learned from his hindu tradition and it came through but that was not his purpose was to convert people to hinduism his intention was for people to experience the divine presence within them he called itself big self not galaxies upon galaxies billions and billions of stars and here's what's extraordinary what I think spirit is so evidently revealing to all of us is that it absolutely delights in diversity if we look at nature itself how diverse is this extraordinary planet and the galaxies and the stars it is constantly creating when I see I follow planet nation or earth focus on social media because I love seeing all the diversity of this earth and how beautiful it is there's there's there's the desert there's the tropical forest the the arctic and we don't say one should be the other one is made the other one wrong we don't see an extraordinary bird that I've never seen before and go well that's not a pigeon so that's not a real bird we delight in the diversity we laugh we enjoy uniqueness and I my experience is most people enjoy the diversity in every area except in humanity so I was thinking about what is that in the diversity of humanity that makes us uncomfortable I don't really know but I'm speculating I think perhaps one of the things we might fear is if I believe this and you believe something different that makes me wrong and that makes that's threatening to me that's uncomfortable and so because I'm so uncomfortable with feeling like I'm being made wrong I'm going to force you to try to believe what I believe to make me right and that's where so much I believe the conflict can come from that conflict happens when we're talking looking at the hub with the spokes the more identified we are with the spoke then the hub then the thing itself and the divine presence within us the greater the conflict but if we put it in the right order to love the Lord our God with all our whole our whole heart body mind and soul to seek the field out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing to seek first the kingdom of God and all things shall be added when we start with first things first with the divine presence that is within through and as all life when we are connecting to that spiritual essence that brings all of us alive when we know that we know that is what we are made in the image and likeness of including the divine mother the mother father God when we recognize and feel that we effortlessly join with spirit to delight in all the diversity it does stops becoming a threat because we know that we're one and absolutely unique it's the idea that we're separate and there's no oneness that scares us but when we know that we're one when we feel that connection and pure unlimited love then we know that you are me and I am you that there is no separation that there is no other there's nothing else happening in this room right now but this infinite unconditional love every one of us is an extraordinary unique expression of that unique love of that one love everyone has a way to express the only challenge is when we try to hurt other people or limit other people's expressions but as we allow everyone to fully express mystics are known to be quite strange because what they find is the closer we get to that spiritual presence we actually become more unique we don't become more similar we actually show up in completely radical ways I don't know if you know mystics in your traditions but they are unusual people oneness is not saying this oneness is inherent uniqueness but oneness always is where we begin I believe that this love intelligence this transcendent state is right here and right now it is always already there's no more love in the past than there is right now there's no more love in the future than there is right now all that the divine presence it is worthless it is deathless it is always already it is fully holy completely itself and it is alive and awake as we recognize it in this room right here and right now as we recognize this field that's out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing that field is where we are meeting and I'm so grateful to have met you there blessings I believe what we just heard was the perfect object lesson in tonight's theme because we heard three gloriously different speakers with three gloriously different messages and yet a spirit of oneness and love pervaded everything we just heard so thank you three very much now is the time before we have iftar and begin the meal for you two participate so if there are questions that you wish to ask of an individual speaker or perhaps something that you would like the whole panel to weigh in on please go right ahead the mics are wired so I think I might ask you to shout out your question then I'll repeat it on the microphone so it was about the last two messages whether they were sort of the unified whole or on a continuum with each other or in you said at odds in dialogue with each other so maybe Reverend Hawkins and Rabbi Milder would like to address that the way I look at it I have a teacher who says that spirit is infinite and it's infinite perspectives and that we are closer to spirit when we can take all those different perspectives so I think Rabbi Larry and I were approaching a topic from different perspectives and they're both absolutely valuable and essential to all of us and it's not about either or it's about both end and maybe have the heart to open ourselves to all of it the question is whether circumstances in today's world are stopping us from entering this field where we love each other and accept each other as it is that's a good question I actually think the opposite is true I think oftentimes I mean just from what we saw recently what happened in New Zealand I mean there was just so much the reaction was so beautiful all these New Zealanders going to mosques and a lot of the women wearing hijabs or scars in unity with the with the Muslim women I think when when we see people who try to bring disunity and disharmony a lot of times the response is just so beautiful it's it's more overwhelming than those people that try to diminish from it and it's just a real affirmation of our humanity and our belief and in love and compassion and mercy that I think all of the world's religions share I'm not sure if that answers your question


If not this song, any other gospel song, any other song you can make, so I'm going to I'm also going to show you some, but one thing you need to know when it comes to scoring of songs, one, you get the key of that song, number two, you get the progression of that song. This song is a simple gospel song that ends with just, so the key of the song is on E. Don't forget the key again. The key is on E. On the 4 chord then 6, 5, which is your last song. Okay, then the second movie again. The progression there is just the 4 chord, just simple progression.  Okay, you can use some movement on the 4 chord and it will accept the 4 chord. Okay, so basically these are just the progression of that song then, that's it. Now, the first movement I did on that song, this is your T, this is your La T, this is your 6, 7, this is your 6, 7. Okay, you need to just know your fretboard. How to go your 6, 7, you can go this way with this finger in and you can go this way with this finger in. So that's it, then you are my God, you are my God. Just messing around there. So what I did there was, back to my 1, right, that's the progression of the song. You are my 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, which is your 5, 5. Back to your 1, which is your 2, then I did it. So that's it. So what I did there was, this is my 2, this is my 3. I slow. Then I repeated it here again. Now, the same notes for different pitch. Okay, you need to observe your pitch when playing the song.  Sometimes you can, you can repeat same notes on different pitch. I don't know if you're getting it. Sometimes you can repeat same notes on different pitch. Like what I did here. So you might even think that is not what I did. Also repeat that here. But here it's just that this pitch is higher than this. Okay, this note here is higher than this. That's it. So what I did there was, I continued. Okay, that was the move. To my 3. Okay, so that's it. That's just what I did there. The next move there was the major pentatonic extension. Okay, so that's exactly what I used there. Then the second, the last move there, I started from the, I guess did something like that. The open string, open notes there. Don't forget the key, E to my E, open. Okay, so I did that. That's my top, that's my flat 7. Turning my flat 7 to major chord. Okay, so that's just the move I did on that song. Okay, so now let's take a look at that. What I did there also looks as if I'm doing A major pentatonic extension. Okay, so this is my A major pentatonic. Exactly what I did on the E minor, E major pentatonic. E major pentatonic. That's what I came down here to do also. A major pentatonic. Okay, U. So basically guys, this is everything I did on that song on the cover. Very simple to achieve. Now, when it comes to mode, now I can as well use mode to build by this same song. Now, I've already gotten my progression. That's my Phrygian mode. I just finished running there. The Phrygian mode is close to the Lydian mode. The Lydian is your four chord. When it comes to the scale you are. This is my E major scale. My one is my Ionian. Two is Dorian. Three is Phrygian. Four is, you know, just like that. Four is Lydian. Five is Miscellaneous. So I, you are my god. So that's it. You can go that way. You are my... So what I did there is my Ionian mode. That's my Phrygian mode that I ran there. But I started from Eti mode. You see the move? One thing you should know. Or you should come to understand it. You should understand those scales. You can do it on its own. All of them are both connected. You can do it on each other. You can do it on each other. Okay? They are both connected. When you look at the graph, they are all connected together. Okay? So that's it. So that's my Phrygian mode that I just applied there. You can do it. You can switch them. You can invert them. You can... It's not necessary you must always start from the root note of the Phrygian. Mode. You can invert them. You are... Now for the worm, I did this. That's exactly my Ionian mode that I finished running there. My Ionian mode. Which is my... This is my Ionian mode. So you are worm. It's fitting that curve. Okay? Now the last mode I want to share with you that can also go under some progression. The curve progression changes there. There is the Missolidian. The Missolidian mode goes all time. So the only you can do this... So this is my Missolidian mode. Okay? Now in long brain, on the key which we are this is my 1 and this is my 5. Okay? When you look at it in long brain, you will see it's 5, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5. Okay? So that's it. Then the Phrygian is Which is your The Phrygian. Then the Ionian is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Which is my Okay? Now there's one thing about knowing them and using them to let me use it. Missolidian mode there I run. Again, from my 4 chord, I link into the 5 chord run the Missolidian mode extend it. Did my 4 My 4 was open. Which is my A. My 4 is my A. Is my key A. My 4 is on the A string. My 4 is on the E string. Okay? So that's as I do what I did there. So from the 4 I link run the Missolidian mode extend it and drop the 4. 4 to my 1. So you can see how you can use this mode to color your playing. Let me show you an example on how you can apply the mode on the same song. Which you can also maybe use on other songs you come across. So let's play it. Phrygian. You already know which one can fit in a particular chord progression. Which one can fit in a particular chord progression. So you know them. You learn them. You go more deeper on them. No in there. Okay? So guys, this is everything I want to show you today. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you got something from it. Practice, practice, practice, practice. Don't give up. If you need private lessons from me every information is in the description below. Send me mail. Watch out for me by WhatsApp. Okay? And if you're new to this channel please, please, please, please do not forget to hit that subscribe button before you leave. Please like, comment, and share. I love you guys. Thank you so much. Kiss out. I will see you in my next video.


Alright, so I finally had a chance to check out the Pharmacist documentary on Netflix and it is one of the best documentaries with the coolest main people ever. And we're going to talk about it and there will be some spoilers but it's a documentary so not much can be spoiled. But anyways, if you want, go watch it, come back and we'll discuss. What is up everybody? This is Chris from The Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health, addiction, addiction recovery and all that stuff so if you're into that, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because sometimes what I like to do is take different movies, TV shows, documentaries and kind of discuss them, break them down, share some of my experience. So this documentary, The Pharmacist, it came out, God, earlier 2020 or last year in 2019 but I've been meaning to watch it because it's about this pharmacist who kind of blew up the spot of big pharma and the whole opioid crisis that really got its legs in the early 2000s. All right? So one of the reasons why I'm very passionate about this topic is for those of you who don't know me, hi, I'm Chris, I'm a recovering drug addict. My preferred drug of choice was prescription opioids, all right? I got clean on my 27th birthday in June of 2012 and yeah, now I try to share my story and give people some hope who are struggling with addiction or if you know somebody who is. So this is a topic that I'm very, very passionate about. So let's discuss the documentary real quick and I'll kind of lay out the foundation of how this guy, Dan, he became one of the main people to really give attention to the opioid epidemic and I'm blown away that more people don't know about this guy. So anyways, Dan, he's a father. He had two children and his wife and they lived in Louisiana and his son was tragically murdered while doing a drug deal in a bad part of town and his son was buying crack cocaine and he was shot and Dan saw that, you know, the local New Orleans police department wasn't doing much. There was a lot of like scandalous stuff within the police department and a lot of very shady detectives and police officers and all that kind of stuff and Dan, he, you know, he felt a responsibility to figure out who killed his son, right? So he was going down into the hood, like the most dangerous part of the city, knocking on doors, asking questions and like, people were like, oh my God, like this, this dude is crazy, right? And yeah, it took some time and it's, it's a really interesting and sad story. They think they catch the person, then they don't, then they find out who really killed his son. But anyways, that's just like kind of where it starts and that's kind of the first two episodes. But anyways, as you can tell from the title of the documentary, Dan is a pharmacist. All right? So something that Dan started doing when he was investigating his son's murder was he started recording all of his conversations. And by the way, like Dan, he like keeps all his, his tapes and stuff in his attic and he has the scariest little staircase that goes up there and Tristan and I were worried that that thing was going to break, but anyways, he records like all of his conversations and that'll kind of play into stuff that happens a little bit later. But anyways, he's a pharmacist and in the early 2000s, here's what went down. Purdue Pharma created OxyContin, all right? And this was promoted as this miracle pain killer, all right? Chronic pain or pain in general is something that a lot of people suffer with, whether it's chronic pain from an injury or, you know, some other kind of chronic illness. But doctors are always trying to find ways to minimize pain for people. So when OxyContin hit the market, it was one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns ever, but here's the thing. It was promoted as an opioid that is non-addictive, all right? Which is crazy and they discuss this a little bit in the documentary, right? Like we know opiates and synthetic opioids are addictive, like we know that for a fact. But somehow Purdue Pharma and their sales reps were able to lie to people, lie to the American people and doctors and say, no, this is non-addictive. One of the ways they did that was by selling people in the fact that OxyContin is time release, right? So since it's time release, basically what that means is you take it and it takes a while to actually digest and break apart in your system and release into the opioids. That was their selling point is saying, this is why it's non-addictive, right? But an opiate is an opiate is an opiate is an opiate, okay? So they really pushed this.  And in the early 2000s, about year 2000, 2001, he started seeing a lot of people coming into his pharmacy, getting prescriptions for this extremely powerful drug and he's like, what's going on? And because Dan felt this sense of duty, right?  And what Dan ended up doing as these OxyContin prescriptions kept coming in, he ran a report, which is crazy. There's so many things that Dan does in this documentary and you're like, you're like law enforcement didn't do this, the DEA didn't do this, the FBI didn't do this. Dan ran a report to see how many prescriptions he was getting from a specific doctor in his area named Dr. Cleggit, right? And it was an insane amount. It was like thousands. So Dan, Dan's the best person ever. Go watch this documentary just for Dan. Dan's like, I'm going to go investigate this. So he goes to Dr. Cleggit's office, right? And there's a line out the door, okay? Like a line of people. Like imagine, imagine like a midnight release of like an album or a video game or a movie, right? Like this is what it looked like going into her doctor's office. And he's like, yo, this, this does not look right. What's even crazier is Dr. Cleggit. Her office hours were like primarily during the nighttime hours, right? Like it wasn't like normal operating hours. And Dan ended up meeting a young man who was, you know, actually getting those prescriptions and Dan talked this guy out of like using and things like that. But anyways, Dan realized that she was over prescribing these medications. And they called this the Holy Trinity. She was prescribing Oxycontin, Xanax, and Soma, okay? And those of you who don't know, that is a deadly combination, okay? All three of these are depressants. Xanax is typically prescribed for, you know, anxiety disorders. Soma can also be prescribed for anxiety, but it's also a muscle relaxer, right? But all three of these medications get you high, but they depress the nervous system. And when taken in combination, they can kill you, right? They depress your nervous system.  And Dan felt this obligation to do something because he couldn't in good conscious keep prescribing these medications knowing people might die, right? And eventually he did have somebody who died and he ended up leaving his pharmacy for a little bit and things like that.  He went to the DEA. He went to the FBI. He was calling, recording conversations, doing all sorts of stuff. And like the DEA, they interviewed the DEA and agents at the DEA. They were actually working on the Dr. Clegg case for a while, but it was taking forever. And I get it. I get that there's like this process. But Dan, Dan realized with every passing day that Dr. Clegg, it was still able to prescribe these very powerful, potentially lethal opioids. More people were dying. And in this specific area in the New Orleans area, they had this massive spike in overdose deaths. So Dan was going everywhere like we need to stop this now. He was going to the news. He was calling the FBI. He was doing his own research and everything. And he ended up getting the smoking gun because the guy he sent in who was like his inside guy, he actually went there to do some kind of office maintenance repair. And she paid him with a prescription. And she had cops working there. And the cop was like, yo, no payment. Take this prescription and you better leave, right? But anyways, it's really tragic to kind of finish it up. Dan, he was kind of like the driving force behind pharmacy starting to put in a system. So pharmacists can better track who's getting opioids if they're doctor shopping, getting all these and everything like that. Dr. Clegg did end up going to court, but she was in a car accident. And it turns out she was like abusing the medications herself. And she got in a car accident, had brain damage. And she pretty much had no repercussions at all for the thousands, potentially thousands of people that she killed. But they kind of finish up the documentary explaining the lawsuits against Purdue pharma and everything like that. And I think, as a recovering opioid addict and as somebody who's trying to increase awareness and help others out, it blows my mind that these red flags have been there for almost 20 years. And if you look at any of the current statistics, it's not slowing down. Like we still have a massive problem, all right? But anyways, like there are people who do need these medications, but we still do have a problem with some doctors over prescribing. Anyways, go check out this documentary over on Netflix. It's only like four episodes, and it's worth your watch. And it helps you educate you a little bit more about the opioid epidemic and how it started, all right? But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up if you're new. Make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody who supports the channel over on Patreon, as well as everybody who supports the channel by buying my mental health books at TheRewardToll.com and those who get merged from the merch store. You're all awesome, all right? Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.


Very happy and excited to be back With another Monday motivation Before I begin today, let me ask you a question. Do you know? There were times when Lord Rama went through a state of grief anger and helplessness Yes, he did When was that and what did Lakshman do to Rama at that time? Let me share with you an episode from the Ramayana During Aranya Vasa one day, Sita Devi spotted a beautiful golden deer in front of their hermitage And Sita Devi liked it so much that she wanted to have it and she asked Rama to get it for her So Rama went after the golden deer in the forest as the golden deer escaped appear and disappear And finally having lost his patience Rama shot an arrow at the golden deer The demon Maricha who actually came in the form of the golden deer Before dying screamed aloud Ha Sita Ha Lakshmana Rama immediately realized that it was active the demons And he rushed to the hermitage only to find Sita Devi missing from there He realized that she was taken away by the demons So Rama started crying uncontrollably Oh my brother Lakshmana See Sita now has been taken away by the demons. I cannot live without Sita. She's more to me than my life I will sacrifice myself if Sita Devi dies Why did you leave her? I told you to protect her till the time I returned. Why did you leave her Lakshmana? I didn't stop. He was continuing to cry like a child Lakshmana, there may not be a bigger sinner than me in this whole world I might have done so many sins in my previous birth Why am I hit by one sorrow after the other? I lost the kingdom My father died I'm detached from my mother and the distance from my relatives now Sita Devi has been taken away by the demons And you know Sita is very innocent. She's so Chased, she's sweet and innocent How much she might have wept when the demons were taking her away He was crying like anything. He was in total grief Looking at Rama in that state Lakshmana gained all the courage to give courage to Rama He wanted to inspire Rama to come out of that grief So in Ramayana, there were several slowcastes which describe how Lakshmana Tried encouraging and inspiring Rama to come out of that grief And let me present one of the slowcastes here Sita Devi What does it mean? Oh noble brother Rama Banish your anguish and brace yourself with fortitude and let you be with spiritedness in her searching in searching of Sita Devi Indeed in this whole world There's no backsliding for the spirited people And any kind of enterprise or any kind of difficulty or endeavor however impractic abilities it is possible Please Come out of your grief Let us go in search of Sita We will find her We will kill the demons and we'll get her Sita Devi back As Lakshmana inspired his elder brother Rama with great difficulty Rama took courage and set out with Lakshmana in search of Sita Devi So Did you see Even Rama even large Rama went through the times of distress in times of difficulties So if you are worried in these days of lockdown period confined to the home unable to go to the work Not sure whether your job will remain or very much worried about your business losses And not even certain today how long this lockdown period will continue And when this corona threat will be over It's quite natural if Rama had similar kind of feelings Why not you and me the ordinary mortals It's quite natural But one thing we have to remember is does it really help to continue to be in the same state for long No No There Lakshmana was there to inspire Rama So do you have a Lakshmana to inspire you come out of this period of stress Or can you become Lakshmana to somebody And inspire them to be spirited in these difficult times It is because Keeping the spirits up and moving forward with a brave heart in times of difficulties is the way to go When the heart is filled with enthusiasm instead of depression However big the difficulty is It can be achieved It's possible to achieve it While fear worry and humidity will drain your energy Your spiritedness will enhance your energy levels The difficulties come and go And the difficulties come to everyone It is how we react and respond in those difficult times That determines how successful we will be in dealing with those difficulties This incident from Ramayana should help you and me And all of the people out there To be able to learn and handle the difficult times we are passing through So You should keep your spirits up Because for the spirited Any difficulty is no difficulty This present difficulty too Is no difficulty It shall be overcome if you keep your spirits up So I want to ask you a question Would you like to keep your spirits up and also help others around to be inspired? Inspirited? Yes Yes or yes Yes, thank you And I want you to repeat and say aloud along with me The next few sentences I know These times too shall pass I know These times too shall pass I shall keep myself motivated I shall keep myself Motivated I shall help others around me To be motivated too Keep your spirits up Thank you Stay careful, stay healthy and stay happy I'll come back to you with a Monday Motivation But in the meantime, if you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel Please do subscribe for it And also don't forget to press the bell icon there Thank you Take care, see you again next Monday You are awesome


Is Fortnite still a thing? It's almost 2021 and Fortnite still has a huge fan base. Why? It may seem that Fortnite is already dead and it isn't a thing anymore based on the internet and the haters. But according to the statistics, it's still one of the most popular games even in 2021. Why? Because of how unique it is. Players don't just quit a game they just grind it for so long. Players master their building mechanics and editing mechanics. People might switch from CSGO to Rainbow Six because they are similar, but people can't stop playing Fortnite. They can play creative, LTM, maybe a live event if you're lucky. Another reason Fortnite is still a thing is because anyone can play. Let me explain. You can be 6 years old and know how to play Fortnite because Fortnite is such a big game. You can be on mobile, play cross-platform, find players in fail modes, even Nintendo Switch. Fortnite is still doing really good on YouTube and Twitch. Always top 5 games on Twitch and millions of views on YouTube. So Fortnite is still a thing in 2021, even if it gets a ton of hate.