I just called to say...

That my cousin is having a baby. Yikes. A baby. After the excitement subsided, I realized that it's a baby. A whole human life about to enter our family. This little baby I pray for because it has no idea what awaits it. I hate calling the baby an it, but alas, for a few more months it will be an it, an unknown synthesis of egg and sperm. Oh poor baby that will enter this crazy and hectic world of ours, a world full of hunger, poverty, mechanical humans trained to not think for themselves, a world of materialism, globalization, communication, and what other big- worded catastrophe there is to name. I pray that this baby who will one day grow up will fight for freedom, question injustice, and cry for beauty and love. I guess that is a lot to hope for for a baby entering a wealthy family in Los Angeles but nevertheless, this is what I ask for and let that be all.

So as this baby begins to grow in my cousin's wife's belly, I send out this plea to all babies thinking about stepping onto this same earth that I walk upon:
A plea to not just live, but to be alive
To not be desensitized to the kind of love that is shown on tv
To open your hearts to pain and mistakes for they are sure to follow our humanness
Open your arms to relationships, to vulnerability and to people for as often as they will hurt you, they will also love you the most besides God.
Don't judge yourself too harshly and don't judge others, reserve judgment for those who get paid to do that.
I say all this because I have not yet learned to do them well, because these are my goals and I wish to pass them on to you.

Love
Listen.
Love.
Be patient to those around you.
Love.
Respect everyone.
Above all, love.
For that is the first thing that we are shown when we are born and should remain with us daily and eternally. We are created to live for ever. Our lives begin on this earth but that does not mean that they end here.
Welcome...