Sunday, September 18, 2016

I Met This Cool Guy Named Nav






Every week I meet new and interesting people at the St. Lawrence Market.  It's one of the many reasons I like selling my artwork there.

This week, I met this cool guy named Nav. What made him so cool?  Well, he explained to me that every day he takes a picture of something/someone that has a positive vibe and puts it on Instagram, Twitter, and  his blog  (http://navsproject365.com/).  Every month Nav goes to a different country, takes pictures, and gets to know people.

I'll be honest, as I get older I get more and more cynical. I look around me at our society's obsession with sports, fashion, entertainment and think is this it?  Shouldn't we be doing more?  Shouldn't we be fighting for social justice and trying to save the planet from impending doom? Are we all just one mass of Nero's fiddling as Rome burns?

Certainly, many people do fight for causes (solidarity with the people in North Dakota, for instance, fighting against the pipeline!) but it seems like most people are complacent as long as we have food, shelter, and a comfortable life. Or, perhaps we don't know how to fight, so we put blinders on.

Having said all of this, Nav's philosophy got to me and I wondered what if everybody in the world took notice every day of something/someone with a positive vibe and passed it onto other people?  Perhaps we would become more connected on a deeper level to each other and understand each others' experiences. Also, if we viewed the world in a positive inclusive way maybe we could come together and fix the mess we're in.

Just a thought...