one question.

Day by day, I find it easier (and more relentlessly truth-telling) to admit that perspective is everything. It is what keeps us or kills us, it is what changes situations from devastating to asking, what can we do about this? Perspective is, all in all, an opportunity. The choices ranging from one drastic end of the spectrum to another, we have the ability to seek the good in what is otherwise the very worst.

That being said, my perspective lately seems to falling short, which is more than putting it nicely. My original intent was to say that it blows, more or less colorfully.

I'm not blind to the goodness. I see it, often and always. In fact, most days, it is staring me dead in the face, finger pointed towards my chest as if to say, go ahead and deny that I'm here. See what happens.

I am not one to shirk the responsibility of counting my blessings. I do it whenever I have the chance, whenever I am reminded of them, in both small and huge ways. I am always, though often unseen to most, and only occasionally begrudgingly, in a grateful state of mind.

Despite this hopeful gratitude, common life invades. It is too obvious to say that problems will arise in even the most blissful avenues we occupy, and, even more obviously, the same goes for those areas for which we feign tolerance. But, with that opportunity to choose brightly intact, we must constantly guide and re-guide our minds to better things, to what we love, to what we cherish and honor and adore.

It isn't easy. In fact, I find it even more difficult than this fight I've being putting up against the current economy. In my elitist senses, I tend to believe my mind, and its negative influences, are prone to wander more than all others. I constantly find myself redirecting my mentality, over and over, each day I'm here. Like anything that tends to stray, some child following whatever it finds most interesting for the present moment, wonder-enhanced, I have to reach out, gently tugging for attention, and bring myself back.

My deviation is often not so innocent as the description I implied. It's more like running in place, always craning my neck behind me, making sure I keep ahead of myself and everyone else, being caught up in what others have achieved first, where I'm not headed, what I haven't done.

All of this, and I more than ever believe in the perfect timing of all things, that moments come together to surprise us, to equip us, to gently shove us along with even the slightest wince of inspiration, which is almost always more than enough. This particular sign of grace came to me via social media, an industry I have to believe that one day, if it doesn't already, rule the world. A video, retweeted by one of my favorites, Holstee, comes from the creative, honesty-seeking minds at Fifty People, One Question. The theme is, in each city, to seek fifty willing individuals to provide whatever answer first comes to them to the question asked. Simple brilliance; here is the take from Brooklyn, New York.

What I like best about watching this is that it nearly forces you to put whatever you're facing into, ahem, perspective. When we are able to choose the things we hope for, admit the things we've let go by, or realize (oh to realize) how lucky we already are, life feels simple. It doesn't feel perfect, but it makes more sense. And even if we have to fight to focus on such, it seems to me that it's a fight we can win, and a fight from which we can only grow stronger.