In honor of May being Asian Heritage Month, I thought I would share one way in which The Genki Spark honors our heritages. For those of you that missed our Making Women’s History Event back in March, or you were so inspired and excited about it and can’t wait until next year’s event…here’s an “encore” of one of our new pieces debuted that weekend, “Honoring Past, Present, and Future.”
Below you will find the speaking parts of the piece and a video of our performance. We at The Genki Spark honor and celebrate those that came before us as we continue their work for a happier, healthier, genki-er world. We are excited for our future and the future we are creating for those yet to come.
Peace,
Trisha
PAST
Today we reflect on the experiences of our ancestors. As immigrants and minorities, the generations before us faced many challenges. Their stories of sacrifice and struggle include:
- Having to change their names because they were “too hard to pronounce.”
- Being forced to “speak good English,” abandoning the languages their families had spoken for generations.
- Being denied jobs or access to education.
- Working endlessly under exploitative conditions, building railroads, cleaning houses, picking crops.
- Forfeiting their professions or dreams in order to provide a better life for their families.
- Facing the burden of proving loyalty to a country that was at war with the homeland of their ancestors.
- Being expected to keep quiet and endure indignities because they were women.
- Being harassed or beaten for their skin color, race, religion, who they fell in love with.
Despite all this, the generations before us not only endured, they excelled. Their pride, strength, and courage enabled them to continue despite a society that tried to keep them down. They demonstrated resistance through organizing or simply trying their best to persevere day after day. Let’s honor the legacies of the men and especially the women who continue to inspire us.
Future
Today we envision the future. The future we want to leave for our children, grandchildren and generations to come. A future that honors those who have come before us.
What is this future we see?
A future that is just, equitable; where there is equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, race or religion.
A future that provides places where each of us can flourish, celebrating our unique strengths and talents; including opportunity for any girl who dreams of being president to do so!
A future where the media portrays women & girls for their strengths, skill and ability, not their hairstyles, bodies or sexuality.
A future where we fight through numbness and dumbing down to act with courage and conviction.
A future where women and girls leave competition and judgment aside to fully support each other.
A future where in the presence of strong women and girls men and boys find their strength and compassion
A future where we ALL listen to the needs and experiences of one another to empower healing, liberation, and positive change.
A future where each of us contributes to a healthy, sustainable planet,
A future where we live lives of hope, love and peace.
How can we create this future and carry on the legacy that has been given to us? What can we do to create this future?
PRESENT
Today, we are in the present. The history of our past and the progression of our future, meets today, right now. Because we are interconnected.
This is our time. What are we going to do now?
The efforts of our past have contributed to progress. Today we still take on challenges including inequity, discrimination, and other forms of injustice. Every moment is an opportunity for positive change. Everything we do, what we say, every interaction, is important because what we put into the world, is a ripple effect that leads to what will come.
Because we are interconnected.
What are the choices you’re making now? When you do something or say something, are you thinking about the impact? How it might make the other person feel? How it might impact our communities? How it impacts the world? What we put out, even the little moments, matter.
What we do now is going to not only impact us, but will be what we pass on to our children, and our children’s children, which will continue to be passed on to future generations.
We invite you to join us, in spreading respect and peace in the world, with fierceness, so that our positive vibrations will spread and heal our communities and world.
We are interconnected.
Join us in making positive change, NOW.
Genki Speak 
So powerful – thank you for the video, especially! Only wish I could feel the vibrations . . .