A Karmic Day

Sunday, May 1, 2011, was a day that marked a karmic shift in the energy of the world.

My honey and I were standing in a crowd on Main Street in Disneyland at 7 a.m., waiting to walk through the parks to raise money for the 25th annual AIDS Walk in Orange County. This marked the anniversary of the death of a good friend, Jamie Jemison. He died on May 1st from complications of long-term infection with HIV. He was infected with HIV in the late 1970s, making him one of a handful of long-surviving people with the disease.

His mother, Pearl Jemison, was the honorary chairwoman of the walk and gave a short speech on the meaning of the day. As soon as she mentioned Jamie, a little bird started chirping loudly in a ficus tree at the corner of Main Street, right above our heads and the heads of Jamie’s brother, sisters and their children.

“I think Jamie gave that little guy a push!” I said. He had kept an aviary at his home and loved to nurture birds. As he chirped away, we followed the pace car through the park. All 4,000 of us.

Later that day, the death of Osama Bin Laden, the worlds’ most notorius mass-murderer, filled my TV screen.

I watched CNN, Fox and the local news well into midnight and beyond. I saw the crowds at the White House and Ground Zero and Times Square. Were the crowds celebrating a death? No, they were celebrating life. Life and freedom for us all over prejudice, condemnation and self-righteousness.

It's curious that on May 1, 1945, Germany announced that Adolf Hitler was dead.

Peace for us all.