Letting people in (#1612)

This is more about my personal balance of letting people into my life and not about anything else in particular. I have found that no one meets my high standards of great friendship. What is also true is that I cannot rise to the level of my own mind's demands, therefore no one else is to be expected to do what I cannot do. But neither should I dismiss my high level of what constitutes a great friend. What I need to do is find the will to trust folks where previously I have not. Life is too short to clump everyone into the same behaviors I have been exposed to in my past. This is a new day and new people are in it. I have to get out of my protective shell and allow new people and ideas to filter through my life. I have my same old rock solid principles to guide me but I need to allow for trust to have it's expression. Whether the trust is violated or upheld is what I need to find out and continuing on that path is right. I cannot withdraw into a shell and not allow for anything to happen out of some assumed preconceived notion. It is a struggle I deal with since most of my experiences have led to dismal results in interacting with my trust on the line. Practice makes perfect, or at least practice does sharpen one's abilities and my abilities in determining how I should live need sharpening. I don't want to miss out on life as it is happening around me because I am too shy or fearful of it's outcome. Life needs to be an adventure and wising up to that is a great accomplishment. Anyway, letting people into my life is necessary for me as well since living my life within the wonders of this existence is the most important thing I can do.

What is your gift to life? (#1611)

I know for me the best I can offer is my appreciation for having lived in existence with the care and nurture I have been given and for that I am most happy. My appreciation is expressed by my smile. I am often my most at peace when happiness in my life is most prevalent. Because of the nurture I have been given I can find happiness in most any situation, even those that are unnatural to happiness. In other words, I am a positive soul who despite the best efforts of negative souls, endures to be the fortunate man that I am. I can make a mark here in existence before I leave this dimension. Not some great monument to some great accomplishment but in my everyday life just being a good influence wherever I go. The simple point of life for me is to live with a purpose that strengthens and unites our experiences in ways that bring about less harm and more joy. Virtue does have a place in our thinking and doing. We live in the way we choose because we can and not because we have to. We are not just cogs in a wheel churning out a predictable outcome, no we are individual beings who choose to share our existence together out of necessity and out of wonder. We don't know so much and all of us learning more and more and sharing that learning is what community and co-existence is all about. I accept that life is complicated in many ways but I don't accept that we must harm each other in order to live it. My smile reminds that I am but just one and all I can ask from life is to have a chance to be me.

The present and future belong to us (#1610)

We the people, not just some of us. All of us share a voice in deciding what is acceptable in our existence within America and how our acceptance affects the world at large. None of us is cattle to be herded, we are gifted with the freedom and liberty to voice our opinions when they are logically accurate. Most voice their opinions whether or not they are logical but that is a discussion for another time. When we have the facts and truth of a matter in our grasp we must stand up and demonstrate that to all who would fight against it. Having logic and accuracy is how we conquer those who do not. Wisdom is a finite state when all the factors that bring it about are present. I cannot think of an example of wisdom that has had or will have a negative effect on ourselves, so wisdom must have a positive effect. Wisdom must also come from the foundation of truth. The facts of the ideal that wisdom is being associated with must be honest. So a positive honest ideal is at the base of what is rightly wise. The subject of the wisdom must also elevate us beyond a positive outcome to actually changing what is now into what is better in the next instance. That is where we can make a difference in the present and the future. We must allow ourselves to see beyond what is in front of us and allow changing factors in our reality to dictate their conclusions based upon wisdom. So when our society is improved through equality or justice or fairness we all benefit and move our civilization to a better place then when we found it. We are all responsible for practicing enlightened thought and then putting that enlightened thought into action. It is our duty and our joy.

Actions always display one's true intent (#1609)

The gullible still reside among us and for that I am saddened. What I can surmise from that is people place their trust in persons who have attained power without realizing just how nefarious many people are who attain power. Power is gained through not only honest brokering but most times with ulterior motive and under handed practices. Trusting someone who has wealth or power to be a guide for oneself takes a lot of naivete and abdication of one's will. I can admire people for their accomplishments if those accomplishments exhibit the better and best of who we are as a civilized and enlightened species, but I will never give tribute to one's who owe their success to the sapping of resource from others. The "dog eat dog" mindset of many is illustrative of what I find reprehensible as an outcome. I don't mind competition when most are equally matched but to give credence or respect to those who practice the artful dodgery of unfairness and manipulation is wrong, when disrespect and condemnation should be their reward. We see this in our economies and our political systems as examples. Those who would be leaders are more takers than honest representatives of those who need them most. We have to give our attentions to what is being done in our name and for that we must know what is happening. The only way for that to happen is to elevate our understandings, not by short cutting knowledge by mimicking others but through analyzing and reasoning out the issues of the day that most interest us. We don't need to know it all but we do need to know some things and then the knowing of them will open our eyes to those leaders who have our intent as theirs.

Humanity keeps surviving (#1608)

Despite the best efforts of some who are human, humanity keeps surviving. That old saying of, "It is always darkest before the dawn", has thus far been absolutely true when it comes to our species. It is not just existence around us that has been a detriment at times to our survival but it is also many threats from inside humanity as well. These are the threats that concern me most since they are the ones that our species actually can control. Dangers from outside our species are mostly out of our control and we must rely on our wits and savvy to overcome them. Same holds true for threats from our own species to ourselves. We create destructive combinations that if turned against us would annihilate us in an instant. We also savage our species with impediments that actually turn ourselves against ourselves. We seem to think that a punishing solution to our problems carries as much if not more desirable intent within us to enact. I will not ever for the life of me accept that causing harm to ourselves is any solution to problems that have much easier and effective results that do not cause harm as a rule. I am always buoyed by the fact of humanity's greatest traits of compassion and curiosity in creating an atmosphere of hope that supersedes the worst of our natures when unchecked. Even when we do harm to ourselves in the form of conscious and policy, we are always able to muster the strength to defend and fight against whatever tolerance of purposeful harm has been manipulatively manufactured to test our survivability.

Knowledge is freedom (#1607)

I hear so many talk about remaining free from so many things but few can actually explain what their freedom is from. They know the word and they know they don't want to be subjected to no choices, but other than that they are very confused about what it is they are free from. I will say right now that ignorance is the thing I wish to be free from. I had been abused by the lack of knowledge for a stretch of my life and the consequence of it had taken my voice away from what is true and correct. I did what others told me was right as they used broken logic to support their arguments and for all I knew they were right on the mark. However, as I started to access education at a level I had not previously been able, I learned that logical arguments must have true premises and in learning that I found that I had been hoodwinked by others who had their own agenda or were being hoodwinked themselves. Now that I am an honest student of knowledge it is rare that I am drawn in to something that is an illusion. Instead I am now a bulwark against false information and spread the best of objective knowledge I can. Obviously I am of one political slant, progressive liberal, and thus there will always be a tone of bias in my presentations, yet the facts don't change and if the facts are presented it doesn't matter what political slant a person is, they at least have the opportunity to choose what they think is right and good, based upon the knowledge of the facts and not some distorted manipulated option. It is refreshing to be the master of my mind and the freedom that entails and although my mind is imperfect, I am always still a student, ready to add another bit of knowledge.

Hope exists by protecting the opportunity (#1606)

Hope can only have a chance when we decide to allow for it's possibility. When we fight or stand in the way of the crushing of hope only then does it have a chance to come about. There is nothing positively gained in life through doing nothing. I could never have started this daily blog but instead I did because I had something to say and I wanted a place to say it. My mind and thoughts deserve my efforts to express themselves. I cannot rely on others to express my thoughts I have to do that as a duty to myself and to humanity who I choose to include in my highest priorities. Life is all about choices, granted those choices may be limited in too many ways but still we all have the right to choose our actions and thoughts, regardless of how limited they may be. I am a romantic of sorts and that is how I see the world. I want for all of us to share in the bounty that life can offer, not just in what it currently offers. That is the genesis of hope for me. I see a world with shared interests and shared respects that elevate opportunity and equality above all other ideals. When fairness and justice serve as guidelines to be dear to all of us. As our society of humans moves forward into time and space we must continue to have the sacredness of experiencing our hopes come true. Not all will and likely most will not, however it is the dream of hopes coming true that serves to motivate us to actions we ordinarily would never attempt. I am no Pollyanna, nor am I a cynic either, so off to hoping for some thing that will make all our lives enriched with happiness it is for me. 

The punishing religious ethic (#1605)

Apparently we humans are incapable of distilling discipline in our lives. It is forced upon us that only some sort of belief in a divinity are we able to function within a described moral code. As if the choices we make are not our own in evolving an ethic toward our own moral standards. I would disagree wholeheartedly with those who think I cannot find morality without a belief. I am a man of science and a man of spirituality, however neither of these relegates me to some position where myth, more and superstition rule my life. I have a better outlook on how I live within my virtuous principles, I honor them with action and with explanation. A life lived well is always superior to a life defined by another. I choose to see my actions in this world as my discipline. I am living as I wish my life to be and not through some structured procedure that has to be moderated by others in order to find satisfaction. We live in a society and for that there are rules of behavior we agree to maintain, yet those rules of civility are not my passion and that passion of mine is to be better today than I was yesterday. How I get there is my choice not some subscribed notion that requires homage instead of attraction. For those who cannot or will not find their own spirituality about this existence and their place within it then some form of belief system may be the only path they can find to honor what is good within them. Yet to abdicate our own right to find what links our spirit to this world, through a generic way, is to ignore the doubts that we all share even among those of us who adamantly oppose compartmentalizing that special sense we all have within us. My doubts are my compass and so far my compass has pointed true.  

People who don't care about other people (#1604)

It is unsatisfactory that we raise up citizens in our country who cannot grasp the fact that they were raised up in a community of people. It is as if they have totally misplaced the reality of their lives and instead have replaced it with some version of a philosophy that values only certain things they find agreeable. It is absurd and frustrating to listen to some folks spew hatred along with disinformation and know that there is nothing that can be done about it at the moment. Somehow along the way these people have lost touch with remembering the big picture and instead have replaced it with snapshots of the little pictures they most desire to hold dear or burn to the ground. The old cutting off your nose to spite your face illogic. Our society is complex and can be shaped and sculpted to fit practically any narrative one would choose to express but the truth of the matter is that only one truth is actually real and ignoring what is real makes everything else less truthful. I am all about moving forward without dragging an anchor of lies and deceptions behind me. Life is too short to be playing games or being ignorant to reality that cause real harm and despair to others. I will always see our species through the lens of our logic, compassion and curiosity. It is what we do best as data collecting entities that then reason, analyze and conclude from such information. We are given mysteries all around us, in the air, below the water and the ground and out into the Universe. We have much to do while our species exists so wasting time hurting ourselves is counter-productive and certainly more in line with ending our species than it is in improving it. 

Democracy must always come first (#1603)

Our politicians must have only one major priority at all times and that is to defend and promote our democratic form of government. The purpose of which is to form a more perfect union and to open up opportunities for all Americans and even all citizens of the world to pursue happiness. That no harm is done to oneself or others should be the golden rule by which we determine policies and how they are implemented. There is no other structured institution or philosophy that may overrule the concepts of democracy. We are all joined in a society of our choosing based upon factors of heritage and birthright. When the ideals of democracy are filtered through all proposals by which we govern ourselves we are insured of equality, fairness and justice. These are the noble attributes by which we should all be called upon to emulate as aspirations. The fact that our current system of democracy is warped by rulings and laws that favor privilege and nefarious intent is why I must write this post. We have allowed our society to be corrupted by those who do not hold democratic principles as their guiding light, instead they have notions of their own that do not align with the intent of our society's betterment as a whole. Our pursuits of happiness are now more illusion than reality as we have had to scale back our possibilities due to lessening and lessening opportunities. The only way to right what is wrong in our current political structure is to cleanse it of the ill thinking and legal policies that have allowed advantage for some over the right for all.

Follow your principles and trust your gut feeling. (#1602)

The two are intertwined, principles and gut feeling. If you stick with your principles your gut will most likely be there to back you up. Now I am never one to suggest that we don't need to question our principles and see if they true to our understanding of fairness, equality and justice but if we have formed our principles correctly, we will most always align with what is correct and good for all of us and not just for some of us. The idea of us competing against each other is not applicable to our natural or human rights we all share equally. Those are indemnified by our existence not by some arbitrary test. All else should follow the lead of our inalienable rights but our society has not been gifted with that beginning. Instead we have allowed for greed and selfishness to be part of how we operate our society and it is now coming back full circle to crush our better instincts for living. Those that defend the ways of the past, that has it's genesis in unlimited wealth accumulation, over duty to our fellow citizens are usually the ones who are benefited by it's privilege. Yet the result of such defense is to continue a system that has unfairness, inequality and injustice at it's core. Our species is an enlightened one and over the centuries we have come to see the dire effects that an unsuitable system for living can promulgate. Yet as we see and know some still try to abrogate the sense of change needed to rectify our plight. This is where we need to live on our principles and our gut feelings so that we can rebuild our society into something worthy of our true best character.

It is this life I am living not some hope for an afterlife (#1601)

I will not subject myself to question what comes after this life since this is the only life I have. It is real and it is now. I don't know how I got here and I don't know if I am going anywhere afterwards but the point is that I am here and this is what counts. What can I do in this life? Pretty much whatever I want within reason and having the strong will to fight for what I want is how I start. Although the promise of opportunity is there that does not necessarily translate into reality. Surely the way our society is set up does favor those with advantages and privileges most of us don't have but nonetheless fighting for our vision for our life is the key and that journey to live our life is the true purpose for what we idealize. I may not succeed in my vision and that is a common theme however I will endeavor to fight for it and that is more important than actually attaining it. It is who I am, a man who wants what he wants and is courageous enough to fight for it. I can control some aspects by tenaciously working toward my goal here in this existence but in no other existence do I have any control. Many think of the afterlife in the terms of Heaven or some blissful place. That does show how we do appreciate the best of what is good but it does not prove we are going there. So instead of idolizing a hope, it is better to live that hope in the best way now so that at least some of that hoped for afterlife will be experienced right here and now.

Going backwards in life is not natural (#1600)

Our species is not designed to placate our curiosity. We are a moving organism that expands our own abilities through the expansion of our experiences. We are not measured by definitions, we are measured by our growth. We seek to explore we seek to learn and we seek to understand. It is our nature to use our senses as probes to investigate our surroundings and beyond our surroundings as well. We are the most curious species we have discovered and the truth that our courage has dominated our fears is expressive of the fact that although we are cautious we are determined to continue our forward movement into space and time with a manifest destiny. I am so proud to be a human in that the best of us has been shown and I envy and wish to emulate that very best as often as I can. I have seen the darker side of our behaviors and for that I am ashamed and admonish it's usage. However, despite the worst we have to offer, I choose to live surrounded by those who choose to be the best of who we are. It is a choice we all must make within our own lives, shall we gift the world with our best or shall we gift the world with our least. I am not a static person. There is no moss on my existence nor is there any moss on my thinking. As a rational human being who understands that logic and common sense are our best utilities in a world where the unknown is truly unknown, I am committed to surging into the future with no baggage of fear to lag me behind when going forward is my natural right and duty as a human being.

Still willing to take a chance (#1599)

I am not done yet in my life when it comes to changing. Every day is a new experience regardless of how it is programmed to do the same old things. The necessary things I must continue to do daily are going to remain the same but every thing else is open for me to participate and discover. I am not shackled to any contract that prohibits me from picking up and moving anywhere I wish nor am I restricted by a relationship that would have required me to compromise my freedom in exchange for shared joy. I have my two little wards, a dog and a cat, but they would follow me anywhere and I would never leave them behind. So mobility is not a problem, nor is the will to see our world and it's splendor and it's faults. Meeting new people and finding new ways to make a difference in life is appealing and though I am content where I am I am not gullible enough to think that my world couldn't come apart at any time based on factors outside my control. So with that knowledge that nothing is static, in the absolute, I prepare an alternative plan to change if the change is what is needed. I am also willing to change if love should find it's way to me and that would be welcome. The thing is that life is too short, this I now know, since I have been in it for awhile, and not allowing myself to be open to more learning and experiencing would be a waste of what life I have left. I am not ready to resign myself to the scheduled existence most people think they need to do when they have moved beyond "chasing the wind with a fury". I am not ready to quit taking chances.

Logic, how to separate the truth from fiction (#1598)

There are so many people trying to tell us what is the truth that we must be able to distinguish what is truth and what is not truth. The best way, along with common sense is through logic. How does logic work? Simple, it is like a math problem where the factors involved need to equal the facts in reality. There is no assumption, no guessing, no hoped for conclusion, just simple reality. Valid reasoning is the simplest way to describe the function of logic. In order to get to a "proof" we must first ask take a statement that can be broken down through a process. The most famous of these is that Socrates was mortal. How we get to this conclusion goes like this; All men are mortal, Socrates was a man, therefore Socrates was mortal. Simple enough to agree with. This is the same type of process we can apply to questionable conclusions offered as proof of truth. All men are bad, some men are not bad, therefore not all men are bad. The statement that all men are bad is shown to be false and therefore not a truth. These are simple examples of how logic can work to help us delineate the truth from fiction. The importance of sentence structure and the usage of the words within the sentence is keen to being able to apply logic as a rule on most every statement. In this day and age the problem most of us have with conversations is that most of us do not take the time to speak in complete sentences, which allows for false statements to easily become fact to many. Our unjust need to take shortcuts with our language must be curbed so that when we do speak and hear we are actually able to understand and test the premises behind the conclusions being offered.  

Our inner kindness (#1597)

Within us is the key to our happiness. When we reach out beyond ourselves and influence a positive effect into others' lives we get a glimpse of the harmony kindness brings to us. It is absolutely an exchange, something that does good in the world from ourselves in order to get back a sense of wholeness in our souls. There is no paradox here, we give to get and the trade-off is real satisfaction. Too many times this has been proven in my life. I have been offered kindness in ways that astonish me and make feel the real peace of humility. All because I took the time in my past and current present to offer from myself something I was not required or obligated to do. I just put into practice the human trait of care for other humans as a duty. It is my hope that more of us will understand this simple principle and quit hanging onto every advantage we have captured for ourselves. What I would really like to see is the most fortunate in our society practice giving back to society in ways that actually lift human spirits instead of crushing them. I don't quite understand the disconnect because I have never been fortunate in economic ways to know, yet what little success I have had has never deterred me from sharing that success with others. I enjoy spreading my good fortune around because it feels good and my soul requires from me as much "feel good" as I can muster.

Back to the hard (#1596)

Nothing in life has come easy for me that I can say was truly not earned. I have had to fight and defend that which I have gotten and that is what bothers me. If I am fighting and defending what little comes my way, how much more difficult is it for others who are not as strong as I am going to have anything come and stay their way? It seems like we are all fighting and defending a very limited set of resources while others who have advantages have little to nothing to fight or defend in order to have. It is quite unsettling to me and something must change so that all of our human existences are worthy of being lived out in a better fashion. But even changing life to the better is hard so no difference there. If there is no difference between the hard we live now and the hard it is to change it, then why not fight instead for changing the reality we live in to a reality we want to live in? The hard is still hard but now it will be a value we all can share in. I was reminded of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in his iconic political insight, "The Republic". Not seeing all there is to see is living a shell of a life and breaking down the barriers to seeing all there is to see must come from within and is hard to decide to do. Nonetheless, it must be done if our souls are to be satisfied with more than, "this is all there is". I refuse to accept the current paradigm of economics ruling our philosophical, social, political, legal and yes, even religious desires. I want more of our nature's true form to entertain us with it's care and curiosity. We are better than what this era of human life is showing and until we can do the hard work to change it, sadly we will leave this mess for our next generations. 

The strongest of wills (#1595)

One single person can and has moved reality from where it was to where it can go. That is the ability we each have within us but it takes a vision and the singular knowledge of it's correctness. I know we have all said "I wish things were different", and in reality our wishing can become true but the will of our force to make it so has to be eternal within us. We must firmly plant ourselves on the solid ground of our conviction and put everything else in life to a lesser degree. I know for myself that it is never too late to make a difference in life and giving up all the ease and comfort of doing nothing is like amputating a leg, it is hard to do, yet it can be done by those who start out in life with enough common sense and good will toward our species. Everything we have been taught so far is just a starting point for where we want to go. Even reading the great masters of our past makes us realize that they, some more than others, didn't get the entirety of the big picture and therefore each had something worthy of being incorporated into a larger vision. None has been born yet who can be the God we all hope there is so it is up to us to reach out beyond ourselves and provide another step for our species to follow onto. It is done with our keen knowledge of our present reality combined with the hope for the future that has the better and best of principles entwined within it. The power and strength of will needed is awe inspiring and that is okay to be the one who provides the inspiration. Just like it is okay to be inspired by those around us who display those same qualities.

Our naturally volatile planet (#1594)

Only fools disregard preparing for the eventual natural disasters that have proven over time will happen again and again. I am utterly astounded by the inadequate respect and lack of preparedness overall we have for the events that we know will occur and those we highly suspect will as well. The old bury our collective heads in the sand approach favored by Ostriches is not effective for them nor will it be effective for us. These events will occur, even to life ending events yet we casually continue our lives with little more than a notice that something may happen. We have the technology now but not the will or desire to prepare our world for whatever birthing pains it is still experiencing and instead we would rather move from a collective solution toward a non-solution of greedy individualism and a come what may attitude. We are not well deserving of being the most intellectual species in the Universe if our attitudes and preparedness reflect ignorance with arrogance. Instead of trying to convince the masses that the wealthy deserve their wealth more than the masses deserve a decent life, we should be spending our efforts and resources on containing what effects our species is having on our planet as well as pushing the limits of our innovation and technology toward space exploration and habitation beyond our greenish blue orb. What do I know though, I am just a dreamer, right? 

Manifest destiny for all of us! (#1593)

Manifest destiny is not just about some of us it is about all of us. The idea of pushing forward into new unknowns has been a part of the human experience since we were first originated. There is nothing about arriving at new places that hasn't a link to the past and the generations that brought us to this point. We are all one large community of souls who are enriched by our heritage of curiosity. None of us is an island that can or does exist in a vacuum. Hence the need to establish that there is only "we" when all of us think about were the future lies. We have our individual goals and for that it is good to be motivated, but remember, our individual goals are not achieved in a vacuum either and everything that one attains, someone else loses. As we are currently operating a society based upon competition that has enough quirks to it to render it far from fair, we must entertain the thought that there has to be a better way for our society to function that exhibits the best of who we are without also exhibiting the worst of who we are. Those of us who set the trend of how our society operates there is a special duty we must adhere to our calculations, that being what is best for society on whole. It is our obligation to all the generations past that provided us with the opportunity to better our society while also advancing it. The despair of our current generations is overwhelming when considering the fact that most of their hopes will never see fruition as long as the current outlook of individualism over community persists.

The trappings of family (#1592)

I do love my family but there are times when some of my family members are so out of touch with reality that I must let them go and move on for the sake of my own sanity. I have my life and as such I must defend the principles within my life even if it means not having previously close relatives in it. The old blood is thicker than water meme, is mostly true but in some cases the water is more important than the blood. I have friends who I wouldn't trade for the world and in my life they will stay even as I let family members go. It is hard at times and creates discomfort for others family members but the truth of the thing is more important than living a lie or remaining ignorant to satisfy someone else's view of reality. I came into this world alone and I will leave it alone and how I fill the time between is my choice and if I am a man of principle I won't let the feelings of others, who choose to feel the way they do, affect how and who interacts or participates in my normal life activities. I will be respected for my principled choices made out of logic and common sense and not through some duty I force upon others to give to me. If I am not allowed to think for myself and base those thoughts on equality, justice and fairness then those who would inhibit me need no place in my life. It is the way a mature person would react to family who use deserve and privilege as their cudgel in shaping other's points of view. The old paradigm of age and wisdom is still a factor but less so it seems when the age and wisdom relinquish little to be proud of.

Stay on the side of the truth no matter what (#1591)

The title statement is exactly right because for me it has proven true regardless of the circumstance. Whenever I have chosen to lie or distort the truth I have lessened myself and my credibility with others. Most of us have readily available built-in bullshit meters and when a variation of the truth is propounded my meter starts to signal me. It does that because I have chosen to be in the truth where it feels good being me. I am not perfect but for the most part my life is calm and serene for my choice. I am also informed in ways that require little thought when discussing current events and how they play out in our society. I don't have to make stuff up when I am in the middle of some web of lies or remember the last lie I told to someone in order to keep that lie afloat. I know these things because I tried them and why I did is beyond me except that I wasn't being me and was trying to be something or someone I wasn't. When I look in the mirror it is me that I see not what I want to be or what I want others to see. I am just me and that is a beautiful thing regardless of how society sees me. I have come to that realization a few decades later than I should have but nevertheless, I am here and grounded now in the ideal that life is what it is and I am happy to be a part of what may change it to a better place than when I got here. Anyway, I like me now more than ever and that my friends is the key to enjoying the happiness that comes my way. 

Grace revealed (#1590)

Yesterday I wrote about being an example to those around us to show them how life should be lived. I got a humbling experience of my own advice yesterday when I got to witness my sister Dena accept her fate with the precious mindset of a smile and a tone of happiness. Life is a beautiful experience to each of us but some of us carry that beauty within to a higher degree. If surrounding ourselves with the few souls on this planet that bring out a positiveness filled with joy and hope then I have surely been a fortunate one. The certain fate of my sister is not known yet but how she handled whatever the outcome is what inspires me. No doubt about her time here on this planet and the sheer pleasure of being here is what she conveys. I can see the beauty she must have captured my brother Jim's love with. Jim is gone almost a decade now and Dena has been soldiering on with the immense privilege of raising my two nephews and helping to guide their passions and hopes with a real sense of calm and intelligence. Now that she faces the greatest struggle of her life with such a mindset of thank you for all that I have had, gifts me with knowing that I am one who can do something reflective of her that will exemplify her own outlook. I will be an island of happiness, not sorrow, of encouragement, not frustration. Dena has given me a glimpse of what I know we all have within us but rarely show, grace that truly rises to the definition of the expression. 

Our example (#1589)

It is up to us to set the example for hopes and desires in a way that inspires the future generations to want to have them as well. We must stand for something that inspires not destroys. It says a lot about our humanity today in what we do and not just in what we say. Our dreams for a smart and exciting future should be our motivation in everything that we do and we should be moving toward the fulfillment of our dreams whether we actually get there or not. It is all about the journey of life and the quality of our presence in this existence. I am not limited by the current understandings of how things are, I am limited by those of us who cannot see into the future enough to hope for better and strive to create that hope. We are the masters of ourselves and we can do unlimited things if we so decide that the current boundaries of acceptable society are inadequate. I know that the current boundaries that are acceptable in society are not enough for me and my dreams. I need more than the age old question, " Is this all there is to life"? I know there is more and others as well as myself continue to dream and try to create through innovation and cleverness new dynamics that can change our world. We all need to be a part of something that is better and we must also stand up and defend the right for us to have the goodness of life while we are doing it. Dig deep within yourselves and find what inspires you and work toward making it come true and your life will have had a purpose to it that you can and should cherish.

The thunder in my head! (#1588)

I am spinning from all that needs to be done yet we as a society are not doing most of it at all. The term multitask is just another term to describe staying busy while problems exist. Sure it is okay to take a break now and then but being relentless for the entirety of our lives is what is needed to shape a better world here after we leave. I suppose many others are not driven by the ideal of making the world better but I am and so are many others. We see the world as a challenge to be confronted and our sense of principled virtue is overwhelming enough within us to drive us to make the effort to change for the better. I am a single entity that has the impetus to motivate myself toward action. It is my intent to address inequality and injustice at it's face and never to back down from it's unwise continuance. There are forces behind ulterior motives that keep inequality and injustice rampant and I for one will not be overrun by their momentum. Whatever happens to me in this life or any existence that may come after this one, I know in my soul I fight a virtuous fight and that gives me tremendous courage and maintains and grows my intent to force change where change creates less inequality and injustice. I cannot do much about opportunity but it is also a regimen that is inspiring to bring about. We all have a part and those who refuse and divert meaningful progress toward despair and loss of hope are my target and should rightly be the target of all who have a soul worth defending as a virtue.

My whole life (#1587)

I have never been comfortable with others telling me what to do with my time. Regardless if I do nothing, it is my time and for others to tell me to do what they want me to do is unwelcome. Now if I offer to help someone then sure tell me what I can do but if I haven't asked for advice on how to do a thing or not, I don't want anyone trying to direct me toward their intent. I have my own intent and for another thing I am as fiercely independent about my life as one can get. I have not even allowed myself to get married and be at someone else's beck and call because of my fierce independence. Now if the right woman does come along and I know that the love we feel for each other is mutual then I will sacrifice my independence for her and only then. So the fact of the matter is that those who have known me the longest shouldn't have a problem with figuring out my personality and it's character. It is the ones who don't know me as well as they think that are the ones who misunderstand who I am. Why am I such a independent soul? I suppose it is because I am the one living inside of me and everything I choose to do is my own responsibility. I like that I get to choose who I am and how I live based upon my own principles for living. Maybe I am a bit unique in that I don't want interference in my choices. I want to make my choices based upon choices not directions from others who are not the ones living inside of me. Anyway, I needed to get that out because it bothers me to think that the cavalier attitude by some is wholly expectant of me to jump when they speak their conclusions. lol.

Admitting the truth about ourselves (#1586)

We are not by nature evil people. The act of being evil is learned and then expressed. We are curious about how we got here in this existence and what happens after we leave. We are a bit fearful about how fragile our lives are but over time we come to dominate our fear through courage and being bold. It is who we are! We also care about each other. From our early childhood we have all wanted to be accepted by each other. Again, over time that changes to being less open to acceptance due to bad experiences that are learned. Our natures are to wonder about things and to care about where and who we are. We understand over some short time that we are also biological data processors who can analyze and reason through our senses and our common sense/logical evaluations. We are an incredible species who are not being efficient about our lives. Many generations have come and gone throughout our history and yet we are not able to utilize our talents with any high degree of efficiency. For some reason we have placed economics at the top of our priority list for survival when the naturalness of our curiosity mostly goes unbidden. I don't see our civilization as it is now carrying forward too much longer in the present paradigm we find ourselves. As technology and innovation, along with education continue to open new avenues of thought previously unknown, I expect our human species to move from the base of economic prowess toward a shared responsible utilization of individual talents within a communal obligation and duty we ascribe to each other. Shared responsibility is our best path forward as a species because it allows for each of us to respond to the same types of stimuli which could then lead to our own remarkable abilities being recognized and then utilized.

Hunger and how it shapes our lives! (#1585)

Today I am going to post a note from my Facebook friend who lives in Louisiana, Christy Cole. I was so struck by her account of an incident in her young life that it rekindled similar thoughts from my own childhood. Here is her account and sharing stories from others is a new feature I may employ in the future.

"I went to bed thinking about how our leaders are stealing so much, they need to steal foodstamps from kids and seniors, too. ... And just as I woke up this morning I had the weirdest, clearest 80s flashback to when I was 10. Saw a replay of the whole thing. ... Our entire family was pretty much starved and food was being highly rationed. Working adults get the Lions Share, and the rest just make do with scraps. It was during the summer so, not even school lunches to supplement. ... Anyways, I could not take it anymore, was just drove. I was already pretty scrawny but, my family was caught in it for months. So I went into what little food there was, and stole a piece of bread. And my oldest sister caught me eating it. ... She beat the hell out of me while dragging me around by my hair for what seemed like forever. For a piece of bread. ... And this morning, when it again popped up in my mind, I wasn't expecting the clarity of it. It was always there, so I do not really feel anything about it. But, my hands started shaking. They never shake. And for hours now, I do not even dare try holding a paintbrush or a glass. I have no idea why. ... Not sure what my point is really, other than... Most of you who go along with this idea that true hunger does not really exist in the USA, you are either blind, or have never actually SEEN it. If you had ever actually SEEN IT... Yall would not be so quick to arbitrarily starve your neighbors. Or their kids."-Christy Cole, June 2, 2013.

Our wilderness, our voice! (#1584)

We must be the voice to the circumstances we find ourselves entwined. Many would speak for us but not with the same understanding we experience. It has been my experience that most who would speak to my and our plight have some other agenda for doing so. There are a few who are honest and principled who do try hard to speak on our behalf but most are just using our plights for their own agendas. We are not just statistics who are immune to suffering and pain. We experience both daily on a massive scale but while that occurs the ones who are charged with improving our lives are not affected by our miseries and therefore are not troubled to care. It is as if they quit being human beings and scaled to some form of demigod. I am disgusted with the current batch of uncaring representatives we have, mostly in one party, Republican, in particular. They have allowed themselves to choose interests that are not the priority of regular American folks and instead are the interests of the wealthy who are already in great economical and political shape. While each new day comes and goes and millions upon millions are dropping further into depression and despair, the inhumane inaction by these callous representatives continues. I have hope though that enough of us who are aware of these nefarious souls will be able to expose them to the people who are unaware of their particular proclivities and get new representatives in their place. We the people are what makes America great and we the people need to use our voice to keep it thus.

The demands of physical rigor (#1583)

A price is paid for doing labor from the aches and pains of one's own backbone. This has been something I have thought for the length of my life. I didn't work in a office, I spent the majority of my working career doing hard labor at tearing old things down and building new things in their place. I was a worker who had to use brute strength, along with my clever mind, in order to accomplish my tasks. Over time and through the effects time has had on my body, I have been diminished to the point of not being a third the man I was at 20. It is to be expected that those of us who labor at hard work will suffer the indignity of being physically compromised when we reach our 50's and 60's. I chose this type of life work because it was "mans" work and I could do it. I also was rewarded by having the time in the sun since most of this work required me to be outdoors. I am proud of what I have accomplished throughout my career and as such I am well satisfied in my soul as to my contributions to our ever-increasing progressive society. Yet as age and time have taken it's toll on me I also hear the disparaging remarks about how my life choice of occupation somehow made me less that those who made more money in life. That somehow someone who sits in an air-conditioned office and moves money around for huge profit is more a "man" and a better human being for it. I can only shake my head at their logic for the truth of the measure of a man is not how much money he makes but in how his character is received by those people whose lives he has affected. In this I am satisfied as well.