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.

Not come what may but make what comes! (#1582)

The days of sitting back and letting the flow of life dictate what our lives will be like are over. It is up to us to begin and continue to change our own personal lives in order to reflect what we see as the change we all hope to experience. If we are not changing we are falling behind. Everything changes, everything, so staying the same or doing nothing to choose our change instead of it being chosen for us is inadequate and less than positive. Now the hard part it seems, having the courage to stand up to the old paradigms that despite being wholly unsatisfying are known therefore somewhat ironically, comfortable. Life is not about the journey toward comfort, it is the journey toward knowing and making life better for ourselves and those around us. Comfort is good in short spurts to rest within but mostly comfort is lazy and leads to an ego fueled ideal that breaks down virtue into greed, lust and self absorption. When we lose sight of our shared ideals that should be a beacon to the world we begin to undermine our own perceived standing as an example for others to follow. When avarice nullifies virtue, then nothing changes and changing our lives and the world around to the better has no hope. We are already in a world where avarice is seen as the pinnacle for all of us to reach, even though we know that it's followers are left with unfulfilled hopes to live as humans at peace with each other and the natural world we inhabit. There is only one course for humanity and that course is to change that which is wrong and to make it right.

I have got to do better! (#1581)

Every time I get even a hint that I am doing alright, something happens to remind me that I have so very far to go. Even my little conquests are insignificant in comparison to what I could or should have done. I will certainly take my little steps forward but how much better could all of our lives be if I could just get more in tune with the vibrations of a better life. I am my own worst critic and will always be the first to humbly admit that I am nothing special or different in an egocentric way. Yet I know that I am failing to realize what is better in me. I often catch myself faltering and defaulting back to old behavior that I know is not representative of who I am now. Little things like not taking control over my words and high emotional stress. If I am not the cool headed one during times when I am not obstructed by anything else other than my own force of will then how am I going to effect change where my own control is not enough? I suppose I am still learning how to be a more effective person and the growing pains of that are trials and tests. Most of the trials and tests I do well but some I falter at badly. My passion is the biggest stumbling block I have and taking the idea that my passion is the reason for my caring so much is not salve enough for not being more in control of it. In this regard, being in more control of myself, I do shoot for perfection. It is the one area where I am the one making the choices and if I cannot choose to reflect who I am then I am not what I think I am. At least that is the conclusion I have come to tell myself. As such, I had better get more in control of my passions or they might just be the undoing of my best efforts to be the man I so wish to live as.

We are how we treat others (#1580)

What is the motivation or the intent behind our actions? When we honestly admit the truth to ourselves is when we know who we are. Life is more than just some mystically unknown quantity, it is a reflection of what we are to each other. How we see others tells us what our souls are like. In my heart I know I am an honest decent human being but if my actions do not demonstrate that then I am just deluding myself about who I am. This experiment called life is really very simple to understand, treat others as you would want to be treated. Now go and live a good life! For those who do not treat others as they would want to be treated then hypocrisy on their heads. I have been a hypocrite and deservedly so. Yet I came to realize, just like we all should come to realize, that the actual living of life is the most important thing, not some material or control power that so many seem to lust for. I don't want to live with my back to the wall trying to protect a mountain of things when the only thing that matters is life. I don't want to die from others hating me or not caring enough about me to even respect and dignify my life. I want to die of an abundance of love if I had my choice. Choice, the most cunning action we can make as a species and yet most of us give it little to no thought when deciding what is right for our individual and collective lives. Most of us just follow the flow and try to grab a little bit from life as much as we can while abdicating our power to choose a different reality. It is time to get up from our armchairs and engage in our world so that the choices we are presented with reflect how we want to be treated.

My wandering mind (#1579)

This is a problem I have had most of my life. I get to a point where my mind starts to drift from the subject at hand to other things without me even catching myself doing it. I have to purposely focus my mind on what I am doing or I begin to lose my concentration. I suppose I am no different than many of us as we seem to allow ourselves the distractions out of a sense of missing out on something. At least that is how I see myself concerning the "day dreaming" I do when I should be focused until the end of whatever thing I am doing. Most notably as an example is my work. I have done a lot of rough carpentry and when I start a project I don't just do one thing until I am done, I do many things at the same time as mostly things need to fall into place in some out of sequence order for me. I would be being too overly attached to process if I just did one thing while not knowing how other things were going to affect that one thing. Mostly with carpentry, like building a house, there is some degree of adjustment along the way since nothing ever comes together exactly as how one or many envision it. Nevertheless, I need to do a better job of placing my focus on smaller projects in order to do them better than my less than best effort. I say this in particular about some recreational games I play for fun and learning. Often I will lose focus against really tough competitors due to too many things going on at once. And when I do lose focus I am at the mercy of those whom I am competing against. Shameful on my part since they should be getting my best and most focused
 effort. Anyway, I thought I would share a little battle I have with myself about my less than focused mind at times. 

We are more than just cannon fodder (#1578)

My generation's coming of age, 1973, was one of the first without an American military draft since 1940 and was a major accomplishment in our country's struggle with ending the Vietnam war. Instead of focusing on education and creating solid work opportunities we as a nation were and are more inclined to let our young folks enter military service and flex that strength where politicians deem appropriate. Certainly there are times when the defense of our country, even beyond our own borders tests our resolve to fulfill, however, as a rule the conscription and then volunteer force were more a paradigm where we used our youthful resources for less than what they could accomplish in life. I see it now in today's volunteer force. Where joining to become a soldier is the preferred choice of our politicians instead of improving our educational system and creating equality and fairness in our work environments. It is easier for those politicians to work less at giving our youth a real choice that is more than volunteering for military service if that is not their first choice. The powers that be have to have a vision for respecting the future of our country beyond war. Wars are fought to protect principles that soldiers are willing to die for to protect. What are our current principles? Do we treat and respect our citizenry equally as to opportunity and general welfare? We have many problems here in our country and just going about the status quo is not enough. We need to give our youth more than an opportunity to serve in the military, we need to give them jobs that command respect and dignity as well.

New challenges (#1577)

When King Solomon said "There is nothing new under the sun", no doubt he hadn't envisioned a future like ours. There are more new things under the sun than any person in a lifetime could ever imagine. Surely though the King was referring more to situations of human nature like I like to believe he meant. But back to reality, technology and innovation have surpassed our simple way of living to make things so complex that we need to specialize our civilization into categorically specific areas in order to accomplish achievements reasonably well. For me, so much of my time is spent just on understanding the mathematics and physics around me in order to get some things done and keep myself safe from injury. Our world is a spectacle of incredible function and giving that function it's proper due is wise on our part. Our human species has to adapt to new ways of doing things as a principle of our conquering spirit. We are not a complacent lot, we need advancement to quench the thirst of our curiosity. We also need to keep moving forward into our destiny, which is to explore and examine the space that confines our possibilities. We are at a new age of manifest destiny and instead of knowing being confined to land bordered by oceans, we are now challenged to know the space between and the space confining the ends of our Universe.  

Are we too proud to admit our errors? (#1576)

There is one theme running through my mind this morning and it is all about solutions to problems. We can find solutions to almost every problem we have but it takes the will to do it. Or in some cases the recognition that wealth is not the answer to all our problems. We can do things differently here in America if we so choose. The examples of problem solving exist outside our borders on almost all the problems we face. Many of our problems have to do with income inequality and the conclusions of that fact are plentiful in all of our lives. Yet solutions in other countries are advancing and alleviating this scourge laden dynamic. We can learn from others to better ourselves if we would just start by admitting our current system needs repair. For some reason we cannot find the will to admit we are wrong when all the rest of the world can see it in clarity. Another area of lacking in our society is how we treat our most vulnerable, especially in light of income inequality. We have little health care for those who cannot afford it, we have less and less food made available because in the (lack) of wisdom being forwarded by many of our political representatives due to keeping the wealthy overly healthy while turning our back on the downtrodden. Housing for those who are homeless is not a priority for many of our politicians and is actually not even discussed in honest terms as to it's effect. Our democracy is the greatest foundation of political achievement in modern history and despite that we continue to operate it with a callousness that unravels it's remarkably stitched together connectedness.

I admit when I don't know (#1575)

It is all part of telling the truth. There just isn't right or wrong, there is also I don't know. As beings capable of reason this shouldn't be so hard to understand and employ. We need to utilize our abilities for the purpose they present. We observe and then analyze to conclude and more often than we realize, our conclusions are inconclusive. But that is the point, it is okay to not have an answer when an answer isn't logically attained. Too many people think that they are given rights that supersede the rest of we humans. As if some privilege of unknown origins has bestowed upon them an enlightenment that only they can summon. The illusion of knowing all or most all is a symptom of another psychosis that corresponds to an ego run amok. The ability to have tremendous insight into some general and a few specific areas is more rare than normal. Where most of us dwell is we have a few areas of good understanding and many areas of limited understanding. That is fine and is more in line with truth and honesty, which by the way should trump ego every time, truth and honesty that is. As to why ego is placed in such high esteem with some has more to do with their own insight into their own inadequacies and less to do with them being honest brokers within reality. I don't mind being a fool when I am one and in that I become more human. I am made to realize that I am not what I think I am but instead I am more like all of us with the same desire to be accepted. By sticking with reality and common sense I have a chance to be a part of our society and a positive functioning member of it, especially when I admit that I don't know.

This is not all there is! (#1574)

Our imaginations won't allow it! Reality is only a snapshot in time and the next change is just happening. Be of good cheer and know that every movement we make toward something better is actually making something better. Life is not horrible per se right now but we all know that it needs to keep getting better. So the purpose of our lives is to add to the betterment in whatever way we are able. That is what each of us has as a duty to each other. Yes, we owe each other the better and best of ourselves, it is only right and proper. So what we see and know today is just the movement of our civilization toward the better, not static or getting worse. Surely we fight against complacency and sabotage by some humans who think they have no duty to society and life on our planet, but they are and never will be nothing more than cowards who pretend to be strong. So off we go about our betterment processes all the while rebuffing and chasing down the cowards who would put obstacles in our way. This is what they will never get as humans, that as humans we have an instinct to care about our species and those species we find dear to protect. We also want to use our imaginations to create things that improve our happiness and grow our knowledge into a greater and more dynamic paradigm. We are curious about life, our planet, the Universe we live in and those are the things that some humans want to manipulate out of our futures. They will not succeed but the rest of us need to stay vigilant in our purpose to be the most intellectual and inspiring species known to exist.

Bending the arc of justice (#1573)

It is our duty as human beings to make our world better. Notwithstanding what we think is right for now but more so for what is better for tomorrow. As well as things may work in our civilization they can always work better. We have not hit the perfect ceiling for how to survive in our Universe and will possibly never do so. However, as it has taken us centuries and yes, even millenniums, to get to this point, we are not done evolving our civilization to the new technologies and innovations within equality and fairness for all our citizens. Everything we have done to this point from the beginning of time can be improved upon. Even old paradigms scrapped in order to provide for the opportunity for happiness we all have coming to us by virtue of our individual existence. No child ever born should have to endure the hardships we presently have allowed for over half our population on this planet. We are to be ashamed for our lack of care we place on our own duty to improve this existence merely through our presence. None of us were born into a perfect world yet when we see the imperfections around us we have to make the decision to not be a part of the equation that allows for it. We don't disassociate but we don't enable it's continuance. This is where knowing our natures comes into hand. We are caring and curious and by that we are not naturally brutish and boring. We have capacities that allow for us to choose our futures with decisions that come directly from us. Our perspectives should be a constant reminder of our goals for our lives. Self-gratification to the exclusion of our duty to life or a life filled with duty that brings about gratification in our striving to achieve our common purpose.

In a relationship versus being alone (#1572)

The age old battle is not quite so clear cut in favor of one over the other. Most will say that finding someone whom they love and want to live together is their priority, yet the effort to actually achieve that seems to wane the closer one gets to achieving it. Some call it jitters and others, like me, call it fear to leave the alone I am somewhat familiar with. For all the promise a relationship brings, it does take from one's individuality in the sense that relationships require compromise and that is the inevitable problem. As a man who has been alone for the better part of his life, a few live in girlfriends several times notwithstanding, the jury is still out as to whether I am willing to commit to a woman whom I love. It would be helpful to actually have a woman whom I loved wanting to have the same with me but even the thought of that is worthy of considerations. I like the ability to do what I want when I want but I miss companionship. The perfect relationship is out there I am certain but not by the evidence I have seen with my family and friends over the years. If truth be known here, I am more inclined to have a relationship as I have had plenty of alone time and although I am not disappointed in being alone, I feel I would be more happy with a relationship. The point of this little rambling of mine is that the weight of either is real. The obviousness of coupling up is not without it's concerns, thus making the right coupling a significant step. Although I will continue to struggle with the advent of either dynamic in my life I look forward to the day when it actually becomes a real choice.

My never-ending care and curiosity (#1571)

My greatest attribute has been my ability to remember my childhood and the feelings I felt during that time. I was just starting out my life and trying to understand so many things happening. Like a lot of children, my first lasting impressions were formed from observing my parents, and although my birth father didn't make much of an impression on me, my mother did. What I saw in her was her kindness and love for not only we, her children, but also for her parents and siblings. There is no doubt in my soul that my caring heart is even further formed from my mother, even the sensitivity to emotion is directly attributable to her. I treasure that as a gift that has influenced my life to this day and beyond. My curiosity has always been part of me. I have wanted to know things since I could first utter the phrase, Why? But why? That was me when I was a child. I wanted to know how things worked, not only material things but we humans. I didn't take me long in grammar school to find the library where I was when I was not out playing games with other kids. I loved to read and fill my mind with answers to questions I hadn't even thought of yet. The school library was like being in a magical place where once I figured out the Dewey decimal system, everything in that library became my new best friend. Both my care and my curiosity are with me today in ways that are different from when I was young but in no less a passionate fashion. It is who I am and will be until I am no more. 

Fear's soothing elixir (#1570)

I suppose all of us give into our fears after a time and try to ameliorate them instead of facing them and calling fears out. Our civilization and our inculcated human natures are not aimed at, in most general cases, remedying fears, just managing them. For example the end of life scenario where belief systems take on a greater priority because people will reach the end and not want to be subject to the choices they made in life without a life preserver for some believed afterlife. The old, (I am dying, what have I got to lose?) scenario. I find it ironic that considerations for an after life are taken so trivially that it isn't until the end of one's foreseeable life that any choice is made about what scares us about death. Mine is simple, I will face death with the same courage I face life. Simply be myself and be grateful for the time I got to spend in an existence that allowed me to see, hear, touch, taste and smell the wonders that this world presently offers. So instead of looking to salve my fear with a potion of last resort, I live in the reality that is in front of me, not what I want it to be. Of course I am always trying to change reality to the better but that is work not an illusive escape. It has been consistent among we humans as far as I can tell that we live in fear as a default because we don't know how to admit we are afraid nor do we know how to find the courage within us to stand up to fear regardless of it's nature. I write in general terms here because I know that there are exceptions to the rule and thank progress for that. Myths, mores, and customs have their place among our folklore but the momentum of our current era of rational enlightenment, that we all live in, will not be denied by those who still practice compromise with their fears instead of welling up within themselves the courage to overcome fears as they expose themselves.

Criticizing without offering an alternative is shameful! (#1569)

Too often I hear and see written comments about how someone sees what's wrong with a situation and the current solution being provided without explaining to me and others what the alternative solution that would be much better is. The Monday morning armchair quarterback syndrome. They act like they are so understanding of how not to do a thing, to the point of excluding everything others offer, yet they offer no solution themselves. There are hard choices out there in the world that need to be made right now and any solution that at least is focused on ending a crisis or at least curtailing it is better than nothing at all. That is the point of making hard decisions, each decision will always have a drawback to it when it isn't perfect. So those who sit on the sidelines and cast aspersions without offering anything are less to be noticed for having any gravitas on the problem and should be ignored as a rule. I, like the rest of we humans know imperfection and we often are plagued by the solutions we try to find, yet we do try to find, unlike those who only criticize. Their intent may be well meant, or not, but it is counter-productive to remind us all that what we do use for utility's sake is not without it's drawbacks. Instead of criticizing, all of us should be trying to think of better and more efficient solutions to our problems. Not just in treating the problems as they arise but also trying to prevent them before they even happen. Nothing should be sacred when life is weighed on the scale against process or custom. If we are not trying to change our existence to a better place, then maybe we all should just sit back and criticize each other without ever trying to apply a solution, NOT! 

My silence is my point! (#1568)

When you hear nothing from me it is because either I am no more or that I have nothing to say. For now it is the latter. The power of silence needs to never be underestimated. So many times it is too convenient to speak something in order to appease an uncomfortable situation. However, if you did not create the uncomfortable situation, then someone else did and as their strategy, they need to stew in it, not anyone else. I find that even acknowledging irrational or illogical behavior shows a weakness in me that then can be exploited. I have learned to be tougher about what I am willing to do to protect my own integrity. I have to be willing to actually fight for my right not to be influenced nor coerced, either physically or mentally. My right to be silent is a value I will not abdicate to anyone who thinks they can put me under duress for not speaking. Know this though, I am thinking and what I am thinking is mine not anyone's by force to know. If I offer my silence it is because there is not enough information or the common sense of the statement or question is lacking. Either way, my silence should speak volumes as to my opinion, which is I have none which I want to share. It is the same with me when I am waiting for a response about a situation. I, at least, ask for an opinion first before I unload a a scenario of which I need help clarifying. That is to questions, as to statements, I am not a casual soap box orator. I do speak out about things I find unequal or unjust and I am not waiting for an opinion, only a sign that I am being heard. The manipulating bullies of this world do try hard to get us to agree with them but in most every case my silence is my answer to them.

Staying anonymous (#1567)

When I was younger I was thrilled to see people get attention for their accomplishments and one day I had hoped to be one of them as well. As time has gone on and I have gotten older, I find that having all that attention is not some fairy tale occurrence where nothing but great things come of it. On the contrary, even doing the little things in life are susceptible to scrutiny by those who have built a cottage industry off of examining the fame of many. I think about Angelina Jolie and her decision to be proactive with her own health concerns and the backlash that has exposed. To me it is remarkable that a person who wishes to extend their life through the available science humankind has to offer should be the normal, not the abnormal. In Jolie's case a simple decision that has been made and acted upon should just be a footnote in time, not a firestorm that perversely attacks her. Her not being anonymous is the end product of why this happened to her. She did choose to become an actress and then advocate for the rights of desperate children, and as such is not exempt to our current obsession with celebrity. However, surely fame does not give her that exciting feeling I talked about when I was young. On the contrary, fame has left her squeezed into an existence that doesn't allow the good nature within her to openly move about among us and to me, that is our loss. For myself, I have not nor will I attain fame for it's unenlightened allure, because I now know that being special comes from within not through being idol worshipped. Now the random acts of selflessness that I do achieve, are left only for me to know and for that I am not only grateful but a better person for it.

Demanding more from ourselves (#1566)

Not more for ourselves, but from ourselves back out to others. What is really interesting though is that when we do give of ourselves in selfless ways, we get something in return that cannot otherwise be gained. We get a perfect moment of accomplishment that has such a peace to it. I don't know how to describe right now the feeling I get when something from me benefits others in ways that satisfy everyone. It is an inexplicably pure sensation that makes me realize that my life has meaning in ways that I never knew it could. There is a connectedness that is experienced that truly does exist on some higher plane of rationality. We get there by being more open to being a part of life that makes good and common sense. Not just sitting by and watching life happen all around us. Getting out and trying to do what can be done within some sense of reasonableness. That is all that there is needed to be done. Something that is possible toward even being probable. The joy in life is through our emotions and digging down deep into them is where we understand the depth of our existence. We are not just mechanical automatons who do what needs to be done to satisfy our own needs. Rather we are robust sense orientated processors who can live with gusto when we make ourselves available to life outside our own needs. Surely there will always be those who think that serving only themselves is the correct way to live but those people are hypocrites in that they also expect others to serve them. Life is simple and does not need to be about power and gathering, it can be about the specialness achieved when doing for others becomes our favorite thing to do for ourselves.

Reinventing reality (#1565)

No, not by ignoring reality and creating an illusion, but instead by understanding reality and then setting into motion your efforts to change it where it needs changing. Those who cannot or will not have a vision of the future will always be the pawns in a chess match played by others. We have a duty to our individual selves to make our demands on existence while we are a part of it. Even after death, we can leave a legacy for others to follow and build upon. The truth of the matter is that we all need each other in some way or another. By accepting this obvious simple premise, we can then all move forward the idea that life should be about the experiencing of it and not about the drudgery and hardship most of us currently have come to be entwined. Believe me on this, it is far greater living a life with your fist in the air demanding honor and respect, than it is to be whimpering in the dark because fear has it's hold on you. From one or many of us will come a miraculous paradigm shift from what we know now to what we will happily accept. But the initiative to move ourselves from our current status to a better one must start with us knowing where we are now so that we can move from it. I am creating an argument for a purpose for all human beings. A purpose so general that all of us are participants. We must make our world better. There is no other higher priority than to leave a world to our younger generations greater than that left to us by our fore-parents. The focus must not be on ourselves as an end goal but on all of us. Where we see wrong we must step toward making the wrong go away and have right replace it. We know the differences, now it is up to us to have a positive effect on those differences in every aspect of our lives.

I get to choose who is in my life (#1564)

Yes, it is up to me to decide. I am not so tied to anything other than keeping myself alive that I couldn't change whatever it is that is against my personal code of ethics. Regardless of the circumstance, I am me first and foremost and if I ever lose my identity again it won't be because I chose to lose it. I had a friend many years ago who would always remind me that if he had lost everything he had except his underwear, he could walk down the street with his head held high and know that he would be alright. My little illusion of a world that is my daily companion could be uprooted from me in an instant and I know in my soul that whatever came next would be a choice by me to do the next right and proper thing for me. I am well satisfied that the only value in my life is what I hold most dear, that being my honor. My friend also used to say that everything material is just so much "pig Iron". Nothing material is greater to me than my honor and since all the years ago, his words still ring true in my ears. I don't have any privileges or deserves from the beginning of my life since life is a crap shoot to begin with. Those of us who have are all just fortunate enough to have survived our infancy and teenage years to get to maturity. The other material values we drag along with us over the years are just security blankets for our egos. If we are fortunate to have children then the equation becomes more complex but only in that the health, safety and opportunities of our children become our greatest priority. My rights to anything beyond my own welfare are icing on the cake and not to be kept all costs, rather they are to be diminished when greater threats to others can be foreseen. it all boils down to me being a principled man who puts others on the same footing I want to be on. Otherwise I won't allow those who are not so inclined to remain a part of my life.

Nurture leads to care (#1563)

We all start out our lives being nurtured from some degree to another. Therefore we are products of being nurtured, it is how we survived to maturity. Yet, once we reach maturity, nurture is given such a low priority in out general stages of actions. We are taught, at least here in America, to desire for ourselves over and above the needs of our community on whole. Not in every instance but as a general acknowledgement. How utterly antithetical to our upbringing. None of us moves forward into life without nurture yet we dismiss nurture as a high priority to express. I am disappointed that our society doesn't elevate nurturing throughout our lives as a point of emphasis. Instead we emphasize economical and power factors as desirable priorities. It is an illusion to conceive that the reason we even exist has little to do with nurture and more to do with survival skills. Again, none of us makes it out of our infancy without nurture, yet we seem to have lost the idea of that. Whether it is we are profoundly unable to understand the simple reality that care given to us is what sprouted us into maturity or we choose to ignore that because society allows us to accept illogic as a foundational principle. The benefit of being illogical about our species and it's natural progression gives us the opportunity to do things that are unnatural and detrimental to our community of citizens. Greed and avarice become acceptable forms of ethics and try mightily to replace the logic of our necessitating each other for survival. As an enlightened thinker, I am truly frustrated by our species' inability to grasp the reality of who we are and what we should be doing. The purpose of my blog page is to expose that and yell it from the top of my lungs.

Creative thinking while being honest (#1562)

Things are not what they appear to be. Especially when others tell us that, that is the way it is. Not everything is the way it is until we allow that to be. Life can be hard when there are limited options that are recognizable so that is why we must keep our minds working on ideas that are not normal. We have to release our imaginations to allow for alternative concepts to form. I know this is not easy especially when we are under time pressures and expectations from others to succeed at whatever it is that has us stalled. Yet, no other reality will exist if we accept what is without trying to change what is into something that is not what is. A tongue twister there but the idea is rock solid. We have to think outside our normal allowable understandings. How do we do that? Not so easy but we need to consider what others have done in similar situations to begin with. We need to know the the intent of the problem we are faced with and how we got into it. We need to know what mitigating circumstances have influenced us to the point of limiting our options. We need to reach out with the mindset of leaving no stone unturned for any and all resources our society allows us. And if all else fails we need to commit to ourselves a resolve to move forward despite whatever outcome prevails. I am a fighter by spirit and I know all of us are as well so keeping our integrity intact regardless of how circumstance and fate intersect into our lives is the key. Not all problems will have readily supplied solutions but we can press forward into life and occasionally surprise ourselves with heretofore unknown solutions. But only if we press forward with a clear mind bent toward honest thinking that doesn't limit our possibilities.

The freedom of my conscious (#1561)

From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.". Although it is true in our present reality that these categories do play out like Shakespeare wrote, however for me it is that we are all born great and it is only society and culture that make us less so in reality. The freedom of my conscious is reminiscent of Rene Descartes and his attempt to prove he existed; "I think, therefore I am". Since it is I who think, it is my existence I am thinking from. Mine and no one else's if Descartes proof is correct. I tend to accept Rene's premise and conclusion as logical and therefore, I am an entity of my own free will. I get to free will since my ability to think is dependent upon me, and only me, acting upon it. I accept this as fact for myself and then so by extension I accept this as fact for all others as well. This is how I get to we are all born great. the beauty and genius of the human experience is that we have these five senses, touch, taste, hearing, seeing and smelling. With these miraculous abilities inherent from birth, we add reasoning, analyzing and concluding. Although logic is the main thrust of our reasoning, intuition has it's part as well. Again, I will say it here, we are biological data processors, capable of not only taking in information but studying it to determine outcomes or possible outcomes. Then there is the one other paradigm in our existence that we all share, we have emotion. So that the data we input into ourselves everyday and then conclude through our processes, has an emotional component to it that heightens within us a sense of morality, ethic and justice. We actually care about what we come to know or suspect. We are a complex biological specimen that by default of our abilities, per se, make us all great from the beginning of our lives.

Our indomitable spirits (#1560)

Examples of our persevering inner fortitude are evident in our daily lives, but few more so than like the recent discovery of 3 young women who were held against their will for about 10 years. Right in our normal neighborhoods that we all have come to expect to be free of from such nefarious behavior. Something deep in my soul was so touched by these young women and how they endured a lifestyle that was designed to crush their hope and steal from them their freedom to be natural human beings. Yet endure they did for 10 trips around the sun for our Earth right under the noses of all who would have helped them if only they had known. This story in Ohio is emblematic of the lengths some in our society are willing to go to get what they want at all costs while also being emblematic of how despite the horrible intent of the captor, these women prevailed in the face of such a notorious reality. My soul was so stirred by this outcome and the gift of it's ending has provided me and I can reasonably assume many others as well. The gift of hope coming to fruition despite the forlorn lure of despair. The width and depth of how these young women feel now that they are free from their tormentor is not to measured by anyone such as me who has no real perspective into their experience, however I can relate to the dearness they must now feel to be free again and have a future of their own making if they so choose. I have spent my whole life working to get to a place where I don't have to ask for a by your leave from anyone and now these 3 young women have that same opportunity going forward. 

Expressing individualism (#1559)

I am so enjoying the later years of my life because I am not trying to impress anyone, not even myself. Sure I am critical of myself and I try to do things perfectly, lol, but when I am the only one who matters to me in what processes and outcomes become, I am easy to please. The stereotypes and cyclical fads of our society are not what drive me anymore. I care more about how I feel then I do about what anyone else thinks. I have a code today that sets the limits of my desires and wants within a very basic framework. I have no great allusions about expectations my mind conjures up as necessary. Instead I have great expectations that I will live a humble life doing as much good as I can to help our world be a better place. I am not the architect of our world but I can be a real difference maker in how I want myself and others to have a chance to be decent happy people. So back to expressing my individualism without reservation to the general acceptances of our day. I am a free spirit who happens to exist in a community of other free spirits. We all have the ability and the right to allow ourselves to express our own individualism regardless of our own limitations on what we think is acceptable. I am no one to obliterate sanity for the sake of doing it but I am one who questions the premise of what we conceive to be reality. I don't have to accept premises and theories that are not logical nor do I have to accept customs inculcated as facts. The freedom of my soul and my spirit lodges within the ability I have to reason, analyze and conclude without restrictions that deviate from the gamut of true omnipresent evidence into a restrictive vision only seen through a tunnel.

The high road (#1558)

I do much better in life when I keep my head and shoulders above the din of complacency and depression. The glass half full analogy is appropriate. I, like all of we humans, need to motivate my mind into action every day I re-awake from my sleep. We humans have so many different emotions that are constantly being triggered by those people and things swirling around us that it is easy to get out of sorts and off the happy track we hope to spend our whole lives enjoying. Our inadequate society allows us opportunities to recognize the despair that co-exists with us but it also allows us to find new and enlightened solutions to those very same dilemmas. Again, the glass half full rationale. Even accepting the default position that to fix a problem is satisfying, the fact that there was a problem that needed to be fixed keeps the elation to a minimum. yet, the high road is still the road for me because hopefully sometime into the long future I hope and plan for our species, we may reach a foundational society that has worked out all the inadequacies we presently endure. Happiness is not so hard to find either when my outlook remains positive. Small in comparison to my wishes but nonetheless, well worth the achievement. Life could be such a beautiful and breathtaking experience if things were not so guided by short-sighted policies and the people who strive to control them. Yet the hope is that we, as a species, continue to learn and mature in facts and possibilities to a point where logical conclusions and the best of our common sense will be how we govern our civilization. I cannot help but be optimistic as I have been privileged to be surrounded by some of the best examples of humanity as a reminder of just how fabulous our species can be. 

Our generational battles (#1557)

Our natures demand that we be free and have liberties. As well as our society has created a constitution that promotes our general welfare and the pursuit of happiness. It is no coincidence that our constitution aligns most easily with our natures. Much effort and consideration went into providing a pathway for our society to follow and protecting the insightful intent of our forebears is our duty and our necessity. Every generation has had to defend these honorable principles instilled through us and our government. There is no lack of those who would take all of our rights to equality and justice and make us less than free. They come in many disguises but you can readily find them easily enough by their actions. Whenever you find advocates for taking instead of giving you have your first clue. We have built upon guarantees provided to us by those who came before us. Those are in the bank so to speak. When we hear some trying to take from that bank, as an excuse to make us better, in order to satisfy some superficial or illusory problem, then beware! The intelligence of a community to balance it's freedoms with security needs is wise. Balance being the key to any moderation in behavior and policy. I think of those who are prone to react too harshly into protecting some of our rights while allowing other rights to be taken without much of a "by your leave", are less genuine about protecting freedom and liberty as they are about some other ulterior motive. Pragmatic understandings and wise thinking will always give us the best opportunity to defend against the folly and harmful policies that are employed by some to subjugate us to a past we have already been liberated from.

The disconnect between what we think is so and what is so (#1556)

I had been plagued by my own sense of control over what others said and did. Not anymore since I realized that the vision of the complexity of life I carry around in my head is just a whirligig of facts, assumptions and hopes, nothing purely true. The world and how we all mix within it is mind-boggling to me now as I have the duty to remember that each of we individuals are many facets of many things. None of us is available to be pigeonholed in some nice easy way. Certainly a lot of us can be superficially grouped into generalized categories, but even then the reasons vary as to those generalized groupings. I have a strategy of not allowing assumptions any particular standing in my analysis'. I try my mightiest to stick to facts that are demonstrable. When facts are not available I am still able to objectively distinguish that no categorization can be made. So, not only do I look for those things that are similar, I look for those things that are dissimilar as well. Some grand panoramic view isn't my goal, but instead a series of smaller interconnected ones are. I also keep the intelligent premise of "life is constantly changing" at the forefront of any calculations I attempt to make when I am of a mind to make calculations. What is the very best remedy for me is to default to my assertion that we care and we are curious. Most all of my conclusions about the things and people in life grow from that firm foundation. As to the varying examples of principled and unprincipled living, I can only know that life is a series of stages we confront and as the trial and error of living follows us throughout our lifetimes, certain points that are snapshots of us truly do not capture the whole of us.

Progress is a tide that cannot be held back (#1555)

Try as some may, the force of progress is too overwhelming for it to be subsided. As each new day begins so does the vigor and hubris of a human species instinctively motivated to creating and making our world better. For those who are not included in this there are some who just don't care and others who are inculcated to suppress progress for the sake of the status quo, or even worse, the past. The future of our civilization depends on growth, spiritually, logically and yes even materially. As our technologies and innovations continue to be created from our imaginations our viability to succeed as a species also increases. As of now, we, our species, is at the mercy of our environment, unable to control our continuance if forces of nature turn to annihilate us. But as we progress into solutions to advance our species to other universal orbs, we also give our natures the path of exploration. We are such a capable species, endowed with the natural gifts of sensory detection and learned logical mental acuity. Our physiques, along with our scientific advancements, may soon be adaptable to any known terrain that exists in the Universe. Albeit, we know we cannot approach certain areas in space yet, our visions of the future will eventually lead us to overcome those current restrictions. Human beings are amazing and within this existence there is no other species that has shown itself to be as adept and artfully astute. Our future is like our present today, always wanting better and never satisfied with accepting the concept of impossibility. Progress, a descriptive word that has true substance and is panoramic in the lives of our linked generations.

Our amazing world (#1554)

I am feeling kind of chipper this morning and therefore I am letting my sunshine out for a stroll. lol. I keep thinking about our world and the diversities and sameness we share. I wish that I had traveled more when I was younger in life so that I could have seen for my own eyes all the wonders our planet and our cultures have created. I am fortunate to having been born into this era when information and pictures are so widely dispersed that even though I cannot afford to travel to them, they are able to present themselves to me in adequate ways. However, I would much prefer to be in the actual presence of the unique and amazing sights and sounds of our world. Which brings me to the subject of this post, despite the obvious problems and struggles we have as a species, we are truly exceptional at molding our environment to allow for the beauty of life to expose itself. I suggest that it isn't some grand plan we have all been working on since our civilizations began to form, no, it is serendipitous to our natures. We are moving along a species path toward the unknown while leaving a past that has many positive attributes. Of course our race of humans have a mixed bag of successes and failures but the total is not equivocal. Our successes far outweigh our failures in that we continue to learn and know more about what we don't know while we continue to struggle to improve our understandings of humanity and the connectedness we experience with nature. Like our American constitution is emblematic of, 'forming a more perfect union" as our guiding principle. We have our obstacles and wrong steps have been made, but overall, we are the dynamic human species, who mostly put the good above the bad, that we could and should be.