Essence-

Sitting in the silence

Listening for my lord to speak

I feel him in my soul

My heart weeps

Achy and yearning

I hear a message

But meaning evades

And I must meditate 

There is a purpose

A reason for this

If I ponder

I will find

I must go

Only so

Can I arrive...

What is mine

Comes my way

What isn't

I must leave behind 

If I stand

I have courage

There is a road

And the path that's mine

Starts to form

With each step I take

So I listen

In the silence

Listening for my lord to speak

So I can find what is rightfully mine

A bug is a beautiful thing to love

A "Bug" is a beautiful thing to love

Her smile,

Her eyes,

Her laughter-

Fill my soul with joy

She's like the sun

She warms my heart

Lights up my life 

And fills my world with love

Like a summer wind

Her gentle voice lingers

Like a memory 

Echoes in my mind

I am blessed to have

My little bug home again

Living

When you become unafraid of your heart breaking

When you take risk after risk in pursuit of your dreams

When you know in your soul

Even when there is no logical evidence to back it up

When you can appreciate both the pain and joy in existence and not be overly swayed by either

When you finally understand what is meaningful to YOU

When you can sit in respectful silence with your thoughts and truly listen without judging or condemning yourself or others but simply understand...

When you no longer feel the need to be better than another and simply desire to be genuinely authentic

When alone does not mean lonely 

When you can stand up straight and carry your own weight

When you know the glorious humility of asking for help

When your exterior is weathered but an inner glow shines through

When you can win it all or lose it all

And not blink twice

Because both are okay by you

When you can experience an eternity in one single moment of presence 

And find peace in it

When all you see has exquisite beauty

And the beauty of the outside is a mere reflection of the beauty on the inside....

-Such is the art of "living"...

Sophie

I sat by Sophie today

My fountain of wisdom

Little kids came by

With big people who've forgotten to live

I sat as always

Up close with my feet up

I remembered a man's words

"Why do we have to sit right on top of it?"

Because that's how it should be...

I had thought, because it's fun!

I remembered another man I once loved

A man who lied

A man who broke my heart 

Again and again

And I smiled

He had sat with me here

And I tried to hold his hand for a photograph

But he pulled away

That's when I knew it...

I was not loved back

When you love you are open

When you love you want closeness

When you are brave you are open

When you have courage you speak your truth

In lies there is no love

Only the true have courage to love

The rest just want

To feel good

Love is so much more

Than just feeling good

Love will open you up

If you will let it

It will tear you up

And break you down

Because only then

Can you truly live!

I smiled and watched the kids

Who seemed to gravitate to me

I guess it was because while their grown ups sat a safe distance apart

I sat up close with my feet up

Kids know love

Kids know life

And then we raise them

And thus we ruin them...

I looked at the kids

And they played with me

I fished coins out for them

On my knees elbow deep in my fountain 

It was glorious fun

While the kids played with me

Their grown ups sat, relieved...

Far away

Their faces buried in their phones

Relieved to get away 

They missed seeing it all

Too busy to love

Too busy to live

They missed the flower 

The little boy gave me

They missed his face light up as I stuck it in my hair...

They missed the little girl ask if she should collect the money or throw it back in?

I asked what would make her happy?

They missed hearing what makes her happy...

They missed it all

When I got up to go

They grabbed my hands 

And had a fuss 

I fished my last coins for them

I'm too old to do that 

A dad replied

When the little girl asked him to reach a coin

Yes I thought

We ruin them

We raise them to be old

And we ruin these beautiful free creatures

We make them old

And then they no longer play 

In water fountains anymore

I wish more grown ups 

Were kids some days...

Exquisite moments

There are those moments in life-

Soft and delicate and full of understanding. 

Moments when your life changes.

Deep truths are revealed and you come to see the real you. 

Those are the most exquisite moments of all.

In those moments you can just be-

Dead Society

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Edmund Burke-

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154221922375444&substory_index=0&id=546850443

It's an everyday thing for me... It has been for the past 20 years. Some over zealous, obnoxious human who watched me on television will think it his God given right to demand my attention. When I politely ignore that invasion, the attack only gets worse.

And it's not just the rabid fans, it's men at the gym, on the street, in the store- fragile shallow ego maniacs with the emotional intelligence of a brick who demand attention and when you politely forego their advances, they get hostile, aggressive and obnoxious.

Today I had an epiphany.

After one such episode, which two of my native countrymen witnessed and minimized and brushed aside, and one dear friend did NOT minimize, it hit me.

My whole life this behavior has been minimized. "I" have always asserted myself and set my boundaries but no one has EVER backed me up. Everyone has always brushed it aside, or worse yet, blamed me for it and caused me to feel SHAME. Simply for being, to feel shame. While the perpetrators are buoyed. I have had hissing fits of rage, all silent, all internal, at the injustice, until today. Today the nobility of one man- who stated it like it is, changed everything! One man- Greg Frazier!

He spoke up in defense of women. And I realized how many times women have gone defenseless.  Too many chattering voices to minimize and justify and make light of a blatant aggression.

And then we wonder why abuse is so common. And why battered women stay. And why do girls always go for the bad boy. It's because we live in a sick society that minimizes aggression against women. Because there just aren't enough Greg Frazier's in the world. Because both men and women perpetuate the evil by doing NOTHING!

I wish every girl had a Greg Frazier for a dad so women would understand what a "man" is, and stop chasing after sociopathic, ego maniacs and narcissists.

I wish every boy had a Greg Frazier for a dad so they would learn what being a "man" is all about.

When did a society become so complacent? Where did all the Greg Frazier's go?