28.9.15

ties

What does that mean--'tame'?

... It means to establish ties."



"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince.



A sad irony. Man most famous for writing a book about a plane crash, himself dies a few years later in a plane crash. Such is the story of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of the Little Prince. Writers write what they know about but in this case he wrote about what he would know later in life. Sadly too many know Saint-Expurey only for that one work.


The story of the fox and the prince in Chapter 21 of the Little Prince is one that can be applied throughout aspects of life beyond just relationships, as it was with the fox and prince. Through routines we tame ourselves.


I've felt my whole life like I was different. As a child it was true, true to me and evidently true. I had "exceptionalism" - but all children feel that way. As a teen I hated being different and as a young adult I fought being different - reminding myself that no one is really that unique. I stopped feeling exceptional. I started to fit in on the fringe. But this all changed. There was no one moment or cause, but over time, I realized once again that I am different. Part of it is - I hate routines. I'll always try new things. I like nostalgia, but I don't like to relive things exactly the way they happened before.


This "wrinkle" in me, as I've wrinkled, is relieving. Advertising is worthless toward me, in print, on "television" - I don't have the appeal to things I'm supposed to have, as if it lacks in my DNA. It's blissful to realize this. Nothing plastic, nothing owned is cherished to me - unless there is a human-related reason or memory associated with it.


When I walk into the coffee shop, I don't want "the regular"; I try new things every time. I don't show up at the same time, don't work out at the same time. I don't listen to music solely from when I was 18-25 and think music today "sucks". 


Most people think of the path the earth takes as a circle around the sun. A circle that repeats itself. Same things each time each year. Family traditions. Doing things that would seem slower, backwards or inefficient, other than for the repetition of swing's past. But that is not how the earth really moves - it's only how it moves relative to the sun. The sun itself is moving. The path of the earth relative to the black hole at the center of the milky way is more like an old telephone cord (with very small loops). 




So I isolate through the universe in space-time along some other path, not afraid to ask questions.



24.9.15

Faith

I think what I have liked most about the pope's visit to the United States is that his message is faith. Too many politicians have tried to spin or feign anguish over the views of the pope and the Catholic Church.

While I certainly don't agree with all views of the Catholic Church (especially on gay marriage or abortion), I feel like I can understand where Pope Francis's views come from - a genuine respect for life and family. While I may disagree about when life starts and what makes a family, I feel that life and family are important - as important as any thing in our lives - even relating to this as an amateur genealogist or a father or co-worker - the importance of life and those in our lives should be paramount. When Pope Francis speaks about peace - this is like Christ - the prince of peace. I feel this is what Pope Francis believes and speaks to believe to us.

Seeing the horrible tragedy at Mecca with the pilgrims on their Hajj, I am heart-broken. As I heard a muslim cleric say today - the Hajj is a surrounding of all sorts of life in peace. People of a joined faith putting aside the trivial hatred of life - generated from the "lack" of things we "need". When all we need is faith and each other.

We should all be one family at one table. There is more on this planet than we need to survive. There is also, regardless of what any dogma says, enough on this planet not just to feed us but to have us flourish in happiness. We must strive for that.

Faith should unite us, not divide us. As a Christian, I feel embarrassed sometime to bring up my faith, as if it means I am "better" than others.. as if it means I'm "right" and others aren't. But to me, faith is more about a view of the world and what created it. And that we can all be one within the world, even if we say different prayers. The heart can still be good.

You'd only hope someday our nation can be the same way. One, again. There seems to be so much power in keeping us divided even when opposing sides want the same thing. Peace. Prosperity. Faith. Hope. Love.




16.9.15

How can I vote for you?



I consider myself pretty open-minded and sensible. I tend to rely more than anything on logic. I'd like to try to consider voting for members of all political parties. But, America, how can I?

Maybe it's just common sense but I don't think Mexicans are ruining America, I don't think Barack Obama is a secret Muslim communist, nor do I think Islam is bad. I don't believe gay marriage affects anyone who is not gay. I refuse to hide behind a church and/or think of the minority boogeyman as the cause of all my problems. 


Pick a worse set of actions: 1. selling arms to Iran while supporting the country they are fighting against and an embassy bombing that killed 100 US Marines that was warned... or 2. a treaty with Iran that ends their sanctions and an embassy bombing that killed 2 Americans. I want to ask "Who ordered the 'code red' on this one." Obama is not divisive, he's mediocre (I'll fault him on things, even though statistically fewer police have been killed during his presidency than Bush, Clinton or Reagan, I'll stay say he should have taken a strong stand on defending police), The same people who say he is divisive may be the same ones who say that "2" was worse than "1" above. Saint Reagan, of course. Reagan didn't fight wars and didn't get our troops killed. I'll give him credit there. Unfortunately many republican political candidates think we need to be less-Reagan like.

Scott Walker has said we may need to take action against Iran "day one" in opposition to Jeb Bush. Somehow Jeb Bush has almost become the sensible one among the Republicans, claiming that Donald Trump, is trying to insult his way to the presidency and Mike Huckabee who has almost become a conservative folk hero-saturday afternoon cartoon character. We've got elected representatives who run on Obama being a secret Muslim and building "the wall" because Obama is "taking away people's guns". Where's the proof? People voting on emotion, motivated by the fear of the minority-they-don't-know-next-door. The republican party is the new leaded gasoline and perhaps more dangerous to the unity of our country. Divisive, not as in the talking-point catch-phrase about Obama, but the actual meaning of the word. Dividing. Us and them. A wall between Mexicans. Guns for the good guys. 

I have my problems with democrats too, but they are much smaller:
If I had five minutes to talk to Bernie Saunders I'd tell him he has education all wrong. The problem isn't the cost of college, it's that many states are cutting costs with primary and secondary schools. When people from the community have to come into your school to teach art or music because they don't have those programs in your school, that's a problem. It's a problem when your school doesn't have special education. It's a problem when you have more Spanish speaking students, most willing and wanting to learn English, but you have no one to teach them. Our schools prepare kids for test taking and "classics", not jobs and careers. Those are problems. Not a middle-class white American sitting at a decent job but not able to buy a nicer car or go on 2 vacations because of college loans - that is not a problem.

I guess I'll vote for Gary Johnson again. 

15.9.15

End

I think of the ending. I think
of making the ending
Blissless, painless and black
How the ending is never remembered
the passes through
you passed through you.
ending.
because too many scenarios
have no acceptable solution
just less unacceptable solutions
we all end up
dissembled, disassembled alone
loaned nothing further
I think of the ending
the ending never felt
unrealized
some knots are only untied
by sheering the rope
and the rope knows not
it is dissembled

10.9.15

sunshine

Last night I was dreaming that I was in a town I'd not been in before. I was at a wedding at a restaurant. I stepped away from the restaurant to the bar to get away from the noise and there was a friend of mine I hadn't seen in awhile. We talked a bit before I sudden got very sad. I realized that she had passed away in real life. It was as if once I was fully aware that she had died, she would also disappear from my dream so I asked her quickly what she was doing here and she said "checking up on things". I knew I had very little time left so I asked her this:

"What is heaven like?"

"Sunshine," she said.

Then the dream ended.