Vagabondism #271 "There are heros in the world who, if you are forced to your knees, will help you up or join you there."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
In The Beer
The worst sin - perhaps the only sin - passion can commit, is to be joyless.
Dorothy Sayers
******************
Hello Diane
******************
Yesterday I posed the question should I cry in my beer or laugh in my wine. The consensus of opinions seems to be that I should do both. The sound that you hear is me opening a beer.
We are now in the time of mid winter. This is and has always been a very grim time for me as it is for many people. The Farmers Almanac says that by February 5 I should have half of my wood still left and half of my hay. But it doesn't say anything about my spirit. As the song says "This weather makes a man feel old."
I try to think about the future. I don't like to think about the past or the present. The past is full of regrets and the future is full of fears. I carry with me every day all the passions of a reconstructed teenager. But with the added burdens of a life time of accumulated knowledge. I know better than to expect happiness and harmony every staggered step I take down the street. But I don't know myself well enough to know how to avoid the rocks and puddles of my own feelings.
Why have I removed my heart from my sleeve and left it out on the front porch? Why does my imagination which allows me to write and paint and dream also construct sorrowful scenarios to plague me like daemons? I hide, like Scrooge, from a wicked world, but without Scrooge's money. I take pleasure in small things but ignore the dangers in the bigger ones.
Inside this mortal lump of clay my passions bubble and foam, like the beer in this glass, for a pure and happy life, contentment, peace and certainty. And joy. I want, but don't expect them. I expect the opposite. Threats, shocks, pain, and trouble. And sorrow.
Why should that be? I know I deserve better. I deserve not to be cheated out of my joy. In all the tumbling I've done in and out of righteousness over the years I have at least learned to laugh at my foolishness and discipline my thoughts. Then why am I sitting here right now, today, in fear and sadness over things I can't control?
I don't know what the future is, who does? But I know I have one and I want it to be better than the present. Today I will hide in the bottle. Tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that I will face the pain and take the staggering steps necessary to make some brighter day appear, I hope.
DB - Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
Dorothy Sayers
******************
Hello Diane
******************
Yesterday I posed the question should I cry in my beer or laugh in my wine. The consensus of opinions seems to be that I should do both. The sound that you hear is me opening a beer.
We are now in the time of mid winter. This is and has always been a very grim time for me as it is for many people. The Farmers Almanac says that by February 5 I should have half of my wood still left and half of my hay. But it doesn't say anything about my spirit. As the song says "This weather makes a man feel old."
I try to think about the future. I don't like to think about the past or the present. The past is full of regrets and the future is full of fears. I carry with me every day all the passions of a reconstructed teenager. But with the added burdens of a life time of accumulated knowledge. I know better than to expect happiness and harmony every staggered step I take down the street. But I don't know myself well enough to know how to avoid the rocks and puddles of my own feelings.
Why have I removed my heart from my sleeve and left it out on the front porch? Why does my imagination which allows me to write and paint and dream also construct sorrowful scenarios to plague me like daemons? I hide, like Scrooge, from a wicked world, but without Scrooge's money. I take pleasure in small things but ignore the dangers in the bigger ones.
Inside this mortal lump of clay my passions bubble and foam, like the beer in this glass, for a pure and happy life, contentment, peace and certainty. And joy. I want, but don't expect them. I expect the opposite. Threats, shocks, pain, and trouble. And sorrow.
Why should that be? I know I deserve better. I deserve not to be cheated out of my joy. In all the tumbling I've done in and out of righteousness over the years I have at least learned to laugh at my foolishness and discipline my thoughts. Then why am I sitting here right now, today, in fear and sadness over things I can't control?
I don't know what the future is, who does? But I know I have one and I want it to be better than the present. Today I will hide in the bottle. Tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that I will face the pain and take the staggering steps necessary to make some brighter day appear, I hope.
DB - Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
Monday, January 30, 2012
Vagabondism 270
Vagabondism #270 "Everyone's life is a story that should be told."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Drive On
We're actually still changing the world, aren't we?
Rick Danko
*******************
Hello Marty
*******************
My mother was an excellent driver. When I was a youngster my sister lived in Boston and we would occasionally visit her by driving up there from New York. In those days the main highway out of the city was known as the Merritt Parkway. Along the way there were strips of commerce, restaurants, gas stations. motels, shops. Otherwise the scenery along the way was very pleasant. The Merritt passed under many bridges, there were side roads and the evidence of communities near it.
The Marritt Parkway is still there but it has since been replaced as the major road by a super highway, I 91, which runs through Connecticut and hooks up with the Massachusetts Turnpike. It's also surrounded by some very attractive scenery, planted and landscaped to adorn the highway.
As I grew older and made the trip to Boston and back I wondered what had been there. What communities, patches of forest or lake had been removed to make way for the Interstate. Whereas the Merritt had given glimpses of local life along its path, I 90 merely had signs and exit ramps. Whatever was there before the highway was built is gone forever. It can never be brought back.
In the 40s and 50s there was a city planner in New York named Robert Moses who, although he didn't drive himself, saw the automobile as the future of America. He built a major highway in northern New York City called The Cross Bronx Expressway. If you drive down it you will see on either side apartment buildings. In order to build that highway, many blocks of apartment buildings had to be torn down and a huge trench carved into the ground. A great many people had to be removed from their homes and neighborhoods. People who could walk a few blocks to their doctor's office or their favorite shops could no longer do that. There are pedestrian bridges that cross it, but not many. The buildings, homes. parks, neighbors, lives are all gone now and will never be returned.
New York City changes so fast that there's a joke which says that if you turn your back on it for one day they have torn down one building and put up a bigger one.
No one would deny those two highways and others like them all around the country make travel faster and easier for the motorist. The unfortunate thing is that no one can remember what was there. It is forever gone from sight and memory.
Progress and development is taking place all over American to provide better transportation and housing. Forests are being cut down, bays and wetlands are being filled in, mountain tops are being leveled. And all the while changes are taking place in the American people. We have become a nation of the convenient, the instantaneous and the forgetful. Instant coffee, fast food, immediate entertainment, instant gratification. What is gone about us that will never return?
In his epic poem John Brown's Body, Stephen Vincent Benet wrote about the mountains, the people and things that are gone
They are our last frontier.
They shot the railway-train when it first came,
And when the Fords first came, they shot the Fords.
It could not save them. They are dying now
Of being educated, which is the same.
One need not weep romantic tears for them,
But when the last moonshiner buys his radio,
And the last, lost, wild-rabbit of a girl
Is civilized with a mail-order dress,
Something will pass that was American
And all the movies will not bring it back.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Rick Danko
*******************
Hello Marty
*******************
My mother was an excellent driver. When I was a youngster my sister lived in Boston and we would occasionally visit her by driving up there from New York. In those days the main highway out of the city was known as the Merritt Parkway. Along the way there were strips of commerce, restaurants, gas stations. motels, shops. Otherwise the scenery along the way was very pleasant. The Merritt passed under many bridges, there were side roads and the evidence of communities near it.
The Marritt Parkway is still there but it has since been replaced as the major road by a super highway, I 91, which runs through Connecticut and hooks up with the Massachusetts Turnpike. It's also surrounded by some very attractive scenery, planted and landscaped to adorn the highway.
As I grew older and made the trip to Boston and back I wondered what had been there. What communities, patches of forest or lake had been removed to make way for the Interstate. Whereas the Merritt had given glimpses of local life along its path, I 90 merely had signs and exit ramps. Whatever was there before the highway was built is gone forever. It can never be brought back.
In the 40s and 50s there was a city planner in New York named Robert Moses who, although he didn't drive himself, saw the automobile as the future of America. He built a major highway in northern New York City called The Cross Bronx Expressway. If you drive down it you will see on either side apartment buildings. In order to build that highway, many blocks of apartment buildings had to be torn down and a huge trench carved into the ground. A great many people had to be removed from their homes and neighborhoods. People who could walk a few blocks to their doctor's office or their favorite shops could no longer do that. There are pedestrian bridges that cross it, but not many. The buildings, homes. parks, neighbors, lives are all gone now and will never be returned.
New York City changes so fast that there's a joke which says that if you turn your back on it for one day they have torn down one building and put up a bigger one.
No one would deny those two highways and others like them all around the country make travel faster and easier for the motorist. The unfortunate thing is that no one can remember what was there. It is forever gone from sight and memory.
Progress and development is taking place all over American to provide better transportation and housing. Forests are being cut down, bays and wetlands are being filled in, mountain tops are being leveled. And all the while changes are taking place in the American people. We have become a nation of the convenient, the instantaneous and the forgetful. Instant coffee, fast food, immediate entertainment, instant gratification. What is gone about us that will never return?
In his epic poem John Brown's Body, Stephen Vincent Benet wrote about the mountains, the people and things that are gone
They are our last frontier.
They shot the railway-train when it first came,
And when the Fords first came, they shot the Fords.
It could not save them. They are dying now
Of being educated, which is the same.
One need not weep romantic tears for them,
But when the last moonshiner buys his radio,
And the last, lost, wild-rabbit of a girl
Is civilized with a mail-order dress,
Something will pass that was American
And all the movies will not bring it back.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bach In B Minor
In the face of all that is crooked about the world, when I listen to the music of Bach things straighten out.
Dana Bate
**********************
Hello Frosty
**********************
Dear Friend, I know you are probably not going to do this, but I'm telling you to do it anyway. At some point soon in your progressing life you must listen to a performance of the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wasn't a Catholic but he wrote a lot of religious music, most of it in German, The Christmas and Easter Oratorios, The Saint Mathew and Saint John Passions and many Cantatas. So composing to the Latin Mass was a special venture for Bach. What he created is a conglomeration of some of the greatest music ever composed.
If you can't bear to hear the whole thing then at least listen to the opening section. It's a stately fugue for chorus and orchestra based on only the first 2 words of the Mass: Kyrie Eleison. It is a landscape of music. I promise.
If you keep going and get to the middle you'll hear Cum Sancto Spiritu, which lifts off and flies.
Later on Et Resurrexit jumps up out of silence and dances with so much joy it almost tumbles over itself.
As you listen don't just think it's beautiful, which it is, but listen into the music, try to hear every note from the kettle drum to the high trumpet, from the bass to the sopranos.
If you make it to the final chorus, you're life will have progressed, I guarantee it.
If you don't listen to this music I will still talk to you anyway.
DB - Vagabond
Never Give Up
********************
Dana Bate
**********************
Hello Frosty
**********************
Dear Friend, I know you are probably not going to do this, but I'm telling you to do it anyway. At some point soon in your progressing life you must listen to a performance of the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wasn't a Catholic but he wrote a lot of religious music, most of it in German, The Christmas and Easter Oratorios, The Saint Mathew and Saint John Passions and many Cantatas. So composing to the Latin Mass was a special venture for Bach. What he created is a conglomeration of some of the greatest music ever composed.
If you can't bear to hear the whole thing then at least listen to the opening section. It's a stately fugue for chorus and orchestra based on only the first 2 words of the Mass: Kyrie Eleison. It is a landscape of music. I promise.
If you keep going and get to the middle you'll hear Cum Sancto Spiritu, which lifts off and flies.
Later on Et Resurrexit jumps up out of silence and dances with so much joy it almost tumbles over itself.
As you listen don't just think it's beautiful, which it is, but listen into the music, try to hear every note from the kettle drum to the high trumpet, from the bass to the sopranos.
If you make it to the final chorus, you're life will have progressed, I guarantee it.
If you don't listen to this music I will still talk to you anyway.
DB - Vagabond
Never Give Up
********************
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Vagabond 268
Vagabondism #268, "In order to know the answer one must understand the question." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Be Like The Moon
People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy.
Oliver Goldsmith
*********************
Hello Sienna
*********************
The moon is not a disk. I will not forget the first time I watched a lunar eclipse through high powered binoculars. It was amazing to see that huge globe suspended in space with no apparent means of support. I could clearly see that it was a rounded object, with a front, sides and a mysterious back, which added to the spectacle of the eclipse.
When the final words of farewell are said and the rocket blasts off, the ship is taken into outer space where all things are dark. There is the constant sun, shining by its own light. But it produces no light in the solar system unless something is facing it. And then, as with the moon, it is reflected light.
Once into outer space many conditions are no longer present which we have come to depend on. There is no up or down. There is no left or right except as defined by the human body. It is only from a defined quarter like the International Space Station that we can even define in and out. And we are sure it is an either/or situation, like a coin is heads or tails. The obverse side of the coin is "in", the reverse side is "out." There is no transition place, no place that is neither in nor out, no place where in is becoming out or out is becoming in.
There are some metaphysical lessons to be seen and possibly learned from these observations. Like the limited in or out of the space station, our lives often take on the absolutes of our character and behavior, and the influences upon them. For example, we seem to be forever held in a suspended orbit of self expectation and self satisfaction; an obverse and a reverse, two side of the coin. We look to others for approval and to ourselves for justification. We want our lives to be better and look outside ourselves to imagine the better life. We may know we are capable of improvement but judge our capabilities only by what we already know of ourselves. We may like what we see of ourselves but we think there is another, mysterious side to the coin which we can't see. We find in other people examples of the person we would like to be and attempt to emulate them. Some of those models are appropriate to us. Others aren't and if we try those models on for size we step into a masquerade of pretense and artificiality. When we emulate the good, the appropriate models we may bring into our lives, without pretensions, the genuine qualities of those models. In such a case no artificiality is involve because we are adopting qualities which harmonize with the ones we already have. We are improving our own model by increasing its dimensions. There are now modifying elements to adopt. There is no longer an in or out of character, no more accepted or rejected behavior. We become freer of the limitations of stern absolutism. Now there are transitions. We worry less about consistency and more about creativity. And every part of our lives has its effect on every other part, what is simplisticaly called a "well rounded person," as we spin through our lives ia complete individual, not a disk.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Oliver Goldsmith
*********************
Hello Sienna
*********************
The moon is not a disk. I will not forget the first time I watched a lunar eclipse through high powered binoculars. It was amazing to see that huge globe suspended in space with no apparent means of support. I could clearly see that it was a rounded object, with a front, sides and a mysterious back, which added to the spectacle of the eclipse.
When the final words of farewell are said and the rocket blasts off, the ship is taken into outer space where all things are dark. There is the constant sun, shining by its own light. But it produces no light in the solar system unless something is facing it. And then, as with the moon, it is reflected light.
Once into outer space many conditions are no longer present which we have come to depend on. There is no up or down. There is no left or right except as defined by the human body. It is only from a defined quarter like the International Space Station that we can even define in and out. And we are sure it is an either/or situation, like a coin is heads or tails. The obverse side of the coin is "in", the reverse side is "out." There is no transition place, no place that is neither in nor out, no place where in is becoming out or out is becoming in.
There are some metaphysical lessons to be seen and possibly learned from these observations. Like the limited in or out of the space station, our lives often take on the absolutes of our character and behavior, and the influences upon them. For example, we seem to be forever held in a suspended orbit of self expectation and self satisfaction; an obverse and a reverse, two side of the coin. We look to others for approval and to ourselves for justification. We want our lives to be better and look outside ourselves to imagine the better life. We may know we are capable of improvement but judge our capabilities only by what we already know of ourselves. We may like what we see of ourselves but we think there is another, mysterious side to the coin which we can't see. We find in other people examples of the person we would like to be and attempt to emulate them. Some of those models are appropriate to us. Others aren't and if we try those models on for size we step into a masquerade of pretense and artificiality. When we emulate the good, the appropriate models we may bring into our lives, without pretensions, the genuine qualities of those models. In such a case no artificiality is involve because we are adopting qualities which harmonize with the ones we already have. We are improving our own model by increasing its dimensions. There are now modifying elements to adopt. There is no longer an in or out of character, no more accepted or rejected behavior. We become freer of the limitations of stern absolutism. Now there are transitions. We worry less about consistency and more about creativity. And every part of our lives has its effect on every other part, what is simplisticaly called a "well rounded person," as we spin through our lives ia complete individual, not a disk.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Friday, January 27, 2012
Vagabondism 267
Vagabondism #267 "It's hard to know what you're getting into until you get into it." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
The Editors Two
Nature alone can make a man judicious, experience can make a judicious man wise.
Immanuel Kant
**********************
Hello Indigo
**********************
My country has been one that tried, through the years, to encourage virtue, valor and excellence, and to have them rewarded. The United States is not the only country in the world where those ideals and goals are to be found, for sure. But I have come to believe that, as with many other activities of our lives, there is a characteristically American way of doing things in the pursuit of those values. We simply don't do things the way other peoples do them. And that may be one of the reasons why we have some difficulty understanding folks from other lands and why they have trouble understanding us.
Many years ago I listened to a speech given by the Managing Editor of The New York Times. During the speech he talked about a meeting he had with the Managing Editor of The London Times, of London, England. They were two of the most important men of two of the most important newspapers of the world. They were having lunch.
The Editor of The London Times described his career. He was born into the right upper middle class family. He went to the best schools. Then on to Cambridge University where he achieved a graduate degree in journalism. His entry level at the Times was a desk job with some minor production responsibility. But he gradually worked his way up to eventually become the Managing Editor, the kind of position his birth and education assured him he was destined for.
Then The New York Times Editor told the story of his life. He was born into a lower class Jewish family in New York City, educated in the public schools and eventually at City College of New York, where he went on to get a degree in journalism. His entry level job at the NY Times was running copy around, cleaning out news bins and occasional proof reading. But he gradually worked his way through all the departments, gaining experience of how the newspaper was run and learning what his contributions could be. He took on some minor and then major writing assignments. And then one day he emerged as the Managing Editor.
Their backgrounds could hardly have been different: the wealthy boy from England and the poor boy from New York. And yet there they were Managing Editors of two International Newspapers.
When the Englishman heard the New Yorker's story he said "Only in America."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Immanuel Kant
**********************
Hello Indigo
**********************
My country has been one that tried, through the years, to encourage virtue, valor and excellence, and to have them rewarded. The United States is not the only country in the world where those ideals and goals are to be found, for sure. But I have come to believe that, as with many other activities of our lives, there is a characteristically American way of doing things in the pursuit of those values. We simply don't do things the way other peoples do them. And that may be one of the reasons why we have some difficulty understanding folks from other lands and why they have trouble understanding us.
Many years ago I listened to a speech given by the Managing Editor of The New York Times. During the speech he talked about a meeting he had with the Managing Editor of The London Times, of London, England. They were two of the most important men of two of the most important newspapers of the world. They were having lunch.
The Editor of The London Times described his career. He was born into the right upper middle class family. He went to the best schools. Then on to Cambridge University where he achieved a graduate degree in journalism. His entry level at the Times was a desk job with some minor production responsibility. But he gradually worked his way up to eventually become the Managing Editor, the kind of position his birth and education assured him he was destined for.
Then The New York Times Editor told the story of his life. He was born into a lower class Jewish family in New York City, educated in the public schools and eventually at City College of New York, where he went on to get a degree in journalism. His entry level job at the NY Times was running copy around, cleaning out news bins and occasional proof reading. But he gradually worked his way through all the departments, gaining experience of how the newspaper was run and learning what his contributions could be. He took on some minor and then major writing assignments. And then one day he emerged as the Managing Editor.
Their backgrounds could hardly have been different: the wealthy boy from England and the poor boy from New York. And yet there they were Managing Editors of two International Newspapers.
When the Englishman heard the New Yorker's story he said "Only in America."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Vagabondism 266
Vagabondism #266 "If you can fix it, fix it. If you can't fix it, live with it until you can." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Go Crazy
Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd.
Allan Goldfein
******************
Hello Stuart
******************
"O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad."
Shakespeare.
There is no madness that isn't firmly grounded in reason. True craziness can only come from a sound mind. Only the logical thinker is truly insane. It takes daily inspiration to be a practicing lunatic. The goal of all learning is authoritative silliness. Only a rational man can provide any genuine nonsense,
Take flying, for example. Why would anyone in their right mind stuff themselves into a metal tube, on a seat that is probably too small and hard, to be thrown through the air at an inhuman speed to get to an airport which probably takes almost as long to get out of as it took to get there?
And space flight? Even worse. You are tucked, tied, plugged and lashed into clothing that doesn't fit any human body, just to be able to enter a totally hostile environment, and then to be strapped into a small space awaiting a blast from a rocket that will thrust you as far away from home as it can. That's not crazy?
Now let's take sports. Baseball. One adult throws a ball at another adult who tries to hit it back with a stick. Meanwhile seven other adults stand around hoping for something to do. Basketball. Adults chase each other around a large room and jump up and down, arm pit to face, after another ball. Football. Adults chase each other around and knock each other down, passionately trying to get their hands on a ball. A what? Yes, a ball. Nonsense.
Incidentally, football games all have half time shows. But none of the TV Networks that broadcast the games will ever show you those. They act as if the game had to stop for a half hour because some other group had booked the field and that we. the viewers, are much more interested in watching guys who don't know as much as they think they do, discuss the game we've just been watching, than to see some expert cheerleaders and marching bands perform a well prepared entertainment. Madness.
Now let's take the arts. Otherwise intelligent people will paint their faces, put on clothes, that might fit, and go out in front of other smart people and present a piece of total fiction as if it was reality. And when they're finished those otherwise smart people beat their hands together. Seriously.
A symphony orchestra has musicians who play most of the time and others who hardly play at all. The harpist almost never plays. Isn't there something else she could be doing, ironing some shirts or spending time in the nursery taking care of the children of the other musicians. And the guy in the percussion section who's only job is to play the triangle in the last movement. Why doesn't he go check on the furnace or something, instead of sitting around in his tuxedo for an hour. Ridiculous.
There are times in out lives when we eject the clear light of reason and do things that are purely absurd. We go chasing after other people. We stand or sit watching other people do silly things. Or we put ourselves in ridiculous circumstances for the sake of something we think we want.
And it's a good thing we do, for if we didn't we might all go "mad."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Allan Goldfein
******************
Hello Stuart
******************
"O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad."
Shakespeare.
There is no madness that isn't firmly grounded in reason. True craziness can only come from a sound mind. Only the logical thinker is truly insane. It takes daily inspiration to be a practicing lunatic. The goal of all learning is authoritative silliness. Only a rational man can provide any genuine nonsense,
Take flying, for example. Why would anyone in their right mind stuff themselves into a metal tube, on a seat that is probably too small and hard, to be thrown through the air at an inhuman speed to get to an airport which probably takes almost as long to get out of as it took to get there?
And space flight? Even worse. You are tucked, tied, plugged and lashed into clothing that doesn't fit any human body, just to be able to enter a totally hostile environment, and then to be strapped into a small space awaiting a blast from a rocket that will thrust you as far away from home as it can. That's not crazy?
Now let's take sports. Baseball. One adult throws a ball at another adult who tries to hit it back with a stick. Meanwhile seven other adults stand around hoping for something to do. Basketball. Adults chase each other around a large room and jump up and down, arm pit to face, after another ball. Football. Adults chase each other around and knock each other down, passionately trying to get their hands on a ball. A what? Yes, a ball. Nonsense.
Incidentally, football games all have half time shows. But none of the TV Networks that broadcast the games will ever show you those. They act as if the game had to stop for a half hour because some other group had booked the field and that we. the viewers, are much more interested in watching guys who don't know as much as they think they do, discuss the game we've just been watching, than to see some expert cheerleaders and marching bands perform a well prepared entertainment. Madness.
Now let's take the arts. Otherwise intelligent people will paint their faces, put on clothes, that might fit, and go out in front of other smart people and present a piece of total fiction as if it was reality. And when they're finished those otherwise smart people beat their hands together. Seriously.
A symphony orchestra has musicians who play most of the time and others who hardly play at all. The harpist almost never plays. Isn't there something else she could be doing, ironing some shirts or spending time in the nursery taking care of the children of the other musicians. And the guy in the percussion section who's only job is to play the triangle in the last movement. Why doesn't he go check on the furnace or something, instead of sitting around in his tuxedo for an hour. Ridiculous.
There are times in out lives when we eject the clear light of reason and do things that are purely absurd. We go chasing after other people. We stand or sit watching other people do silly things. Or we put ourselves in ridiculous circumstances for the sake of something we think we want.
And it's a good thing we do, for if we didn't we might all go "mad."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Vagabondism 265
Vagabondism #265 "Only those who know the struggles can know the rewards." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
How to fix a computer
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.
Henry Ford
*********************
Hello George
**********************
Tools needed : A screwdriver.
OK, I've got that.
----------------------
Step One: Turn off the computer
Done
--------------------------------
Step Two: Unplug everything
OK, but how am I going to remember what's what?
-----------------------------
Step Three: Remove the cover by loosening the screw
The screw won't budge. The screwdriver doesn't move it. The pliers don't move it either. The wrench finally makes it move a tiny bit. So I keep at it with the wrench and finally it's loose enough for the pliers and then the screwdriver. So much for the "tools needed."
-----------------------------------
Step Four: Carefully remove the cover by sliding it to the right.
As I do that the cover falls off into my lap
---------------------------------
Step Five: Lift the cover away from the computer
The cover is in my lap, I told you
----------------------------------------
Step Six: Pull the tabs that hold the bezel, then release the bezel
What the hell is a bezel
---------------------------------
Step Seven: Swing the bezel out to remove it
It's a swinging bezel
---------------------------
Step Eight: Locate the ODD at the top of the computer
Is this it?
----------------------------------------
Step Nine: Remove the screws that fasten the ODD to the computer
Screws? I can only find one. I hope that's it
-----------------------------------------------
Step Ten: Push the ODD THING sightly forward
You're kidding
-----------------------------
Step Eleven: Remove cables 1 and 2 by squeezing their latches and pulling them out
OK, I squeezed their little latches and pulled them out. This is beginning to sound slightly salacious
-----------------------------
Step Twelve: Pull the ODD THING out through the front of the computer
Done. Now I have an ODD THING in my hands. What should I do?
-----------------------------------
Step Thirteen: Rest, another cup of coffee, a cigarette.
Good idea
----------------------------------
Step Fourteen: Push the new Odd Thing part way into the computer
I don't know which is the top of the new odd thing because I forgot to check it when I took the old odd thing out.
----------------------------------------
Step Fifteen: Reconnect cables 1 and 2 to the back
Sometime during my rest period one of the cable heads grew or the port got smaller. Because number 2 went right in but number 1 doesn't fit anymore. Maybe I was too rough squeezing her little latch
---------------------------------
Step Sixteen: Align the odd screw holes with the other screw holes
! ! ! ! ! ?
----------------------------------
Step Seventeen: Replace the odd screws
Of which there was only one
---------------------------
Step Eighteen : Align the left side of the bezel and swing it toward the computer
Oh, here we go with the swinging bezel again. Are you sure a bezel isn't something you buy in a Jewish deli?
------------------------------------------
Step Nineteen: Insert the tabs into the slots and slide the cover forward
The one that has been in my lap, you mean?
------------------------------------------
Step Twenty: Reattach the screw at the back of the computer
This is the one that required a wrench to open. I'm going to treat this one with the respect it deserves
--------------------------------------
Step Twenty one: Reconnect all the cables
Right, if i can remember where they go
---------------------------------------
Step Twenty two: Turn on the computer
"Your computer is unable to turn on, wait while we check for the difficulty"
No need. I know what the difficulty is. I forgot to turn on the modem.
-----------------------------------
Step Twenty three: Verify the new Odd Thing is operating correctly
It is.
------------------------
Step Twenty four: Rest, you've done it
Gladly
-------------------------
Estimated time 15 to 20 minutes
Actual time 2 and a half hours
------------------------------------
DB, The Exhausted Vagabond
Never Give Up
****************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Henry Ford
*********************
Hello George
**********************
Tools needed : A screwdriver.
OK, I've got that.
----------------------
Step One: Turn off the computer
Done
--------------------------------
Step Two: Unplug everything
OK, but how am I going to remember what's what?
-----------------------------
Step Three: Remove the cover by loosening the screw
The screw won't budge. The screwdriver doesn't move it. The pliers don't move it either. The wrench finally makes it move a tiny bit. So I keep at it with the wrench and finally it's loose enough for the pliers and then the screwdriver. So much for the "tools needed."
-----------------------------------
Step Four: Carefully remove the cover by sliding it to the right.
As I do that the cover falls off into my lap
---------------------------------
Step Five: Lift the cover away from the computer
The cover is in my lap, I told you
----------------------------------------
Step Six: Pull the tabs that hold the bezel, then release the bezel
What the hell is a bezel
---------------------------------
Step Seven: Swing the bezel out to remove it
It's a swinging bezel
---------------------------
Step Eight: Locate the ODD at the top of the computer
Is this it?
----------------------------------------
Step Nine: Remove the screws that fasten the ODD to the computer
Screws? I can only find one. I hope that's it
-----------------------------------------------
Step Ten: Push the ODD THING sightly forward
You're kidding
-----------------------------
Step Eleven: Remove cables 1 and 2 by squeezing their latches and pulling them out
OK, I squeezed their little latches and pulled them out. This is beginning to sound slightly salacious
-----------------------------
Step Twelve: Pull the ODD THING out through the front of the computer
Done. Now I have an ODD THING in my hands. What should I do?
-----------------------------------
Step Thirteen: Rest, another cup of coffee, a cigarette.
Good idea
----------------------------------
Step Fourteen: Push the new Odd Thing part way into the computer
I don't know which is the top of the new odd thing because I forgot to check it when I took the old odd thing out.
----------------------------------------
Step Fifteen: Reconnect cables 1 and 2 to the back
Sometime during my rest period one of the cable heads grew or the port got smaller. Because number 2 went right in but number 1 doesn't fit anymore. Maybe I was too rough squeezing her little latch
---------------------------------
Step Sixteen: Align the odd screw holes with the other screw holes
! ! ! ! ! ?
----------------------------------
Step Seventeen: Replace the odd screws
Of which there was only one
---------------------------
Step Eighteen : Align the left side of the bezel and swing it toward the computer
Oh, here we go with the swinging bezel again. Are you sure a bezel isn't something you buy in a Jewish deli?
------------------------------------------
Step Nineteen: Insert the tabs into the slots and slide the cover forward
The one that has been in my lap, you mean?
------------------------------------------
Step Twenty: Reattach the screw at the back of the computer
This is the one that required a wrench to open. I'm going to treat this one with the respect it deserves
--------------------------------------
Step Twenty one: Reconnect all the cables
Right, if i can remember where they go
---------------------------------------
Step Twenty two: Turn on the computer
"Your computer is unable to turn on, wait while we check for the difficulty"
No need. I know what the difficulty is. I forgot to turn on the modem.
-----------------------------------
Step Twenty three: Verify the new Odd Thing is operating correctly
It is.
------------------------
Step Twenty four: Rest, you've done it
Gladly
-------------------------
Estimated time 15 to 20 minutes
Actual time 2 and a half hours
------------------------------------
DB, The Exhausted Vagabond
Never Give Up
****************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Vagabondism 264
Vagabondism #264 "It is possible for us to do things we can't possibly do." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Me. Myself and I
Have the courage to go inside and illuminate and reveal things about yourself.
Sherilyn Fenn
*******************
Hello Stuart
*******************
"Come now, consider thy ways. " (Haggai 1:5)
I am unknown by almost everyone.
Admired by a few.
Resented by many.
Hated by some.
Perhaps loved by one or two.
I was cursed by poverty in an early age.
I was blessed to have spent my life in the arts.
I have been homeless.
I spent a night in jail.
I have a sense of humor.
I don't smile much.
I have loved deeply.
I'm possessive.
I am capable of great deeds.
I am responsible for great mistakes.
I am self educated.
I admit to not knowing things I don't know.
I speak the truth.
I lie.
I face with courage the challenges of life.
I am bewildered by many things.
I live my senior years with thoughts of the future.
Some things confuse me.
I have had my heart broken.
I have let people down.
Most of the time I enjoy being alone.
Sometimes I'm lonely.
I have some good memories of an interesting life.
I have a lot of regrets.
I am fairly self confident at home.
I am bashful and awkward in public.
I have been in many places I wasn't supposed to be.
I have done many things I wasn't qualified to do.
I have done many things well.
I have done some things poorly.
I think I am basically a good man.
I'm struggling to understand myself.
In short, I am a human being.
-------------------------------
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Sherilyn Fenn
*******************
Hello Stuart
*******************
"Come now, consider thy ways. " (Haggai 1:5)
I am unknown by almost everyone.
Admired by a few.
Resented by many.
Hated by some.
Perhaps loved by one or two.
I was cursed by poverty in an early age.
I was blessed to have spent my life in the arts.
I have been homeless.
I spent a night in jail.
I have a sense of humor.
I don't smile much.
I have loved deeply.
I'm possessive.
I am capable of great deeds.
I am responsible for great mistakes.
I am self educated.
I admit to not knowing things I don't know.
I speak the truth.
I lie.
I face with courage the challenges of life.
I am bewildered by many things.
I live my senior years with thoughts of the future.
Some things confuse me.
I have had my heart broken.
I have let people down.
Most of the time I enjoy being alone.
Sometimes I'm lonely.
I have some good memories of an interesting life.
I have a lot of regrets.
I am fairly self confident at home.
I am bashful and awkward in public.
I have been in many places I wasn't supposed to be.
I have done many things I wasn't qualified to do.
I have done many things well.
I have done some things poorly.
I think I am basically a good man.
I'm struggling to understand myself.
In short, I am a human being.
-------------------------------
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Monday, January 23, 2012
Vagabondism 263
Vagabondism #263 "The books scattered all around my apartment are the branches of a tree reaching out in all directions for the nourishing light."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Reaching The Star
If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
Thoreau
***************
Hello Mark
***************
Every great achievement of the human being has begun with a dream, a magical day dream, an impossible dream, a castle in the air, a "pie in the sky." And along with the dream sometimes comes hope. The unfortunate thing is that often it stops with hope, with a big maybe, but with the depressing idea that whatever it is isn't possible, so forget it.
When all the blather, bluster, ideologies and idiocies have passed into history and basically forgotten, what will be known to be the really important description of the 20th Century? I think it will be space travel. In the last hundred years we have witnessed the emergence of aircraft as the most popular form of transportation for long trips in short periods of time. And the hundred years were topped off by space travel, men and women flying into outer space, and living there. The International Space Station - the castle in the sky, as Thoreau put it.
We have seen men walking on the moon. It was an impossible dream for many centuries. That is something, I think, should be considered and never forgotten about. How many millions of people. for thousands of years, have stared up at the moon and wondered what it would be like to be there. All of it was accomplished by those with the intelligence and imagination to build the foundations under it. Many said it was impossible for man to go to the moon. If we can walk on the moon we can walk on other planets. Anything is possible to the one who, like Don Quixote, puts his armor on, takes his spear, saddles up and chases after the star.
To dream the impossible dream ...
To fight the unbeatable foe ...
To bear with unbearable sorrow ...
To run where the brave dare not go ...
To right the unrightable wrong ...
To love pure and chaste from afar ...
To try when your arms are too weary ...
To reach the unreachable star ...
(Joe Darion)
There are hundreds of reasons why a thing can't be done. There is one good one for why it can, and that's the doing of it. Someone once said "Imagination is intelligence having fun." No matter how difficult and sorrowing it is, no matter how hostile the territory, no matter how long it takes, don't fold your dream up and tuck it into the bureau drawer. Leave it lying around, underfoot, in your way. And sooner or later your imagination will grab onto the right foundations to make it be. The impossible dream is yours, so is the unreachable star.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Thoreau
***************
Hello Mark
***************
Every great achievement of the human being has begun with a dream, a magical day dream, an impossible dream, a castle in the air, a "pie in the sky." And along with the dream sometimes comes hope. The unfortunate thing is that often it stops with hope, with a big maybe, but with the depressing idea that whatever it is isn't possible, so forget it.
When all the blather, bluster, ideologies and idiocies have passed into history and basically forgotten, what will be known to be the really important description of the 20th Century? I think it will be space travel. In the last hundred years we have witnessed the emergence of aircraft as the most popular form of transportation for long trips in short periods of time. And the hundred years were topped off by space travel, men and women flying into outer space, and living there. The International Space Station - the castle in the sky, as Thoreau put it.
We have seen men walking on the moon. It was an impossible dream for many centuries. That is something, I think, should be considered and never forgotten about. How many millions of people. for thousands of years, have stared up at the moon and wondered what it would be like to be there. All of it was accomplished by those with the intelligence and imagination to build the foundations under it. Many said it was impossible for man to go to the moon. If we can walk on the moon we can walk on other planets. Anything is possible to the one who, like Don Quixote, puts his armor on, takes his spear, saddles up and chases after the star.
To dream the impossible dream ...
To fight the unbeatable foe ...
To bear with unbearable sorrow ...
To run where the brave dare not go ...
To right the unrightable wrong ...
To love pure and chaste from afar ...
To try when your arms are too weary ...
To reach the unreachable star ...
(Joe Darion)
There are hundreds of reasons why a thing can't be done. There is one good one for why it can, and that's the doing of it. Someone once said "Imagination is intelligence having fun." No matter how difficult and sorrowing it is, no matter how hostile the territory, no matter how long it takes, don't fold your dream up and tuck it into the bureau drawer. Leave it lying around, underfoot, in your way. And sooner or later your imagination will grab onto the right foundations to make it be. The impossible dream is yours, so is the unreachable star.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
***************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Vagabondism 262
Vagabondism #262 "The artist lives inside his work until it's done, after that he becomes a visitor."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Buried Treasure
There is no easy road to freedom.
Nelson Mandela
********************
Hello Sandy
*********************
Once you set out on the troublesome and unpredictable waters of life you will never reach a destination if you turn back to the safety of the port. It's the trepidation of facing new views, it's fear of and animosity toward taking the risks necessary to bring about the freedom we're entitled to that make the road difficult The recidivist urges that hold so many people in bondage, in a static state, comfortable with less than the rough road of progress can supply.
The rewards are rich for those who stick to the road, no matter how many boulders and wild animals appear. And what if freedom is the destination, freedom from oppression, poverty, sickness, fear or ignorance? The attainment of that objective is elation, elevation of one's life. Freedom from means freedom to. Freedom that will never be attained by backing up or standing still.
There are stories of people who have fought their way to freedom from cancer and other diseases, because the alternatives were not acceptable. There are stories of young folks who, at great risk, faced the dangers and freed themselves from kidnappers. There are stories of innocent people who painstakingly freed themselves from prison where they were serving a sentence for a crime they didn't commit. And there re stories of those who freed themselves from poverty and homelessness, even if it took many years. One story I frequently remember is of a woman who was blind and deaf, who came out of the ghetto, to earn a graduate degree is Psychology from a New York City University.
Life. No one ever said it was easy. But it's a pointless life if one sits in the port and complains about the weather instead of launching out into the rain and wind with courage, a noble purpose, a progressive goal and drawing the map to the buried treasure as you go.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*****************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Nelson Mandela
********************
Hello Sandy
*********************
Once you set out on the troublesome and unpredictable waters of life you will never reach a destination if you turn back to the safety of the port. It's the trepidation of facing new views, it's fear of and animosity toward taking the risks necessary to bring about the freedom we're entitled to that make the road difficult The recidivist urges that hold so many people in bondage, in a static state, comfortable with less than the rough road of progress can supply.
The rewards are rich for those who stick to the road, no matter how many boulders and wild animals appear. And what if freedom is the destination, freedom from oppression, poverty, sickness, fear or ignorance? The attainment of that objective is elation, elevation of one's life. Freedom from means freedom to. Freedom that will never be attained by backing up or standing still.
There are stories of people who have fought their way to freedom from cancer and other diseases, because the alternatives were not acceptable. There are stories of young folks who, at great risk, faced the dangers and freed themselves from kidnappers. There are stories of innocent people who painstakingly freed themselves from prison where they were serving a sentence for a crime they didn't commit. And there re stories of those who freed themselves from poverty and homelessness, even if it took many years. One story I frequently remember is of a woman who was blind and deaf, who came out of the ghetto, to earn a graduate degree is Psychology from a New York City University.
Life. No one ever said it was easy. But it's a pointless life if one sits in the port and complains about the weather instead of launching out into the rain and wind with courage, a noble purpose, a progressive goal and drawing the map to the buried treasure as you go.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*****************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Vagabondism 261
Vagabondism #261 "Survival is often difficult to achieve, but it's not as hard as to know why." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Make Peace
Mankind is becoming a single unit, and that for a single unit to fight against itself is suicide.
Havelock Ellis
********************
Hello George
********************
Is the human race gradually committing suicide? It might seem that way from a wide perspective. There is always some war going on somewhere on the globe. The more guns there are the more people will be shot and killed. The more weapons of war there are the more soldiers and civilians will die. The more weapons of mass destruction there are the more massive numbers of people will be wiped out.
Leaders and politicians of many lands are eager to make war. For as Erasmus said "War is sweet to those who have never experienced it." There are many reasons why people wage war. Revenge, ancient grudges, irrational hatred, possessiveness of land and it's resources are some of them. Ethnic and religious differences, suspicion, fear and tyranny are others. Whatever they are, bundle them all together and there is a recipe for destruction, killing, wounding, cruelty, mayhem and chaos. They are all the reasons for the suicidal actions of men and nations in a world where cooperation, compassion and understanding are the only tools for survival.
There is an unbroken line from the playground bully to the hydrogen bomb. The more people realize that, the more careful they will be to stem violence at whatever level they find it. If the unjust and violent win worldwide suicide is inevitable.
These words of mine are not new. They have been uttered for centuries, since before it was even possible to blow up the whole earth, as it is today. Who heeds them? There is a worldwide madness that keeps building more and better destroying machines and methods. Why don't those who say "Stop. What are you doing?" have the podium, instead of the justifiers, excusers and profiteers. There are too many super rich who make their millions from building weapons, and as long as nations will buy those weapons they're in business to make more.
Of what value are we as human beings if our story is the History of War? And if the final chapter of that story is that we finally and ultimately erase ourselves from the planet, leaving it to the ants, cockroaches and mosquitoes, what a waste. The insects care nothing for our borders, armies, monuments and museums.
Valor, courage and bravery are great qualities wherever they are found. But there is no glory in winning a Peace Prize if there is still no peace. And of what value is a Medal of Honor on the chest of someone who lost a leg in a road side bomb?
There is a civil war going on in this country. It isn't between the liberals and the conservatives, it isn't between the rich and the poor. On one side are those who want to do violence, to make war, on the battle field, the football field or the play ground, and those who sit back and give them permission to do it. Who's on the other side?
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Havelock Ellis
********************
Hello George
********************
Is the human race gradually committing suicide? It might seem that way from a wide perspective. There is always some war going on somewhere on the globe. The more guns there are the more people will be shot and killed. The more weapons of war there are the more soldiers and civilians will die. The more weapons of mass destruction there are the more massive numbers of people will be wiped out.
Leaders and politicians of many lands are eager to make war. For as Erasmus said "War is sweet to those who have never experienced it." There are many reasons why people wage war. Revenge, ancient grudges, irrational hatred, possessiveness of land and it's resources are some of them. Ethnic and religious differences, suspicion, fear and tyranny are others. Whatever they are, bundle them all together and there is a recipe for destruction, killing, wounding, cruelty, mayhem and chaos. They are all the reasons for the suicidal actions of men and nations in a world where cooperation, compassion and understanding are the only tools for survival.
There is an unbroken line from the playground bully to the hydrogen bomb. The more people realize that, the more careful they will be to stem violence at whatever level they find it. If the unjust and violent win worldwide suicide is inevitable.
These words of mine are not new. They have been uttered for centuries, since before it was even possible to blow up the whole earth, as it is today. Who heeds them? There is a worldwide madness that keeps building more and better destroying machines and methods. Why don't those who say "Stop. What are you doing?" have the podium, instead of the justifiers, excusers and profiteers. There are too many super rich who make their millions from building weapons, and as long as nations will buy those weapons they're in business to make more.
Of what value are we as human beings if our story is the History of War? And if the final chapter of that story is that we finally and ultimately erase ourselves from the planet, leaving it to the ants, cockroaches and mosquitoes, what a waste. The insects care nothing for our borders, armies, monuments and museums.
Valor, courage and bravery are great qualities wherever they are found. But there is no glory in winning a Peace Prize if there is still no peace. And of what value is a Medal of Honor on the chest of someone who lost a leg in a road side bomb?
There is a civil war going on in this country. It isn't between the liberals and the conservatives, it isn't between the rich and the poor. On one side are those who want to do violence, to make war, on the battle field, the football field or the play ground, and those who sit back and give them permission to do it. Who's on the other side?
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Friday, January 20, 2012
Shopping Carts
Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.
Noela Evans
*******************
Hello Stuart
*******************
Doesn't it seem to you as if the world is full of dragons and other fantastic beasts threatening our peace, our freedom and sometimes our lives? It does to me. History can be described as the carcases of former challenges that we have left behind us, littering the otherwise clear, straight trail of our lives. The challenge is always about who owns the path and who has the right to tread it.
I had a remarkable experience today. The law of averages must have broken down in the local supermarket. The place was packed with people and everyone had a shopping cart. The aisles are wide enough for two carts to narrowly pass each other if it's done carefully. But it isn't if there are clerks stocking the shelves, which there were in every aisle. I made my way with my cart through all the aisles around people who were examining merchandise and children trying to decide which cereal they wanted, and everywhere the frequent push cart full of goods being put on the shelves. The remarkable thing is that for the 45 minutes I was maneuvering around the place there wasn't one single act of rudeness or selfishness. Everyone was making way for everyone else and being pleasant about it.
How infrequently is that type of behavior seen? No, we have road rage. We have just read about people pushing and shoving each other to get on a life boat. As I wrote about recently, there even are people who seem to go out of their way to make life difficult for others. We have too much "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." and "I am woman hear me roar."
The fables that show up on our paths, the fire breathing dragons, the ugly, stinking swamp creatures or the talking worms, seem to bring out the worst in people. Do battle, slay the dragon, be rude to the person on the phone who is not responsible for whatever is wrong, be rude to the customer, don't give them an inch, if they are in your way with their shopping cart make them back up and get out of your way.
The great realization, the great gift, is to learn that the dragon is tamable. If you slay the dragon you never get that gift. Everyone seems to be out for revenge, to teach the world a lesson "I'm important and you're not." But the person is truly gifted who can calmly face the challenges, defuse the rage and not take revenge, who can be at one with the world around him, who can look out for other people, their needs and their safety and who can remind himself at every turn in the road that selfishness is a dragon to be tamed.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Noela Evans
*******************
Hello Stuart
*******************
Doesn't it seem to you as if the world is full of dragons and other fantastic beasts threatening our peace, our freedom and sometimes our lives? It does to me. History can be described as the carcases of former challenges that we have left behind us, littering the otherwise clear, straight trail of our lives. The challenge is always about who owns the path and who has the right to tread it.
I had a remarkable experience today. The law of averages must have broken down in the local supermarket. The place was packed with people and everyone had a shopping cart. The aisles are wide enough for two carts to narrowly pass each other if it's done carefully. But it isn't if there are clerks stocking the shelves, which there were in every aisle. I made my way with my cart through all the aisles around people who were examining merchandise and children trying to decide which cereal they wanted, and everywhere the frequent push cart full of goods being put on the shelves. The remarkable thing is that for the 45 minutes I was maneuvering around the place there wasn't one single act of rudeness or selfishness. Everyone was making way for everyone else and being pleasant about it.
How infrequently is that type of behavior seen? No, we have road rage. We have just read about people pushing and shoving each other to get on a life boat. As I wrote about recently, there even are people who seem to go out of their way to make life difficult for others. We have too much "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." and "I am woman hear me roar."
The fables that show up on our paths, the fire breathing dragons, the ugly, stinking swamp creatures or the talking worms, seem to bring out the worst in people. Do battle, slay the dragon, be rude to the person on the phone who is not responsible for whatever is wrong, be rude to the customer, don't give them an inch, if they are in your way with their shopping cart make them back up and get out of your way.
The great realization, the great gift, is to learn that the dragon is tamable. If you slay the dragon you never get that gift. Everyone seems to be out for revenge, to teach the world a lesson "I'm important and you're not." But the person is truly gifted who can calmly face the challenges, defuse the rage and not take revenge, who can be at one with the world around him, who can look out for other people, their needs and their safety and who can remind himself at every turn in the road that selfishness is a dragon to be tamed.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Vagabondism 258
Vagabondism #258 "No matter how much you learn, you can't learn enough."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Vagabondsism 257
Vagabondism #257 "It's a good idea, if possible, to own the bed you sleep in."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
Where's America?
I hope these babies have a world to live in. I hope they have a place to go, a land to walk on.
Cass Elliot
************************
Hello Mark
************************
After the couple bought the house and moved in the first thing they did was plow up the back yard garden and put in a tennis court.
A fellow down the street planted a modest cherry tree in his yard. Then someone from the neighborhood association came to tell him that their rules didn't allow trees in the front yards, so he dug it up and moved it to his small back yard. Then they complained about the dirt spot on his lawn, so he bought some grass. But it didn't grow very well.
In another place the developers came in, bull dozed down all the maple trees, put in a road, built a row of houses and called in Maple Lane.
Do you remember that beautiful meadow down by the lake, where the birds and insects and other critters used to fly and romp around, where the kids loved to play? Well it's now a golf course.
A couple bought a sea side cottage where they used to come and spend the summer together. But one year, when they got there, they found a four tier parking garage right next to their property.
They filled in the wetlands and built a shopping mall.
That charming book store on Main Street is gone. It got converted into an XXX rated adult book and video joint.
They closed the Post Office. It's now a fast food place. And the soft ball field where we used to play is now a used car lot and a few other things. A junk yard I think. The museum is still here, but it's always closed.
When the government decommissioned some of the natural parks the developers came in and set up look alike homes, with cul de sacs, (to help solve the housing shortage).
Another couple, having raised 4 kids, bought a big spread out west, where they could retire, take it easy, sit and look across their land at the meadows and the mountains in the distance. But they didn't know they didn't own what was under the land until the energy company arrived with trucks, back hoes, derricks and drills.
It was a beautiful mountain, a favorite place for hikers and climbers. Too bad they had to make a strip mine out of it.
I hear they're going to fill in that lake you live next to and build a prison.
---------------------
What happened to America? Where did it go?
**************
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Cass Elliot
************************
Hello Mark
************************
After the couple bought the house and moved in the first thing they did was plow up the back yard garden and put in a tennis court.
A fellow down the street planted a modest cherry tree in his yard. Then someone from the neighborhood association came to tell him that their rules didn't allow trees in the front yards, so he dug it up and moved it to his small back yard. Then they complained about the dirt spot on his lawn, so he bought some grass. But it didn't grow very well.
In another place the developers came in, bull dozed down all the maple trees, put in a road, built a row of houses and called in Maple Lane.
Do you remember that beautiful meadow down by the lake, where the birds and insects and other critters used to fly and romp around, where the kids loved to play? Well it's now a golf course.
A couple bought a sea side cottage where they used to come and spend the summer together. But one year, when they got there, they found a four tier parking garage right next to their property.
They filled in the wetlands and built a shopping mall.
That charming book store on Main Street is gone. It got converted into an XXX rated adult book and video joint.
They closed the Post Office. It's now a fast food place. And the soft ball field where we used to play is now a used car lot and a few other things. A junk yard I think. The museum is still here, but it's always closed.
When the government decommissioned some of the natural parks the developers came in and set up look alike homes, with cul de sacs, (to help solve the housing shortage).
Another couple, having raised 4 kids, bought a big spread out west, where they could retire, take it easy, sit and look across their land at the meadows and the mountains in the distance. But they didn't know they didn't own what was under the land until the energy company arrived with trucks, back hoes, derricks and drills.
It was a beautiful mountain, a favorite place for hikers and climbers. Too bad they had to make a strip mine out of it.
I hear they're going to fill in that lake you live next to and build a prison.
---------------------
What happened to America? Where did it go?
**************
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
***********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Monday, January 16, 2012
Vagabondism 256
Vagabondism #256 "If you don't learn from your mistakes you don't deserve to make any."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
The King's Day
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
************************
Hello Ken
************************
Today we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who taught the world a great many important lessons.
It is a dangerous thing to speak the truth. When you speak the truth you expose the liars, and the liars don't like that. They will try to shut you up one way or another. Even if it's with a bullet.
It's a dangerous thing to speak wisdom. When you speak wisdom you expose the ignorant, and the ignorant don't like that. They would prefer not to listen to you, that's what makes them ignorant. They will dismiss you with stupid remarks like "Whatever" and "Suit yourself."
King faced a lot of liars and a lot of ignorance in his life. But one of the great lessons he taught us, and me in particular, was to stand up straight and strong and never quit.
He was also the champion of non violent protest. "Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation" he said. When he talked about non violence in the face of the aggression of the racists, it seemed to many as an impossible idea. But the idea has swept down through the years and is still being practiced, because it worked.
When he spoke calmly and persistently to the racist the man might still falsely believe that the black man was inferior, but he had to concede that the black man was still being denied his Constitutionally guaranteed rights. And eventually 100,000 people showed up in Washington, DC to agree.
The Equal Rights idea soon began to flow out into many directions. It was seen how those of other ethnic groups are also victims of prejudice and denial. The handicapped, the old, even the young are being unfairly treated by society.
After King's tragic passing the Civil Rights movement got very political, fractionalized and split. Each corner seemed to have a speaker on the subject and various fruitless plans were formed and attempted. But a few groups were formed, like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union (which some people don't like because they don't understand it) that kept the lines clear to the Law and the Constitution.
But those organizations and others like them are patiently, calmly and non aggressively speaking the truth. Because once the orators, preachers, theorists and self servers had run out of energy and gone, the words of King remained. As he said "Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality."
The battle is still going on in our mud stuck society. There are too many old ideas trying to shove aside and shackle new ones. The best way to fight is to stand tall, strong and calm, address ignorance with truth, and provide whatever wisdom you have, with imagination, even if the world thinks you're insane.
"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up
**************************
Martin Luther King, Jr.
************************
Hello Ken
************************
Today we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who taught the world a great many important lessons.
It is a dangerous thing to speak the truth. When you speak the truth you expose the liars, and the liars don't like that. They will try to shut you up one way or another. Even if it's with a bullet.
It's a dangerous thing to speak wisdom. When you speak wisdom you expose the ignorant, and the ignorant don't like that. They would prefer not to listen to you, that's what makes them ignorant. They will dismiss you with stupid remarks like "Whatever" and "Suit yourself."
King faced a lot of liars and a lot of ignorance in his life. But one of the great lessons he taught us, and me in particular, was to stand up straight and strong and never quit.
He was also the champion of non violent protest. "Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation" he said. When he talked about non violence in the face of the aggression of the racists, it seemed to many as an impossible idea. But the idea has swept down through the years and is still being practiced, because it worked.
When he spoke calmly and persistently to the racist the man might still falsely believe that the black man was inferior, but he had to concede that the black man was still being denied his Constitutionally guaranteed rights. And eventually 100,000 people showed up in Washington, DC to agree.
The Equal Rights idea soon began to flow out into many directions. It was seen how those of other ethnic groups are also victims of prejudice and denial. The handicapped, the old, even the young are being unfairly treated by society.
After King's tragic passing the Civil Rights movement got very political, fractionalized and split. Each corner seemed to have a speaker on the subject and various fruitless plans were formed and attempted. But a few groups were formed, like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union (which some people don't like because they don't understand it) that kept the lines clear to the Law and the Constitution.
But those organizations and others like them are patiently, calmly and non aggressively speaking the truth. Because once the orators, preachers, theorists and self servers had run out of energy and gone, the words of King remained. As he said "Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality."
The battle is still going on in our mud stuck society. There are too many old ideas trying to shove aside and shackle new ones. The best way to fight is to stand tall, strong and calm, address ignorance with truth, and provide whatever wisdom you have, with imagination, even if the world thinks you're insane.
"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up
**************************
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Guest Author 13
Guest Author #13
AFTER THE SMILING
Did it ever matter if you got sleep the night before Christmas? Not for us as youthful innocents, we barely hit the pillows before the sunrise woke us to rush downstairs and rip open every single carefully wrapped package we could find. It just didn't last long enough, and memories fade with time ...
Now at 61, after smiling all through December, I can feel the new wrinkles sinking into my face, and I don't care one bit. There's nothing I really get excited about during Christmas, there are too many other things, more substantial and less "religious" I've come to love: The Solstice, Yule Tide, Deis Natalis Invictus Solis (Victory of the Unconquered Sun) Mistlemas, Saturnalia, so many true pagan feasts our ancestors would celebrate in serious fashion. Nothing cheerful about it, they were heading into the season of cold, starvation, sadness and superstition. It's a field of study I always enriched myself in, and still able to respect the rituals of Christmas.
Nothing can change what's happened in this season of family gatherings and too much to eat. Words long left unsaid suddenly pour out in guilty fashion, and old wounds are opened. Sooner or later someone demands we attend a Catholic Mass, as we were all raised in the Roman way. Yet it's so unfulfilling to worship this way. I believe the man Jesus was real, he was born and died, and affected many. It was years before a cult of Christians was formed and spread across the globe. Yet long before, we had Saturnalia, the Roman feast of sharing and good will. We had the Yule Tide, the giving of gifts - mostly food. There was the ritual of worshipping the sun, the great orb that gave light and warmth when it was so needed.
After the smiling, I reflect on what we're on this planet for. All I can deduce is that we're here for each other, we're alive to help one another navigate this ocean of storms which can be so wonderful, magical, wondrous and the only life we have. After this, who knows? Will there be a place to celebrate, gather, share, love?
I smile at the thought.
Cathy Rapicano
**********************
**********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
AFTER THE SMILING
Did it ever matter if you got sleep the night before Christmas? Not for us as youthful innocents, we barely hit the pillows before the sunrise woke us to rush downstairs and rip open every single carefully wrapped package we could find. It just didn't last long enough, and memories fade with time ...
Now at 61, after smiling all through December, I can feel the new wrinkles sinking into my face, and I don't care one bit. There's nothing I really get excited about during Christmas, there are too many other things, more substantial and less "religious" I've come to love: The Solstice, Yule Tide, Deis Natalis Invictus Solis (Victory of the Unconquered Sun) Mistlemas, Saturnalia, so many true pagan feasts our ancestors would celebrate in serious fashion. Nothing cheerful about it, they were heading into the season of cold, starvation, sadness and superstition. It's a field of study I always enriched myself in, and still able to respect the rituals of Christmas.
Nothing can change what's happened in this season of family gatherings and too much to eat. Words long left unsaid suddenly pour out in guilty fashion, and old wounds are opened. Sooner or later someone demands we attend a Catholic Mass, as we were all raised in the Roman way. Yet it's so unfulfilling to worship this way. I believe the man Jesus was real, he was born and died, and affected many. It was years before a cult of Christians was formed and spread across the globe. Yet long before, we had Saturnalia, the Roman feast of sharing and good will. We had the Yule Tide, the giving of gifts - mostly food. There was the ritual of worshipping the sun, the great orb that gave light and warmth when it was so needed.
After the smiling, I reflect on what we're on this planet for. All I can deduce is that we're here for each other, we're alive to help one another navigate this ocean of storms which can be so wonderful, magical, wondrous and the only life we have. After this, who knows? Will there be a place to celebrate, gather, share, love?
I smile at the thought.
Cathy Rapicano
**********************
**********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Vagabondism 255
Vagabondism #255 "The only thing worse than a closed book is a closed mind. They seem to go together."
dbdacoba@aol.com
dbdacoba@aol.com
Untimely Understanding
Time is but a ship that bears thee, not thy home.
Unknown
********************
Oh God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point to point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is done, then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I contemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself;
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean;
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
(Shakespeare)
_________________________
Time is a mortal measurement, a human idea. We measure it by space, how long it takes something to go from one place to another in comparison with how long it takes another object to do the same. The universe does not concern itself with time.
Why shouldn't the church bell ring 13? Because we have determined that a day is 2 sets of 12, 7 of those make a week and 52 of those make a year. But it's inaccurate, which is why we have to have the paradox of a leap year now and then, like this year. Why doesn't the earth revolve around the sun according to the nice neat pattern we have determined for it? Because the solar system does not concern itself with time.
People look through crystal telescopes at what they say is the past, stars which no longer exist but are only now announcing their light to us, because they were so many billion light years away, also a human measurement. Another person looks through a crystal ball at what he says is the future and what he sees is a projection of the unconscious thoughts that already exist in his mind.
The philosopher Hans Jonas was fond of citing the Psalmist's prayer "Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom." That statement implies that the information is already known. The obverse side suggests that Jonas wanted to know how many hours of daylight he had to accomplish what he wanted to do in life. The reverse side may suggest that he wanted to know when the moment would be that he would surrender his "white hairs unto a quiet grave."
I have a seed I picked up off a grassy field with some tall trees in it. The seed is about the size of a golf ball, A botanist I know looked at it, told me what kind of a tree it came from and then explained that everything about that tree was already contained in the seed. The seed knows how tall the tree will grow, what it will look like, haw many branches it will have, how many twigs, how many leaves it will put out and how long it will live. Barring any unforeseen events from man or nature, the future of the tree already exists in the present seed.
So we can measure water levels, pollen counts, wind chill factors, topical storm categories and measure out our lives "in coffee spoons" (T. S. Eliot) or by any other means only to find that nature is rudely indifferent and uninterested in our efforts. The sun and the earth identify themselves to each other, The moon talks to the ocean, the flowers listen to the sun. The ground welcomes the rain when it comes. The birds migrate when they get together and decide to. And we, with our rulers, scales and "dials," are simply eavesdroppers in this cosmic conversation.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
(never give up)
**********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Unknown
********************
Oh God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point to point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is done, then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I contemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself;
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean;
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
(Shakespeare)
_________________________
Time is a mortal measurement, a human idea. We measure it by space, how long it takes something to go from one place to another in comparison with how long it takes another object to do the same. The universe does not concern itself with time.
Why shouldn't the church bell ring 13? Because we have determined that a day is 2 sets of 12, 7 of those make a week and 52 of those make a year. But it's inaccurate, which is why we have to have the paradox of a leap year now and then, like this year. Why doesn't the earth revolve around the sun according to the nice neat pattern we have determined for it? Because the solar system does not concern itself with time.
People look through crystal telescopes at what they say is the past, stars which no longer exist but are only now announcing their light to us, because they were so many billion light years away, also a human measurement. Another person looks through a crystal ball at what he says is the future and what he sees is a projection of the unconscious thoughts that already exist in his mind.
The philosopher Hans Jonas was fond of citing the Psalmist's prayer "Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom." That statement implies that the information is already known. The obverse side suggests that Jonas wanted to know how many hours of daylight he had to accomplish what he wanted to do in life. The reverse side may suggest that he wanted to know when the moment would be that he would surrender his "white hairs unto a quiet grave."
I have a seed I picked up off a grassy field with some tall trees in it. The seed is about the size of a golf ball, A botanist I know looked at it, told me what kind of a tree it came from and then explained that everything about that tree was already contained in the seed. The seed knows how tall the tree will grow, what it will look like, haw many branches it will have, how many twigs, how many leaves it will put out and how long it will live. Barring any unforeseen events from man or nature, the future of the tree already exists in the present seed.
So we can measure water levels, pollen counts, wind chill factors, topical storm categories and measure out our lives "in coffee spoons" (T. S. Eliot) or by any other means only to find that nature is rudely indifferent and uninterested in our efforts. The sun and the earth identify themselves to each other, The moon talks to the ocean, the flowers listen to the sun. The ground welcomes the rain when it comes. The birds migrate when they get together and decide to. And we, with our rulers, scales and "dials," are simply eavesdroppers in this cosmic conversation.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
(never give up)
**********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Friday, January 13, 2012
Vagabondism 254
Vagabondism #254 "Life throws its blessings on us with the same hand it throws its trash." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Strings Attached
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy.
Albert Einstein
******************
Hello Rose
******************
What a strange musical instrument the violin is. It's an oddly shaped box that doesn't really fit the human who plays it. He has to hold one end under his chin, while the fingers of his left hand have to curl around under the other end and press themselves down on the strings while he's holding it up. The other hand holds a bow which he then saws back and forth across the strings to make them vibrate. A violin, to look at it, makes no sense at all.
It's a torturing, unforgiving instrument if it isn't played right. And yet untallied thousands have been learning and playing it for hundreds of years. Why? Because the sounds that come out of it can be as beautiful as any sound in the universe, the infinite degrees of expression come directly from the heart, it's resonance can fill a concert hall and in harmony with other instruments can produce a lush and shimmering sound of unearthly bliss.
Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
(Traditional)
I spent many good years trying to learn how to play the violin and finally had to concede the job to others as I really had no talent for it. My violin playing annoyed my neighbors and set the local dogs to howling. Even my cat, who was usually an objective, patient sort, when she saw the violin come out would jump down from wherever she was and run off to hide in some secret place and not reappear until well after the noise had ceased. (Years later I discovered, quite by accident, that I had a talent for playing the clarinet. But that's a different story.)
Another thing about the violin is it's versatility. It is the largest crowd to be found on the concert stage, of course. But it also plays it's parts very well in popular music, jazz, and folk music. Unlike the bass violin, the tuba, the piano and the pipe organ, the violin is easy to transport (although these days a master violinist with a million dollar Stradivarius will definitely approach the check-in area of a TSA with a great deal of concern). But most of the time, in most places, the fiddle is a great companion.
I'll tune me fiddle and I'll rosin me bow
And I'll have music wherever I go.
(Irish folk song)
I'm sorry I never learned to play the violin, for as Pope Paul VI recalled, "The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune."
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Albert Einstein
******************
Hello Rose
******************
What a strange musical instrument the violin is. It's an oddly shaped box that doesn't really fit the human who plays it. He has to hold one end under his chin, while the fingers of his left hand have to curl around under the other end and press themselves down on the strings while he's holding it up. The other hand holds a bow which he then saws back and forth across the strings to make them vibrate. A violin, to look at it, makes no sense at all.
It's a torturing, unforgiving instrument if it isn't played right. And yet untallied thousands have been learning and playing it for hundreds of years. Why? Because the sounds that come out of it can be as beautiful as any sound in the universe, the infinite degrees of expression come directly from the heart, it's resonance can fill a concert hall and in harmony with other instruments can produce a lush and shimmering sound of unearthly bliss.
Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
(Traditional)
I spent many good years trying to learn how to play the violin and finally had to concede the job to others as I really had no talent for it. My violin playing annoyed my neighbors and set the local dogs to howling. Even my cat, who was usually an objective, patient sort, when she saw the violin come out would jump down from wherever she was and run off to hide in some secret place and not reappear until well after the noise had ceased. (Years later I discovered, quite by accident, that I had a talent for playing the clarinet. But that's a different story.)
Another thing about the violin is it's versatility. It is the largest crowd to be found on the concert stage, of course. But it also plays it's parts very well in popular music, jazz, and folk music. Unlike the bass violin, the tuba, the piano and the pipe organ, the violin is easy to transport (although these days a master violinist with a million dollar Stradivarius will definitely approach the check-in area of a TSA with a great deal of concern). But most of the time, in most places, the fiddle is a great companion.
I'll tune me fiddle and I'll rosin me bow
And I'll have music wherever I go.
(Irish folk song)
I'm sorry I never learned to play the violin, for as Pope Paul VI recalled, "The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune."
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Vagabondism 253
Vagabondism #253 "How can you tough it out if there is no out?
How can you see it through to the end if there is no end?
How can you stick with it until you get there if there is no there?"
dbdacoba@aol.com
How can you see it through to the end if there is no end?
How can you stick with it until you get there if there is no there?"
dbdacoba@aol.com
What's So Funny?
In the time of your life, live - so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite variety and mystery of it.
William Saroyan
**********************
Hello Sandy
**********************
It seems that some people get started out in the wrong direction early on in life and grow up to be those who take delight in putting other people down and laughing at it as if it's a clever joke. We all know these people. They walk among us. I hope you're not one of them.
The strangest part of that reptilian behavior is that some of them expect the person who is suffering from some act of mischief, disrespect or cruelty to appreciate the joke and laugh along with the perpetrator.
I knew such a man when I was a teenager. Unfortunately he was the father of my best friend at the time. As a result whenever I was visiting I had to listen to his stories of how delighted he was to have stolen something from someone, or humiliated someone or forced someone into an embarrassing situation. He shared this information with me and his family expecting praise. He seemed like a nice, intelligent gentleman in every other way. Because he was my friend's father I could never register any criticism of his behavior. I don't know if my friend grew up to be the same way. We lost contact after high school.
I lived in an apartment building that had three washers and two driers in the basement. There was one tenant who, if he saw someone was waiting to use one of the driers would divide up his wash and use both driers so that whoever it was would have to wait longer. He would laugh. He was about 10 years old, so no one was going to smack him the face as they should have
I knew a man who, whenever he came to a parking space large enough for two cars to park there easily, would park in the middle so no one else could use it. If you questioned him about it he would smile and say "Let them find their own space."
These aren't street people or gangsters but ordinary people you might meet every day and not recognize any villainy in them.
The underlying question is how much enjoyment do those people really get out of life. How could anyone have any friends with that kind of behavior? Aren't they aware of their dismal spirits and that they are making a societal mess which the rest of us have to clean up with helpfulness, compassion and neighborliness? Evidently not. And the sad thing is if they were to get past this peculiar form of madness they might see a wholly different world, a world where the laughter is because of harmony, love and appreciation of other people's variety, a world where life is not abuse or humiliation. There is a world of enjoyment to be had if one is not stuck in the rut of making misery, of making a goal out of putting people down.
Marian Anderson said "As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there."
One evening I beat my friend's father in a game of chess. I didn't expect to do that but I did. And Guess what? I did not laugh at him for losing. Did he learn a lesson? Probably not.
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
William Saroyan
**********************
Hello Sandy
**********************
It seems that some people get started out in the wrong direction early on in life and grow up to be those who take delight in putting other people down and laughing at it as if it's a clever joke. We all know these people. They walk among us. I hope you're not one of them.
The strangest part of that reptilian behavior is that some of them expect the person who is suffering from some act of mischief, disrespect or cruelty to appreciate the joke and laugh along with the perpetrator.
I knew such a man when I was a teenager. Unfortunately he was the father of my best friend at the time. As a result whenever I was visiting I had to listen to his stories of how delighted he was to have stolen something from someone, or humiliated someone or forced someone into an embarrassing situation. He shared this information with me and his family expecting praise. He seemed like a nice, intelligent gentleman in every other way. Because he was my friend's father I could never register any criticism of his behavior. I don't know if my friend grew up to be the same way. We lost contact after high school.
I lived in an apartment building that had three washers and two driers in the basement. There was one tenant who, if he saw someone was waiting to use one of the driers would divide up his wash and use both driers so that whoever it was would have to wait longer. He would laugh. He was about 10 years old, so no one was going to smack him the face as they should have
I knew a man who, whenever he came to a parking space large enough for two cars to park there easily, would park in the middle so no one else could use it. If you questioned him about it he would smile and say "Let them find their own space."
These aren't street people or gangsters but ordinary people you might meet every day and not recognize any villainy in them.
The underlying question is how much enjoyment do those people really get out of life. How could anyone have any friends with that kind of behavior? Aren't they aware of their dismal spirits and that they are making a societal mess which the rest of us have to clean up with helpfulness, compassion and neighborliness? Evidently not. And the sad thing is if they were to get past this peculiar form of madness they might see a wholly different world, a world where the laughter is because of harmony, love and appreciation of other people's variety, a world where life is not abuse or humiliation. There is a world of enjoyment to be had if one is not stuck in the rut of making misery, of making a goal out of putting people down.
Marian Anderson said "As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there."
One evening I beat my friend's father in a game of chess. I didn't expect to do that but I did. And Guess what? I did not laugh at him for losing. Did he learn a lesson? Probably not.
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Vagabondism 252
Vagabondism #252 "You are a light in the firmament. Nothing can obstruct, dim or deflect the blessings you have for the world."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
Happy Trails
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison
********************
Hello Jon
********************
I am what's known, or what should be known, as a "raw actor."
I think it's a grand thing for people to have a comfortable life style, to live in a nice home, to have friends they can relate to, to be in a community that suits them, to have the books and music they love and their favorite TV programs. It's a good thing to live a comfortable life and not feel confined or deprived.
Ascribe it to the cat like curiosity I was born with, the plunge into poverty in my childhood, my vagabond life, a certain brand of claustrophobia, a sense of adventure or the necessity of doing things I was unqualified to do in order to make a living. All of those must bear some responsibility for shaping me.
That we are all capable of more than we do is a truism. No one who is even mildly aware of themselves would deny it. During my life, whenever I have had the opportunity to pass that wisdom along to others, and in some cases to be specific about it, I've taken it, especially to a youngster in Junior High School.
I have a catalogue of things I've done that I was told I couldn't do. During my brief appearance in the hallowed halls of college, I walked into the theatre department, took an audition and got cast in the major role, which may have annoyed some drama students, I don't know. I went on the win Best Actor of the Year Award and Best Freshman Actor of the Year Award in the same year.
I never learned to sing or dance but I performed in musical comedy and did both. I never took a piano lesson yet I walked into a modern dance class and accompanied the dancers and even wrote music for them. I taught myself to play the drums and became a jazz drummer.
I walked into the Art Students League in New York and learned how to draw the human figure. I never took a painting class but now I'm a painter. I flunked my Freshman Philosophy class because it was boring. Now I'm fascinated with the subject. I flunked my Freshman English class because it was even more boring and now I write every day. So I left college without a degree and went on to teach peopled who were getting one.
One day I performed in a play for a Junior High School in a mid Atlantic State. I had also composed a musical score for the play. After the performance, during questions, it was asked what the music meant. Various opinions were given. As we were packing up to leave a boy come over to the stage and said what he thought the music meant and his answer was just about perfect. But then he said he was probably wrong because he was told there were certain things he was incapable of understanding. I asked him who told him that. He said it was the school. I jumped off the stage and went over to him. I said "Never again let anyone tell you you can't understand something. You are right about the music. Don't doubt yourself."
I followed complicated mountain trails to find out where they went. I follow the complex thinking of a philosopher to find out where it leads him. If I could ever afford a key board I would compose more music. I haven't astounded myself yet, but maybe I will some day. Who knows?
I never took any formal training as an actor, but I spent my working life as an actor. Raw talent, desire, a sense of adventure, or standing on the edge of a cliff and wondering what it would be like to fly?
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*******************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Thomas Edison
********************
Hello Jon
********************
I am what's known, or what should be known, as a "raw actor."
I think it's a grand thing for people to have a comfortable life style, to live in a nice home, to have friends they can relate to, to be in a community that suits them, to have the books and music they love and their favorite TV programs. It's a good thing to live a comfortable life and not feel confined or deprived.
Ascribe it to the cat like curiosity I was born with, the plunge into poverty in my childhood, my vagabond life, a certain brand of claustrophobia, a sense of adventure or the necessity of doing things I was unqualified to do in order to make a living. All of those must bear some responsibility for shaping me.
That we are all capable of more than we do is a truism. No one who is even mildly aware of themselves would deny it. During my life, whenever I have had the opportunity to pass that wisdom along to others, and in some cases to be specific about it, I've taken it, especially to a youngster in Junior High School.
I have a catalogue of things I've done that I was told I couldn't do. During my brief appearance in the hallowed halls of college, I walked into the theatre department, took an audition and got cast in the major role, which may have annoyed some drama students, I don't know. I went on the win Best Actor of the Year Award and Best Freshman Actor of the Year Award in the same year.
I never learned to sing or dance but I performed in musical comedy and did both. I never took a piano lesson yet I walked into a modern dance class and accompanied the dancers and even wrote music for them. I taught myself to play the drums and became a jazz drummer.
I walked into the Art Students League in New York and learned how to draw the human figure. I never took a painting class but now I'm a painter. I flunked my Freshman Philosophy class because it was boring. Now I'm fascinated with the subject. I flunked my Freshman English class because it was even more boring and now I write every day. So I left college without a degree and went on to teach peopled who were getting one.
One day I performed in a play for a Junior High School in a mid Atlantic State. I had also composed a musical score for the play. After the performance, during questions, it was asked what the music meant. Various opinions were given. As we were packing up to leave a boy come over to the stage and said what he thought the music meant and his answer was just about perfect. But then he said he was probably wrong because he was told there were certain things he was incapable of understanding. I asked him who told him that. He said it was the school. I jumped off the stage and went over to him. I said "Never again let anyone tell you you can't understand something. You are right about the music. Don't doubt yourself."
I followed complicated mountain trails to find out where they went. I follow the complex thinking of a philosopher to find out where it leads him. If I could ever afford a key board I would compose more music. I haven't astounded myself yet, but maybe I will some day. Who knows?
I never took any formal training as an actor, but I spent my working life as an actor. Raw talent, desire, a sense of adventure, or standing on the edge of a cliff and wondering what it would be like to fly?
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*******************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Vagabondism 251
Vagabondism #251 "Some day, somehow, I will find my way home again."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
The Equation
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
Umberto Eco
********************
"Life's perhaps the only riddle that we shrink from giving up."
(W. S. Gilbert)
Umberto Eco is a great novelist in my opinion. I've read "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum" (twice). I don't read many novels. But I do read a lot of philosophy, history, psychology and science. Novelists can invent the universe to suit themselves. Philosophers and historians can't. They can only engage in the "mad attempt" to interpret the universe. It is those attempts that make life interesting for me.,
One philosopher attempts to describe the history of the human race through etymology, another through the growth and search for food, another from the perspective of religious beliefs. The future of mankind is perceived in the test tube, or the telescope. Destiny, tautology, or transfiguration. Is the next era defined by robotics or the development of nutrition, or both?
Hanging over the head of all this scholarship is a dilemma. Is there a final answer? Is there a universal law, a universal panacea, a universal equation that explains everything and makes it go away?
It may be a futile search for that "underlying truth" but it is also a "riddle that we shrink from giving up." As long as the search goes on there will be those who write about it, and they are the ones who keep me up at night.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish or associate with this new year.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Umberto Eco
********************
"Life's perhaps the only riddle that we shrink from giving up."
(W. S. Gilbert)
Umberto Eco is a great novelist in my opinion. I've read "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum" (twice). I don't read many novels. But I do read a lot of philosophy, history, psychology and science. Novelists can invent the universe to suit themselves. Philosophers and historians can't. They can only engage in the "mad attempt" to interpret the universe. It is those attempts that make life interesting for me.,
One philosopher attempts to describe the history of the human race through etymology, another through the growth and search for food, another from the perspective of religious beliefs. The future of mankind is perceived in the test tube, or the telescope. Destiny, tautology, or transfiguration. Is the next era defined by robotics or the development of nutrition, or both?
Hanging over the head of all this scholarship is a dilemma. Is there a final answer? Is there a universal law, a universal panacea, a universal equation that explains everything and makes it go away?
It may be a futile search for that "underlying truth" but it is also a "riddle that we shrink from giving up." As long as the search goes on there will be those who write about it, and they are the ones who keep me up at night.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*********************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish or associate with this new year.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Monday, January 9, 2012
Vagabondism 250
Vagabondism #250 "A true philosopher sets out to discover a truth, not to prove an opinion." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
When Moloch Wins
Government is too big and important to be left to the politicians.
Chester Bowles
*******************
Hello Lily
*******************
It's all a matter of worship. We are the modern day children of Israel. So the so called Christians, Jews, Muslims and others had better pay attention to what Moses is telling us.
"Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed to Moloch; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones." (Leviticus 20:2)
Moloch was an ancient god who, in some cultures, required the sacrifice of children. How many of our seeds: our ideas, thoughts, faiths, beliefs, practices, prejudices, actions, present, future, freedoms, rights, our children, are we sacrificing to the modern day Moloch? And who is this modern day Moloch? Allen Ginsberg tells us.
"Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!"
How many of our seeds, our reason, compassion, understanding, humanity and love, our future and our children's future must we heave onto the smoking alter of this modern Moloch and it's priests, the politicians, wearing the putrid robes of false progress? How long will we worship this false god whom we call God, or Right, or Truth, before we go reaching for the stones, the words, the revolt?
They are not long in coming, the days of destruction. No Rapture, no Judgement Day from Heaven, no earth wide earth quake, no aliens from outer space. Just the ultimate piracy of the rich and powerful, the point of no return, the critical mass, the moment when Moloch wins and swallows up all the intangible beauties and true values that we used to have.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
Chester Bowles
*******************
Hello Lily
*******************
It's all a matter of worship. We are the modern day children of Israel. So the so called Christians, Jews, Muslims and others had better pay attention to what Moses is telling us.
"Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed to Moloch; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones." (Leviticus 20:2)
Moloch was an ancient god who, in some cultures, required the sacrifice of children. How many of our seeds: our ideas, thoughts, faiths, beliefs, practices, prejudices, actions, present, future, freedoms, rights, our children, are we sacrificing to the modern day Moloch? And who is this modern day Moloch? Allen Ginsberg tells us.
"Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!"
How many of our seeds, our reason, compassion, understanding, humanity and love, our future and our children's future must we heave onto the smoking alter of this modern Moloch and it's priests, the politicians, wearing the putrid robes of false progress? How long will we worship this false god whom we call God, or Right, or Truth, before we go reaching for the stones, the words, the revolt?
They are not long in coming, the days of destruction. No Rapture, no Judgement Day from Heaven, no earth wide earth quake, no aliens from outer space. Just the ultimate piracy of the rich and powerful, the point of no return, the critical mass, the moment when Moloch wins and swallows up all the intangible beauties and true values that we used to have.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Vagabondism 249
Vagabondism #249 "The echoes of forgotten words have been absorbed by the hills, catalogues of shame and honor."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
When The Dancing Stopped
The ability to see beauty is the beginning of our moral sensibility.
Sean Dennison
****************
Hello Stuart
****************
I lived and worked in a city for three years whose major and almost only enterprise was insurance, banking and investment. That city had one of the best art museums in the country and almost no one went to it. I would go frequently because some of the world's greatest works were housed there. It was the only place on earth where one could see them. And every time I went I had some of the rooms all to myself.
There was little support or appreciation of art in that city and it showed. The powerful men in the city were completely focused on money and not much else.
We hear a lot about morals in America these days, the moral high ground, restoring the American ethic and so on. But the actions don't match the talk. There was one CEO of a large corporation who proclaimed that he never gave a dollar to any cultural cause, never would and he was proud of it. With that kind of ignorance the moral landscape of American is bare and desolate.
There are universities in this country that will close down their art departments and pour money into their football teams.
I know of a high school that wouldn't allow plays to be produced because it was too much of a drain on the electric bill, and yet the lights blazed even brighter for every basketball game.
Now we have a presidential candidate who brazen claims that if he is President he will close down the National Endowment for the Arts. To do that would be a fiercely negative and destructive thing for this country. But to stand up in public and make that promise is so monumentally stupid that man should quickly withdraw himself from the campaign and any further attempt to be considered a good American.
The arts in this country, as in any country, provide the dialogue between character and future. Art defines the spirit of our nation. It points to what is unknown and needed. It repairs. It supports. It gives voice to the struggles and achievements of our people. It tells the truth. It shows us beauty. It leads to the fountains of sensibility. It increases our moral awareness. It provides the ideas and impressions which raise the level of mentality. It makes better people.
If the arts disappear, or fall into the hands of corporate sponsorship with its confining rules and low standards, the United States is lost.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
********************************
Sean Dennison
****************
Hello Stuart
****************
I lived and worked in a city for three years whose major and almost only enterprise was insurance, banking and investment. That city had one of the best art museums in the country and almost no one went to it. I would go frequently because some of the world's greatest works were housed there. It was the only place on earth where one could see them. And every time I went I had some of the rooms all to myself.
There was little support or appreciation of art in that city and it showed. The powerful men in the city were completely focused on money and not much else.
We hear a lot about morals in America these days, the moral high ground, restoring the American ethic and so on. But the actions don't match the talk. There was one CEO of a large corporation who proclaimed that he never gave a dollar to any cultural cause, never would and he was proud of it. With that kind of ignorance the moral landscape of American is bare and desolate.
There are universities in this country that will close down their art departments and pour money into their football teams.
I know of a high school that wouldn't allow plays to be produced because it was too much of a drain on the electric bill, and yet the lights blazed even brighter for every basketball game.
Now we have a presidential candidate who brazen claims that if he is President he will close down the National Endowment for the Arts. To do that would be a fiercely negative and destructive thing for this country. But to stand up in public and make that promise is so monumentally stupid that man should quickly withdraw himself from the campaign and any further attempt to be considered a good American.
The arts in this country, as in any country, provide the dialogue between character and future. Art defines the spirit of our nation. It points to what is unknown and needed. It repairs. It supports. It gives voice to the struggles and achievements of our people. It tells the truth. It shows us beauty. It leads to the fountains of sensibility. It increases our moral awareness. It provides the ideas and impressions which raise the level of mentality. It makes better people.
If the arts disappear, or fall into the hands of corporate sponsorship with its confining rules and low standards, the United States is lost.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
********************************
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Vagabondism 248
Vagabondism #248 "I'm just a candle in the darkness lit by another's flame. He who is truly enlighened shines with his own flame needing neither match nor wick."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
Sit Up And Take Notice
Music never repeats itself.
Daniel Barenboim
******************
Hello Holly
******************
Just as in nature it is almost impossible to find pure symmetry. Perhaps it can be found in a bubble, or can be seen in butterfly wings. But even in the repetitious scales of some reptiles the pattern changes with the changing anatomy and movements of the animal. So in art there are many things that have the appearance of repeating patterns and symmetry.
I have a photograph of a brick path. Along both sides of the path there are small trees in pots evenly spaced to provide an edge to the path. Though all the trees are the same height, no matter how much shaping and pruning the gardener does he cannot make them identical. To the casual observer they may all look alike, but to the careful eye of someone else, each tree takes on its own personality and beauty.
"Music never repeats itself." The musical notes on the page are always the same for any printed piece of music. But when it is put in front of a musician it will become even more alive than those trees. And whether he plays it ill or well its life is momentary. Every time he plays it the experience will be different. Even a piece of music that is recorded will have a different experience for the listener every time it's heard. You may even hear a difference when it is played on a different record player. And when the same piece is played by another musician the experience is new and different even though the notes on the page haven't changed. You may have a favorite recording of some music that you love and have taken for granted. One day you will stop and listen again because you suddenly heard something different you didn't know was there, some movement of a muscle in the music you thought you'd never heard before.
These things happen because music is the most basic human art form there is. There is a direct link between music and human thoughts and emotions.
But one can also have the same sit up and pay attention with art and poetry.
I have a favorite painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Whenever I went to the museum, for whatever reason, I always made it a point to go and spend some time with that picture, and whenever I did it had more to say to me, like an endless conversation that picked up where it left off even if a year had intervened. You may have such a picture hanging on your wall from which one day something will emerge that you never paid attention to before, that you thought you never saw.
I like to say that I don't read books, I eat them. I love going back over the same great literature I've read before simply because even though the words on the page, like the notes in a musical score, haven't changed, somehow it's a brand new book. Once through the book or poem is an adventure. The next time through is a different adventure.
The endless, ever changing life of great art is one of the joys of human existence.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
(never give up)
*****************************
Daniel Barenboim
******************
Hello Holly
******************
Just as in nature it is almost impossible to find pure symmetry. Perhaps it can be found in a bubble, or can be seen in butterfly wings. But even in the repetitious scales of some reptiles the pattern changes with the changing anatomy and movements of the animal. So in art there are many things that have the appearance of repeating patterns and symmetry.
I have a photograph of a brick path. Along both sides of the path there are small trees in pots evenly spaced to provide an edge to the path. Though all the trees are the same height, no matter how much shaping and pruning the gardener does he cannot make them identical. To the casual observer they may all look alike, but to the careful eye of someone else, each tree takes on its own personality and beauty.
"Music never repeats itself." The musical notes on the page are always the same for any printed piece of music. But when it is put in front of a musician it will become even more alive than those trees. And whether he plays it ill or well its life is momentary. Every time he plays it the experience will be different. Even a piece of music that is recorded will have a different experience for the listener every time it's heard. You may even hear a difference when it is played on a different record player. And when the same piece is played by another musician the experience is new and different even though the notes on the page haven't changed. You may have a favorite recording of some music that you love and have taken for granted. One day you will stop and listen again because you suddenly heard something different you didn't know was there, some movement of a muscle in the music you thought you'd never heard before.
These things happen because music is the most basic human art form there is. There is a direct link between music and human thoughts and emotions.
But one can also have the same sit up and pay attention with art and poetry.
I have a favorite painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Whenever I went to the museum, for whatever reason, I always made it a point to go and spend some time with that picture, and whenever I did it had more to say to me, like an endless conversation that picked up where it left off even if a year had intervened. You may have such a picture hanging on your wall from which one day something will emerge that you never paid attention to before, that you thought you never saw.
I like to say that I don't read books, I eat them. I love going back over the same great literature I've read before simply because even though the words on the page, like the notes in a musical score, haven't changed, somehow it's a brand new book. Once through the book or poem is an adventure. The next time through is a different adventure.
The endless, ever changing life of great art is one of the joys of human existence.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
(never give up)
*****************************
Friday, January 6, 2012
Vagabondism 247
Vagabondism #247 "Never give up. Even when you have nothing left, don't give up."
dbdacoba@aol.com
dbdacoba@aol.com
The Campaigners
You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry, for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
Demosthenes
*********************
Hello Lora
*********************
Where is the love?
I see a lot of false pride. One is proud to be a Conservative. Another is proud to be a Christian even though he doesn't act like one some of the time. Another is proud to be an American and then tells me all the things that are wrong with America. What's to be proud of? Where's the love?
I see a millionaire tell me of all the programs and systems that have been put in place to help me and other Americans from falling into poverty, homelessness and despair, that he will shut down to save money. Where is the kindness, the compassion? Where is the charity?
I hear from a humorless man about other programs and systems that go to improve the simple American's standard of living that will be shut down to save money. Where is the appreciation of American culture and progress? Where's the love?
I hear sarcasm, anger and hate. I see blame. I see men in suits blame the President for things that aren't his fault. I see them blame each other for things they haven't done yet. I hear spiteful labels put on actions and ideas that are only designed to benefit. I hear Americans blamed for not being what the man in the suit, the millionaire in the suit, thinks they should be. Where is the love?
I see men attacking other men's character and personality. I see men attacking the character, personality and behavior of other Americans, people who don't agree with them. I see venom. I hear the hissing, not to make the country better but to get votes. I see low level trivia and trash. I see the actions of paltry, mean spirited men. Where is the love?
D. Bate - Vagabond
Never Give Up
***********************
Demosthenes
*********************
Hello Lora
*********************
Where is the love?
I see a lot of false pride. One is proud to be a Conservative. Another is proud to be a Christian even though he doesn't act like one some of the time. Another is proud to be an American and then tells me all the things that are wrong with America. What's to be proud of? Where's the love?
I see a millionaire tell me of all the programs and systems that have been put in place to help me and other Americans from falling into poverty, homelessness and despair, that he will shut down to save money. Where is the kindness, the compassion? Where is the charity?
I hear from a humorless man about other programs and systems that go to improve the simple American's standard of living that will be shut down to save money. Where is the appreciation of American culture and progress? Where's the love?
I hear sarcasm, anger and hate. I see blame. I see men in suits blame the President for things that aren't his fault. I see them blame each other for things they haven't done yet. I hear spiteful labels put on actions and ideas that are only designed to benefit. I hear Americans blamed for not being what the man in the suit, the millionaire in the suit, thinks they should be. Where is the love?
I see men attacking other men's character and personality. I see men attacking the character, personality and behavior of other Americans, people who don't agree with them. I see venom. I hear the hissing, not to make the country better but to get votes. I see low level trivia and trash. I see the actions of paltry, mean spirited men. Where is the love?
D. Bate - Vagabond
Never Give Up
***********************
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Roots and Ruts
We need to think on a broader plane, we need to do more than we're doing.
Siobhan Davies
********************
Hello Arlene
********************
I have roots. I have roots on the Nebraska plains and in the cities of Tennessee. I have roots among the pioneers and in the United States Military. And I have roots in the entertainment industry. Both my mother and my grandmother were performers. I have a distant relative who was a country music singer, he and his band performed at the Grand Ole Opry in the 20's. I have another distant relative who was a general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. My father was a high ranking officer in the Army and fought in the First World War. He married an actress. I have roots.
It's not unusual for men to follow in their father's footsteps, into a family business or to take up a trade related to where they come from and who their family is. My dentist comes from a long line of dentists, it's like the family business. In some countries it isn't unusual for a son or daughter to take over the reins of government from a father, as we have just seen in North Korea.
It is surely a valuable thing to know what one's roots are, what culture one has come from and how one's ancestors and family lived. But there is another side to that practice. I had a roommate in college for a while who was from India. His father's business was mining: oil and precious metals. His father sent him to the US to study Geology so he could go back to India and assist his father in the business. But when he got to college he changed his major to History. When his father found out he cut off all the funds that were paying for his son's education. The son wanted to branch out, to be a more important person in the Indian government and society, which he eventually did. He didn't want to spend his life digging in the earth for things the way his father had all his life. He wanted to think on a broader plane.
I don't know if he ever harmonized things with his father but his story marks up a potential risk for anyone who takes his identity solely from his roots and thinks he has to do something because that's what the family has always done and therefore it's expected of him.. Those are dangerous ruts that many people fall into. And the result is often wishing that one had spent his life doing something else, something he was interested in way back at the beginning.
I spent my working life as an entertainer. But I'm glad to say I chose it over a lot of other options that were open to me. And it wasn't expected of me by my family. In fact I was discouraged from it by some members. But I persevered and never did I feel I was in the rut of repeating my family's history. No one was paying my way so I felt no obligation to do as I was told. And the end result was that I got to thinking about things in an original way and doing more than I was expected to do and that I expected from myself.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*****************************
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, the New Year. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Siobhan Davies
********************
Hello Arlene
********************
I have roots. I have roots on the Nebraska plains and in the cities of Tennessee. I have roots among the pioneers and in the United States Military. And I have roots in the entertainment industry. Both my mother and my grandmother were performers. I have a distant relative who was a country music singer, he and his band performed at the Grand Ole Opry in the 20's. I have another distant relative who was a general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. My father was a high ranking officer in the Army and fought in the First World War. He married an actress. I have roots.
It's not unusual for men to follow in their father's footsteps, into a family business or to take up a trade related to where they come from and who their family is. My dentist comes from a long line of dentists, it's like the family business. In some countries it isn't unusual for a son or daughter to take over the reins of government from a father, as we have just seen in North Korea.
It is surely a valuable thing to know what one's roots are, what culture one has come from and how one's ancestors and family lived. But there is another side to that practice. I had a roommate in college for a while who was from India. His father's business was mining: oil and precious metals. His father sent him to the US to study Geology so he could go back to India and assist his father in the business. But when he got to college he changed his major to History. When his father found out he cut off all the funds that were paying for his son's education. The son wanted to branch out, to be a more important person in the Indian government and society, which he eventually did. He didn't want to spend his life digging in the earth for things the way his father had all his life. He wanted to think on a broader plane.
I don't know if he ever harmonized things with his father but his story marks up a potential risk for anyone who takes his identity solely from his roots and thinks he has to do something because that's what the family has always done and therefore it's expected of him.. Those are dangerous ruts that many people fall into. And the result is often wishing that one had spent his life doing something else, something he was interested in way back at the beginning.
I spent my working life as an entertainer. But I'm glad to say I chose it over a lot of other options that were open to me. And it wasn't expected of me by my family. In fact I was discouraged from it by some members. But I persevered and never did I feel I was in the rut of repeating my family's history. No one was paying my way so I felt no obligation to do as I was told. And the end result was that I got to thinking about things in an original way and doing more than I was expected to do and that I expected from myself.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*****************************
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, the New Year. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 12 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
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