Too many people live according to other people's opinions.
DB - The Vagabond
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Howdy Pardner
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I had almost made up my mind I wasn't going to write anything today. Why bother? Everyone is off on a holiday and no one is going to read my journal anyway. Besides I have spent a portion of the day catching up on the news and feeling very depressed as a result.
Having just come through alive after the attack of the credit card monsters, I want some happy news. And yet I'm overwhelmed by hearing about what my fellow Americans are doing to each other. Even given the fact that the media over sensationalizes things and tends to stick with the negative news, I can see evidence of the ideals of community, society, even civilization itself being thrown out in the trash. Misunderstanding has become litigation. Discussion has become irrational shouting. Disagreement has become hatred. Protest has become gang warfare. Rational thought has become hot headed opinion.
The right wing fanatics are out to destroy the administration (and the country in the bargain) for no other reason than that they are Democrats. That sort of childish resentment is not only transparent to any thinking person but beneath the dignity and intelligence of any American. Where does this mindless violence come from? Like any mob mentality it was sowed. Seeds were broadcast into the minds of the gullible. Lies were told, false dangers were suggested, base feelings were sung to by the worst of human voices. Reason was torn off the walls and crumpled up and a masquerade was put up in its place. In some chariots of authority stand racism and the denial of human rights. Anger, hate and revenge are the rules. We have gone mad.
In this frame of mind I thought it would be best not to write anything. The events of the days are enough to depress me further. I don't need to manufacture fuel to add to my fire. In the midst of my terrifying weeks of recent time my reading lamp broke. It was a definite hardship. I could not even read the papers that had been filed against me. The only place to purchase another one would be the mall and it is impossible for me to get there. I asked around to see if anyone had a spare lamp I could borrow. Nothing was forthcoming.
In the midst of my afternoon of darkness, gloom and depression, feeling as if all the goodness had gone out of the world, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it there was my house mate, Dan, from the apartment below. He had been to Walmart and had picked up a small table lamp for me.
It may not seem like a big thing, but my not being able to read has been a sorrowful deprivation for me. Dan and I don't know each other well, he's only been living here a couple of months, but his simple act of kindness was enough of an antidote for all the negativity I had been feeling today. Would there were more such acts. Thank you Dan.
Here I wasn't going to write today and I've written a lot. I hope somebody reads it.
DB
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Wow. You have another day to play. Use it well.
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Showing posts with label liesure time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liesure time. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Immortal Incitation 2/16/09
A rare experience of a moment at daybreak, when something in nature seems to reveal all consciousness, cannot be explained at noon. Yet it is part of a day's unity.
Charles Ives
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A warm good day to you.
______________________________
I know very well the jump out of bed, throw on clothes, rush around and get things done business. I spent most of my life on that amusement park ride. Now I'm retired and I have no place to go and nothing to do except write to you and tell you stories.
But the great advantage I have now is to notice things. Not just look at things but be aware of them, which is another way of saying to become at one with them, attuned to them. In the morning the flowers open up and shine even though no one is watching. The birds, squirrels and other critters go about their business totally uninterested in what humans think about it. It is at those times that one gets the realization that the human consciousness is not the only one ticking.
There are moments like that all throughout the day, but when the hub and the bub start it's very hard to become attuned with them. It requires effort and commitment. It's a matter of importance.
Why do old men sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, or sit on the back porch and watch the grass grow? Well let me tell you it's not as stupid as it looks. What are we doing, waiting for something to happen? It's happening. Looking for something to do? We're doing it. Sitting around waiting to die? No, we're sitting around living.
Some people retire, get bored and want to go back to work. There's nothing wrong with that. But no one should avoid the treasures of thought and experience to be gained from one's leisure time. In fact, I think folks should program leisure time into their lives just as they do working, taking care of family, eating and sleeping. I wouldn't know this if I hadn't been coaxed into retirement by the circumstances of my life.
To paraphrase Mr. S.: Some are born with leisure time, some achieve leisure time and some have leisure time thrust upon them.
However you get it, use it wisely. Don't sit around worrying. There are universal messages waiting for you to see, hear and feel.
DB
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Imagine yourself climbing a tree today.
Charles Ives
*********************************
A warm good day to you.
______________________________
I know very well the jump out of bed, throw on clothes, rush around and get things done business. I spent most of my life on that amusement park ride. Now I'm retired and I have no place to go and nothing to do except write to you and tell you stories.
But the great advantage I have now is to notice things. Not just look at things but be aware of them, which is another way of saying to become at one with them, attuned to them. In the morning the flowers open up and shine even though no one is watching. The birds, squirrels and other critters go about their business totally uninterested in what humans think about it. It is at those times that one gets the realization that the human consciousness is not the only one ticking.
There are moments like that all throughout the day, but when the hub and the bub start it's very hard to become attuned with them. It requires effort and commitment. It's a matter of importance.
Why do old men sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, or sit on the back porch and watch the grass grow? Well let me tell you it's not as stupid as it looks. What are we doing, waiting for something to happen? It's happening. Looking for something to do? We're doing it. Sitting around waiting to die? No, we're sitting around living.
Some people retire, get bored and want to go back to work. There's nothing wrong with that. But no one should avoid the treasures of thought and experience to be gained from one's leisure time. In fact, I think folks should program leisure time into their lives just as they do working, taking care of family, eating and sleeping. I wouldn't know this if I hadn't been coaxed into retirement by the circumstances of my life.
To paraphrase Mr. S.: Some are born with leisure time, some achieve leisure time and some have leisure time thrust upon them.
However you get it, use it wisely. Don't sit around worrying. There are universal messages waiting for you to see, hear and feel.
DB
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Imagine yourself climbing a tree today.
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