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
***************************
Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts
Monday, January 9, 2012
Friday, August 5, 2011
Sing For Your Seeds
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
Maya Angelou
******************
One of these days I wouldn't be surprised to get a comment from some unknown reader saying "Who asked you?"
Come on, you guys, I want to hear "tweet, tweet, chirp, chirp."
I don't really consider Vagabond Journeys as a journal of opinion, although I seem to express my opinions about one thing or another at the click of a keyboard button.
I ran out of bird seed on the weekend and as a result the finches and their companions weren't talking to me. So I went to Walmart and bought three big bags of seeds, and filled their feeder. Now I'm waiting to hear at least one tweet of gratitude. So far, nothing.
I stated writing the journal in 2006, full time since 2008 and during that time I've expressed a lot of opinions I suppose. But I also write about observations I've made, humor, stories of my life as an entertainer and bits and pieces of information having questionable value.
I even put up a container of jolly peanut based suet. The birds are showing their appreciation by putting 200 yards between themselves and my porch.
I write because I want to, and because I have to. I write every day. I write short grippingly interesting and angelically inspiring essays like this one. I hope I put seeds of thought in people's minds and lives.
Big man, big man, have you any gruel?
Yes sir, yes ma'am, three bags full.
They always scurry away when they see me. Even though I'm the one who fills their feeder, I'm just too big for them to contend with.
I am almost never asked for advice. In the few times I am I hope that the advice I give and the opinions I express are worth something to those in need, even if, as in some cases, I never hear from them again.
One of them got caught inside my apartment trying to get out through a closed window. I picked him up in one hand and carried him to the door. He was so grateful to me for saving him that without a chirp he took off like a shot to parts unknown.
As I have said before, I don't know many answers, but I know a lot of questions, and it's those questions that keep me curious and keep me writing. I have a few readers and get even fewer comments.
Some one will say not to worry the birds will return. Of course they will because they need to gorge themselves on my sunflower seeds and wild bird mix. They can't resist my cuisine for long. And I will be happy to see them. And hear them.
And don't write because I have answers, I write because I have a song.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Maya Angelou
******************
One of these days I wouldn't be surprised to get a comment from some unknown reader saying "Who asked you?"
Come on, you guys, I want to hear "tweet, tweet, chirp, chirp."
I don't really consider Vagabond Journeys as a journal of opinion, although I seem to express my opinions about one thing or another at the click of a keyboard button.
I ran out of bird seed on the weekend and as a result the finches and their companions weren't talking to me. So I went to Walmart and bought three big bags of seeds, and filled their feeder. Now I'm waiting to hear at least one tweet of gratitude. So far, nothing.
I stated writing the journal in 2006, full time since 2008 and during that time I've expressed a lot of opinions I suppose. But I also write about observations I've made, humor, stories of my life as an entertainer and bits and pieces of information having questionable value.
I even put up a container of jolly peanut based suet. The birds are showing their appreciation by putting 200 yards between themselves and my porch.
I write because I want to, and because I have to. I write every day. I write short grippingly interesting and angelically inspiring essays like this one. I hope I put seeds of thought in people's minds and lives.
Big man, big man, have you any gruel?
Yes sir, yes ma'am, three bags full.
They always scurry away when they see me. Even though I'm the one who fills their feeder, I'm just too big for them to contend with.
I am almost never asked for advice. In the few times I am I hope that the advice I give and the opinions I express are worth something to those in need, even if, as in some cases, I never hear from them again.
One of them got caught inside my apartment trying to get out through a closed window. I picked him up in one hand and carried him to the door. He was so grateful to me for saving him that without a chirp he took off like a shot to parts unknown.
As I have said before, I don't know many answers, but I know a lot of questions, and it's those questions that keep me curious and keep me writing. I have a few readers and get even fewer comments.
Some one will say not to worry the birds will return. Of course they will because they need to gorge themselves on my sunflower seeds and wild bird mix. They can't resist my cuisine for long. And I will be happy to see them. And hear them.
And don't write because I have answers, I write because I have a song.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Ghost Stories
Wilderness is not for sale.
Nick Rahall
**************
You probably aren't aware that you are surrounded by ghosts, are you? I don't mean the specter of some ancient personage who keeps appearing and disappearing or the creature in the white sheet that floats through the garden at night.
Wilderness is what it's name implies: wildness. Nature in it's intricacy and inexhaustible variety of design creates what to the human eye seems to be chaos. Scientists tell us that nature never repeats itself, no two butterfly wings are alike, no two snowflakes. I don't know how scientists can know that but I'll take their world for it.
Somewhere I have a quote which describes making a neighborhood as bull dozing down all the trees, building a street and then naming it after the trees: Oak Street, Maple Way, Elm Lane, for example. And yet if that neighborhood was completely abandoned and no one ever set up residence there again, nature would eventually reclaim it, the buildings would eventually collapse, the street would be broken and the oak trees would grow again. The seeds of the life that nature had designed for the place are still in the ground and those seeds are what determine what grows there. Those seeds and roots are the real life of the place. The oaks, maples and elms never left. You may say you have a nice two bedroom house with grassy front lawn, but Nature quietly and patiently says "No, that's where the pumpkin patch is."
An artist chooses colors from a vast spectrum of them and every color is there whether it appears on the canvas or not. If you mix all the colors you get a dark substance, indiscriminate and wild. A writer has a choice of words but his entire language is automatically implied in the words he didn't choose. There is a vast number of musical tones, many of them beyond the ability of the human ear. If they are all sounded together there is a kind of static sound called "white noise."
If you look and listen carefully you can see the implied colors and hear the accompanying tones. As you walk down your street stop at a tree, one that has been there since before your neighborhood was made, and know that it's brothers and sisters are but ghosts in the ground waiting to reappear.
DB = The Vagabond
*******************
May today be a good day
A beautiful day in every way.
*******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Summer is around the corner.
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
15 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
Thank you.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
Nick Rahall
**************
You probably aren't aware that you are surrounded by ghosts, are you? I don't mean the specter of some ancient personage who keeps appearing and disappearing or the creature in the white sheet that floats through the garden at night.
Wilderness is what it's name implies: wildness. Nature in it's intricacy and inexhaustible variety of design creates what to the human eye seems to be chaos. Scientists tell us that nature never repeats itself, no two butterfly wings are alike, no two snowflakes. I don't know how scientists can know that but I'll take their world for it.
Somewhere I have a quote which describes making a neighborhood as bull dozing down all the trees, building a street and then naming it after the trees: Oak Street, Maple Way, Elm Lane, for example. And yet if that neighborhood was completely abandoned and no one ever set up residence there again, nature would eventually reclaim it, the buildings would eventually collapse, the street would be broken and the oak trees would grow again. The seeds of the life that nature had designed for the place are still in the ground and those seeds are what determine what grows there. Those seeds and roots are the real life of the place. The oaks, maples and elms never left. You may say you have a nice two bedroom house with grassy front lawn, but Nature quietly and patiently says "No, that's where the pumpkin patch is."
An artist chooses colors from a vast spectrum of them and every color is there whether it appears on the canvas or not. If you mix all the colors you get a dark substance, indiscriminate and wild. A writer has a choice of words but his entire language is automatically implied in the words he didn't choose. There is a vast number of musical tones, many of them beyond the ability of the human ear. If they are all sounded together there is a kind of static sound called "white noise."
If you look and listen carefully you can see the implied colors and hear the accompanying tones. As you walk down your street stop at a tree, one that has been there since before your neighborhood was made, and know that it's brothers and sisters are but ghosts in the ground waiting to reappear.
DB = The Vagabond
*******************
May today be a good day
A beautiful day in every way.
*******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Summer is around the corner.
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
15 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
Thank you.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tested Truth 6/16/09
Life is a library.
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
Monday, April 13, 2009
Inevitable Illumination 4/13/09
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.
Indian proverb
****************
Overtures of friendship to you
----------------------------------
It is a remarkable but often frightening thing to realize that all thoughts, ideas and beliefs will blossom someday in one way or another depending on where they are planted and how they are tended. These mental seeds are all around, looking for a place to land and take root. What am I growing in my field, something useful like roses, tulips, corn, potatoes, or stink weed, skunk cabbage, deadly nightshade?
If I wake up one morning and look out the window at my life and see weeds I know I've let the wrong seeds into my head. I have some uprooting to do. I have some replanting. It's strange, because the seed I hold in my hand knows what it is going to become, even though I don't. So I have to be very careful. Is it a seed of hope, beauty, truth, happiness or one of fear, hate and ugliness?
I also have to be careful where I put the seed. I have to make sure I have the right mental condition, the right attitude, the right soil, to inspire its proper growth. The same idea in one mind can make a genius while in another might make a mad man. One soil grows an Einstein another grows a Frankenstein. It's not enough just to have a good idea, you have to know what to do with it.
Then there's the matter of cultivating, nourishing and protecting it while it grows. Patience is required. The butterfly can't leave his cocoon until he's fully grown. A grand idea needs its own fulfillment time. An artist or a scientist may give a large portion of his life to bring a grand idea to maturity.
In my neighborhood there are a lot of children. Some of them are quite small and I sometimes wonder what that little one is capable of. Will he grow up to be a master musician? Will she become an astronaut and step on another planet one day? It's amazing to think that whatever they can do or become is already inside them waiting to be nourished, cultivated and illuminated. It's so vitally important to make sure that the thoughts they are encouraged to hold in their hands and plant in their lives are good ones.
And that is equally important for all of us, no matter how young we are.
What's in your garden?
-----------------------------
DB - Vagabond Journeys
________________________________
May there be nice newness in your life today.
************************************
Indian proverb
****************
Overtures of friendship to you
----------------------------------
It is a remarkable but often frightening thing to realize that all thoughts, ideas and beliefs will blossom someday in one way or another depending on where they are planted and how they are tended. These mental seeds are all around, looking for a place to land and take root. What am I growing in my field, something useful like roses, tulips, corn, potatoes, or stink weed, skunk cabbage, deadly nightshade?
If I wake up one morning and look out the window at my life and see weeds I know I've let the wrong seeds into my head. I have some uprooting to do. I have some replanting. It's strange, because the seed I hold in my hand knows what it is going to become, even though I don't. So I have to be very careful. Is it a seed of hope, beauty, truth, happiness or one of fear, hate and ugliness?
I also have to be careful where I put the seed. I have to make sure I have the right mental condition, the right attitude, the right soil, to inspire its proper growth. The same idea in one mind can make a genius while in another might make a mad man. One soil grows an Einstein another grows a Frankenstein. It's not enough just to have a good idea, you have to know what to do with it.
Then there's the matter of cultivating, nourishing and protecting it while it grows. Patience is required. The butterfly can't leave his cocoon until he's fully grown. A grand idea needs its own fulfillment time. An artist or a scientist may give a large portion of his life to bring a grand idea to maturity.
In my neighborhood there are a lot of children. Some of them are quite small and I sometimes wonder what that little one is capable of. Will he grow up to be a master musician? Will she become an astronaut and step on another planet one day? It's amazing to think that whatever they can do or become is already inside them waiting to be nourished, cultivated and illuminated. It's so vitally important to make sure that the thoughts they are encouraged to hold in their hands and plant in their lives are good ones.
And that is equally important for all of us, no matter how young we are.
What's in your garden?
-----------------------------
DB - Vagabond Journeys
________________________________
May there be nice newness in your life today.
************************************
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