"Moi" {explained}.

"If one does not begin by showing one's self to be something of an independent, forward thinker - one quickly becomes something of a foregone conclusion."  N'est-ce pas? 

And you may quote me...

New Year's Resolution ?

For 2011, I propose this "New Year's Resolution" to all readers: 'make relationships your first priority ... and consumption the last.' Decide: WHO? and WHAT? to VALUE. Choose: WHO? and WHAT? to HONOR. Such are alternatives. All take-form as: thought, words, or deeds. A belief in all that is Good (its doing) will help to better our selves, our loves, and our lives. Me Thinks.

The US-of-A ... I, E, and G...

Ah yes, the US-of-A ...the "Love it or Leave-It" country that can "afford" a MILITARY machine that is LARGER (in budget) than the top 43 "other" richest nations on Earth. We have no qualms about burning-up young lives (and loves) to "protect" our failing oil-based economy - as we toss naïve kids into war-zones (that we created). Unprepared and ignorant, they are mowed-down and returned cerimoniously to the... "Go ARMY", "America's NAVY", "My son is a MARINE" households, for a prompt burial.  (Wives and Mothers get to keep the flag for comfort,  or display. "Semper Fi" in a graveyard, is "forever" indeed!)

We Americans are (almost as blindly) pushing ourselves down the slippery-slopes of an enduring economic oblivion. We're the US-of-I too!  We're a US of, "I don't care" - because our Great Society has a pronounced "me first" orientation. Through all of that, we've stupidly underwritten a "healthcare" system that is (also) ..."all about greed", but not about "Health", and certainly (not about) "Care". To be cared for (genuinely), one must count-on good luck or rely on family, friends, or neighbors...

Yes, We-the-People can "afford" a planetary killing-machine (under the guises of "peace-keeping").  Tell me, how does one "keep" PEACE by "making" WAR? We have the most effective and brutal means to KILL other human-beings ever invented, and yet... We also think of ourselves as Religious, Political, and "Right" - while too many are "right-eous" about both.

How WRONG we are as a people! Is it any wonder that the fundamentalists of other ideologies, political regimes, and religions - want us (the entire "US"), dead?

Meanwhile we "care" for our down-trodden by allowing our legal-social-fiscal-financial system to TAKE everything a person has worked-for - often, simply because they've had the misfortune of falling-ill, or lost a bill-paying job (when some greedy employer "went bust"). Thereafter the credit system "treats" those individuals like losers - the guilty second-rate citizens - that they are not! How many jobs will their be for returning (unemployed) G.I.'s?

We aren't solely the US-of-A, we're also the US-of-E (of Entertainment) - even the ad-media-tized "News" is presented so as to, "make US think about something else" (as we entertain ourselves via mindless TV-programming - while munching butter-soaked microwave-popcorn). We are being trained to avoid doing something worthwhile to help and protect our fellow-man.  Munch. Watch.  Sit.  Don't worry, be happy?  (And was your TV "Made in the USA"?)

We endure a 24 X 7 onslaught of advertising: designed to prompt the sales (and purchases of) tons of "Made in China; Taiwan; Japan; Singapore; Maylasia; Philipinnes; Indonesia " schtuff... which most of us do not need (as MC / VISA / DISCOVER / AMEX lovingly oblige while rubbing their hands-together wryly).

No, the US-of-A is moreover, the US-of-G.  An (us) US, of Greed.

So, don't fall ill. Don't lose your job!  Else, Greed awaits ...you, your freedom, and your free will!

Me Thinks

No more questions...

People are living smaller - everywhere. The economy is bleak and it is going to deteriorate. As an optimist, I do not announce such things as idle talk. Still, I am present and a participant - grateful for the joys of life, big and small. The future is definitely going to be a challenging time.  Meanwhile, albiet that (in general) people do not choose whom they love, they may love whom they choose - and there are many ways to do that. How may I help (love) you? 

No more questions (for today)...

R-U the Owner of a Broken Heart?

Sometimes it is hard to identify the dividing line - where just-caring ends, where true love begins - and (maybe) also (and exactly) what that difference REALLY is! Some of us think that we allow ourselves to love, some opt to control who not to love. Some of us have been hurt. Some, burned. Some people just seem to open their hearts more than all others. Some maintain their feelings for a lifetime. Some break-up with those they have loved, because each thought that the other, was the wrong person.

But often, we don't end the feelings nor the sense of connection which comes subsequent to our individual investments of "self" (in such dearly beloved, unique persons).

We were very busy. We were even busier. We are probably always as busy. Maybe each felt it is necessary to terminate the connection (the love, the growing friendship), or to put an "us", on hold? Whatever it was, it sometimes doesn't make much sense.

Most earn their "keep" - by becoming life-long friends - such that they're, "kept"? And doesn't love have much to do with being the BEST of friends?

The loves of one's life tend to remain (live on) in the heart (in the soul). Some loves more than others, some less. As we get older, we might opt to make a habit of telling everyone just how much they mean, and to outline what their contribution has meant to our existence - because (for better for worse) some of us, never seem to stop caring.

Somehow the caring grows more important now. And maybe our mothers (living or gone to the hereafter) would call all of this, "Mushy"? There are an incredible number of lonely hearts out there. What a shame when a LOVE dies.

What a shame.

(An offering to friends, from friends...)

Gettin' a Life?

If what others think of you is a constant source of worry, take heart in knowing that they rarely ever do.

Who loves you dearly?

With respect to "betrayals of trust"...

Something I've learned through my many hard knocks (when dealing with the people I have loved, or love):

Trust is rather misunderstood, Me Thinks. We like to believe that we can "trust" others. But trust doesn't necessarily mean that people aren't also human; nor that they don't have their own ongoing "issues" - sometimes they do "things", and they do hurt us.

Trust instead, needs to be focused on ourselves - so that we may trust (remain assured) that we can always be resilient - whenever others reveal their humanity in unexpected (perhaps unwelcome, and sometimes hurtful) ways...

Look in the mirror, my friend - that is where TRUST is the most deserved.

People will always do and say whatever they will.

Isn't life just full of surprises?
(Thoughts shared by cousin, Annie!)

H-u-m-i-l-i-t-y

Humility makes one great, and honorable twice (it directs our best thoughts to favor others, in lieu of one's self).

EARTH DAY (The River of Life) in 3 parts...

Part-I

The longer we live, the more brief does this life appear.
We breath-in its varied and succeeding stages,
When a day taken from childhood does seem a year,
And all the years, like the passing of ages...

The carefree currents of our youth,
Ere in passion and in disorder,
Steal and linger like a river smoothed,
Along its verdant borders...

But as the care-worn cheek grows wan,
And sorrow's shaft flies slower, thicker...
As stars, measure life up to every man,
Why seem our courses quicker?

When joys have lost both bloom and breath,
And life itself sublimes, ...vapid.
Why, as we reach the Autumn of life, towards death,
Feel we, the tide, current, and tow more rapid?

It may be strange -- yet who would change,
Time's course to a slower speeding?
When one by one, our friends have gone,
And left our bosoms bleeding...

The heavens bestow years of fading strength,
Indemnifying fleetness,
And those of youth, the semblance of length,
Misproportion'd to their sweetness...

Part-II

Running, flowing -- never stopping;
Begun as a trickle -- joining eddies, forming a stream;
The spring follows valleys -- thru rock, mud, sand, 'n moss;
Becoming mighty, strong -- widening the course.

Gathering pebbles along the way -- tossing, turning, rolling;
Toying with them; dropping each off -- then forgetting when.
Showers fall into it, and join as one within it.
Heat evaporates it, and carries it back up into the sky.

Ever flowing, changing -- never meandering the same way.
Never regretting, having been here or there, nor where.
Once Love lived along the banks of the River of Life.
Love grew amdist the floods and flows.

There Love floated, carried by life's sweetest waters.
Love rained to awaken the seeds of Spring,
And to nourish all life and growing things.
Love grew.

This fleuve was born of storms and wind,
blown to traverse the Good Earth.
The river runs deep, like molten fires that make and shake,
Continents, and one's Worth.

Love had all that was needed for happiness and joy,
But was plagued by demons,
the triple-headed beast of:
Greed, Hate, and War.

Greed swallows-up generosity, locked inside of dungeons.
Hate severs connection and teaches peoples to fear each other.
War threatens to rain destruction upon all who oppose...
Monsterous rule.

And the people were separated, and afraid, and poor.
The threads of unity became frayed.
The fabric of care, unraveled.
As love thirsted.

And War took the young, marching them off to slaughter,
To meet the Reaper, in places far, far away.
Greed steals and seals their future...
Ended.

Their River of Life, run dry.
Families witness heart springs fallen into dust,
New sprouts fail, and tall trees die.
And the hills turn brown.

And the mothers wept and mourn, and do not know what to do.
The families too are divided.
Some have more and some had less.
All was lost.

Old wounds and present injustice kept the loved apart.
But as War shook both fists,
Threatening to unleash destruction upon the Earth...
The wise turned to each other and they say:

We are but scraps of a torn fabric, but if we tie them together,
We can bind wounds, dry tears, and weave a net to carry heavy loads."
"We must amplify love, and throw off dread,
Take back our power and spin new threads."

"A life-line, held in strong hands,
A living web of shining strands."
"Make our fingers remember how to spin.
Freedom that may ring on the rising wind."

"As we sew the threads of life, the cords of fate,
We combine our love into a river, that can overrun all hate."
"We may apply justice, burning bright like shooting stars,
We can make Peace into a river, that can overcome all War."

Part-III

And if you want to know where true power lies,
Turn and look into your brethren's eyes.
So come Mothers and Fathers,
Sons, and daughters.

Come spinners and weavers,
Tool makers, potters,
Dancers and dreamers...
Fixers, changers,

Singers and screamers...
Forget all dangers.
Come ancestors, guardians,
Gods and goddesses too,

You who teach us,
You who speak only truth, true...
You who plant, and you who reap,
You who soar and you who creep,

You who cook, and you who drum,
You who have been, and you yet to come...
You who do battle with hand and sword,
You who resist using plume and words.

All unreasonable women,
All unmanageable men.
Come Harpies, Banshees, Gorgons, and Witches;
Come courageous warriors, and furious bitches!

Break the chains that have kept us bound.
Weave a web to pull the Monster down.
In the face of truth, no lie can stand.
Weave the vision, strand by strand.

We are the water flowing, we are the seed,
We are the storm winds, here to blow away all greed.
We are the new world, we bring to birth;
All rivers rising, to reclaim...

This Good Earth.

-ooOoo-

O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream

My great example, as it is my theme!

Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull,

Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full

--John Denham (1615-1669)

(From the poem, "Cooper's Hill", first published in AD 1642.

Black on White...

Ever notice...
How self-important people consider themselves "experts" in just about everything that THEY choose to introduce into THEIR conversation? How their pomposity reigns, as an incessant stream of tasteless diatribe (and sometimes, while unethical or illegal inviction is imposed), as they attempt to rule? And how their listeners reject the impositions [and quickly], by dropping all of the unwelcome gifts?

Ever notice...
That whenever someone demands "frank" and "open" communication (from you) - once provided (to them), the same person tries to get YOU to stuff "Pandora" back into the "Box"?

Ever notice...
That the enchantment in our lives, is not necessarily shared by everyone?

Ever notice...
How many people are sure that they will go to "Heaven", albeit that they've yet to spend any of their due time in "Hell"?

Ever notice...
How I think you - just beside me, and how I miss you - just the same?

Ever notice...
The degree to which, "play" is very serious business, for a child?

Ever notice...
That "depression" can be the "sand" that makes the "pearl"?

Ever notice...
All who aren't busy livin', have already begun their dyin' ?

Ever notice...
It is said that the true test of maturity, is the ability to have empathy for the suffering of another?

Ever notice...
One ought to know how to give-out HOPE (by carrying dark chocolate in one's pocket)?

Ever notice...
While he (a man) thinks that she's playing "hard to get", she (a woman) thinks that he is playing hard to get rid of - because some women need a man about as much as a fish needs a bicycle. And because some men, "bite" - far more frequently than, fish?

Ever notice...
How simply "saying nothing" - can provide for an Oasis of Peace, in a Desert of Turmoil?

Ever notice...
How everyone is on their way to somewhere?

Ever notice...
H2O - it's always the same water, and there are many wells?

Ever notice...
In the pursuit of TRUTH - the Goal and the Destination, are One and the Same?

Ever notice...
The most important thing to SEARCH-for, is ANSWERS-from?

Ever notice...
There ought to be something grammatically, "Eternal" about a poem written for a woman, you know -- both, Past and Present?

Ever notice...
True "togetherness" - it's when you can sense the movements of the hand of the other (without touching), like "his and hers" hands immersed in warm water?

Ever notice...
Raindrops on Roses, are akin to Whispers and Kisses?

Ever notice...
The best Apology is to: have Even; having Forgiven?

Ever notice...
That LOVE ...is the most effective Anti-drug, Drug?

Ever notice...
When your Heart "opens", your Mind "opens up" -- when Tibetans refer to the Mind (one's thoughts), they gesture towards the Heart... ever notice?

And so it is,
Me thinks

Ninety-Eight, going on Ninety-nine...

Mother, at 98 years, 03 months, and 25 days (circa Jan 2009), has reached that age when life stops giving "things". It's a time when existence begins taking every "thing" away. It is thus also, that time, when "Family" becomes (truly) EVERYTHING!

Me Thinks,
RK

Money for Nothing, Kicks for free...

Show me the Money. I'm a businessmann, but what the heck, it's just money... Sit down. Quietly and calmly count, then recount all of your blessings. Are you healthy? Do you have love? How many children do you have? Grandchildren? Safety? Freedom? A warm bed? A roof over your head? Food? Clean water? What are your gifts?

When people ask me, "How are you doing?" (the knee-jerk standard greeting in American language culture)... I respond with this, "I'm ALWAYS good! How about you?"

That's the time to fall silent and to listen -- these days, someone you know might need far more than the positive attitude. Me Thinks.

RK

Buffet Billions

It was Andrew Carnegie who said, "The man who dies rich, dies disgraced." When the steel tycoon retired, he set up public libraries across the country and gave away $350 million (an enormous fortune by the standards of wealth 100 years ago). Give now, die later?

Thank you on behalf of all humanity, Mr. Warren Edward Buffet!

Another "Good friend" leading the way, Me Thinks.