Preface to Leaves of Grass

This is what you shall do:
Love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches,
give alms to every one that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,
read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book.

Dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body…

-Walt Whitman

Do Not Be Afraid To Make Them Real.

Beautiful thing, this life, I have.
I have today.
I have this moment at hand.
I stand with my arms stretched wide feeling the sun play on my face through the branches of the trees.
And I take a walk as I flip through my thoughts and my toes dig deep into the wet soil. With every step I take, I start accepting the true colors of my life; for everything they are and everything they aren't.
Deep inside my soul, dreams blend together..
Dreams of tall mountains covered in snow.
The deepest oceans with huge waves.
Free tigers laying in the sun.
Cold rain cooling my body on a summer day.
Dreams of lying in lush grass feeling tiny bugs crawl over my arms.
I want my realities to merge with my dreamscapes and create a never ending utopia; My Eden.
The rush of dreams and what they are to us as individuals amazes me.
We never take time to dwell upon our thoughts; to take note.. to make them real.
If only we will take the first steps.. our dreams will take the next to meet us; The only thing that seperates us is the thought that we can not have it; do not be afraid.

Happiness In Memories.

What is it that makes us happy?

What is it that sends us back to our childhood memories when the world was innocent?
When we would blow bubbles or sit in the grass and pick flowers? Watch cartoons?

What is it about a movie that soothes our soul with laughter? Is it that sense of hope that overwhelms our souls that makes us just feel good?

What is it about dipping a cookie in an ice cold glass of milk that makes us smile? Getting the tips of our fingers just underneath the surface or when part of the cookie breaks off and sinks to the bottom?

What is it about heating something up in the microwave just because were to lazy to cook it in the oven like the directions read? It never tastes as good, but for some reason...we keep doing it.

What is so special about some of our memories, that no matter what, they are burned to the back of our minds like they were branded with a hot iron? Is it our lack of actually wanting to let go?

With some memories all you can do is think back and realize and wonder. "How did that last?", "How did that happen? Our minds were different. Worlds not the same." Why is it that we keep those intimate things that were once so close to our hearts that do nothing but give us that constant reminder? Why is it that we play a song over and over again until it's the only thing we can dream, think, and hum for the next two days; only because it reminds us how happy or how miserable we were the first time we heard it and actually payed attention to it. Again is it a lack of wanting to let go. To seperate ourselves from our past?

Some memories we find ourselves longing for. Wishing for that moment again. Those are the ones where we daydream for hours reminicing on the sights around us, smells, and tastes.

Our fondest memories settle deep in our chest and hang heavy on our hearts. Do we hold on to them for the fear of forgetting? Or is it because they are what really make us happy?

Such Power In Words.

"I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.


We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.


Greed has poisoned men’s souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us 
into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.


The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish…


Soldiers – don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you – who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.


Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate – only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers – don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.


In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written ” the kingdom of God is within man ” – not one man, nor a group of men – but in all men – in you, the people. You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. 


Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.


Soldiers – in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”


Charlie Chaplin in 'The Great Dictator' (1940)

Paths To Be Taken.

Our paths they crossed for some reason and they will cross with others; for what reason we may not know. Life takes us on a journey not yet told to us; we have friends we have not yet come to know, lovers to share our intamacy with, people that will share their lives with ours, and simple passings and repassings of acquaintances.

To Be Alone With You.

Back roads lead me down paths forgotten;
toward the setting suns of tomorrow.


I gave my body to the sky and to the rest of the world to have a chance to be close to you.
You gave yourself to the rising seas and never ending horizons.


Only if we met somewhere in between the heavens and Earth; Just to touch your face and to be alone with you.




Why did you go away, baby?

Reality.

Lets take two steps back; look in our hearts and see what's really there.

My Outcome.

I drove for miles the other day. Nothing but the blue sky dotted with clouds that looked like pillows in front of me, nothing but the thoughts of my yesterdays behind.  As I drove I thought about things. Where do we go? Where are we going?  Why are we here?  With every breath I took I concentrated on these questions; pondering the outcome of my life.  In the quiet and alone I realized it is up to me---I am the one that holds the answers.

Free.

I look out across the water in front of me and see the reflections of light

They glitter across the the lake gracefully---shapeless orbs.

They illuminate the the surface like there is a city underwater---

I look up at the clear heavens above

They sky is dark and heavy, the stars---countless---

And the moon---so bright and bold---she is smiling at me

Tonight as I breathe in this cold frigid air

My lungs fill--a breath of vigor

I am thankful I am free.

And Tragedy Struck.

April 27, 2011-

Phone calls coming in to say, call your family check on them.  Calling and calling. Dead tone after dead tone. I flipped on the television, I watched it happen and there was nothing I could do. 

  

Homes destroyed, dreams shattered, lives lost.  Such a tragedy has been brought upon us.  I watch as friends, families, and beautiful people never met pick up the pieces of what was once their lives to start over again from heaps of scraps of what used to be home. I want to cradle the people effected by this and make them forget and think it was all a dream.  This horrible thing shows us that each day given to us is a beautiful gift and that we should embrace it much more often than we seem to. It shows us the true compassion of the human soul.  Coming together as one in such times of need.  People coming from miles away to head back to their hometowns to help- to bring water, food, two hands to clean with, and a heart full of compassion for those who need it more than anything. There is much more to be done and people will never be the same. People who have your life--be thankful and remember we are not promised our tomorrows.



Some photos from back home. 
I am just blessed my family and friends are okay.