12

Twelve months from now I hope we are in a better place. I hope we have made progress on so many painful things that are happening around us. In twelve months I hope people can safely parade along a street to celebrate something. I hope that people can sit in joy at a coffee shop without fear of being attacked. I hope people of any race can drive without fear of them being hassled. I guess I hope we respect each other enough to see through color and bias and really focus on character. Twelve months from now I hope I can look back on now and smile at how far I have come and look back on my experiences with less pain and more progress. I hope.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. – Marcus Aurelius

go on

Trying to understand the misunderstood is often difficult, especially in times of tragedy. I keep reading about the stories of heroism and love during the Orlando massacre; both tragic and amazing on both sides of people helping, people surviving, people trying to survive as people. We’ve all been mad at times, sometimes too mad to even deal with other people, but what makes you go so far as to end someone’s life. What gives you that right? What gives you that right to play The Almighty? Who do you think you are? People around the shooter must’ve seen signs. They must’ve seen something. From all accounts, he was a confused and angry man. I do not pity him in the least bit. There are lots of confused and angry people out there that find more constructive ways to deal with life and their emotions. It’s a sad time in The States. Like in Paris, Brussels, South Africa, and the Middle East….no death is more or less valuable than the other. The loss of a child to parents is no different in my country than it is your country. Loss is loss. Death is death. The feeling ripples to the core of the human soul. Right now is the tough time. The in-between. The waiting. Who or where it will happen next? Is that what they want? For us to live in a state of fear? As a planet, we have to come together and get over our trivial disagreements for the ability to sustain life to be possible.

You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can decide how you're going to live now. – Joan Baez

I miss you my friend.

If you miss someone who can still hear you, tell them. You will feel a lot better about yourself after you do. I didn't get that chance.....and regret it every day. Someone out there misses you....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4iQTGr20Q

The human heart dares not stay away too long from that which hurt it most. There is a return journey to anguish that few of us are released from making. – Lillian Smith

sec oar

We all need a little help these days. You really never can tell what someone has struggled with, what they’ve been through, that may drive how they are acting or acted. We’ve all been through things. Some much worse than others. Some try to hide it, some use it for motivation and some hold it as an anchor that drags them down to the bottom of the sea of life. Dwelling is hard not to do. Who doesn’t think of the past? Who doesn’t think of their past, their decisions or the decisions of others that have impacted their lives. Impacted who they were, who they are, and who they became or will become. As a younger person, in my teen years and early 20’s, I used it as motivation. In my 20’s and 30’s, I guess I cut that motivation apple in half and then it became a point of reflection. In my 30’s, the apple was half reflection and half anchor as you reflect on some of the bad decisions you made. Ironic, we never seem to reflect on the positive decisions we made. Not too many memorable repercussions come along with positive decisions or experiences. Sometimes it’s a trigger that makes us reminisce about those experiences. With everything, we learn. We learn about ourselves the most I believe. For the most part, we try to rid ourselves of those things in our life that cause us to struggle. Ironically, we sometimes can’t always eliminate people in our lives that we believe cause our stress and struggle. I guess in essence we are hurt by things that we are most passionate about. Hopefully, the tide turns and starts moving you forward instead of pushing against you. We all need a little help…from the people around us, from the person inside us, and a little push from Mother Nature never hurts.  

What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. – T.S. Eliot

reef

I am sorry....the only three words that can give the future a chance by admitting remorse for the past.

Experience is the name we give to our mistakes. – Oscar Wilde