Today..and the rest of your life.

It’s the last day of the year. A year it was. We learned a lot. We lost a lot. We loved a lot. We saw a lot. I am both thankful and melancholy at the same time. Thankful for family, safety, food, roof over my head. Thanful for safety and families enjoying the holidays and loved ones; not just on domestic soil, but abroad as well. The Paris attacks, like 9/11, once again taught us that life is so fragile and needs to be treated delicately and we need to feed off each other for strength. I think for the first time I saw a world united against one enemy and in some weird way, I was proud of that. I think the majority of us love our families. Love our children. Love our husbands and wives. Seeing hurt so far away places hurt on faces of your loved ones so near and dear. Those people could’ve been me. The people in the concert hall could’ve been me. The people eating outside unaware that their last moments were minutes away…could’ve been me. I get angry that people don’t step up to help others. On the flip side I also understand people’s hesitation about making sacrifices that could turn around and hurt their loved ones and families. It’s a very blurred line we walk, but we walk it together. I don’t know you folks that are reading this. I see the countries you may be living in when you read my words, but that’s it. You may think you are just browsing invisibly, but through my words I hope you know that I care. I hope you know that you are just like me. I hope you know you are cared for and in times of worry, you should think of the things you love most on this earth. They are most likely not “things”, but rather those moments in your life when you were happiest. When you were the most content. When a sun-drenched smile was the greatest part of your day or a kiss from the person you love most was the richest of gems that you could hold in your heart. Any more, I am only happy when those I care about most are happy and I can bow my head and leave my worries fall off my back as I pass through the threshold. I hope you have less worry in the new year. Less worry, more love, less stress, more easiness, less war, more understanding. Make it count.

Happy New Year.

Bob

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. -Marcus Aurelius

will

I know people in other countries are reading and at a time when nothing is sure in life, it’s important to think about everyone in the world that is grieving and remember, we all lose loved ones and then we ourselves will move on from this world. Death is a scary word. We go through our lives living and learning about death. Loved ones lost to disease, accidents, old age, early deaths, childhood accidents, misfortune, and catastrophe. These days, with acts of violence being so swift and destructive, the value we put on life seems so volatile. It’s sad, a life, any life, anywhere, is so important. A person is given life and love at birth and then this world raises them. Social norms or social lack thereof contribute to a person’s growth and outlook of the world. I will say that I have been fortunate to have been raised around love, supported, able to encounter people with the same ideology and goals and grew to appreciate so many different people and lives. With that being said, we all have our own prejudices that have grown out of hate, indifference, divide, family history, and racial history. I don’t think that is different for any group; although admitting it may be difficult for some or most. Our most common trait is that we are all human. That is one thing that binds us all. Physically hurting someone does come by birth, it comes by learning hurt and seeking it out. While hurt will occur, so will love and care and support. There are always going to be much more people seeking love, care and support against those seeking to hurt. Look inside yourself. Look at your mother or father or sister or brother. Look at your child. Look at your mate. See the love another human life can bring to you. Not just by procreation, but THE creation of human life, spirit and the will to live on, fight on, and love.


If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another. - Sir Winston Churchill

vulnerable

We've all been there. US. UK. Israel. All points in between. I want to speak to you. It is the hardest thing to do to be totally vulnerable to someone. It really is. To let all your guard down and let them in. Wanting to let them in and hoping they will come in, but never sure. It is okay. It is hard. It is okay. We all hate it. Those people that can crack the shell, they can come in. Saying I miss you is hard. It's very difficult. Saying it to someone you've lost, even harder. Saying it to someone who is still on this planet, the hardest.

Say I miss you to the person you love. Say miss you the person you have lost. Say I miss you to time passed by. I miss all of them. The person I miss knows it. The person lost, knows it. I want to go back to the days where play was innocent and love was pure. Do you? Do you remember those days?

I have drink in hand. I hope you do as well. I wish I could wrap you in the warmth of a hug and let you know that everything will be alright.

You are special. You matter. You are loved. Love yourself. Dying love. Dying by the light. The light will never go out. You are special...by the dying of the light.

bm

dockside

Always wanting to relate to nature and the sea, you let the boats come close to the dock. Some pull in real quietly and nice. Some pull in hard and make a lot of noise. Small boats and larges ones. Young ones and old ones. Everyone has a right to pull into a safe port. Everyone should have the opportunity to leave the dangerous seas they have traveled for stability and security. We see such sadness and troubled times in every part of the world and here on American soil. It's sad. If you get the chance and someone wants to talk, or just say something, or give you some well wishes, allow them the opportunity to do so. It may be their wisdom they want to give to you. Maybe they have gone through some tough times and just want to best to you. We're all in this together. I think the best thing I've done this month was to give a homeless lady all the money I had in my pocket. It felt a lot better than buying something I wanted for myself. She said God Bless You. And whatever religion you may be...or whatever...some stranger giving you well wishes and good fortune goes a long way. Never know how long you may be on this great planet and it's good to know someone, anyone, cares about you. We all need to dock somewhere......

"Every time a man unburdens his heart to a stranger he reaffirms the love that unites humanity." = Germaine Greer

free

Air, love and smiles are free. Seems like the things that cost us money aren't always the things that will fulfill us in life. The richest man in the world cannot buy time or change the past, but anyone can change their future.

undertow

You can feel it. You're clawing and scratching your way to the surface, seeing the light shine through as you get closer to the last few feet of the depths. Gasping for air and holding on to what you have in your reserve. The anticipation, the excitement, the rush, coming to the surface and coming through your skin. The end may be near or the beginning is upon you. You have no choice but to ascend....above the darkness of what's behind you and toward the bright sunlight that is your future....there used to be a comfort in the darkness....but light shines through the thinnest of cracks to give life back unto you. That light for which you once saw regularly became muddled over time as you dove deeper and further into the darkness....blindly wandering through time...and tides...and drift. The tide could only carry you so far until you had to paddle...for survival...for life...for love. Inside of you grew a light that could not be silenced and like the light that broke through the ocean's surface; the same light broke through every ounce of your body and into the life ahead of you. Hold onto it and take it with you on your journey. Take it out when the darkness creeps in, flash it to those who try and silence your light, let the light grow into others so that they too can ascend to the surface and away from the past, away from the darkness....and into the light. Even the darkest shadows recede at some point and when they do, you'll be there to break free for good and carry the strength of your confirmation of life.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship. - Louisa May Alcott

allone

Sometimes it comes down to the time you get by yourself. Sometimes it takes that to come to the conclusion as to what you really want out of life or in life. It's not a bad thing. It happens to all of us. We are alone when we are young, we grow, meet people, sometimes alone in our 20's, some times into our 30's, sometimes married, sometimes divorced and alone. Grow old, widow, become alone. It is finding that point where you are happy with who you are and not who you are with someone else or when the lights are shining. Our best moments usually occur when no one is looking. Helping a stranger, handing out a dollar to a homeless person, holding the door for an elderly person. That's all it takes. Be careful to not be into yourself too much and materialistic things; they will disappear. Support and love and passion can hold on for decades. Centuries. Care for one another. It will come back to you. Sometimes we go through things where it is hard to support someone, but try hard to climb over that obstacle and provide support. Even if it is just quietly wishing the person well in private. I do that. My outside self can't always do it, but my inside self does. If you think you're alone in a big city, on this big planet, any country, you are not. We are all in this together. We are all one. We are not alone. And when you don't think you have a friend....write me...I will be your friend. I will write you. We all need help....in one way or another. We all miss someone. We all want to feel safe. We all want to feel support and love and care. And there is enough of it to go around....

The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness. - Norman Cousins