Independence

I have a friend who is British, but lives in the US. I asked him what he was doing for the 4th. He responded, "Its just another day."

Technically, he is correct. It is just another day. Just another day for Americans to remember the whole point of the origins of our country. Just another day to look at the person across from you and think, I'm glad we're in this country, in this place, where we can disagree without shooting each other (mostly). Just another day to remember that we have the right to disagree with our government and have our words heard. It is just another day.

But like any other holiday, the meaning has gotten obscured by commercialism. Fireworks retailers chuckle madly and rub their hands together as the money rolls in. Food, Alcohol and Fireworks...its the American way.

But, I have friends who have "stood on that wall" between our country and the rest of the world. I might not agree with the administration that put them there...but I respect and appreciate the dedication to their country that put them on that wall.
To them, I say "Thank you!"

Some Beach

Just trying out a newish feature.

Snow Days

Gunmetal clouds obscure what little I can see of the sky from my basement daytime abode. The denizens of my area grow restless as weather reports begin. Snow, snow snow. Its no longer a matter of whether it will snow, but rather how much and when. Unfortunately, the snow will not begin soon enough to cancel work, school or anything worthy of being canceled. Instead, the snow only means that I will be staying home tonight. It won't even rate leaving work early. *sigh*

Fond memories of childhood snow days assail me. Days when the snow blanketed everything, and you no longer heard traffic. Instead, the only sound would be the shushing of snow through trees, and your siblings squabbling in the corner. Who knows why...and here comes the wiffle bat. Its no longer a surprise to me that my parents have gray hair. In retrospect, I'm not sure how they survived our childhood.

Passive Voice

If you asked my sister what is wrong with today's youth, she would tell you "Air conditioning and microwaves are the ruination of man!" Though I think those inventions definitely made life too easy for the general population, I disagree that they are the "ruination of man".

Passive voice is ruining today's youth. If you read their scholastic papers, or writings in the school rag, you will find a commonality: the use of passive voice. The use of passive voice allows the writer to feel comfortable, and distant from the topic. Oddly enough, it also allows the writer to slip any blame or accountability off their plate, and if not onto someone else...at least under the table. That lack of ownership is pervasive and debilitating.

solstice

The name is derived from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (stand still), because at the solstice, the Sun stands still in declination, that is, it reaches a maximum or a minimum(distance from the equator).
(definition courtesy of Wikipedia)

As daylight fades, and nighttime lengthens I ponder impoderables. Have I lived a life worth living? No, that question does not equate a death wish! Simply, I wonder to myself If I have done everything that I should have done. Or, have I shrunk back from life's challenges? Honestly, I think I have done a bit of both. I know that when it comes to experiencing the romantic side of my life, I have fallen short of the ideal. Perhaps I am set in my ways and not open to my options.

Is anyone, really? Or do we have to be metaphorically "knocked up-side the head" to even find love? Cupid...stop with the arrows...try throwing rocks!

So, on the longest night, I will stand still (hopefully, not declining!). Perhaps I will hear in the silence that resides there...an introduction to my options. At the very least, I hope I see the sun returning.

My Regret

Peter S. Beagle wrote "The Last Unicorn". In that book, the main character is a unicorn...the last unicorn. Unicorns have, amongst their many intriguing talents, a lack of regret. I really identify with that trait. I do not wish to regret my life, or any part of it.

Until recently, I attempted to live without regrets and have been largely successful. But something about lengthening nights gives me time to ruminate about my life, and things that I actually do regret.

I regret not sending out more cards to friends at holidays...God knows how much I enjoy them, it is time to return some of that feeling to others.

I regret saying "No" more often than "yes".

I regret that it took me six years to learn fallability.

I regret missed opportunities. It is so difficult to look back and realize that if I'd only had my eyes and heart open, my life could have taken a completely different path.

And now, words of wisdom about regret.

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. -Alexander Graham Bell

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. -Harriet Beecher Stowe

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -Sydney J. Harris

All I can say...bring on longer days, they chase the melancholy away.

Submit and accept

Submit, meaning to yield. Accept, meaning to endure without protest or reaction. These are arguably two of the most difficult words in the English language. Taken at first blush, the terms are simple, elegant even. These concepts find their most common habitat in religion. "Submit to the will of God" or "accept life's challenges as gifts from God, not obstacles in your way."

Yet, taken out of a religious context, these words still evoke powerful response. Our society reveres those who struggle, who refuse to yield. We constantly root for the underdog who fights to win past insurmountable odds(eg. Rocky Balboa).

To submit does seem powerless, at first. That is, until you recognize that to submit is a choice, an action to be taken. Having a choice gives you power. Accepting that choice with grace and determination only lends more power to that choice.

Think upon Voltaire's Candide for a moment. The final lines of which are

There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for, in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love of Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into the Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot; had you not run the Baron through the body; and had you not lost all your sheep, which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts."

"Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden."

Meditations on Truth and Honesty

Can honesty be taken too far? How far is that distance? Is it where a spoken truth reaches deep inside, roots about in your gizzard, right next to the cockels of your heart? Perhaps on its journey through your innards, that truth even changes your perceptions of the world around you.An uncomfortable feeling to be sure.

I'm not talking about simply making a true statement of fact. Anyone can do that, and still remain comfortable to their companions. I am referring to the type of truth that resonates something deep in the human soul and speaks of a common condition. Truth can expose things better left hidden, truth can heal, truth can harm.

Truth is a monster under the bed, you can ignore it most of the time, but when you are alone and vulnerable, it is there...waiting for you to acknowledge it. It requires strength of character, intestinal fortitude and moral fiber to face truth, acknowledge it, and let it change you for the better.