Living Life

Express gratitude.

When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.

Cultivate optimism.

Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.

Avoid over-thinking and social comparison.

Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority.  Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out!  If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made.  What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place.  If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.

Practice acts of kindness.

Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.

Nurture social relationships.

The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships.  Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely?  WHOA!  There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.  We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.

Develop strategies for coping.

How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character.  Sometimes crap happens – it’s inevitable.  Forrest Gump knows the deal.  It can be hard to come up with creative solutions in the moment when manure is making its way up toward the fan.  It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal.

Learn to forgive.

Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being.  You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.  When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system.  You put yourself in a state of suckerism (technical term) and it stays with you throughout your day.

Increase flow experiences

Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still.  It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task.  Action and awareness are merged.  You’re not hungry, sleepy, or emotional.  You’re just completely engaged in the activity that you’re doing.  Nothing is distracting you or competing for your focus.

Savor life’s joys.

Deep happiness cannot exist without slowing down to enjoy the joy.  It’s easy in a world of wild stimuli and omnipresent movement to forget to embrace life’s enjoyable experiences.  When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic.  It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them.

Commit to your goals.

Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force.  Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere.  When you’re fully committed to doing something, you have no choice but to do that thing.  Counter-intuitively, having no option – where you can’t change your mind – subconsciously makes humans happier because they know part of their purpose.

Practice spirituality.

When we practice spirituality, religion, or faith, we recognize that life is bigger than us.  We surrender the silly idea that we are the mightiest thing ever.  It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists.  Some of the most accomplished people I know feel that they’re here doing work they’re “called to do.”

Take care of your body.

Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be.  If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected.  Did you know that studies conducted on people who were clinically depressed showed that consistent exercise raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?  Not only that, but here’s the double whammy… Six months later, the people who participated in exercise were less likely to relapse because they had a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

A SMALL HORROR STORY

     This day it had light out, mother called me retch "you retch,” she said. I saw in her eyes the anger; I wonder what it is? A retch. 

     This day it had water falling from upstairs. It fell all around. I saw that. The ground of the back I watched from the little window. The ground sucked up the water like it was thirsty. It drank too much and it got sick and runny brown. I didn't like it. This day mother let me off the chain a little so I could look out the little window. That’s how I saw the falling water upstairs.

     This day it had hurt light in the upstairs. As I know when I looked at it my eyes hurt. After I looked at it the downstairs is red. I can see out the little window all I like. In this day when it got dark I eated all my food and some bugs. I hear laughs upstairs. I like to know why there are laughs upstairs for. I tooked the chain from the wall and wrapped it around me. I went up and opened the door. I went in and stood quiet. I walked to the sound and looked through at the people. Mother came out and pushed the door in. it hit me and hurt. I fell back on the smooth floor and my chain made a noise. I cried. She made a noise in her and put her hand over her mouth. Her eyes got big. She looked at me. I heard father call. "What fell?" he called. She said a iron board. Come and help me pick it up she said. He came. He saw me and grew big. The anger came in his eyes. He hit me. Father told me to go back to the cellar. I had to go. The light it hurt some now my eyes. "Oh god," he said "and only eight"

     This day father hit in the chain again before it had light. I have to try to pull it out again. He said I was bad to come upstairs. He said never do it again or he would beat me hard. That hurts. I hurt. I slept the day and rested my head against the cold wall. I thought of upstairs.

     This day I got the chain from the wall. Mother was upstairs. I heard little laughs very high. I looked out the window. I saw all little people like the little mother and little father too. They are pretty. They are like mother and father. One of the little fathers saw me. He pointed at the window. I let go and slid down the wall in the dark. I curled up so they would not see me. I heard their talks by the window and foots running. Upstairs there was a door hitting. I heard the little mother call upstairs. I heard heavy steps. I hurried to my bed place. I hit the chain in the wall and laid down. I heard mother come down. "Have you been at the window?” she said. I heard anger. Stay away from the window. You have pulled out the chain again. She took the stick and hit me with it. I didn't cry. I can't do that. I heard the stick go bounce on the stone floor. She ran upstairs. I slept the day.

     This day it had water again. When mother was upstairs I heard the little mother come slow down the steps. I hided myself in the coal bin for mother would have anger if the little mother saw me. She had a little live thing with her. It walked on arms and had pointy ears. She said things to it. It was alright except the live thing smelled me. It ran up the coal and looked down at me. It jumped on me. I didn't want to hurt it. It bit harder than the rat does. I hurt and the little mother screamed. I grabbed the live thing tight. It made sounds I never heard before. I pushed it all together. It was all lumpy and red on the coal. I hid when mother called. I was afraid of the stick. She left. I creeped over the coal with the thing. I hid it under my pillow and rested on it. I put the chain in the wall again.

     This is another time. Father chained me tight. I hurt because he beat me. This time I hit the stick out of his hands and made noise. He went away and his face was white. He locked the door. I am not so glad. All day it is cold in here. The chain comes slow out of the wall. And I have anger bad with mother and father. I will show them. I will do what I did that once. I will screech and laugh and be loud. I will run on the walls. Last I will hang down by my legs and laugh. Until they are sorry they didn't be nice to me.

     If they try to beat me again I will hurt them.

I will...

BARRIER

Between the plan and the fulfillment lies always the hazard. Heartbeat flutters, knife flashes, horses stumble, cancer grows, more subtle foes invade...

     Then they sit around the fire at the cave mouth and say "what shall we do now that he is no longer here to lead us?" or while the great bell tolls, they gather in the courtyard and say "it should not have happened so. Who will now give us counsel?" or they meet at the street corner and sadly say "why did it have to be this way, there is no other to take his place."

     Through all history it runs the same. "If the young king had not fallen...if the prince had lived...if the general had not so recklessly exposed himself...if the president had not overworked himself..."

     Between the plan and the fulfillment stands always the barrier of a human life.

DISHARMONY

           Some people are incredibly sensitive to sound.  It’s hard to describe how they hear – but they are usually very aware of dissonance, especially and particularly in music.  I’ve seen some literally cringe when someone sings or plays a wrong note.  Disharmony in music grates on them in a way that most other people just don’t get. (A ‘fingernails on a chalkboard’ kind of thing)

So, now that I’ve explained this peculiarity........... Here I am in a new church, with a band and a whole sanctuary full of singers (squawkers, warblers, thunderers, off-beat, out-of-sync, can’t-carry-a-tune, don’t-know-the-words, etc.).......... And now there is a problem.  Try a move to a different area of the sanctuary. Try moving a second time.  Sometimes I’ve even seen them leave during the singing.

But God is so cool!!!  One morning He showed me a picture of each and every singer.  They were in their perfect place, surrounded by voices that were perfectly suited to match and complement and blend with and enhance their own.  Wow, oh wow!!  Every single person fit into this angelic chorus of voices.  Not one was out of tune.  It all fit together so incredibly that I can’t find enough words to describe it.  And God showed me that here on Earth, things are not perfect, and voices are missing, and that is why the chorus doesn’t always sound good to me – because not everyone has “taken their place along the wall”, so-to-speak.  We need to have everyone jointly fitted in.  We need to have the complete choir.

  

Keeping this picture, this concept in mind, you’ll find that you’re not so upset and impatient with that discord you’re hearing. You might even find yourself singing all the more passionately, longing for the time when every voice is surrounded by its perfect complement, mixing in glorious harmonies like nothing else you’ve ever experienced before.

Into Another Place

 When nothing seems to fit

anymore.

When nothing seems to make much sense

either.

When you are constantly feeling

out of place.

And your surrounding seem unfamiliar

though you’ve been there before

many times.

When friends and family seem not to be

family and friends.

When things just don’t feel

right anymore

inside or out.

Maybe it’s God

leading you in His own way

into another place.

Loss of One Half

Loss of One Half

Loss can be the hardest thing to deal with at times, but it is also a teacher that’s one of the most difficult to ignore. Grief can destroy you or it might give focus that you’ve never known before. You can decide that a relationship was all for nothing if it ended with a death, leaving you alone in the world.

Or you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time, maybe there was so much meaning that it scared you, so you just lived , just took for granted the love and laughter of each day, and didn’t allow yourself to consider the “sacredness” of it. But when it’s over and you’re alone, you begin to see, to remember that it wasn’t just dinner and a movie together, not just watching sunsets or sunrises together, not just cleaning up together, or worrying about this bill or that bill. It was all of it, the good with the bad; it was the “why” of life, every single event, and precious moment of it.

The answer to this mystery of existence always seems to come down to the love that you have shared, not always perfect, sometimes it might be quite imperfect. But then loss can wake you up to the deeper beauty of it, the depth of the shared love, to the sanctity of it, you might find that you  can’t get off your knees for a long time. You’re driven to your knees not by the weight of the loss but by the intense gratitude for what went before the loss.

The ache is there and it will always be there to some degree, but one day, maybe not in the near future, but definitely sometime in the future, the emptiness will be gone. To nurture the emptiness, to take solace in this emptiness, to feed it, is to disrespect the gift of the life just lived and all that came with it.

Travellers

     Red sand crunched beneath his boots as he limped away from the wreck. In the distance a red-yellow glow filtered skyward from the earth settlement he had seen from the air and it was toward that he headed. Perhaps he would find shelter there, he didn't fool himself though, and rooms would be very hard to come by. According to the few radio reports that had been received on earth, mars was the rat race supreme. People came to mars faster than shelters could be erected. They came in jet controlled sardine cans, packed tight, they came in private spacers and some even made it in small statocruisers converted by various methods into something not quite fit for space travel.

     But most would have made the trip in wooden crates holding their breath all the way if it could be arranged. Even sleeping on frigid Martian sand was said to be better than sleeping on a warmer but somewhat insecure earth. At least on mars you had a chance of being alive in the morning.

     He had walked for almost an hour when the hotel came into sight. It was small and cheap looking. It squatted at the edge of the settlement, and it's plastic exterior was discolored and crumbling. The traveler stepped through the door into the neon lighted lobby.

     Red sand had drifted into the lobby, but the night clerk took no notice. He was looking at nothing, absentmindedly clenching and unclenching a fist as though holding and releasing something.

     The traveler stopped brushing the dust from his clothing and stared at the clerk. After waiting a while he cleared his throat and said quietly

     "I’d like to have a room".

The night clerk started and looked up, "what?"

     "A room?"

     "Oh, yeah, sure" the clerk straightened up and wiped bloodshot eyes with a sleeve, automatically shoving the register forward.

     "Plenty of room" he said tiredly "room for everybody"

The traveler took the pen and scratched his name in the register, "odd." he mused "I heard that all the immigrants trying to get off earth have filled all the hotels and the prices had gone through the roof.

The clerk’s eyes went wide, "I know. Believe me I know. I did it myself, jack up the prices, up till a couple of days ago." his voice turned bitter "then I did it once too often."

     The traveler looked at the red eyes and decided that the man had either been crying or had lost a lot of sleep, maybe both.

     "What happened?" his curiosity aroused.

     "Once in a lifetime it happens" the clerk went on almost as though to himself "once in two thousand years, and more.... And I had to turn them away because they didn't enough money! Because I want to get a few lousy bucks extra for the rooms! Now I’ve got plenty of rooms. Everyone else is in the next town. They’d all be here if I hadn't turned away those two, I could have been famous" his voice rose "famous!"

     The traveler raised his eyebrows. "Sure you could" he said unbelievingly, "you could have been famous."

     "If only I’d known," the night clerk moaned. "If only I’d thought." desperate fingers took the travelers arm "but how was I supposed to know that something like that was going to happen again? I’m no psychic! A guy goes along trying to save a couple of bucks here and there for his family, is that wrong? What else can I do? We been here ten years on this planet, and it's still no place for a family, not with a couple of kids. You got to scrape to get along.

     "It’s not easy" the traveler agreed "but it's a lot healthier than being on earth these days."

     "Yeah" the clerk breathed "but then this happens. If only I’d known...the opportunity! I’d be rich! Famous! I’d be great, have kings in the hotel!"

     "What are you babbling about?"

     The night clerk said, "a man and his wife came to the hotel a couple of days ago. Young but not to young, mature like. And nice looking. They wanted a room. They weren't too well off, probably took most of their money to get here from earth."

     "And you turned them away?"

     "Well how was I to know?" he defensively shot back "lots of women have babies and a guy can't afford to be chicken hearted. Not on mars, I’ve got a wife and a couple of kids to support myself. Sure I had a room. A couple of them. But there's always people who can pay a lot more for them than this guy could."

     "Go on."

     "I told him that there weren't any rooms. '"We’ve searched everywhere"' he told me, and he thanked me anyway. Then he turned and put his arm around his wife and they left. I felt sorry for them. Honest, I did. I wanted to yell out and say "sure I’ve got a room" but I didn't. I wish now that I had, but I didn't because they'd have known that I was lying before. So---" his voice held an infinite regret "so I let them go.

     Distaste showed on the traveler’s face. Even on mars! Even after seeing what a mess greed had caused back on earth.

     "All right, all right" the clerk almost shouted, seeing the others expression. "Don’t rub it in. sure I did wrong. I know that now. It was right in my fingers and I let it slip through. So I’m a fool. But how could I know? How could I know, even remotely?

     "Did they find a room?"

The clerk shook his head. "The baby was born in a barn."

     "A barn!"

     "That’s a laugh isn't it. Born in a barn full of stinking Martian animals because I turned the man away." he laughed sourly "opportunity right in my hands and I let it go."

     The traveler was puzzled. "But..."

     "Go into the next town," the clerk said nodding in the direction of the earth settlement "see for yourself. This was getting to be a filthy rotten place, just like earth. And then this happens. Things are happening down there too, now. Strange things wonderful things, I suppose, I don't really know, I’m all mixed up. When I think of the chance I had..."

     The traveler started to ask some of the questions forming in his mind, but the night clerk was vacantly staring at nothing and muttering to himself.

     The traveler shrugged and went out into the cool Martian night. Stars were out, the twin moons were high and someplace out there was poor troubled earth, far far away. At the horizon a great golden star shone brightly.

     The traveler started suddenly. That was no star, it was earth. She was bursting at the seams, flaming with sudden final brilliance.

     The traveler felt a deep sick sensation crawling within him. And then he thought of what the night clerk had said.

     It was strange.

     Earth exploding, a brilliant star in the sky. An infant born in a barn. Strange and wonderful things happening to people that needed them. Coincidence of course. Pure coincidence

     And yet...........

     Then the traveler started to walk across the Martian soil toward the earth settlement in the distance.

JESUS I LOVE YOU

I wish you could hear you the way that I do when you sing this. I wasn’t just listening to the voices of the people in this room at this time. I was hearing the voices of every person that has ever expressed their belief and the love of/for Jesus Christ or God. Every single person, living or dead. You have no idea how a sound such as this can fill you up, right into the depths of your very soul. Life and death reverberates with this love and nothing nowhere, no how, can or will be able to defeat or change this love. It’s not just the love of the people for God; it’s the love of everything, everywhere (the whole universe) from all time that comes out in this. It’s so overpowering those mere words that might come out of our mouths pale to insignificance in the expression of the whole concept. We are dealing with Holy Love, no other.

          I can still hear the song and the voices going on quietly in the background of my life. What about yours?

A Question Asked.

A question was asked of me once and this was it.

How come when someone speaks for God or is representing Gods words I just know that it is anointed, I literally get goose bumps as the words are spoken. Yet when someone else speaks in the same way another time I get nothing, only a sense of enduring this until they’re done.

Why is this?

When the Lord speaks through someone it may only be applicable to only one person or a specific group, He is speaking through someone to someone that doesn’t have the ears to hear God directly. He doesn’t necessarily talk to everyone all the time with the same message at the same time. The messages through some are meant for you to hear or understand or maybe just to get you to think or question. I know you’ve had the goose bumps with others speaking so if it doesn’t happen don’t worry unnecessarily that you don’t get that ‘rush’ from the word through others. Perhaps the message is meant for someone else right then. And He has deemed unnecessary that it be heard by you. It is unfortunate that so many get nothing from anyone at any time. Count your blessings that you do hear the Word when you need to hear the Word.  

IMAGE

Seeing a great dark forest as the sun is setting. It’s getting darker and darker as the night moves on. I can no longer see anything other than the stars in the sky and the occasional starlight reflected off of various bodies of water scattered throughout the darkness.

When I begin to think that there is nothing out there I begin to see the occasional flicker of an orange light deep within the darkness of the woods. Moving closer to this flickering light I begin to discern that this is the light of a small fire. Moving closer still I can see that there are three people sitting by this fire in the dark.

I find myself moving into a small clearing now with the fire between myself and the others. Being this close I recognize two of the people as my Cherie and her friend Lana. Between them is a man and he has his arms around each of them, It’s obvious that he is a good friend of theirs but I’m not sure that I recognize him. The three of them are in deep conversation with each other and don’t realize that I am there, on the other side of the fire, watching them.

            The conversation stops for a while and the man in the middle looks up over the fire and directly into my eyes. In that instant I recognize Him and He smiles at me. He speaks to me directly and says quietly,

“These two are my favorites now, and I love them”

When He speaks these words He hugs them tightly and kisses each on the forehead. When this is done He disappears into the night. Leaving myself and them with a peace and calm, deep in the dark forest. With only the stars shining above and the fire crackling below.

Picture This.

            Each of us is treading water in a river, each in an space that moves with the different currents, some fast some slow and maybe some even just spinning around in the same spot caught in an eddy. The waters in which we find ourselves are the trials and tribulations in which we all seem to become stuck in from time to time in our lives, the demons that we find ourselves facing every day. We fight to keep our heads above the waters of our everyday lives. We are being pushed along by these different currents having to deal with our different problems at different times.

            But, in dealing with all this stuff all the time we are unknowingly gaining strengths and knowledge that up till now we haven’t had or needed before. Perhaps some gaining enough to be able to help others that might flow into the current that is life. Helping others that may be having the same or similar struggles but as yet haven’t gained sufficient strength or stamina to survive. In this river called life.

            In keeping our heads above the water we are able to and should be keeping our eyes focused on God above, listening to Him as He tries to direct us to the final destination, the place He wants or needs us to go.

            Perhaps just coming to shore might be the destination of some but others may be following the river right to the end.

            Only God knows, only He can see the river right to its end. Only He has the ability and knowledge to understand fully and decide where or when this journey for each of us will end, or perhaps even to begin another.

            It is only when we make the decision to stop treading the water, when we give up the fight for survival that we can lose sight of God and drown in life. Losing sight of God is death. The end of everything and everybody. We must tread the water to survive and in doing so we become strong enough to fight those currents that push us and pull us where we might not want to go. Strong enough to fight and live.

            With this acquired strength we will grow both as individuals and as a group and God will lead us into shallower waters where we can beat the currents and overcome.

            We can finally come ashore with our families and friends, up out of the waters of trouble, coming ashore to where Jesus is waiting with a towel and a hug. Waiting for us to begin the new life with Him, a new life out of the water.   

God Sounds

God sounds like

spontaneous thoughts

that light upon my mind.

HAND DRUMMING

Playing a drumset

is like

making a really good

pencil sketch

of a picture.

Hand drumming

is like

doing that same picture

in colour.

Both pictures are

of the same thing

but seen from

different viewpoints.

Some nights

Some nights

I feel as though

there are ghosts

out there.

Not just of people

who have died,

but of the people

that we used to be.

And maybe

even the people

that we might have been.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN ME AND HE

ME:      Mornin’ God.

HE:       Hows be you this day eh?

ME:      I’s be fine, hows bout you?

HE:       Oh, fair to middlin, should be better as the day goes on.

ME:      Ya, I know what ya mean.

HE:       You know that I’ll always be around for whatever or whenever.

ME:      Ya I know, but sometimes I forget. My mind (and body) just ain’t what it used to be.   I seem to become more easily distracted as I get older, at least I think I do when I can remember.

HE:       Ya, me too. It seems that there is so much more going on these days, too much to really focus on. But you know it’s a lot easier if you can just learn to focus. I mean really focus.

ME:      Focus? How? Where?

HE:       Learn to focus on what’s really important, and focus where it’s really important. As I told someone one time, don’t sweat the details I’ll take care of those. You can look at the big picture and enjoy it.

ME:        But what’s really important, most of the time just about everything seems to be really important. I just can’t deal with it all, all the time. It’s so overwhelming most of the time. I feel like crawling into a hole and hiding a lot of the time.

HE:       If you listen to me you wouldn’t have this problem. You know what to do because you’ve been shown this. You should know what to do because you’ve been told this. Many, many times. You see the effect that good focus has when it’s utilized. If you focus on what you have been taught by me through others, by me directly, and through your basic common sense (that I gave you by the way) it should be so obvious. A real no-brainer.

You’ve been taught that your focus shouldn’t be in the worldly realm but on the spiritual realm, focus on that and you’ll be focused on me. If you focus on me then the rest will be taken care of by yours truly.

Listen to me. Learn from me. Watch me and emulate me. The best thing in the world right now would be for you to be as much like me as possible. In being like me the problem of focus is non-existent, null and void. Problems as you think of them now become problems as I think of them now, non-entities.

            Simple right?

ME:      It sounds simple when you talk about it but…………….

HE:       Well you keep trying and I’ll keep teaching and between the two of us it will work out. I’m absolutely positive that it will.

Every work of art is an act of faith,

or we wouldn’t bother to do it.

It’s a message in a bottle,

a shout in the dark.

It’s saying,

I’m here and I believe that you are somewhere

 and that you will answer if necessary,

across time, across space, across lives.

though not necessarily in my lifetime.

HERE"S A WEIRD THOUGHT

            What if everyone only has just so many words inside them? A finite quantity of words, spoken or written. Sooner or later you would have to run out of words wouldn’t you? And you wouldn’t know when it was going to happen. You wouldn’t know because each one of us would have a different allotment, it would be different for each one of us, like the way hair colour varies or fingerprint variations. I could be in the middle of a story, and run out of words to use and it would never be finished. I could be using up the words I need for that story by writing this paragraph or even this last sentence. Then what would I do?

A Poem by Robyn Ellis

A Poem for a Semester

 No more patience,

I hate this class

All the questions

I’ll kick their ass

Why don’t people understand this shit?

It’s the simple people I’d like to hit

All the dumb questions people ask,

I need a drink, where’s my flask?

8am I can’t handle this

All they do is moan and piss

The teacher is smart, Mr. Dennis Lee

Why can’t they sit and listen quietly?

What would I do without my classmate friends

We try to make it through the class, until it ends

I stamp my foot, I throw my pen, I complain in someone’s ear

I just can not wait until we have made it through the year

Couldn’t guess we’ve learned so much to date

Ya know… we’ve all got a sphincter, we can ALL relate

You’d never know that we have learned some of this before

Soon I’m gonna snap, you’ll see me headed for the door

I wait for break, I cannot wait, I’m getting kinda mad

But when I complain, I can’t deny, I feel a little bad

But there’s always an exception to the rule, it never can be beat

And I don’t think it relates to how the Asians cut their meat

I appreciate the class notes being sent

But sometimes I just have to vent

I’ll stop now that this has been said

And go back to venting in my head

Robyn Ellis 2005

THE CELLPHONE ACCIDENT

THE CELLPHONE ACCIDENT   September 23, 2011

Last Friday morning I was downtown on Colbourne Street doing some window shopping when I heard an accident outside the store that I was in. I went out to look and saw a late model car up against a light standard with an elderly (he seemed to be at least 100) gentleman sitting very white faced behind the wheel. I went over to him and asked if he was ok and he said he was fine. I looked at the car and saw some damage to the front right bumper where it was sitting against the pole but it seemed very minor (the air bag hadn’t even deployed). A woman was rushing out of the building yelling that she had called 911 and the police were on the way.

            I looked at the man and could see he was still pretty shaken by the whole thing but was at least getting some colour back in his face. I opened the drivers door so he could put his feet out on the ground. I was curious as to what happened and asked him about it, and this is what he told me.

He was just making a slow left turn off of the street and was concentrating on getting into the lot when the “strangest damn thing happened and it scared the s*** out of me. Just as I was turning, my butt started making a gawdawful racket and vibrating. Let me tell you that nearly scared the c*** out of me and now I’m here I am in this mess”. He got out and stood up and we looked at the seat of the car, it wasn’t obvious at first but when he bent down to look closer he saw something tucked into the seat and pulled it out with the strangest look on his face. He was smiling when turned and showed me what was in his hand. Can you guess what he was holding?  A cell phone.  Just an ordinary cell phone. He said with a smile that it belonged to his grand-daughter. It must have fallen from a pocket and become wedged in the seat, just waiting for him to discover it, and somebody must have tried to call her at exactly the wrong moment and now here he was standing around waiting for the police to show up so that he could move on with his life. I saw the police coming into the lot from the street and he said to me that he really was ok and that I didn’t need to wait any more He said that he was actually looking forward to telling the police what happened and expected that everyone would have a chuckle over the whole thing.

As I got into my car I could see that he and the officers all had smiles on and were looking at the phone in his hand. As I drove away I wondered what else, if anything, I might have done here, but all he really needed was a friendly voice and someone to be there until he calmed down. Lastly I wondered what was going to happen when he got home and then told the family (especially the grand-daughter) how his day went.

I agree with the authorities about the dangers of cell phone usage when you’re driving,   but I never ever would have thought of a situation like this. This is just one of those true stories that are definitely to be put into the odd file.

    

LIFT UP

LIFT UP

Lift up the hands.

As the leaves on the trees,

lifting themselves to the heavens.

Lift up my hands.

As the smoke from the fire,

rises above everything around.

Lift up your hands.

Like birds on wing,

climbing above the world in song.

Lift up our hands.

We the living lift up ourselves,

in spirit and mind into the heavens.

Lift up our hands

Rising above the world,

as did the Lord conquering all.

As He did so we can

As He did so we will

As He did.

I AM NOT IN PAIN part 2

            So here I am again, in the hospital, sitting and waiting for someone or something to get me my fix. Not drugs or anything like that, I’m just here for blood. The levels are showing that I’m getting little low again so here I am.

            It’s not early in the morning but neither is it that late, I’m just here a little earlier than I was told to be, But I’m still here alone.  Another fine mess I seem to have gotten myself into again, I think. Still even now I have to say that I am not in pain, nothing is broken, and to the best of my knowledge I’m still not dying any more than I was before. But it’s still going to be a long day, I figure I’ll be here for another  seven hours before I’m released on my own recognizance.

            This time however I am not in a small back room of the ER, this is an organized and sanctioned visit into one of the myriad hidden departments that make up this hospital, oncology. It’s all new to me and somewhat frightening this morning. Here, where I am currently standing they put various medicines and such into a body to try to heal rather than removing things to try to do the same.

            Then, there is light, and I’m told to sit by a nurse that I didn’t know was there. I sat. I am in a room full of comfortable chairs and light and windows. I know that there are walls somewhere but I don’t notice them because now there are bodies seemingly coming out of nowhere to fill this room, people that are here to give and those like myself, to receive. There is a hustle without any bustle everything and everyone has a place to be, a job to do, and it all gets done somehow. During all of this, familiar names are called as if they are family, jokes exchanged and other familial news or plans are given to those that are willing to listen. I feel like I’m sitting on the edge of some kind of oddly extended family gathering, hoping deep down that I might fit in somehow, or at least not do something that I might regret.

            Everyone here that I can see seems unafraid to look at or talk to another person; if your eyes are open you will probably be part of some conversation somewhere.

            Whether it’s the staff of nurses or the patients, everyone there is looking at the people, or talking to the people or listening to the people, rather than looking at, talking at or listening to the diseases that might be found among them.

            It has been a long day sitting in my chair, and having eaten the supplied hospital lunch I am more than ready to depart, but I have to admit the people here have almost made it worth my while because of what I experience among these individuals. People are people and as such should be treated as such, not looked at and treated as diseases.