So you can walk on water ? ~ Khalil Gibran ~

~You are no better than a twig floating on a puddle.
~You can fly through the air ?
~You are no better than this gnat buzzing around my head.
Master your own heart then maybe you can be somebody.
*
The earth on which we live silently
~remembers the catastrophes of our history;
~but if we listen to the silence of the earth
~it will remind us of the fate of those who lived before us,
~and from whose suffering we may yet learn.
*
History is dedicated to those who went before us,
~so that, upon reflection, we can learn from them,
~without repeating their mistakes,
~experiencing or inflicting their pain.
*
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
~Life must be understood backward.
~But it must be lived forward.
*
Act mindfully.
~Accept entirely.
~Move strongly.
~Think softly.
~Speak beautifully.
~Live simply.
~Love completely.
*
Believe in a love that is being
~stored up for you like an inheritance
~and trust that in this love
~there is a strength and a blessing,
~out beyond which you do not have to step
~in order to go very far.
*
The gift is Not how much you ARE loved,
~the gift is how much you are ABLE TO love.
*
Every new beginning
~comes
~from some other beginning's end.
*
Let your Life lightly dance
~on the edges of time
~like dew on the tip of a leaf.
~*~

The Day the Earth Stood Still and all the People of the Earth Cried for America and for those from 80 other Countries who also died with our Own - has come and gone.  I breathe a silent sigh of relief that no catastrophe occurred again.  I know it is silly to be superstitious and at the same time I think it would be very unhealthy not to be cautious.   Even though the House of Saud is no longer the Ruling Authority , I do believe that there are many who wish to revenge the death of the man most hated and most sought by our Country for so many decades.  I thank God daily for our courageous and loyal dedicated servicemen who took him out of this lifetime.  I also believe in a special kind of Hell for the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, dictators, extreme regime leaders, Hussein and Bin Laden.  Serial killers et al.   I needed no excuse in my book to go after them.  Now that these last two are out of the way, much of the steam from their train may be missing and we should pull back and bring our men and women home to their families and start working on the security of our homeland. 

We really should be working on our infrastructure, rebuilding our interstates, refilling our firestations and our law enforcement ranks, bringing back fine teachers into our schools and retraining parents on How to Parent responsibly and effectively - so that the children of today do not "feel entitled" and learn that for their actions there are consequences.   My own son has learned this only too well in these last 8 years and I cry with hurt, shame and at a sense of loss so profound that I have yet to find the words to even voice my pain and disbelief at all that he has done wrong.  I raised them both the same way.  The same rules, the same principles, the same disciplines, the same schools, the same functions.  It would be so easy to blame the physical violence he endured that his sister did not.  The emotional torture in front of his peers that she did not.  To be a young lad and to be shamed and sacrificed as the son of the coach - for actions that were not of his doing, to take it for the team - what does that teach a young mind that is in the adolescent stages of growth, definition and refinement.  To be abandoned over and over, kicked to the curb worse than a dog while his sister took refuge in her bedroom or at her job.  Maybe there is rhyme or reason in this. 

I do not know.  And I cannot pinpoint when or what changed the course of his character that would lead him down the road of breaking laws and laughing at the sky.  For hating so deeply and rebelling so viciously.   We all have our own private hell, and I can only imagine what each of theirs must be like.  I know only too well what mine feels like.   I will always wonder what I could have possibly done differently.

 " Life must be understood backward, But Life must be lived forward"

To truly understand and comprehend this one statement is my goal right now.  I struggle against the tears daily for as much as I am proud of both of them and as much as I realize I am no longer the One in charge of making sure their lives turn out to be the very best that they can live it to be, I also am deeply hurt and puzzled.   Maybe the wild kingdom really does have it right and maybe we humans got it wrong somewhere along the way.  Raise them up teaching them the very basics of survival, then cut them loose and walk away.  Never look back for they are on their own.  And what happens to them is part of the Circle of Life.  It seems like a cruel and callous way to treat another human being, especially when that being lived inside one's own womb for so long and the bonds were so strong before birth.  I loved each of them as deeply as I could.  I punished their behaviour when they misbehaved.  I cuddled them when they were scared; patched them up when they were hurt; listened to their sorrows, their stories, their dreams, their hopes and their fears.  I was present in their lives by giving up my own ambitions and my own dreams, I dedicated my life to theirs as fully as I could. 

And I cannot walk on water, I Am but a twig floating on a puddle and I am no better than a gnat buzzing around their heads.  I am after all just as human as all the humans that created history before me.  At the core of my existence, there can be much pain in my  growing up years.  I could be angry or resentful about many occasions when life "did not seem fair".  The many years when my bedroom was no bigger than a closet or Was the laundry room.  When all I had were books and my brothers had at least each other.  When they got clothes from the store and I wore clothes sewn at home.  Looking back, mom did make some pretty snazzy dresses.  They looked just as good as the store bought of the other girls.  That did not mitigate all the ugliness towards me while at school.  Learning early on that intelligence did not make friends. Trying to love everyone for who they were did not keep friends.  It still does not and thankfully, it no longer matters.  For I have learned many lessons growing up as I did.   That Love really does heal many wounds.  Love comes in many disguises and rank and file.  

The practice of Unconditional Love
starts with the full acceptance of ourselveves,
just as we are

And that being able to Love someone matters More than how much you love them.  This is the Key.  The being able to.  Being open and willing to.  Accepting someones' faults as being a part of who they are and loving them anyway.  That this lesson is not always known or reciprocated is a harsh reality of this human life.  The wild kingdom got this one right.  Love them completely and fully and then out the nest they go to love somewhere else.  If there is imperfection or frailty, kill it.  We do not do this in the human world and this makes us humane.  Instead we beat it up, make fun of it, taunt and malign, tear apart and try to destroy that which either IS imperfect or makes a person Feel imperfect.  

This is where we as humans have much to learn about history.  For it is in this lesson, that we have so much need of change.   In looking in the mirror, what do we really see.  Do we really see Love or do we see what we Think the rest of the world sees.  Does it matter?  It would seem it does.  Many have not learned that it really does not matter what the world sees.  It truly Does matter what each sees in the mirror.  If we Cannot Love ourselves exactly as we are, imperfections and abundance and all ... then how can we step out into the world and Love others? 

The strength and blessings that come from loving ourselves as being created equally correct by the Divine, gives us the strength and the blessing to love others the same as we love ourselves.  I am speaking of love from the heart and soul.  Not of the body.  The love of all that is created in the likeness of the Divine in each of us.  From this love, the attribute of Forgiveness flows.  From forgiveness flowing, then we might see the changes in the history that we are creating.   Because Love and Forgiveness is not just for the weak and imperfect, it is also for the strong and the brave, the fierce and the mad.  

In this, I find the dichotomy of being human, rather than of the wild kingdom.  For in the wild kingdom, the one who would be a dictator and act only for selfish gain, is quickly cast off to die alone in solitary existence.  In the human kingdom, doing this would be considered cruel and inhumane.  So how inhumane is it to slaughter thousands or millions because of their differences when this is not from Love and Forgiveness?  How inhumane is it to physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally destroy your very own offspring or loved ones out of a lack of Love and Forgiveness for Oneself.  How inhumane is it to keep oneself locked in an ivory tower and storing riches and foods and wealth beyond measure, when ones kingdom is ragged, poor and of illness so terrible it lays waste all the living?   How inhumane is it to be so rich, one does not see the rest of humankind so poorly destitute.

Siddhartha learned this when he scaled the walls of his father's palace.  And he gave up all of his inheritance to walk the earth and become enlightened, one of total Peace.  Gandhi and  MLK Jr. lived the concept of civil disobedience or NonViolence to bring about changes in civil rights and freedoms in the treatment of the "different ones" ( in these cases minorities and women, or those of lesser caste systems ) The point being, that history is not only filled with those that Hated, it is replete with those who Loved and Forgave.  Who in giving up everything and everyone they gave Themselves to prove that Love and Forgiveness creates Change.  For the better.   There is an ending of one way to enable the beginning of a new way.  It is very near at hand.  I hope to lightly dance on the edge of time.