Shining Thru

People’s different impression of God is so vastly different…some different cultures have multiple gods…some people believe in more a guiding force like fate or something similar….even all of the people who believe in the one all knowing…all seeing God..have incredibly different opinions of the personality (for lack of a better word) of that God….some people believe that he is all fire and brimstone..just waiting to throw you into hell…while others believe that is all loving and ever forgiving….some people believe that there is simply a higher life form such as aliens that live as we do, but are much more advanced and therefore have god like qualities. 

People’s beliefs are really interesting to learn about.  Especially believes on things that have no proof one way or the other.  At the very least, sometimes people can surprise you and give you something to think about that never would have crossed your mind otherwise…that is if you’re open to hearing other people’s beliefs and opinions. 

What is also very interesting is how our society pushes certain impressions of things like God and aliens….I once heard someone say that if a giant monster landed in a round or square space ship and came out with eight arms some people still wouldn’t believe that it was an alien…because we “know” what aliens look like…I am willing to bet that if we took a poll we would get just about the same answer from at least 90% of the population when asked to describe an alien.  They have been depicted for years and even generations now in movies and on TV, much less in books and comic books. 

How much influence does Society have on our beliefs?  What opportunities have we all missed because we refuse to see what is right in front of us or listen to something that seems off the wall just because we haven’t heard it before?

It is strange the things that can make a person feel safe and secure.  The things that make you feel at peace and at home….maybe a stuffed animal from when you were little, a lucky coin someone important in your life gave you, or even knowing that the person you love is nearby. 

It’s strange how when that thing that makes you feel safe and secure, at home…is missing, how quickly you can feel like something is off in your life..something is off balance and out of sorts…..

It’s pretty interesting what each person finds important in their life…the things that you can’t live without…unfortunately I think that sometimes people don’t realize the importance of some things until they are gone…sometimes forever.  But I think that other people are lucky enough to realize the great value in things other than material wealth.  Although some people are perfectly content living to gain money and wealth, fame and fortune…but that’s not for everyone.  I think that most people are searching for something deeper than that…something that makes you feel secure in the fact that it can never be taken from you.  For me that thing is the true love for one person, the person that you know you don’t want to live without, the one person that you want to live with for the rest of your life.  Emotional security is sometimes hard to find, but I think if you have love and trust, you will find all of the safety and security that you are looking for. 

When you do find the things that you have been longing for all of your life, don’t let go, enjoy the warmth and security that they bring and trust that everything else will work out.  The details are irrelevant when you know you have found love…at least for me.

What makes a person realize their potential?  What makes a person realize who they are?  What makes a person an adult…the person that they will become?  Are we ever fully developed?  I hope I always continue to grow and learn….but I started to think about all of the things that I went through and challenged myself with…all of the places I went and people I met in order to really feel like I know who I am as a person…It really makes me wonder about the teenagers who think that they have the rest of their live planned…or the adults that only have the reason for being where they are in life as that is what they have always planned for themselves…but how can you know where life is going to take you..if you don’t allow for the things that happen in life that you can’t account for…think about all of the opportunities that people miss out on..all of the growing experiences, all of the new people, all of the life experience stories…all of the things that build a person’s character.  I feel bad for these young kids moving in together…thinking that they have met their soul mate even though they have never been outside of their home town, have never had a chance to discover who they are as an individual, but will simply settle for what came easy to them….

Maybe that’s how midlife crisis breakdowns happen…all of these people who realize that they never lived for themselves, jumped right into living with someone and living in a relationship…maybe even a family.  I think that a relationship and a family are beautiful things, but I don’t know how you can continue to be happy in any relationship if you don’t know who you are first….

It’s amazing at how great it can make you feel simply to see the person that you love…to be able to spend time with them and be in their arms for a bit.  It’s amazing at how such a simply sounding thing can make a huge difference in the way you feel emotionally…I know for me it puts me on an emotional high…I just feel good and feel like I’m smiling all of the time. 

I think that part of the reason it makes such a big difference to simply see the person that you love is because feeling alone is usually the saddest feeling in the world.  Feeling like you have to go through something hard alone is difficult, and it’s hart to keep your own spirits up…just simply knowing that you love someone who loves you back makes a huge difference and I think can help you get through anything that life throws at you.  I think that it makes a huge difference just knowing that you don’t have to carry your feelings, thoughts, and burdens alone…knowing that there is someone willing to simply hold you and tell you that it’s ok, or give you a hug and a kiss and make you feel alive and loved…knowing that there is goodness in the world or there wouldn’t be love.

Perceptions bend reality

Looking through a tunnel

You only see the small light

Looks enjoyable, go to the other side

Might not be what you expect

Might be better, might be worse

Viewing perceptions of another

Looking deeper than your own thoughts

Can be useful, can cause pain, can create understanding

Perceptions change, everything effects them

But what you see, is not likely what they see

Consider the other side of the table

Consider another’s view point

How can you stand against something you don’t understand

How can you judge something you don’t know about

How can you live only seeing one point of view

What is so important it is worth dying for?  Is there any cause that is worth standing up for to the point that you are willing to put your life on the line?  On the other hand, how much of your own beliefs and way of life are you willing to put aside for any reason?  Some people die within themselves, maybe because they want to blend in, maybe they don’t want to cause problems or tension, maybe they want to get ahead in a job or career…whatever the reason, where do you draw the line?

Watching a movie called Swing Kidstoday got me wondering if I would be able to stand up for what I believe in when everyone around me is sending the opposite message.  The movie is about a group of teenage boys who live in Germany during WWII.  These boys didn’t want to join the Hitler Youth, but two of them are forced into it; exposed to propaganda every day and expected to act a certain way.  The boys thought it would end up being the perfect cover:  “Hitler Youth by day and Swing Kid by night”.  Unfortunately, the boys get caught up, one more than the other.  One of the boys figures out that it really is all propaganda and that he could never be a Nazi and live with himself.  It takes his friend almost killing him and seeing him taken away to a work camp to come around and remember what he believes in.

Could I stand up for what I truly believe in?  What if doing so put my family and friends in danger?  I would hope I would never compromise myself because of a need to fit in with a popular crowd or teaching.  On the other hand, I can’t imagine ever putting my loved ones in harms way because of a personal cause…so where is the line?  How do we know when is the time to fight and when is the time to lay low?

Sometimes it’s hard to see the beauty through the clouds

The dark but non threatening clouds that hang about

Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the beauty in front of you

It can be right in front of us and yet we miss it some how

Maybe we’re preoccupied…maybe we’re simply not looking

I wonder how many things people miss every day, gorgeous sites that everyone should love and appreciate and yet they’re not even noticed because of the way we live our lives…..

Our culture is so face paced these days…when was the last time you could take a step back and appreciate the beauty right in front of you, maybe in a person, maybe in nature, maybe in an atmosphere???  I believe there is beauty around us most of the time, it just depends if it can shine through to distract us from our problems or stress….or be bright enough to make us look up from our scheduled lives….

Always on the clock, tic toc, tic toc….Most of us fall into the nice little routine, which is fine but then what if you deviated just long enough to see a beautiful waterfall…or stop to appreciate the power of the lightening in the storm…or the charm of your own home???  What things do we lose every day by allowing ourselves to fit into a mold?

Why are we told that expressing certain feelings are wrong when we are young to the point that when we are adults we feel shame when we feel certain things or begin to cry for one reason or another?  Why are we told that we need to hide our problems?  Everyone has problems and I think it’s important that we help each other through those and be strong for each other.  Sometimes it might be hard to stand by someone not knowing how it will effect you in the future, but it is more important to be strong for the person that you love and care about. 

Is it possible to be strong for someone else while still feeling free and being sensitive to your own feelings?  Your own desires?  Your own fears?  I think sometimes it’s impossible to deal with both and a person needs to put their own feelings and issues aside to help a loved one…but because you love them it’s worth it….

I wish we could always help the people that we love and care about…but sometimes we can’t…sometimes we can only be there for them and keep on loving them.  Especially with life changing decisions there is only one person that can make that call and that is the person at the center of it.  But it’s important that we love them and support them in their decision because it’s their life, it’s as simple as that. 

Decisions are hard enough to make without having to feel alone in the process.  Loneliness is probably the most horrible feeling in the world…so hold the people you are in love with close and let them know that they are not alone, and that they will always be loved.

Loving tenderness

Hidden in the forest of woes

Love that outlasts anything

Never ending

Never faltering

But only if you trust it

Loving warmth

That will always be there

To hold you in it’s arms

To cuddle in the night

Love that doesn’t leave

Never grows tired

And never wavers. 

The warmth that no storm can blow out

The warmth that stands there strong

Strong enough to hold you up

Strong enough to never let you fall

A warmth that is burning in your soul

In your heart where it can’t be pinched out

Where it can’t feel the rain of the dark clouds

Love and warmth between two that is always there.

A warm truth that can’t be denied, really being in love.

“If you know I have a history, then you will respect me.”  I thought this was a very interesting quote when I came across it today in a book called, Black Indians:  A Hidden Heritage.  I think that this speaks volumes on why sometimes race becomes such an issue, I think that although some people are still just hateful, I think that a lot of it has to do with ignorance and the lack of knowledge of another’s culture, with that the lack of interest or want to understand.  Unfortunately, I think that a lot of people are raised to think that their culture is what’s “normal” and that there really isn’t a need to understand anyone else’s culture.  I think this is one of the saddest things about our American culture.  I think that it is sad how we only seem to teach about the white people in history, any minorities in the book might get a paragraph or two, but yet they can find a whole section or chapter devoted to a white person who did similar things, or things that effected our history and our culture just as much.  I think that it is important that we are exposed to different ways of life…what happens when something does happen on a global scale and we need to be able to accept another country’s way of life when we can’t even accept a lot of the culture differences that we have right here in America…what is even worse in my opinion is that a lot of people don’t even want to recognize that there are culture differences here in America, but there are…what kind of justice and respect are we giving to those differences if we wont even recognize that they exist….being exposed to culture differences and accepting them hardly makes you a racist, I think it makes you much more respectful of other cultures. 

I wonder how things would have been different as far as civilian support for some of the wars we have been through if we would have known about other countries’ cultures???  Makes me wonder why we think that the “American way” is the right way, or the only way….why can’t other cultures do as they see fit and have our respect?  I understand that there are some things that we have been brought up to believe in as wrong, but some of the people that we think are being oppressed, like their culture and their way of life and will tell you in a heart beat that they don’t want it any other way. 

A great example of this is cultures that make their women be completely covered other than their eyes..in America women have been taught that they need to fight for equal rights and not let any man hold them back and blah blah blah….not that our freedoms aren’t great, but I have heard testimony from some of these women who say that they like that they have to dress that way because it forces a man to respect them for who they are instead of just what they look like…I thought it was a really interesting take on it and not one that I would have come up with on my own.  I think it is really important that we take the time to consider someone else’s point of view.

Why don’t we take the time to learn and teach our younger generations respect for other cultures even if they are different?  What would be so wrong about having your child appreciate and respect someone for their differences instead of condemning them?