Shining Thru

Do you ever find yourself in a situation that forces you into realizations that you have been avoiding for awhile?  Denial can be tricky…sometimes it’s a conscious effort to put yourself in denial and not look at all of the facts, and sometimes you don’t even know that you’re there.  A person can fool themselves into thinking that everything is fine as the world crumbles around them.  The mind is a very powerful instrument.  We can make ourselves believe whatever we want and ignore whatever we want.  The imagination can sometimes run away with us though…

Sometimes people let their minds wander into the impossibilities of this world.  Sometimes they just try to create their won perfect world.  A world made of day dreams and imaginary situations that go just as they’ve planned…

Where as the world often times brings ups back to reality with a powerful slap.  Crashing down around us as our bubble of denial is interrupted.  Disturbed, the nerve of the world to interfere with something that someone took all the time to dream up or the facts that have been pushed to the far corners of the mind, to be left there and ignored….

Ignored until the world points them back out, over and over again, until you can no longer ignore them…or at least not without going crazy.  I think that a person can ignore whatever they want, but it’s only a matter of time before their mind starts to slip away from them, before they can’t grasp any part of reality because they’ve pushed it too far way, creating their own handle on things.  Or they can choose to go the other way and embrace reality and let their dreams fall away…crashing down to the ground and below.  Leaving them afraid to hope or dream for anything else, stuck with only the cold reality of this world we live in.

Dreams…….

The soft pastels that fade into the mind

The light that comes from within when you flip off the switch outside

The stars come out

In your dreams is peace

The ocean beat that calms the soul

The clouds of silver, fluffy and sweet

Sunny and beautiful on the cliff side

The colored stones reflect in the clear brilliant blue of the water

Everything drifting and floating

Nothing to hurry for

Nothing to distract

Simply blissful ….

Grabbing the Past

Snatching the moment

Not wanting to let it go

Not wanting time to move

Wanting to stay in the moment

The precious moments that make life happy

The precious moments that make you want to live

The moments that remind you of what beauty is.

We flip through the memories

The pages that have caught the glimpses

The pages that we want to live in

Because those pages have the happy moments

The love that you know

The love that you’ve seen grow

In those pages you can see,

The love and beauty that make life worth living.

The American Dream….so many raced to get to the “New World” to get a new fresh start for themselves for their family.  People have come from all over the world to be American…and yet we seem to easily forget that fact.  Our country is still very negative and degrading towards “outsiders”…but how can there be outsiders when the only people who were here, Native Americans, when the immigrants came, the immigrants killed most of the population?  If Americans are made up of generations that came from other countries, how is it that as a society we are still very unwelcoming to new immigrants…we still fear those that we do not understand.  People like to say things like, “why can’t they be more American?” and “they’re in our country now and need to act like it” or “they need to go back to their country if they don’t like our traditions.”  All too often these types of phrases are spoken, have people really forgotten, or never realized that the American society is a hodgepodge of cultures, traditions, and languages from all over the world.  The perception is that Americans speak English, but many Americans don’t, and many more throughout the time of the United States did not speak English when they first arrived here.  I am willing to be that many of these people who like to speak out against the immigrants now coming to America, are the grandchildren, or great grandchildren of someone who did not speak English here in America.  Besides that, we do not speak a pure form of English, our language has many words and phrases that have been adopted throughout the generations from countries all over the world.  And yet, people have an issue if they want to keep some of the cultural traditions that their ancestors have practiced for as long as anyone can remember.

Some people are quick to say that people should adopted American cultural traditions when they move here, but what most of those people don’t realize is that a lot of the American heroes and traditions are based on lies.  Because America wanted to declare its independence from England, and it was such a new country, they simply made things up, or stretched the truth enough to give people something to celebrate and create a sense of community and nationalism.  What is wrong with people wanting to live in America, be American, while still hanging on to their heritage?  Nothing, besides the ignorance of those people who can’t see that their own traditions are also based on a heritage, they just happen to be in the majority of people with that same heritage and those same customs and traditions. 

Many people don’t realize that like the immigrants that they are speaking out against, or criticizing because they want to celebrate their heritage as they come to a new country, are probably very similar to what their relatives went through when they first arrived in this country.  I think that we need to realize that there isn’t anything to fear in differences of heritage or culture, instead we should embrace and respect each other’s differences and realize that our diversity is what makes us American.  When we are able to live in peace, with acceptance of our diversity, then and only then will I think that we have accomplished “the American Dream”.

The goal of all your hopes and dreams is in sight,

You can see the prize, you are focused, your desire is stronger than ever before…

Do we plunge in or proceed with caution? 

Do we pass over a good thing, even though we trip over it running to the prize?

Or do we see everything and anything …..not kicking things out of the way?

A good thing so close, but feels so cold and distant

A love that has filled your soul, still strongly pounding…burning

Left wanting for the loving arms at the end of the race

The love, security, and passion….all coming together

When your eyes meet, and a smile can’t be controlled

This is the dream, this is what’s in sight

This is what I want.

The burning desire in my mind and heart fills my soul

Love that wont disappear, will always be there….happiness waiting to be tapped to completion. 

A happiness that has started the sparks, and now wants to burn fully, but needs the oxygen of the space in sight.

“There it is.  We get used to everything.  We find hope in anything.”  -  Ender’s Shaddow by Orson Scott Card.

I thought this was a very interesting quote as I was reading along.  I was wondering if it was actually true.  I can remember when a teacher once told me of a motif found in Crime and Punishment which was a square foot of space, someone being trapped in a small space, praying for death, but then when faced with it, they choose to stay where they are.  I wonder if that is how it works for most people?  I wonder if most people will adapt and “get use to” ANYTHING rather than choosing death, or not being alive at that time.  …. it can’t work for everyone, or there wouldn’t be suicide….those people have obviously not been able to adapt, and just get use to their situation…or do they just snap and not give themselves time to get use to it? 

As for hope, it’s a concept that I’ve wondered about quite often…what makes us hope in something…a situation, a person, a religion, a higher being; whatever the thing may be that we find great hope in….what is the reason behind it?  Do we need to feel that there is hope?  Or is there really reason to hope?  What good does having hope do for a person?…..

Are there certain emotions and feelings that we search for in life and don’t feel complete until we find them?  Are some people designed to only search for some of those things while others crave to experience all of them?  Does everyone have need of “hope”?  What if they are in their perfect situation?  What about a person who has gotten so use to not having something that they no longer feel hope for anything, have no ambition, have not need for the emotional comfort of hope, since it has only let them down in the past?  What about the people who secretly hope, but don’t want to admit it to anyone, sometimes even themselves?  They want to hope, they still have this “need” for it, but have been let down so many times that they don’t want to give it another chance to knock them down again. 

Are these things instilled in most of us and we just adjust to what we do with the needs and desires we are designed with?  Or are they things that society has drilled into us as needing?  Maybe it’s neither of these options….

I think that we have sold the younger generation short by telling them that they can do anything and become anyone that they want to be.  We make them feel like they are entitled to whatever they want, which is only limited by their imaginations.  there is nothing wrong with wanting our kids to be more successful than us, but to make that happen.  I think we need to introduce them to reality instead of only letting them dream.  Dreams are not bad things, but if the youth of today has never had to work hard for anything and don’t know how to make a plan to achieve a goal, if they simply expect things to happen then those dreams will never be reality.  No matter how hard they wish for and blame the world for their problems, if they were never taught responsibility and hard work, they will end up with nothing. 

I don’t think it’s fair that we are teaching all kids that everyone should go to college, no matter if they are inclined to academics or not.  I don’t think it’s fair that we are not encouraging our youth to follow the trades that they have a passion for and insisting that “No Child is Left Behind” and that everyone should go to college.  Maybe not everyone wants to go to college….but what is more important is that we are not preparing our youth for college because we are lowering the standards to the lowest common denominator so that No child will be left behind.  It is impossible to think that every child will always learn at the same pace as all of the others in their age group, across the country and across cultures….the only thing we are doing is setting them up for failure as a whole generation.  I’m afraid that except for the few kids who are going to work hard to get what they want despite society getting in their way, the rest of the rising generation is going to end up with nothing but empty dreams.

What is a Dream?  Is it something that occupies your mind while you are sleeping?  Or something that you fear or loath?  Maybe it’s something that you secretly hope for, maybe something that you openly hope for…???  What is it in our being that makes us dream?  Is it the mind, experiences mixed up and coming together, maybe to a blurrier vision, maybe to a more acute vision….Or is it the heart and soul, ideas that your mind has yet to recognize that brings them out of you? 

Some people think of a dream as a life goal, like the American Dream, which is a lie, but I’ll save that for another time.  Some people are so set on what they want to do in this world that they focus all their energy on achieving it.  For some people it’s simply finding someone to share their life with and love and be loved…for others it’s a career choice, some business adventure that they have always “dreamed” of having.

I think that there is a difference between dreams at night and day dreams.  Day dreams (fantasies), I think are sparked by conscious thought…something that has happened, something that you know you want and your mind is driven, focused on it, even when it’s focusing in the background of everything else.  Dreams that happen at night acknowledge thoughts that don’t always get recognition during the day.  Sometimes they are obviously connected to something that has happened that day or that week that has been on your mind, sometimes you don’t know where the dream came from.  Sometimes even thoughts you have only had in dreams seem to make sense when you wake up, but sometimes they seem scattered and disorganized.  It really makes me wonder what makes us dream.  Are the scattered thoughts, bits and pieces of desires or fears we haven’t recognized yet?  Or are they simply a mixture of everything that is going on in your world?

I hate it when you seem to care more about someone’s well being than they do.  When you end up stressed out because another person is failing at something or even at life…not really living…just existing, and yet they only whine, complain, try to get by on their looks or charm or money, and you’re the one trying to help them sort it out, while they sit back and do nothing.  You can only take this for so long, before you get tempted to throw your hands up and be done with the situation and the person….but they you are called a bad friend, or told that you are the reason that they are failing.

I wish people would take responsibility for their own choices, actions, or lack there of….If you do nothing to help yourself, wishes and prayers can only get you so far.  I heard once, “God can give you the canoe, but sometimes you need to paddle yourself, the current will only take you so far.  I think that’s very true in life, you can’t keep hoping for a new job, smaller pant size, a relationship, and continue to whine when you don’t get it if you’re not actively trying to get these things.  I wish we could just make a wish on a star and POOF it’s there in the morning…last I tried, it doesn’t work.  A wish and a prayer will get you nothing but empty dreams.

In order for our society to succeed, we need to teach the younger generation the qualities of respect and responsibility that we have somewhere lost along the way.  If we do not instill a work ethic and an idea of being responsible for yourself, our society is going to keep falling further and further into debt.  With a generation that is growing up in a world without consequences and rules, we will really be hurting when they are the ones in control and have no way of knowing how to establish order to their own lives much less, companies, communities, or government; we will be living in chaos. 

Who should decide our expectations????  I think something that is very important to remember in this life and this world is that you are the only one who has to live with you 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  If you define yourself by anyone else’s standards there will always be a short coming because you wont really be you.  Husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, grandparents, coworkers, all of these people are important in different ways but they do not have to live with you all the time… they don’t see you when you’re alone with your thoughts…they have no idea what is truly in your heart unless you are confident enough to live your life according to you. 

I hope that everyone can have the confidence and support around them to live their life according to their life dreams and expectations.  Sometimes our dreams are unrealistic, but I suppose that’s what makes them dreams.  I think that we should set goals (realistic goals) for ourselves and strive towards them and keep our dreams as our inspiration.