Shining Thru

Why does it seem like every time you get a step ahead, you get knocked back one, if you’re lucky it’ll only be one and not three.  Every time a glimmer of hope appears on the horizon it is shot down by a lunar eclipse.  It doesn’t seem to matter how well things are going, you have to put yourself on alert for the blunt force trauma to hit.  Money comes your way and something breaks, Savings add up and there is an emergency; complications hit knocking us down.  All you can do is sigh and chalk it up to life.  One point life….when will the next one come?  You’re hoping it’s not one of those things that comes in threes.

You don’t have many choices when you get knocked down, you can stay down and accept that’s the way things are, or you can get up and begin the climb again and hope that you don’t step on the slippery slope before you make it to the top.  Or worse, reach the top of the mountain just to trip and tumble down the other side.

Does God exist or simply created in the minds of those who do exist?  Like a dream that feels so real when you wake up you need to check the facts of the day before to make sure that it didn’t really happen?  Is God created out of habit, need for something to be in control, need for something bigger, need for someone to blame???  Or does God exist rather people want to admit it or not?

There are many interesting short stories about if God exists or not….Some proving that God does exist, some trying to encourage faith, and some trying to prove just the opposite and leave people without any confidence in their faith….

None of these stories can actually answer the question of if God exists or not….Can anyone or anything prove the existence of God?  On the other hand, can anyone or anything prove that there is no existence of something higher than what we can see?

What creates faith?  What creates God?  Does the existence of God really matter if people have faith in something, isn’t it the faith that gives that thing the power?  Or does that thing reign with power even when there is no faith?  Does faith give God power, or does God strengthen faith?  Is there a God or not?  Does it matter as long as people believe in a God?

Why is it that some people can live in some delusion where they think that they are so much better than everyone around them and can decide what should and shouldn’t be in other people’s lives….We have no idea what goes on behind closed doors, further more, we have no idea what is liked behind closed doors.  Everyone has their secrets.  Looking at some sites today, I was reading a lot of comments about certain videos.  Some people were really nasty with their comments about other people simply because they didn’t approve of whatever behavior was going on in the video.  Talking about how she should go after the guy or whatever the case may be….it’s like some of these people can’t even fathom that other people may actually enjoy things that they don’t.  Someone once told me with a shrug, “some people eat bugs.”  I think that this is a great phrase to go by, some people do eat bugs, some people think that raw heart is a delicious treat for special occasions to eat.  Who are we to say that they are wrong in any regard.  What right do we have to disregard the likes or preferences of some people simply because they do not line up with our concept of “normality”.  I don’t think that such a thing as “normal” really exists.  I think that some people think what they are use to is normal but they have no idea what goes on in the next house down the road…not really.  They know what they have seen and what people have told them, but how many people reveal every intimate aspect of their life???  I’m not saying that the actions of a serial killer should be condoned and chalked up to them simply being unique and expressing themselves…but I am saying that people should really have more of an open mind and realize that everyone has their secrets, everyone has something going on behind closed doors, and maybe that should be considered before condemning another person for their beliefs, actions, kinks, preferences, or lack there of….

Vacations are weird things….sometimes they can be so wonderful that you don’t want to go back to reality…other times they can become nothing more than a stretch of time of boredom….the other possibility is that it becomes more stressful than your day to day life in the working world.

For me, the holiday break is a welcome break, but by the time I go through the boredom stage and am just settling into enjoying the break, it is time to go back to work.  The first few days spent winding down and trying to get caught up in the things outside of work.  Then maybe a day of enjoyment, but generally over the holidays there are too many things to do and people to see to have time to rest.  Then there is the boredom stage of feeling like I’m not accomplishing anything.  Then I am able to enjoy a few days, happily oblivious to the work that is waiting for me back at the job.  Then reality hits…it’s time to go back….

Sadness, frustration that I didn’t have enough time to get everything done over the break that I had planned to do; knowing that I’m dragging my feet, all of the emotions filter through as I prepare for the next day of returning to work.  I wonder if it will be the same as when I left it or if I will feel good returning?  Will I find the joy that I did after the summer vacation?  Or will I be frustrated that I’m there and start a count down until the next vacation?…

Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.
Jessamyn West

This is an excellent quote that reminds me of another quote from the movie V for Vendetta:  “Author’s use lies to tell the truth, Politicians use lies to hide the truth.”  I think that both of these quotes send a great message about how the truth can be revealed in the fiction that is created through people’s creativity….generally, it’s a pretty safe way to expose the truth, because the author can always claim that it was a fictional story that was completely made up, while others can see through the title of fiction and recognize the truth….

I have found in my own readings that I see a lot of things in the world today that have been exposed to me through fictional stories that I probably would not have thought about, or at least not analyzed as in depth if it hadn’t been for the stories that sparked the thoughts and connections to our worlds today.

I believe that artists and authors make such powerful statements through their work that are simply not appreciated as often or as much as they should be.  I think that a lot of a culture and society can be exposed by looking at what kind of creativity comes out of the people of that society.

Stripes and checkers

Colorful designs reside in black and white

Melting together into a blended gray.

Perception of them all blending together

Reality becoming a blur

Until all you see is one solid design

Colors don’t matter

Shapes are irrelevant

It’s simple perception that creates the new look

Through the eyes of one who never sees

Through the blurring of confusion

The new look appears and grows stronger

Strength and belief builds into reality.

Choices rumbling around

Tumbling up and down

From side to side things bounce

Caught in a heated fire of decision

Pacing back and forth

The same thoughts over and over

Trying to make the chaos make clear

Nothing new….same facts as before

Indecision fighting to continue

Knowing you must choose

Every day choices feel hard

One after the other you fight the apathy

Relying on your feelings you fight the indecision

Reality closing in

Decision making ………………

Have you ever met someone who likes to take classic, cliche sayings and twist them around just a little?  I heard one today that just made me laugh and I loved it instantly; “Imitation is the sincerest form of insanity.”  I heard that on the Dish tonight and I thought it was great, because sometimes it’s true.  Imitation might be flattering in some instances, but sometimes it’s simply because some people are crazy, or stupid and can’t come up with an original thought in their head. 

Hearing expressions like this one be twisted around always makes me think of the power of words.  Changing one word can change the whole saying drastically.  Words are such powerful things that my favorite author, David Turrill, wrote, “we name things to make them real.”  I think that he had a point, without a name, how do we talk about that thing?  If we can’t talk about it, we can’t express thought about a thing and therefore the thoughts are not put out into anyone else’s mind and are then easily lost. 

Words help us to make thoughts into reality.  I really think that sometimes the only barrier between a thought and reality is the words to clearly define and express something.  In a lot of ways, words hold more power than people may realize.  Words can comfort or hurt people.  Words can define and make something important, or blow off and make something disappear into the world of the unimportant.

The miracle of life is seen in a child’s smile, heard in their laughter.  It’s the gentle touch of a loved one, because you’re scared or sad, or just because they care.  The caring of those who love you reveal the miracle of life.  The passion that we all have is swallowed up in the monotony of every day life.  Gets lost in the darkness of responsibilities and procedures.  The things we need to do instead of what we want to do.  When did life become a day of routine, we did society as a whole lose the passionate spark for staying alive?  Is it possible for one person or a couple to keep that passion alive within themselves?  When did society start forgetting that life is a gift…a miracle that we should celebrate, not simply endure?  Life is a precious thing, and yet it is cast aside by so many in our society, in many different ways.  It some cases people see life as expendable.  In some cases they just stop caring what happens in their own life…could be any number of things, but it all comes down to the same thing, it is sad the way we don’t value life in our society any more.  We have turned our lives into simply scraping by, getting through today so that we can worry about tomorrow when it comes….how sad.

Who ever said ignorance is bliss is a liar.  I hate not knowing what is going on….even more than that I hate it when there are ignorant people around me….maybe some people can be blissful while ignorant, but not me.  At the very least their ignorance pains me.  I hate it when I feel like I’ve lost some of my intelligence because an ignorant person was around me too much that day….sometimes you’re stuck around stupid people and it sucks. 

Ignorance is only hurting the world.  I can’t imagine the changes that would happen if we could educate people on the issues of the world and actually have that information soak in.  All of the education in the world is never going to help our society if people aren’t willing to admit that we have problems in our society.  But nobody wants to admit that they or anyone around them is stupid or ignorant….

Some people like to gain knowledge and squash the ignorance in its tracks, where as other people just like to ignore the problems of the world, even while those things are staring them in the face.  I don’t understand how people can live like that…choosing to be ignorant.  How can a person not desire knowledge, I thought it was human nature for the longest time…and yet I see people choosing ignorance over acknowledging issues in the world every day.  Some people want to live in a book that is only painted with the pictures of their mind, their issues, their beliefs….not ever accounting for the fact that there are people who live outside of their eyesight, that there are people who don’t feel the way they feel, who don’t believe what they believe, who don’t know what they know…who know more than what they know.  I can’t believe that some people can be so ignorant and so vain that they seriously cannot see beyond their own front yard so to speak.