Reach for Joy!

Respecting the Elders

An elder, is just as beautiful as a brand new baby. Every day they are getting closer and closer to that center point, from which we come, to which we go. That center point just beyond life as we know it, but it must be just as “home” as our everyday life experience.

A baby comes from this warm place, where he doesn’t have to worry about clothing or feeding him or herself. The eyes are closed and the imagination must be running wild, or perhaps simply at peace, developing the necessary particles to piece together sight receptors for use on the forthcoming journey.

An elder, transforms towards an equally magnificent journey. They go back into a state of not needing the eyes, and eventually, not needing to worry about clothing and feeding him or herself. The particles which sculpt this particular form of the human spirit dissipate, just as they long ago magically accumulate.

Many ask and wonder, what is on the other side of this hemisphere of life? What is on the side we cannot see? Not many remember, and if they do, even few will believe, because each individual needs to come up with their own interpretation of what they feel comfortable believing.

With a graceful sip of air, we slip into life, and with an elegant exhale, we are out.



It seems dark over there because it is unknown. We can paint pictures of fairies or monsters. We do this in everyday life, with imagination, the playing of games, joys and struggles of learning. Can you see? The big picture is a game as well.

This is my belief. We all originate from the same source, the same blob of constantly transforming particles. You’ve heard it before, “We Are One!” It’s true. And I believe that we set up this game of separation for fun. Yup! Can you believe it? All this junk on the physical plane is here for our fun and enjoyment.

Think of the simplest game like tossing a ball back and forth. A game of catch is a macro view of the particles of human spirit going from one place to another, back and forth, here and there. Why, because it’s fun.

We do this with food, ideas, money, seasons, plants, materials, papers, rocks, and scissors. Just a game you see? Back and forth, back and forth, here and there, here and there. Don’t be so hard on yourselves, it’s just a game, don’t be a serious player, and don’t be a sour looser.

Smile, sing, laugh, love, dance and forgive. If your legs no longer hold you, surrender into the next steps of life, what reason is there to resist? Day by day you are experiencing a similarly beautiful experience to a new born birth. Each day the sculpture of life (which undoubtedly must be ourselves,) pulls and pushes the clay into new positions, like a new born babes form, less and less unique, less and less separate from the one being from which we come from.

Of course, this explains on one dimension of life. But think of it as a brief overview of the game you have been playing since the day you were born.

The Observer

I observe pretty things,
outside of me,
and I want to share them with you.

At times when the seasons are shifting,
I feel not so pretty things,
Inside of me,
and I don’t want to share that with you;

But amid the madness and civil wars inside of me,
I flail and scream out to you;
Sharing with you,
My deepest ugliness.

But sharing,
Regardless of beautiful or ugly,
is an incredible phenomenon that we get to experience here,
and your acceptance of my sharing,
Whether it be pretty or ugly,
is a very beautiful thing.

Thank you.

Rhode Island, a close second at 10.3%

I know I know, it's all in my head. I am creating this reality. We are all to blame. We are all to take responsibility for the world we see around us. I understand this, yet I still am incredibly stumped about "WHY" this is what we are seeing. Why are we creating this scary, uncomfortable, insecure environment?

This is what I see...

Here in my small town in Michigan there were 500 applicants to fill one position to sort through garbage. ...ok ok I admit, that was an exaggeration. The truth is, 500 people applied for a single position to sort through, not garbage, but recyclables. Though it might be nice to have some sort of income, I'm sure glad I am not the one who has to pick 1 out of 500.

Ready for some other figures I have heard? (Keep in mind, this is a small town of about 6,000 people...)

200 applicants for a secretary position; 80 applicants to operate a cash register; 50 applicants for a minimum wage front desk at a gym position; and 25 applicants for a 4 month teachers aid position.

I know that my underemployed circumstance has nothing to do with these figures. I refuse to believe that anything outside myself controls myself. My underemployed circumstance is a 100% reflection of the indecisiveness in my head.

I once told a friend, "Your project would really take off if only you got behind some kind of good cause."

He said, "I know I know. But I don't have enough information yet, as to which cause to stand behind."

I can think of a thousand good causes to stand behind, that are undoubtedly good causes, worth anyone's effort, (at least in my mind;) planting trees, teaching children, assisting with the mentally ill, caring for the elders, developing alternative energy, recycling, etc....

But he's right...do I have enough information to know what is most urgent, what is most in need of my time and energy? Don't tell me you don't feel it too? This urgency.

I realize now, at the age of 24, that I took an education I could not afford. I took an education that my family could not afford. I took an education which marketers, not educators, promised me better jobs, a better future. Going to college; it's just what you do after high school. What college you choose; it doesn't really matter. At 17 years old, I took the advice of my elders and went to college. I passed over the advise of my peers. Instead of going to New York to be a gutter punk, I went to Chicago to study management, at an arts school (how oxymoronal is that?)

I know that I am not alone (see StudentLoanJustice.org)...but this is what I see...

My generation caught some of the highest college tuition rates, and were released into the wild during some of the worst economic times.

As a freshman in high school the dot com's were bursting. People were making millions by selling dog food over the internet.

Fast forward four years; as a freshman in college my country entered a war, that, like Vietnam, was never meant to be won, but was meant to be waged as long as possible...(a little fact from former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara himself...see The Fog of War:)

On the weekends I would sit comfortably from a distance, in my cozy apartment, and watch my friends on TV, from helicopter views, braving the cold wet weather to march in massive war protests. Chicago police would funnel the 10,000 + protesters into dead ends and hold them there for hours. The masses chanted "Let us leave. We have to pee." Eventually prison buses came to ship the full bladders to the station for an overnight visit.


On weekdays I would do my best to focus on my studies as teachers would enter the classroom, gently bow their heads and announce "Today, 200 people lost their jobs...the jobs I am training you for."

"Eh!" I decided, "Time to switch majors. I'm not that passionate about management anyways."

As my country sank further and further into debt, buying weapons and human life we should not afford; I sank further and further into debt, buying my time, roaming through this "education."

So here I am 6 years later, educated and jobless. Those streets are no longer full of angry peacemakers. They have gone on to experience the gentler sides of life, freedom to pee as they please.

Here we are 6 years later. As far as I know, we are still at war, trying to fix some faraway land while our own country crumbles. California is bankrupt, even with it's semi legal billion dollar cash crop; lives are ruined, people are jailed for growing a few green plants. Soldiers in faraway lands stand at full attention, guarding fields of flowers with their MK 19 Automatic Grenade Guns.


Here we are 6 years later; Michigan is depressed because cars are loosing popularity with the greenwashing of America and Rhode Island is at a close second with an unemployment rate of 10.3%.

Here we are 6 years later; we have a "black" president and perhaps that is enough to shift our paradigm. Perhaps that is enough to stop wondering WHY all this ugliness and start creating WHAT could be beauty. But first I must dissect a quote from the Wikipedia entry on “Employment…”

“Those who work under obligation for the purpose of fulfilling a debt,”
(ah shit, that’s me….thanks Sallie Mae…)

“such as an indentured servant,”
(oh that’s such an old fashion term “indentured servant”…)

“or as property of the person or entity they work for,”
(ha! Gottcha there! I don’t work for no one!)

“such as a slave,”
(….gulp….)

“do not receive pay for their services and are not considered employed.”


So yeah, that explains why I am not considered employed. Now I just need to learn to drop the hot coals of anger and forge ahead creating beauty.