Truth & Others

To have the fortitude
To assert one’s self
Against falsehood
Is true independence;
One cannot uphold truth
And be true to one’s self
If one remains concerned
About the opinions of others.
08.30.2015

Age & Preference

Age prefers:
Companionship over popularity
Tranquility over excitement
Moderation over excess
Wisdom over passion
Quietude over noise
Peace over violence
Love over sexuality
Health over beauty
Order over chaos
Safety over danger
Faith over skepticism
And friendship over kinship.
08.29.2015

Nothing & Everything

When nothing seems to matter
Means everything matters;
Even after we die
Everything still matters.
08.28.2015

Differences & Survival

There are as many life views
And as many ways to live
As there are people;
Accepting differences
Encouraging differences
And learning form differences
Are necessary for human survival.
08.27.2015

Good & Bad

Being good
Promotes and invites goodness
But is not protective from the bad;
Being bad
Promotes and invites badness
And is not protective from the bad;
But those who are good
Are at peace with themselves
And with others who are like them
And those who are bad
Are in turmoil with themselves
And afraid of those who are like them.
08.26.2015

Enlightenment & Elevation

As complexity is to simplicity
Or a man is to a gentleman
Or a woman is to a lady
Or lust is to love
Or success is to joy
Or power is to virtue
Or falsehood is to truth
Or the wind is to the breeze
The more enlightened of passions
Are also the ones that most elevate us.
08.25.2015

Words & Meaning

Words do have meanings
When they stand alone
As in a dictionary
But they can only have impact
When interpreted within context;
Only context and word order
Lend power and meaning
To the words we use.
08.24.2015

Saying & Silence

Sometimes, saying naught
Says it all
And sometimes, saying all
Says naught.
08.23.2015

Importance & Works

To become important is impossible,
But to produce important work is;
We need not confuse important works
With important people.
08.22.2015

Excellence & Destruction

Passions come first
Then accomplishments follow;
Naught of excellence comes without passion
But so much of the world’s destruction
Comes from sinister passions.
08.21.2015

Mindsets & Moments

We are our mindsets
And what we are changes
As our mindsets change
From one moment to another;
Also, what we hold as important
Changes from one moment to another;
We are but the children of our moments.
08.20.2015

Regenerate & Degenarate

To reinvent one’s self
As one gains years
Is to regenerate
Instead of degenerate
With age.
08.19.2015

God & Days

The idea of God is inevitable and
The presence of God is inescapable;
Try pass a day without reaching out to God
With oh God, or dear God, or thank God
Or for God’s sake, or Jesus Christ…
08.18.2015

Friendship & Care

Friendship is a garden of love
That needs water and care;
Unwatered and uncared for
It decays into fallow land
Overcome by weeds.
08.17.2015

Certainty & Mind

Once we make up our minds
We block all other alternatives;
Closing our minds to other ideas
Is the price we pay for certainty.
08.16.2015

Expectations & Surprises

To live expectantly
To expect every new day
To usher in good or bad surprises
Is to live excitedly, fearless of reality;
To expect everyday
To be a good and normal day
Is to live unprepared for life’s frequent shocks.
08.15.2015

Age & Favorites

In youth
We tend to value money
In adulthood
We tend to value power
In age
We tend to value health
In old age
We tend to value poetry.
08.14.2015

Life & Speed

To hurry through life
Is to miss a lot of life.
08.13.2015

Like & Dislike

To like someone does not mean one is good;
It just means we like something in us
Which that person represents.
And to dislike someone does not mean one is bad;
It just means we dislike something in us
Which that person represents.
Confusing like and dislike with good and bad
Can have ugly consequences.
08.12.2015

Pretending & Conflict

If we could refrain from pretending
That we can foresee the unforeseeable
That we can know the unknowable
And that we can judge without bias
Then we would have more justice
And less conflict in the world.
08.11.2015

Intelligence & Ignorance

Intelligence does not preclude ignorance
And ignorance does not preclude intelligence;
Humanity is well endowed with intelligence
But its unethical and violent behaviors
Denote widespread ignorance.
08.10.2015

Change & Constitution

To change what people are
Is most difficult;
To accept what people are
Is less difficult;
To judge what people are
Is the easy way out.
08.09.2015

Liberty & Life

Biology limits us
Art liberates us
Society shackles us
Imagination releases us
Our bodies imprison us
Our minds deceive us
Our biases diminish us
Our hates impoverish us
Our loves enrich us
Our lives judge us
Our deaths ennoble us.
08.08.2015

Reverence & Death

Waiting until someone dies
Before one shows reverence
Loosens the inter-human bond
Of love, respect, and friendship.
08.07.2015

Division & Strength

Resisting division and subdivision
And favoring fusion and cohesion
Is the way to unity and strength.
08.06.2015

Work & Efficiency

The more work we have
The more efficient we become
And the less work we have
The less efficient we become.
08.05.2015

Words & Touch

Sometimes a touch
Says a thousand words;
Sometimes a word
Can touch thousands;
But, silence and distance
Can undo almost anything
That words and touch achieve.
08.04.2015

Love & Money

When families fight about property
They exchange love for money
And end up poorer in spirit.
08.03.2015

Nature & Humanity

Love of nature should mean that
We protect and do no harm to nature
Which should also include all human beings.
08.02.2015

Audiences & Truth

If we are to succeed in pleasing audiences
We must pretend to be what we are not
Refrain from saying what needs to be said
And say only what audiences want to hear.
08.01.2015