My line of control is meant to calm emotional reactiveness so as to
Free intuitive memory to coach the conscious portion of
My mind to remember significant details with a greater sense of
Objectively while fleshing in bigger pictures, and as intuitive memory
Coached me, overnight, to pop additional details into
The last post published (which introduces a story concerning
A mother of two toddlers down with the flu)
That’s what I did upon awaking this morning ...
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
INTRO TO STORY—FEVERISH, ACHINESS, ACHOO! 1971
Ah ha! A flash of insight just made me aware of this fact:
Today will not be the day that I pen the story of
My most recent overnight hospital stay
Why not?
Because intuition has hit the bullseye, yet again!
This morning, I came to see why my intuitive powers
Cooled my desire to publish the story promised to
You, several weeks back, until readiness felt ripe
And with today’s flash of insight clearly in sight
My mind’s eye has come to ‘see’
The primary reason for postponing publication of
That specific story concerning a young mother who
Was down with the flu until after you and I had
The opportunity to consider insights penned over
These past few weeks, and here’s why that’s true:
During recent weeks, intuitive trains of thought inspired me to pen
Strings of insight, which empowered the conscious portion of
My processor with ‘knowing’ which classic fact of life
Will be illuminated within the story-to-come, and here it is:
All too frequently, we have no conscious clue as to when
Our thought processors are focused single-mindedly upon
Achieving a mission that feels so mentally challenging as to
Be all consuming, suggesting why our intelligence is blocked from
Spotlighting moments in time when our lack of self awareness concerning
The transparency of our emotional reactions seems to slam
The door in the faces of loved ones whose spoken needs go unmet
And on the flip side of that coin we see a person who has grown to
Fear rejection so deeply as to have unwittingly erased
Any trace of personal needs, so focused is her mind upon
Satisfying the needs of others with a genuine smile
In both cases, the absence of self awareness fails to
Acknowledge need to change hats, and when
One hat remains stuck on our heads, over long, our mindsets
Tend to remain so subjective in nature as to block objectivity from
Discerning what another person may actually be feeling or needing
And in addition to that insight, here's another:
If we fail to awaken from our ‘sleeping’ spells of self absorption
We'll not come to know ourselves as well as we think
For example: Hindsight has already offered us insight as to
Why a good, little girl, named Annie (whose home life grew
Ever more stormy in the confusing aftermath of
Her baby sister's unexpected death) had no conscious clue of
Having harbored a subconscious need to rescue
Her shattered sense of personal safety by stimulating
Her processor to stretch beyond the expectations of
Devastated survivors so as to quell her repressed fear of
Being deemed so imperfect as to be unworthy of their love
You see, if anyone happened to frown in Annie's direction
Sudden spikes of anxiety pierced and deflated her bubbly spirit’s
Cheerful smile, and as Annie had no conscious clue of harboring
This self-conceived fear of feeling personally responsible for
Causing everyone's unhappiness beginning with
Her baby sister's untimely death, a sweet little girl grew up to be
A super pleaser, whose white hat—fitting just a tad too tightly—caused
Her to feel so eager to serve the needs of others as to
Squeeze the expansive nature of her creative think tank into a space that
Proved so narrow-minded as to feel irritated and safe, simultaneously, and
Since Annie grew up with no conscious clue as to how often
Her repressed need for safety within a group had silenced
The self assertive portion of her voice from openly expressing
A variety of existential needs that would naturally flash through
Her bright mind, she'd spent most of her adult life masking
The degree of inner conflict, which remained repressed behind
The carefree persona that her defense system had adopted for
Public consumption, and as her persona continued to layer up
Everyone—including Annie—was fooled into believing that she was
Good natured, easy going and agreeably compliant—through and
Through—and since she was so young when her persona had
Begun to develop, her intuitive powers had been denied
The freedom to develop and emerge as she matured, and thus was
Her weakened sense of insight offered not so much as a flash of
Clarity concerning the depth of her need to identify
The interrelated series of early child experiences, which had
Hollowed out the inner strengths of her self esteem, leaving
Little more than a thin-skinned shell within which
Her vulnerabilities, feeling too insecure to think
Outside the box deemed proper by societal convention, hid from
Public view until recent years when that shell had sound reason to
Crack, exposing the depths of her insecurity, at long last, and though
The early stages of naked exposure felt anything but strengthening
Eventually, upon being astutely diagnosed with PTSD, Annie
'Found herself' feeling deeply appreciative of all of
The professional help that encouraged her bright mind to muster
The courage and humility necessary to expose
Her vulnerabilities in order to retrieve every inner strength that
Had been pierced, repeatedly, by spiking anxiety, which, no longer being
Nameless, empowered Annie's intuition to clarify the existence of
Her primary inner conflict, which had caused so much mental confusion as to
Have flooded her mind with mixed messages concerning
Innocence and guilt, resulting in a repressed sense of tightly coiled
Emotional turbulence, and each time intuitive readiness signals
Another layer of deeply buried emotional turbulence to emerge
Annie's recovery from PTSD undergoes sound reason to experience
Yet another emotionally liberating, deeply exhilarating leap of faith forward
And though each next challenging step of her (my) recovery releases
Detailed memories—each of which had felt too terrifying for
A child's mind to process—every anguished terror, re-experienced by
Annie, the adult, today, proves, over the long run, to provide
My psyche with yet another healthy change for the better for this reason:
As therapy sessions inspire a host of inner strengths to develop in
Bite-sized increments, my choice to muster the courage to
Set my persona in time out right next to my ego (hence the need to
muster humility) frees my memory to re-experience
Forgotten details so painful as to have signaled Mother Nature to employ
My defense system to save my sanity by numbing my reactions during
Each assault—followed by gifting my conscious memory with
Amnesia in the aftermath, and because of these sleeping spells
Most of my childhood felt 'normal', suggesting why I actually
Give thanks to my persona, which served me well for
Most of my life (as well as serving my children well, because
They grew up with a mother whose attitude concerning
Life and love was positively focused, cheerful, mischievous and
Creatively determined to raise her trio of sons within
An emotional environment that felt so safe from harm as to
Free all three to discuss any problem that arose, so that her
Consciously accumulated wealth of solution seeking skills could
Guide one and all to carve an existential path whereby
Each one's self esteem developed sound reason to strengthen with
Every step toward leadership that each had chosen to take while
Evolving from boys to men, who are known to be as sensitive to
The needs of others as they are strong) and thus am I grateful to
Mother Nature for taking good care of my psyche until
The path I chose to tread freed my intuitive powers to guide
Me to seek out one therapist after another until a psychologist
Versed in EMDR therapy offered me two additional gifts:
The first being her expertise and the second being
Time in which to piece together those painful aspects of my life which
Had puzzled me most so as to have assembled lost details into
Today's bigger picture, thus creating the memorable sense of
Wholeness which has rewarded my awareness with
Monumental gains concerning self esteem—Whew!
As long as my inner conflict remained subconscious in nature
A host of repressed frustrations would coil up, tensely, behind
My wall of denial, offering the conscious portion of
My processor not even one clue as to how frequently
My existential voice had wrestled with repressed fears, deep
Inside my mind, and to complicate matters further, lets
Not forget that common knowledge reminds us to remember that
We are naturally attracted to our opposites, who are meant to
Challenge us to face up to life's classic lessons left unlearned, again
And again—and with that insight in mind—if I wore
A white hat then I'll bet you believe you can readily guess
The color of the hat worn by a young man, named Will, who was
On a mentally challenging mission of his own, suggesting that
As a bright young lad, growing toward manhood, Will’s persona of
Congeniality was bound to eventually crack, releasing
Tightly coiled, negatively charged emotional reactiveness, which
Proved every bit as salty, stubborn and demanding as
Annie’s reactions remained sweetly servile and
Agreeably reassuring, suggesting why (though both were bright)
Neither learned their individualized lessons for quite some time—
And by the way, in case you've been led to believe that
Will's hat was black—it was not—Will's hat was gray, because
As a young, married, surgical resident, his mind wrestled with
An inner conflict that proved very different from his wife's in that
Annie'd worried, unnecessarily, over not being perfect enough to be
Worthy of love while Will worried incessantly about perfecting
His surgical abilities, which is why his mental focus worked to
Stuff as much medical knowledge into his gray matter as was
Humanly possible, suggesting my need to paint
This next image of Will as clearly as objectivity will allow:
Let’s imagine a wiry young masked man, wearing greens, balancing upon
A high wire, scalpel in one hand, unconscious patient in the other, no
Net in sight, and as most of this young surgeon's waking hours were spent
Juggling a black and white mood with no margin for error in which to
Say 'Oops!' let’s color in very little time for relaxation much less sleep or
Stress relief, and though I realized much of this back then, hindsight
Offers us sound reason to darken Will's mental attitude as being
Too tightly wired and exhausted for his own good, most especially when
He was on call 36 hours off 12, so that rather than arriving
Home happily eager to pitch in and lend a helpful hand (and when fleshing in
The bigger picture concerning Will's black and white vision of daily life let's
Add the fact that his father's early demise during Will's boyhood stimulated
Annie's husband to simulate one whose darkened mood waits for
The other shoe to drop) and thus do we come to see why
Will felt utterly compelled to force feed his swollen gray matter with
As much medical info as could humanly stack up inside his
Memory's file cabinet—just in case he came up against
The exception to the rule during that which was supposed to be
A routine surgery —and having offered this snapshot of
A young, inexperienced surgeon's history, we come to see how
Will's black and white demeanor bled into his white hat, coloring it—as
Gray as the mood in which he'd generally arrived home from the hospital—not
Every night—because surgical residents were not called residents for nothing—
In fact, surgical residents spent many more waking hours, days as well as
Nights on call, with their colleagues and patients than with
Their wives and children— and as a young, fully energized
Wife and mother, who was a teacher of children—who'd
Loved interacting with children—because not all teachers do as
I'd learned by listening to my colleagues in the teacher's lounge—I was
Actually more than okay with this arrangement for several reasons:
Firstly, I'd been with Will since my senior year in high school
And as neither of us could afford to go away to college
Our commuter experience seemed to extend high school another
Four years except for these differences:
#1 Rather than school buses picking us up at the corner stop, M-F
We'd each traveled across the city for about an hour, each way, on
Public buses and elevated trains, no matter the wind-chill factor, and
#2 The work and study load were significantly more demanding
#3 Being a pre-med suggested that Will had need to study
Many more hours than was true for me, due to the
The number of laboratory science credits that he'd needed to
Ace if being accepted to medical school after three years of
Undergrad was his goal—and as that was the goal of
All of his friends (once in college, all of Will's guy friends were
Pre-med) the competition he'd faced to 'make the grade' was intense
#4 As none of these college commuter-nose-to-the-grindstone
Young men were wild and crazy in anyway, Will's crowd fit
My need for straight-laced safety to a tee, and
In addition to that match made in heaven there was this—
#4 The strong sense of academic competition amongst these
Hard working pre-meds, whose hard working families lived
Much like mine, rubbed off on me, because they’d scoffed at
My earning honors by achieving B's in teacher's ed courses, which
They'd deemed Mickey Mouse in comparison to Quantitative Analysis
So, by the time I'd graduated from high school in 1962 with plans to
Attend the same urban university as did these academically minded
Juniors, my conscious adoption of their attitude concerning
Priorities became second nature to me in no time, suggesting that
Early into our courtship studying came first—upping my game
To Ace-ing my classes—sports came second (to the guys), leaving
Romance rounding the bend, approaching the finish line in
Third place, and as Will’s friends were every bit as amiable as
Was he once textbooks were closed, and Saturday nights set
Us all free to thoroughly enjoy ourselves and each other, and as
I'd signed on for that deal by the time I was
A nubile eighteen year old, college freshman in 1962, suggests that
Any expectations for sharing my life with
An impassioned helpmate once Will and I'd walked down
The aisle in 1966 and then found ourselves proud parents of
Two active munchkins—one toddling around while
His kid brother crawled after the first as fast as
His chubby little hands and knees could keep up—had been
Repressed within my memory's file cabinet of
Tightly coiled frustrations, and as long as
I'd dismissed my unmet needs in order to satisfy
My number one need of satisfying the needs of others with
A congenial smile, why should anyone realize that
An undercurrent of anxious frustration had festered behind
My bubbly persona since I was a three year old child, scratching
Away at my itch to get out of my skin until I'd drawn blood, and
Since swallowing the self assertive portion of my voice (unless
My children came under fire) had developed into
A habitual pattern, beginning at the age of three, and since
Unidentified habits are hard to pinpoint much less break
My cheerful attitude concerning our daily life fell
Right in line with Will's lack of time, energy or personal attention at
Home—and all seemed well to the naked eye until 1971, at which time
The wearied surgical resident’s energetic young wife caught the flu ...
Today will not be the day that I pen the story of
My most recent overnight hospital stay
Why not?
Because intuition has hit the bullseye, yet again!
This morning, I came to see why my intuitive powers
Cooled my desire to publish the story promised to
You, several weeks back, until readiness felt ripe
And with today’s flash of insight clearly in sight
My mind’s eye has come to ‘see’
The primary reason for postponing publication of
That specific story concerning a young mother who
Was down with the flu until after you and I had
The opportunity to consider insights penned over
These past few weeks, and here’s why that’s true:
During recent weeks, intuitive trains of thought inspired me to pen
Strings of insight, which empowered the conscious portion of
My processor with ‘knowing’ which classic fact of life
Will be illuminated within the story-to-come, and here it is:
All too frequently, we have no conscious clue as to when
Our thought processors are focused single-mindedly upon
Achieving a mission that feels so mentally challenging as to
Be all consuming, suggesting why our intelligence is blocked from
Spotlighting moments in time when our lack of self awareness concerning
The transparency of our emotional reactions seems to slam
The door in the faces of loved ones whose spoken needs go unmet
And on the flip side of that coin we see a person who has grown to
Fear rejection so deeply as to have unwittingly erased
Any trace of personal needs, so focused is her mind upon
Satisfying the needs of others with a genuine smile
In both cases, the absence of self awareness fails to
Acknowledge need to change hats, and when
One hat remains stuck on our heads, over long, our mindsets
Tend to remain so subjective in nature as to block objectivity from
Discerning what another person may actually be feeling or needing
And in addition to that insight, here's another:
If we fail to awaken from our ‘sleeping’ spells of self absorption
We'll not come to know ourselves as well as we think
For example: Hindsight has already offered us insight as to
Why a good, little girl, named Annie (whose home life grew
Ever more stormy in the confusing aftermath of
Her baby sister's unexpected death) had no conscious clue of
Having harbored a subconscious need to rescue
Her shattered sense of personal safety by stimulating
Her processor to stretch beyond the expectations of
Devastated survivors so as to quell her repressed fear of
Being deemed so imperfect as to be unworthy of their love
You see, if anyone happened to frown in Annie's direction
Sudden spikes of anxiety pierced and deflated her bubbly spirit’s
Cheerful smile, and as Annie had no conscious clue of harboring
This self-conceived fear of feeling personally responsible for
Causing everyone's unhappiness beginning with
Her baby sister's untimely death, a sweet little girl grew up to be
A super pleaser, whose white hat—fitting just a tad too tightly—caused
Her to feel so eager to serve the needs of others as to
Squeeze the expansive nature of her creative think tank into a space that
Proved so narrow-minded as to feel irritated and safe, simultaneously, and
Since Annie grew up with no conscious clue as to how often
Her repressed need for safety within a group had silenced
The self assertive portion of her voice from openly expressing
A variety of existential needs that would naturally flash through
Her bright mind, she'd spent most of her adult life masking
The degree of inner conflict, which remained repressed behind
The carefree persona that her defense system had adopted for
Public consumption, and as her persona continued to layer up
Everyone—including Annie—was fooled into believing that she was
Good natured, easy going and agreeably compliant—through and
Through—and since she was so young when her persona had
Begun to develop, her intuitive powers had been denied
The freedom to develop and emerge as she matured, and thus was
Her weakened sense of insight offered not so much as a flash of
Clarity concerning the depth of her need to identify
The interrelated series of early child experiences, which had
Hollowed out the inner strengths of her self esteem, leaving
Little more than a thin-skinned shell within which
Her vulnerabilities, feeling too insecure to think
Outside the box deemed proper by societal convention, hid from
Public view until recent years when that shell had sound reason to
Crack, exposing the depths of her insecurity, at long last, and though
The early stages of naked exposure felt anything but strengthening
Eventually, upon being astutely diagnosed with PTSD, Annie
'Found herself' feeling deeply appreciative of all of
The professional help that encouraged her bright mind to muster
The courage and humility necessary to expose
Her vulnerabilities in order to retrieve every inner strength that
Had been pierced, repeatedly, by spiking anxiety, which, no longer being
Nameless, empowered Annie's intuition to clarify the existence of
Her primary inner conflict, which had caused so much mental confusion as to
Have flooded her mind with mixed messages concerning
Innocence and guilt, resulting in a repressed sense of tightly coiled
Emotional turbulence, and each time intuitive readiness signals
Another layer of deeply buried emotional turbulence to emerge
Annie's recovery from PTSD undergoes sound reason to experience
Yet another emotionally liberating, deeply exhilarating leap of faith forward
And though each next challenging step of her (my) recovery releases
Detailed memories—each of which had felt too terrifying for
A child's mind to process—every anguished terror, re-experienced by
Annie, the adult, today, proves, over the long run, to provide
My psyche with yet another healthy change for the better for this reason:
As therapy sessions inspire a host of inner strengths to develop in
Bite-sized increments, my choice to muster the courage to
Set my persona in time out right next to my ego (hence the need to
muster humility) frees my memory to re-experience
Forgotten details so painful as to have signaled Mother Nature to employ
My defense system to save my sanity by numbing my reactions during
Each assault—followed by gifting my conscious memory with
Amnesia in the aftermath, and because of these sleeping spells
Most of my childhood felt 'normal', suggesting why I actually
Give thanks to my persona, which served me well for
Most of my life (as well as serving my children well, because
They grew up with a mother whose attitude concerning
Life and love was positively focused, cheerful, mischievous and
Creatively determined to raise her trio of sons within
An emotional environment that felt so safe from harm as to
Free all three to discuss any problem that arose, so that her
Consciously accumulated wealth of solution seeking skills could
Guide one and all to carve an existential path whereby
Each one's self esteem developed sound reason to strengthen with
Every step toward leadership that each had chosen to take while
Evolving from boys to men, who are known to be as sensitive to
The needs of others as they are strong) and thus am I grateful to
Mother Nature for taking good care of my psyche until
The path I chose to tread freed my intuitive powers to guide
Me to seek out one therapist after another until a psychologist
Versed in EMDR therapy offered me two additional gifts:
The first being her expertise and the second being
Time in which to piece together those painful aspects of my life which
Had puzzled me most so as to have assembled lost details into
Today's bigger picture, thus creating the memorable sense of
Wholeness which has rewarded my awareness with
Monumental gains concerning self esteem—Whew!
As long as my inner conflict remained subconscious in nature
A host of repressed frustrations would coil up, tensely, behind
My wall of denial, offering the conscious portion of
My processor not even one clue as to how frequently
My existential voice had wrestled with repressed fears, deep
Inside my mind, and to complicate matters further, lets
Not forget that common knowledge reminds us to remember that
We are naturally attracted to our opposites, who are meant to
Challenge us to face up to life's classic lessons left unlearned, again
And again—and with that insight in mind—if I wore
A white hat then I'll bet you believe you can readily guess
The color of the hat worn by a young man, named Will, who was
On a mentally challenging mission of his own, suggesting that
As a bright young lad, growing toward manhood, Will’s persona of
Congeniality was bound to eventually crack, releasing
Tightly coiled, negatively charged emotional reactiveness, which
Proved every bit as salty, stubborn and demanding as
Annie’s reactions remained sweetly servile and
Agreeably reassuring, suggesting why (though both were bright)
Neither learned their individualized lessons for quite some time—
And by the way, in case you've been led to believe that
Will's hat was black—it was not—Will's hat was gray, because
As a young, married, surgical resident, his mind wrestled with
An inner conflict that proved very different from his wife's in that
Annie'd worried, unnecessarily, over not being perfect enough to be
Worthy of love while Will worried incessantly about perfecting
His surgical abilities, which is why his mental focus worked to
Stuff as much medical knowledge into his gray matter as was
Humanly possible, suggesting my need to paint
This next image of Will as clearly as objectivity will allow:
Let’s imagine a wiry young masked man, wearing greens, balancing upon
A high wire, scalpel in one hand, unconscious patient in the other, no
Net in sight, and as most of this young surgeon's waking hours were spent
Juggling a black and white mood with no margin for error in which to
Say 'Oops!' let’s color in very little time for relaxation much less sleep or
Stress relief, and though I realized much of this back then, hindsight
Offers us sound reason to darken Will's mental attitude as being
Too tightly wired and exhausted for his own good, most especially when
He was on call 36 hours off 12, so that rather than arriving
Home happily eager to pitch in and lend a helpful hand (and when fleshing in
The bigger picture concerning Will's black and white vision of daily life let's
Add the fact that his father's early demise during Will's boyhood stimulated
Annie's husband to simulate one whose darkened mood waits for
The other shoe to drop) and thus do we come to see why
Will felt utterly compelled to force feed his swollen gray matter with
As much medical info as could humanly stack up inside his
Memory's file cabinet—just in case he came up against
The exception to the rule during that which was supposed to be
A routine surgery —and having offered this snapshot of
A young, inexperienced surgeon's history, we come to see how
Will's black and white demeanor bled into his white hat, coloring it—as
Gray as the mood in which he'd generally arrived home from the hospital—not
Every night—because surgical residents were not called residents for nothing—
In fact, surgical residents spent many more waking hours, days as well as
Nights on call, with their colleagues and patients than with
Their wives and children— and as a young, fully energized
Wife and mother, who was a teacher of children—who'd
Loved interacting with children—because not all teachers do as
I'd learned by listening to my colleagues in the teacher's lounge—I was
Actually more than okay with this arrangement for several reasons:
Firstly, I'd been with Will since my senior year in high school
And as neither of us could afford to go away to college
Our commuter experience seemed to extend high school another
Four years except for these differences:
#1 Rather than school buses picking us up at the corner stop, M-F
We'd each traveled across the city for about an hour, each way, on
Public buses and elevated trains, no matter the wind-chill factor, and
#2 The work and study load were significantly more demanding
#3 Being a pre-med suggested that Will had need to study
Many more hours than was true for me, due to the
The number of laboratory science credits that he'd needed to
Ace if being accepted to medical school after three years of
Undergrad was his goal—and as that was the goal of
All of his friends (once in college, all of Will's guy friends were
Pre-med) the competition he'd faced to 'make the grade' was intense
#4 As none of these college commuter-nose-to-the-grindstone
Young men were wild and crazy in anyway, Will's crowd fit
My need for straight-laced safety to a tee, and
In addition to that match made in heaven there was this—
#4 The strong sense of academic competition amongst these
Hard working pre-meds, whose hard working families lived
Much like mine, rubbed off on me, because they’d scoffed at
My earning honors by achieving B's in teacher's ed courses, which
They'd deemed Mickey Mouse in comparison to Quantitative Analysis
So, by the time I'd graduated from high school in 1962 with plans to
Attend the same urban university as did these academically minded
Juniors, my conscious adoption of their attitude concerning
Priorities became second nature to me in no time, suggesting that
Early into our courtship studying came first—upping my game
To Ace-ing my classes—sports came second (to the guys), leaving
Romance rounding the bend, approaching the finish line in
Third place, and as Will’s friends were every bit as amiable as
Was he once textbooks were closed, and Saturday nights set
Us all free to thoroughly enjoy ourselves and each other, and as
I'd signed on for that deal by the time I was
A nubile eighteen year old, college freshman in 1962, suggests that
Any expectations for sharing my life with
An impassioned helpmate once Will and I'd walked down
The aisle in 1966 and then found ourselves proud parents of
Two active munchkins—one toddling around while
His kid brother crawled after the first as fast as
His chubby little hands and knees could keep up—had been
Repressed within my memory's file cabinet of
Tightly coiled frustrations, and as long as
I'd dismissed my unmet needs in order to satisfy
My number one need of satisfying the needs of others with
A congenial smile, why should anyone realize that
An undercurrent of anxious frustration had festered behind
My bubbly persona since I was a three year old child, scratching
Away at my itch to get out of my skin until I'd drawn blood, and
Since swallowing the self assertive portion of my voice (unless
My children came under fire) had developed into
A habitual pattern, beginning at the age of three, and since
Unidentified habits are hard to pinpoint much less break
My cheerful attitude concerning our daily life fell
Right in line with Will's lack of time, energy or personal attention at
Home—and all seemed well to the naked eye until 1971, at which time
The wearied surgical resident’s energetic young wife caught the flu ...
Photo circa 1963
Annie at nineteen, a college sophomore
Will at twenty-one, a first year med student
Annie at nineteen, a college sophomore
Will at twenty-one, a first year med student
Sunday, April 8, 2018
A SYNOPSIS OF A STORY CONCERNING A HEAD ON COLLISION
Many years ago, on a rainy Saturday night
Will and I were in the back seat of
A friend's car on our way home from dinner with
Another couple, a man and his wife, who
Were neighbors, and believe it or not
We four were discussing differing beliefs about
God when out of the blue, a drunk driver, who’d
Passed out at the wheel of a truck, skidded
On the slippery pavement across
The double yellow line into our lane, and
Though our friend instinctively swerved
His steering wheel while slamming on the brakes
That truck, going 40 mph, crashed into us, head on, and
Though there's a story to be told concerning
The terrifying hours that passed between the moment of impact
And my awakening the next day, drugged to the max in
The intensive care unit of Will's primary hospital
That true tale will be fleshed out on another day for
This reason: I’m aiming to spotlight a specific point, today, and
Here it is: Several days after under-going life-saving surgery
My condition stabilized so as to see me transfered
Out of intensive care into a private room where
Shortly thereafter, a nurse wheeled Will from his room
Into mine, and while we were thanking our lucky stars to
Be alive guess who limped in, supported by a cane?
Our friend, who'd been driving the tank-like Cadillac, which
Had been totaled on that stormy night, accompanied by
His wife, whose lovely face, having hit the windshield
(No air bags back then), appeared pretty banged up and
Swollen, so black and blue was she, and as Susie, who’d been
Knocked unconscious, awakened in the ER, seeing
Double, she, too, had been hospitalized until that very day when
We shared grateful hugs and smiles, all around, followed by
Our friend resuming the philisophical conversation concerning
God in which we four had been engaged (right before the
Drunk driver had lost control over his truck) by saying:
See, I told you God takes good care of good people—we're all alive!
Having listened to his take, I countered with:
Jim—if God takes good care of good people then
Why would He/She allow a good person like me to
Be severely injured by a drunken guy, driving a borrowed truck, who’d
Somehow disappeared from the ER before slipping into oblivion?
The moral of this true story is this—
From time immemorial, the world over—
People believe whatever each of us had been raised to believe or
People believe whatever each of us needs to believe to feel safe or
People believe whatever each of us wants to believe to feel good about
Ourselves, and though it is not necessary for all of us to absorb
The same belief system in order to live peaceably, there is
One exception to that rule if we are ever to achieve
The long range goal of world peace, and here it is:
If we are ever to achieve the far-sighted goal of lasting world peace
(Or peaceful co-existence within a family) then it is necessary to absorb
The belief that suggests it’s best to respectfully agree to disagree—which
Implies consciously placing our power-struggling egos aside during
Moments of conversational conflict so that
Both sides remember to embrace a heartfelt attitude of
Brotherhood, which, being based in the premise of bettering
Both lives, sees two people taking turns listening to
Each other’s belief systems so as to flavor their debate with
The grace of each one’s good-natured traits, thus
Holding high the standard of: Make love not war!
As to fleshing out the detailed version of today’s synopsis of
A true story (penned and saved to drafts, years ago), I have
No doubt that at some point in the future my intuitive powers will
Offer the decision-maker inside my head a thumbs up, suggesting that
Time to post that story as a whole is ripe—as for now
I'm hoping that my power of intuition will offer me
A thumbs up concerning posting the detailed version of
The story of my brief hospitalization, which
Took place within the past couple of weeks, and as that
True tale, which spotlights the bullying nature of Big Business
Has yet to be penned ... I’m on it
Will and I were in the back seat of
A friend's car on our way home from dinner with
Another couple, a man and his wife, who
Were neighbors, and believe it or not
We four were discussing differing beliefs about
God when out of the blue, a drunk driver, who’d
Passed out at the wheel of a truck, skidded
On the slippery pavement across
The double yellow line into our lane, and
Though our friend instinctively swerved
His steering wheel while slamming on the brakes
That truck, going 40 mph, crashed into us, head on, and
Though there's a story to be told concerning
The terrifying hours that passed between the moment of impact
And my awakening the next day, drugged to the max in
The intensive care unit of Will's primary hospital
That true tale will be fleshed out on another day for
This reason: I’m aiming to spotlight a specific point, today, and
Here it is: Several days after under-going life-saving surgery
My condition stabilized so as to see me transfered
Out of intensive care into a private room where
Shortly thereafter, a nurse wheeled Will from his room
Into mine, and while we were thanking our lucky stars to
Be alive guess who limped in, supported by a cane?
Our friend, who'd been driving the tank-like Cadillac, which
Had been totaled on that stormy night, accompanied by
His wife, whose lovely face, having hit the windshield
(No air bags back then), appeared pretty banged up and
Swollen, so black and blue was she, and as Susie, who’d been
Knocked unconscious, awakened in the ER, seeing
Double, she, too, had been hospitalized until that very day when
We shared grateful hugs and smiles, all around, followed by
Our friend resuming the philisophical conversation concerning
God in which we four had been engaged (right before the
Drunk driver had lost control over his truck) by saying:
See, I told you God takes good care of good people—we're all alive!
Having listened to his take, I countered with:
Jim—if God takes good care of good people then
Why would He/She allow a good person like me to
Be severely injured by a drunken guy, driving a borrowed truck, who’d
Somehow disappeared from the ER before slipping into oblivion?
The moral of this true story is this—
From time immemorial, the world over—
People believe whatever each of us had been raised to believe or
People believe whatever each of us needs to believe to feel safe or
People believe whatever each of us wants to believe to feel good about
Ourselves, and though it is not necessary for all of us to absorb
The same belief system in order to live peaceably, there is
One exception to that rule if we are ever to achieve
The long range goal of world peace, and here it is:
If we are ever to achieve the far-sighted goal of lasting world peace
(Or peaceful co-existence within a family) then it is necessary to absorb
The belief that suggests it’s best to respectfully agree to disagree—which
Implies consciously placing our power-struggling egos aside during
Moments of conversational conflict so that
Both sides remember to embrace a heartfelt attitude of
Brotherhood, which, being based in the premise of bettering
Both lives, sees two people taking turns listening to
Each other’s belief systems so as to flavor their debate with
The grace of each one’s good-natured traits, thus
Holding high the standard of: Make love not war!
As to fleshing out the detailed version of today’s synopsis of
A true story (penned and saved to drafts, years ago), I have
No doubt that at some point in the future my intuitive powers will
Offer the decision-maker inside my head a thumbs up, suggesting that
Time to post that story as a whole is ripe—as for now
I'm hoping that my power of intuition will offer me
A thumbs up concerning posting the detailed version of
The story of my brief hospitalization, which
Took place within the past couple of weeks, and as that
True tale, which spotlights the bullying nature of Big Business
Has yet to be penned ... I’m on it
Saturday, April 7, 2018
HISTORY IS NOT A PARTY GAME OF TELEPHONE, PASSING MISUNDERSTANDINGS ROUND THE TABLE ...
Engaging in research makes me wonder how often history—passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next as factual—actually bends the truth in similar fashion to the party game of telephone in which misunderstandings, passed from one person to the next around the table, result in good natured laughter. On the other hand, when it comes to recording historical facts, passing misunderstandings from generation to generation is no laughing matter. For example, below you'll find an on line article, illustrating how often we assume that whatever has been passed down is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth—from God’s mouth to our ears ...
Quoting (The Christian Post.com) April 29, 2017
Quoting (The Christian Post.com) April 29, 2017
Was Jesus a Carpenter or a Stonemason?
“For centuries, Western Christians have associated Joseph, Jesus's earthly father, with carpentry. For many of us, we read children's Bibles that show him teaching young Jesus how to saw, hammer nails, and create wooden joints. But was this the type of work that Jesus was engaged in? Is this what he learned from his earthly father, Joseph? We have perhaps been misled over the years by faulty cultural assumptions, overshadowing much of what Jesus said, did, and fulfilled in his life and ministry.
The central misunderstanding comes from a translation issue that occurred centuries ago. It focuses on a verse in Matthew 13. After Jesus teaches in his hometown synagogue, the crowd asks, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?"(v. 55). The Greek word tekton, translated here as carpenter, is more accurately rendered as craftsman or builder. At face value, without taking the Jewish cultural background into consideration, a carpenter could fit that description. However, a quick survey of northern Israel's landscape reveals that the job of carpenter may not be the best fit for that Greek word.
The majority of homes in Israel, as noted by Hebraic scholar James W. Fleming, are constructed with stone. Fleming explains: "Jesus and Joseph would have formed and made nine out of ten projects from stone either by chiseling or carving the stone or stacking building blocks." (i) Does this mean that Jesus never worked with wood? While we can't say conclusively one way or the other, the fact is that a man attempting to make a living as a wood carpenter would have had a challenging time because trees were, and still are, relatively scarce in that region.”
Here's a fact proves as true as true can be:
No matter how much food for thought I absorb about
World wide need to engage in peaceable (mutually respectful)
Discussions concerning differing beliefs
The proactive nature of my mind always hungers for more, and
As it's 3:45PM, and I've not yet had lunch, it's off to the kitchen I go—
Here's a fact proves as true as true can be:
No matter how much food for thought I absorb about
World wide need to engage in peaceable (mutually respectful)
Discussions concerning differing beliefs
The proactive nature of my mind always hungers for more, and
As it's 3:45PM, and I've not yet had lunch, it's off to the kitchen I go—
Thursday, April 5, 2018
MAKING MATZOH BALLS WITH LOVE NOT WAR—PART IV
So, we were in the car on our way to the movies when
I proceeded to bend Will’s ear with a synopsis of
This week’s posts, and here was his response:
Why didn’t you include the fact that God named a city after you?
Puzzled, I went for the bait and asked, which one?
At that he replied Babble-on, which
In ancient times was spelled B-a-b-y-l-o-n.
LOL!
On a serious note, let’s take another quick glance over
The historical time line so as to clarify
This next insight into deeper truth:
Mankind has been heading in a positively focused
Direction concerning world peace by taking
Two steps forward, one back, ever since
Cave dwellers, sporting back packs made of
Dinosaur skins, became nomads, in search of
Bettering their lives, and that took courage, because
Human nature instinctively fears change, which is why
Monumental changes for the better are achieved
For the most part, in infinitesimal increments, each
Of which takes an interminable length of time before
Improvement (most especially on a global scope) is
Seen and felt by all concerned—something to ponder upon as
This year's calendar draws Passover and Easter (which
Have been recorded as opposing religious ideologies)
Together, as magnetically as insight into deeper truth suggests
The same is true of impassioned men and women, whose
Memories rarely record the same experience the same way as
In: He said/she said ...
As the comment box always
Hungers for food for thought
I’d truly appreciate hearing from
Anyone who would like to enlighten
My conscious awareness with
Knowledge concerning any matter on this topic that
Peaks your interest inclusive of holidays celebrated
By those who follow the Muslim faith, which
May line up in tandem with those of
The Old Testament (The Torah) and The New Testament
(Penned by Paul in ancient Ephesus, where he delivered
Mary, fifty years after they’d witnessed
The heartless crucifixion of her beloved son, his beloved friend)
And thus was it in Ephesus that Paul, a disciple of Jesus
Recorded his own personal interpretation of the Bible while
Imprisoned for teaching that Jesus was the son of God
As the absorption of integrated knowledge remains close to
The heart of this family communications instructor's
Unquenchable thirst for mind-expanding knowledge,
I hope your sense of clarity will absorb my plea to
Free your existential voice to speak your mind as
I have mine, and having said my say, I’ll end
Part IV of this week's insight-driven
Intuitive train of thought, which, based in an
Educated sense of hindsight, has offered
My conscious mind the foresight to resurrect
The spirit of yet another King, whose
Melodic voice, winging down from on high, can
Still be heard round the world singing
Love Me Tender, love me true—offering everyone
Sound reason to seriously reconsider
The soul's heartfelt message, which clearly speaks of
Leaving lip service behind in favor of joining hands as
We, who make up the far-sighted end of
The bell shaped curve on the historical time line
Hope to encourage those in the middle to feel inspired to
Contemplate world-wide need to take the next
Courageous step along our communal path toward
Identifying egocentric vulnerabilities and
Flawed beliefs of our own so as to forgive those of
Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors
Political and religious leaders, thus acknowledging that
The eternal nature of human imperfection, which has
All too readily been inflamed to strike down
Opposing opinions since the beginning of
The historical time, which has continued to
Coil up as of today, includes you and me, and
In this way doth the Jewish woman, who
I am proud to be, place a high value upon
Words of wisdom with which
A gentle prophet from ancient times encouraged
The people of the world to redeem our
Soulful connection to generosity of spirit, thus
Enriching our sense of togetherness, which
Deepens inner peace that we’d supposedly lost when
Eve offered Adam the first taste of
Carnal (or was it intuitive?) knowledge, and
If carnal knowledge is actually Intuitive then
Isn’t it high time for man to stop thinking that
Testosterone inflames his sex drive more than
Estrogen empowers the same desire within
The fairer sex—and by fairer I’m referencing
A mental attitude of inner beauty rather than
A mental image of that which is physical in nature—
Oh my God—
Today's train of thought is on such an intuitive
Mind expanding roll as to caution my well practiced
Line of control to step on the brakes, because
Given free rein, I have no conscious clue as to
Where this unrestrained release of
Mental energy may take us, next—so I'll end
This four part soliloquy by wishing
A Happy Passover, Happy Easter to one and all
(And once again, if you do not follow
The Jewish or Christian persuasion, please note that
My mind and comment box always
Hunger to be fed food for thought)
Amen
I proceeded to bend Will’s ear with a synopsis of
This week’s posts, and here was his response:
Why didn’t you include the fact that God named a city after you?
Puzzled, I went for the bait and asked, which one?
At that he replied Babble-on, which
In ancient times was spelled B-a-b-y-l-o-n.
LOL!
On a serious note, let’s take another quick glance over
The historical time line so as to clarify
This next insight into deeper truth:
Mankind has been heading in a positively focused
Direction concerning world peace by taking
Two steps forward, one back, ever since
Cave dwellers, sporting back packs made of
Dinosaur skins, became nomads, in search of
Bettering their lives, and that took courage, because
Human nature instinctively fears change, which is why
Monumental changes for the better are achieved
For the most part, in infinitesimal increments, each
Of which takes an interminable length of time before
Improvement (most especially on a global scope) is
Seen and felt by all concerned—something to ponder upon as
This year's calendar draws Passover and Easter (which
Have been recorded as opposing religious ideologies)
Together, as magnetically as insight into deeper truth suggests
The same is true of impassioned men and women, whose
Memories rarely record the same experience the same way as
In: He said/she said ...
As the comment box always
Hungers for food for thought
I’d truly appreciate hearing from
Anyone who would like to enlighten
My conscious awareness with
Knowledge concerning any matter on this topic that
Peaks your interest inclusive of holidays celebrated
By those who follow the Muslim faith, which
May line up in tandem with those of
The Old Testament (The Torah) and The New Testament
(Penned by Paul in ancient Ephesus, where he delivered
Mary, fifty years after they’d witnessed
The heartless crucifixion of her beloved son, his beloved friend)
And thus was it in Ephesus that Paul, a disciple of Jesus
Recorded his own personal interpretation of the Bible while
Imprisoned for teaching that Jesus was the son of God
As the absorption of integrated knowledge remains close to
The heart of this family communications instructor's
Unquenchable thirst for mind-expanding knowledge,
I hope your sense of clarity will absorb my plea to
Free your existential voice to speak your mind as
I have mine, and having said my say, I’ll end
Part IV of this week's insight-driven
Intuitive train of thought, which, based in an
Educated sense of hindsight, has offered
My conscious mind the foresight to resurrect
The spirit of yet another King, whose
Melodic voice, winging down from on high, can
Still be heard round the world singing
Love Me Tender, love me true—offering everyone
Sound reason to seriously reconsider
The soul's heartfelt message, which clearly speaks of
Leaving lip service behind in favor of joining hands as
We, who make up the far-sighted end of
The bell shaped curve on the historical time line
Hope to encourage those in the middle to feel inspired to
Contemplate world-wide need to take the next
Courageous step along our communal path toward
Identifying egocentric vulnerabilities and
Flawed beliefs of our own so as to forgive those of
Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors
Political and religious leaders, thus acknowledging that
The eternal nature of human imperfection, which has
All too readily been inflamed to strike down
Opposing opinions since the beginning of
The historical time, which has continued to
Coil up as of today, includes you and me, and
In this way doth the Jewish woman, who
I am proud to be, place a high value upon
Words of wisdom with which
A gentle prophet from ancient times encouraged
The people of the world to redeem our
Soulful connection to generosity of spirit, thus
Enriching our sense of togetherness, which
Deepens inner peace that we’d supposedly lost when
Eve offered Adam the first taste of
Carnal (or was it intuitive?) knowledge, and
If carnal knowledge is actually Intuitive then
Isn’t it high time for man to stop thinking that
Testosterone inflames his sex drive more than
Estrogen empowers the same desire within
The fairer sex—and by fairer I’m referencing
A mental attitude of inner beauty rather than
A mental image of that which is physical in nature—
Oh my God—
Today's train of thought is on such an intuitive
Mind expanding roll as to caution my well practiced
Line of control to step on the brakes, because
Given free rein, I have no conscious clue as to
Where this unrestrained release of
Mental energy may take us, next—so I'll end
This four part soliloquy by wishing
A Happy Passover, Happy Easter to one and all
(And once again, if you do not follow
The Jewish or Christian persuasion, please note that
My mind and comment box always
Hunger to be fed food for thought)
Amen
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
MAKING MATZOH BALLS WITH LOVE NOT WAR—PART III
Though today is Tuesday—let's note that
This post was originally penned on Monday, April 2nd, so
I'll start off with something that confused me until
My thought processor remembered that
Sunday was April Fools Day, at which time
I caught wind of the fact that God has a sense of humor
You see, one of our cousins was so busy working for
Big Business as to have somehow mistaken the first night of
Passover as falling on Easter Sunday, at which time
She and her family conducted their Seder, so
While chuckling, together, over wide spread mental dizziness
We decided that God, in his/her infinite wisdom, played
An April fools joke on her by drawing both holidays
Together—inside her head, and after you and I have
Imagined my cousin making matzoh balls with
The Easter Bunny (who asked if she was planning to
Color the eggs, which were boiling on the stove next to
The pot within which the savory aroma of chicken soup was
Simmering), lets pocket that imaginative laugh along with
Countless funny family stories as, once again
We return to those days of yesteryear when
Memory reminds me of how often I’d heard Will’s mother say:
Man plans and God laughs, and as she was not the one
Who coined that insight, which has been passed down from
One generation to the next, let’s see how far back into
Ancient history we must reach in hopes of expanding
Our understanding of this next string of inter-related
Insights concerning the historical time line, which
Is presently flashing through my mind as if to
Remind us to remember that
Every step taken from the beginning of mankind is
Connected to where we have come to be, today:
Rather than glancing over the historical time line, let's
Look closely at telling events so as to see why
I believe the time line is not a straight line—
In truth, the historical time line forms a coil made up of
Repetitive cycles depicting mankind's universal quest to
Fight, when necessary, for the right to existential freedoms in
Hopes of defeating corrupt political leaders, who, upon
Achieving absolute power, show themselves to be self absorbed
Control freaks whose internal emotional combustion enslaves
Every next generation unless the rebellious, idealistic spirit of
A youthful leader of the oppressed rises up to inspire his
Brethren to unite and fight to the death until
The freedom to respect each other’s differences has, once again
Been won, suggesting that the eternal nature of humankind’s
Internal flame of existentialism can never be completely
Extinguished as long as the very first breath of
Every brand new life is born to inhale the human spirit’s
On-going need to express his/her God given
Right to think and decide for oneself—and though
‘In the beginning' religious belief was meant to
Consciously heighten the self awareness of brothers and sisters to
Consider the sad fate of Cain and Abel by offering the populous of
Ancient times a wide range of insight-driven bible stories, illustrating
Disasterous results that were bound to shatter inner peace if
Positively focused trains of thought could not deter an injured ego from
Usurping total control over our minds, and though these stories had been
Passed down by word of mouth (like the party game of telephone) until
Scribes felt driven to record mankind’s personal need to embrace the concept of
Emotional self discipline on sacred scrolls in hopes of inspiring
Extended families to work through their conflicts respectfully rather than
Freeing rage to shatter their spirit of brotherhood so irrepairingly as to
Fracture their sense of togetherness into waring camps—
And thus does hindsight highlight this deeper truth:
Over time, religion, alone, has not gentled the egocentric, power hungry
Side of human nature from tying dissenting opinions to stakes once
Impassioned rage grows so hatefully inflamed as to burn dissidents
Alive while observers circle round, cheering so madly as to
Make me ponder over this sad reality concerning how quickly
Mob rule ignites our communal connection to sanity to
Go up in smoke, suggesting that insanity, based in
Our brain stem’s unquenchable thirst for power, is naturally
More contagious to the masses than is true of our higher brain power’s hunger
For knowledge, and here’s the conundrum associated with that historical fact:
Common sense suggests that knowledge IS power—
And with that said, thank goodness we see armies of youth marching into
Universities in hopes of arming young brains with information necessary to
Keep a greater semblance of peace throughout the world than that which
Is readily assessable to those who dwell within the confines of
Third world countries, where brutal dictators work like crazy to
Brainwash uneducated youth to martyr themselves in the name of God by
Strapping bombs to their chests after stoning women who were
Victims of rape—making me ask how much longer will we close our eyes to
This reality as well: Here at home, we empower the subtle nature of
Bullies to enslave men and women as Big Business tycoons conspire to
Formulate interest groups that paralyze our national government from
Passing legislation, which upon remodeling our tax structure, will
No longer deprive the over worked, silent majority (that makes up
The center swell of the bell shaped curve) of family time, which
Proves as close to extinct as is true of down time in which to relax from
Daily stress over income, dully earned but withheld while personal dignity
And respect for a job well done are disregarded, and that trilogy of
Travesties will only worsen unde our current administration, which
Advocates:—to the vicious egocentric nature of hard-hearted victors go
The spoils of Big Business once those who have lost everything feel so
Dispirited and exhausted from the futility of
Trying to make ends meet dispense with youthful, idealistic
Trains of thought based in existential freedoms for this reason:
Spiritual need to thrive wains once human distress grows so
Bitterly despairing as to stop seeking change for the better in favor of
Lowering expectations of succeeding beyond survival, and thus
Have historians observed insanity reigning over sanity, time
And again, until eventually, a generation of youth is born, which—
Behind complacency’s persona—harbors an intuitive
Combustible sense of internal rebellion until a leader arises, whose
Inner strengths inspire an enslaved people's heartfelt need for
Existential freedom to be resurrected and openly expressed, and
Once again, the good fight is on until, over time, liberation has been
Courageously won—and one day, I believe education will
Become so wide spread that today’s quest for existential freedoms will
Be won—not by waging wars that spill the blood of our youth
All over our souls—but by way of resurrecting
Reverend King’s dream, which, like my own, embraces
An emotional line of control so conscientiously constructed
And so consistently employed as to set personally defensive reactions in
Time out thus empowering the human brain's higher thinking powers to
Remain clearly focused upon inspiring tomorrow’s children (disciples), as did
Sages through the ages, like Moses, Jesus and Lincoln, who
Felt inspired to role model self-empowered, well-disciplined absorption of
Positively focused, empathetic solution seeking trains of thought, which
Over time, continues to become ever more wide spread so that
Some day, long standing, defensively combustible conflicts will be
Peaceably resolved—two steps forward one back—and I believe that
The illusive, heartfelt nature of so worthy a long range goal will
One day be absorbed by the open minds of children, raised at
Their mother’s knee, in one well educated home after another, suggesting
That future leaders of today's warmongering world will
Feel inspired to awaken to embrace this intuitive truth as their own:
The mindful absorption of brotherhood deepens inner peace, which
Precedes leadership's ability to work together in tandem to provide
All people with a future in which the innate intelligence of
Men and women (shed of burkas) is no longer denied basic
Human rights of equality, liberty, education and the pursuit of
Happiness (which working women throughout
The United States are still struggling in unison to change for
The better as their agile, well educated minds continue to
Bump up against glass ceilings, today), and if we are to embrace
The higher concept of role modeling ‘Make love not war’ to
Our young—and if our current engagement in
The war against terror (waged in The Middle East for eons), has
A higher purpose than any of today’s emotionally egocentric
Power struggling leaders can fathom—then
Thank goodness for the human brain's potential to
Continue to develop heightened levels of emotional intelligence, which
Will intuit when to embrace patience, humility and courage while
Hindsight gifts our conscious minds with flashes of insight that
Will brighten the intuitive minds of our grandchildren’s intelligence with
Visions of foresight, concerning how best to mentally wrestle
Mankind’s basic instincts (which will always exhibit egocentric desire to
Aggressively dominate brothers and sisters as long as
Each of us is born with a brain stem) to the mat so as to free our
Processors of mixed messaged madness that confuses
Our innate potential to brainstorm, together, toward achieving
The looong range goal of elevating leadership’s peace-seeking
Peace-keeping trains of thought by way of embracing
The mutually respectful attitude of one-for-all-and-all-for-one absorbed
At mother's knee—family by family—nation by nation
(Gosh—just think of how wondrous life might be if we imagine
Moses, Noah, Jesus, Socrates, Shakespeare, H. Tubman, Lincoln
Gandhi, Mandela, King, E. Roosevelt, G. Meir captaining
The United Nations in hopes of creating a ship so well balanced that
Unlike the Titanic, the liberties of the people of the world could be
Safeguarded, today (please take note that Plato is
Not amongst that crew—why not? He’s in time out, pondering upon
The fact that his writings proclaimed women's brains inferior to men's)
As reality insists that we can't magically transform the fantasy above
To form a round table discussion of world leaders, today
We're currently stuck with the mentality of Trump, who was elected to
Preside over our congress, which was also elected—regardless of
The fact that common knowledge knew that our nation's leader
Fires off deeply insulting, war-like missiles every time
He opens his egocentric mouth—see what I mean about observing
Insanity running so rampant through our streets as to have
Elected a person whose mind is clearly afflicted with megalomaniac
Delusions of grandeur to invade the sanctity of The Oval Office?
In case you think me a cock-eyed optimist, please note that
The realism, noted within this lengthy soliloquy,
Has not yet reached its bottom line, suggestive of the fact that
I can feel Part IV cooking up another batch of
Matzoh balls—I mean insights, simmering inside my mind ...
(When my sons were boys, intent on acting like Cain and Abel—
I taught them to say—time to lighten up—and following
My own advice, it’s time to rebalance
My emotional outlook so as to enjoy the rest of today)
This post was originally penned on Monday, April 2nd, so
I'll start off with something that confused me until
My thought processor remembered that
Sunday was April Fools Day, at which time
I caught wind of the fact that God has a sense of humor
You see, one of our cousins was so busy working for
Big Business as to have somehow mistaken the first night of
Passover as falling on Easter Sunday, at which time
She and her family conducted their Seder, so
While chuckling, together, over wide spread mental dizziness
We decided that God, in his/her infinite wisdom, played
An April fools joke on her by drawing both holidays
Together—inside her head, and after you and I have
Imagined my cousin making matzoh balls with
The Easter Bunny (who asked if she was planning to
Color the eggs, which were boiling on the stove next to
The pot within which the savory aroma of chicken soup was
Simmering), lets pocket that imaginative laugh along with
Countless funny family stories as, once again
We return to those days of yesteryear when
Memory reminds me of how often I’d heard Will’s mother say:
Man plans and God laughs, and as she was not the one
Who coined that insight, which has been passed down from
One generation to the next, let’s see how far back into
Ancient history we must reach in hopes of expanding
Our understanding of this next string of inter-related
Insights concerning the historical time line, which
Is presently flashing through my mind as if to
Remind us to remember that
Every step taken from the beginning of mankind is
Connected to where we have come to be, today:
Rather than glancing over the historical time line, let's
Look closely at telling events so as to see why
I believe the time line is not a straight line—
In truth, the historical time line forms a coil made up of
Repetitive cycles depicting mankind's universal quest to
Fight, when necessary, for the right to existential freedoms in
Hopes of defeating corrupt political leaders, who, upon
Achieving absolute power, show themselves to be self absorbed
Control freaks whose internal emotional combustion enslaves
Every next generation unless the rebellious, idealistic spirit of
A youthful leader of the oppressed rises up to inspire his
Brethren to unite and fight to the death until
The freedom to respect each other’s differences has, once again
Been won, suggesting that the eternal nature of humankind’s
Internal flame of existentialism can never be completely
Extinguished as long as the very first breath of
Every brand new life is born to inhale the human spirit’s
On-going need to express his/her God given
Right to think and decide for oneself—and though
‘In the beginning' religious belief was meant to
Consciously heighten the self awareness of brothers and sisters to
Consider the sad fate of Cain and Abel by offering the populous of
Ancient times a wide range of insight-driven bible stories, illustrating
Disasterous results that were bound to shatter inner peace if
Positively focused trains of thought could not deter an injured ego from
Usurping total control over our minds, and though these stories had been
Passed down by word of mouth (like the party game of telephone) until
Scribes felt driven to record mankind’s personal need to embrace the concept of
Emotional self discipline on sacred scrolls in hopes of inspiring
Extended families to work through their conflicts respectfully rather than
Freeing rage to shatter their spirit of brotherhood so irrepairingly as to
Fracture their sense of togetherness into waring camps—
And thus does hindsight highlight this deeper truth:
Over time, religion, alone, has not gentled the egocentric, power hungry
Side of human nature from tying dissenting opinions to stakes once
Impassioned rage grows so hatefully inflamed as to burn dissidents
Alive while observers circle round, cheering so madly as to
Make me ponder over this sad reality concerning how quickly
Mob rule ignites our communal connection to sanity to
Go up in smoke, suggesting that insanity, based in
Our brain stem’s unquenchable thirst for power, is naturally
More contagious to the masses than is true of our higher brain power’s hunger
For knowledge, and here’s the conundrum associated with that historical fact:
Common sense suggests that knowledge IS power—
And with that said, thank goodness we see armies of youth marching into
Universities in hopes of arming young brains with information necessary to
Keep a greater semblance of peace throughout the world than that which
Is readily assessable to those who dwell within the confines of
Third world countries, where brutal dictators work like crazy to
Brainwash uneducated youth to martyr themselves in the name of God by
Strapping bombs to their chests after stoning women who were
Victims of rape—making me ask how much longer will we close our eyes to
This reality as well: Here at home, we empower the subtle nature of
Bullies to enslave men and women as Big Business tycoons conspire to
Formulate interest groups that paralyze our national government from
Passing legislation, which upon remodeling our tax structure, will
No longer deprive the over worked, silent majority (that makes up
The center swell of the bell shaped curve) of family time, which
Proves as close to extinct as is true of down time in which to relax from
Daily stress over income, dully earned but withheld while personal dignity
And respect for a job well done are disregarded, and that trilogy of
Travesties will only worsen unde our current administration, which
Advocates:—to the vicious egocentric nature of hard-hearted victors go
The spoils of Big Business once those who have lost everything feel so
Dispirited and exhausted from the futility of
Trying to make ends meet dispense with youthful, idealistic
Trains of thought based in existential freedoms for this reason:
Spiritual need to thrive wains once human distress grows so
Bitterly despairing as to stop seeking change for the better in favor of
Lowering expectations of succeeding beyond survival, and thus
Have historians observed insanity reigning over sanity, time
And again, until eventually, a generation of youth is born, which—
Behind complacency’s persona—harbors an intuitive
Combustible sense of internal rebellion until a leader arises, whose
Inner strengths inspire an enslaved people's heartfelt need for
Existential freedom to be resurrected and openly expressed, and
Once again, the good fight is on until, over time, liberation has been
Courageously won—and one day, I believe education will
Become so wide spread that today’s quest for existential freedoms will
Be won—not by waging wars that spill the blood of our youth
All over our souls—but by way of resurrecting
Reverend King’s dream, which, like my own, embraces
An emotional line of control so conscientiously constructed
And so consistently employed as to set personally defensive reactions in
Time out thus empowering the human brain's higher thinking powers to
Remain clearly focused upon inspiring tomorrow’s children (disciples), as did
Sages through the ages, like Moses, Jesus and Lincoln, who
Felt inspired to role model self-empowered, well-disciplined absorption of
Positively focused, empathetic solution seeking trains of thought, which
Over time, continues to become ever more wide spread so that
Some day, long standing, defensively combustible conflicts will be
Peaceably resolved—two steps forward one back—and I believe that
The illusive, heartfelt nature of so worthy a long range goal will
One day be absorbed by the open minds of children, raised at
Their mother’s knee, in one well educated home after another, suggesting
That future leaders of today's warmongering world will
Feel inspired to awaken to embrace this intuitive truth as their own:
The mindful absorption of brotherhood deepens inner peace, which
Precedes leadership's ability to work together in tandem to provide
All people with a future in which the innate intelligence of
Men and women (shed of burkas) is no longer denied basic
Human rights of equality, liberty, education and the pursuit of
Happiness (which working women throughout
The United States are still struggling in unison to change for
The better as their agile, well educated minds continue to
Bump up against glass ceilings, today), and if we are to embrace
The higher concept of role modeling ‘Make love not war’ to
Our young—and if our current engagement in
The war against terror (waged in The Middle East for eons), has
A higher purpose than any of today’s emotionally egocentric
Power struggling leaders can fathom—then
Thank goodness for the human brain's potential to
Continue to develop heightened levels of emotional intelligence, which
Will intuit when to embrace patience, humility and courage while
Hindsight gifts our conscious minds with flashes of insight that
Will brighten the intuitive minds of our grandchildren’s intelligence with
Visions of foresight, concerning how best to mentally wrestle
Mankind’s basic instincts (which will always exhibit egocentric desire to
Aggressively dominate brothers and sisters as long as
Each of us is born with a brain stem) to the mat so as to free our
Processors of mixed messaged madness that confuses
Our innate potential to brainstorm, together, toward achieving
The looong range goal of elevating leadership’s peace-seeking
Peace-keeping trains of thought by way of embracing
The mutually respectful attitude of one-for-all-and-all-for-one absorbed
At mother's knee—family by family—nation by nation
(Gosh—just think of how wondrous life might be if we imagine
Moses, Noah, Jesus, Socrates, Shakespeare, H. Tubman, Lincoln
Gandhi, Mandela, King, E. Roosevelt, G. Meir captaining
The United Nations in hopes of creating a ship so well balanced that
Unlike the Titanic, the liberties of the people of the world could be
Safeguarded, today (please take note that Plato is
Not amongst that crew—why not? He’s in time out, pondering upon
The fact that his writings proclaimed women's brains inferior to men's)
As reality insists that we can't magically transform the fantasy above
To form a round table discussion of world leaders, today
We're currently stuck with the mentality of Trump, who was elected to
Preside over our congress, which was also elected—regardless of
The fact that common knowledge knew that our nation's leader
Fires off deeply insulting, war-like missiles every time
He opens his egocentric mouth—see what I mean about observing
Insanity running so rampant through our streets as to have
Elected a person whose mind is clearly afflicted with megalomaniac
Delusions of grandeur to invade the sanctity of The Oval Office?
In case you think me a cock-eyed optimist, please note that
The realism, noted within this lengthy soliloquy,
Has not yet reached its bottom line, suggestive of the fact that
I can feel Part IV cooking up another batch of
Matzoh balls—I mean insights, simmering inside my mind ...
(When my sons were boys, intent on acting like Cain and Abel—
I taught them to say—time to lighten up—and following
My own advice, it’s time to rebalance
My emotional outlook so as to enjoy the rest of today)
Sunday, April 1, 2018
MAKING MATZOH BALLS WITH THE EASTER BUNNY—PART II
Before we consider similarities between Passover and Easter:
Let's reference the first two holidays mentioned in
Part I of this post (Christmas and Chanukah)
And in the interest of clarity, it may be best to consider
The bigger picture as represented by each one in
As objective a manner as proves humanly possible:
If Christmas celebrates the miracle of human life
(Gosh, I just realized that three wise men gathered round
The humble beginning of this innocent babe in similar fashion to
Three magical fairies, offering gifts to save an innocent child, who'd
Fallen under a spell, from unconsciously sleeping her life away) then—
Chanukah celebrates the universal spirit awakening each
Next generation of children to light candles in commemoration of
Every person’s right to reclaim his/her existential freedom after
The older generation has wearily succumbed to threats of
Mental and physical enslavement at the hands of hard hearted
Power hungry persecutors, suggesting that both holidays speak of
Hope to the communal soul of youth round the world with
This exception: Beginning in ancient times when
Cave-dwellers evolved into nomads, roaming the earth in
Search of a better life, arguments concerning the powers of
My God vs yours have continued to undermine mankind's
Peaceful co-existence by igniting emotional reactiveness
Amongst clans to grow ever more insanely inflamed, and
Insane proves to be the correct choice of word for this reason:
Was anything sane about thumbs up or down in the Roman Colosseum?
Was anything sane about the inflammatory savagery of The Inquisition?
How about the stench rising from flesh burning ovens during The Holocaust?
And what about the holy (?) war, which is intent upon enslaving
The entire world, today? If insanity is defined as doing
The same thing the same way, repeatedly, while expecting
A different result then my choice of the word insane is
Right on the mark as long as the fearful, selfish side of
Human nature continues to close its eyes to this deeper truth:
We are our brothers and sisters keepers on a global scope—
And if compassion for the suffering of others has not yet stirred
Your soul's generosity of spirit to awaken then let's
Try this insight on for size, knowing that repetition is not
Redundant when our goal is mental retention:
Once the insane feel free to enslave 'them', they will come for
US—oh wait—that's already the case!
I believe you'd agree to defining the insane as including
Twisted minds of all ages grown so callous as to blow away
The lives of innocent children, who, for sound reason, no longer
Feel safe in school or shopping centers or even in their front yards
The fact that the silent majority has continued to vote for
Politicians whose egocentric positions of personal power
Cower with fear at the very thought of standing up to
The NRA so as to pass gun control legislation that demands
Reformation is also insane, suggesting that, throughout history
The fearful side of human nature has closed our eyes to
Insanity running rampant through our streets until
Tragic consequences, based in apathy, knock on our front doors
I find it of interest to note that though our government takes steps to
Stop terrorists born on foreign soil from blowing up our bodies
No steps—not a one—has been taken to stop Big Brother, I mean
The NRA (and Big Business) from shackling the minds of
Politicians, elected to serve—we the people, who
Finding ourselves and our children in harms way—
Continue to be shot down in cold blood—day after day
I find it of interest to note that in every generation, it is
The spirit of youthful idealism that musters the courage to
Stand up and speak to the silent majority of voters of
Need for change, which proves desperately overdue
And thus has today’s insight driven train of intuitive thought
Conveyed our minds toward considering the second pair of holidays—
Passover and Easter—both of which commemorate humankind's belief in
The resurrection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness after
Heartless persecution has brutally condemned the innocent to
Suffer the agony of an unjust, viciously conceived, terribly painful death as
Ruthless rulers continue to state: Serve me by believing what I believe and
Do only as I say or die a public death as agonizing as crucifixion, burning or
Stoning so that observers, fearing my power to brutalize your lives, will
Bend to my will and thus, if at this point on the historical time line you think
To ask: What has changed for the better since biblical times? I'd reply:
Manifest Destiny continues to bow to the well-educated concept of
All for one and one for all on a global scope, and if you think otherwise
I'd suggest trading in your camera for one with a wide-angled lens, because
Just as terrorists terrorize innocent families, today, any amongst us who feels
Holier than thou would be wise to watch Dances with Wolves, from
Time to time, followed by wandering down to Walden Pond so as to ponder upon
The fact that one native American tribe enslaved another, because
Time and again, deeper truth uncovers the sad fact that
From time immemorial, human nature is human nature, and line of
Control or not—Pocahontas and John Smith will continue to defy
Their elders’ separatist beliefs, born of defensive fear, by falling for each other
Each time we remember to expand narrow thinking patterns so as to look
At history through a wide angled lens, we can clearly see that
The classic nature of Romeo and Juliette are reborn within
Every generation, suggesting that our children are innately meant to
Love one another without prejudice (which must be taught) regardless of
Restrictive societal customs, religious beliefs or variations of color—
As for me, while my love and respect for my Jewish heritage
Remains strong, I've grown to overcome my fear of
Assimilation in favor of embracing the universal spirit of
Togetherness that I believe a humble stonecutter, who chose
To grow up to be a rabbi, did his best to inspire one and all to
Adopt the attitude of mental, emotional and religious generosity in
Hopes of passing a far sighted ideology onto future generations—and
Somehow, his ideology was changed, not for the better, after his death, and
Having mustered the courage to pen today's post on the weekend when
Passover and Easter converge, my time to write has drawn to a close; so
I'll leave you with several thought provoking videos and photos upon which
To ponder until time permits us to pick up this thread in hopes of continuing to
Sew a patchwork quilt that proves everlasting concerning our global need to
Strengthen the spirit of universal togetherness when next we meet
Let's reference the first two holidays mentioned in
Part I of this post (Christmas and Chanukah)
And in the interest of clarity, it may be best to consider
The bigger picture as represented by each one in
As objective a manner as proves humanly possible:
If Christmas celebrates the miracle of human life
(Gosh, I just realized that three wise men gathered round
The humble beginning of this innocent babe in similar fashion to
Three magical fairies, offering gifts to save an innocent child, who'd
Fallen under a spell, from unconsciously sleeping her life away) then—
Chanukah celebrates the universal spirit awakening each
Next generation of children to light candles in commemoration of
Every person’s right to reclaim his/her existential freedom after
The older generation has wearily succumbed to threats of
Mental and physical enslavement at the hands of hard hearted
Power hungry persecutors, suggesting that both holidays speak of
Hope to the communal soul of youth round the world with
This exception: Beginning in ancient times when
Cave-dwellers evolved into nomads, roaming the earth in
Search of a better life, arguments concerning the powers of
My God vs yours have continued to undermine mankind's
Peaceful co-existence by igniting emotional reactiveness
Amongst clans to grow ever more insanely inflamed, and
Insane proves to be the correct choice of word for this reason:
Was anything sane about thumbs up or down in the Roman Colosseum?
Was anything sane about the inflammatory savagery of The Inquisition?
How about the stench rising from flesh burning ovens during The Holocaust?
And what about the holy (?) war, which is intent upon enslaving
The entire world, today? If insanity is defined as doing
The same thing the same way, repeatedly, while expecting
A different result then my choice of the word insane is
Right on the mark as long as the fearful, selfish side of
Human nature continues to close its eyes to this deeper truth:
We are our brothers and sisters keepers on a global scope—
And if compassion for the suffering of others has not yet stirred
Your soul's generosity of spirit to awaken then let's
Try this insight on for size, knowing that repetition is not
Redundant when our goal is mental retention:
Once the insane feel free to enslave 'them', they will come for
US—oh wait—that's already the case!
I believe you'd agree to defining the insane as including
Twisted minds of all ages grown so callous as to blow away
The lives of innocent children, who, for sound reason, no longer
Feel safe in school or shopping centers or even in their front yards
The fact that the silent majority has continued to vote for
Politicians whose egocentric positions of personal power
Cower with fear at the very thought of standing up to
The NRA so as to pass gun control legislation that demands
Reformation is also insane, suggesting that, throughout history
The fearful side of human nature has closed our eyes to
Insanity running rampant through our streets until
Tragic consequences, based in apathy, knock on our front doors
I find it of interest to note that though our government takes steps to
Stop terrorists born on foreign soil from blowing up our bodies
No steps—not a one—has been taken to stop Big Brother, I mean
The NRA (and Big Business) from shackling the minds of
Politicians, elected to serve—we the people, who
Finding ourselves and our children in harms way—
Continue to be shot down in cold blood—day after day
I find it of interest to note that in every generation, it is
The spirit of youthful idealism that musters the courage to
Stand up and speak to the silent majority of voters of
Need for change, which proves desperately overdue
And thus has today’s insight driven train of intuitive thought
Conveyed our minds toward considering the second pair of holidays—
Passover and Easter—both of which commemorate humankind's belief in
The resurrection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness after
Heartless persecution has brutally condemned the innocent to
Suffer the agony of an unjust, viciously conceived, terribly painful death as
Ruthless rulers continue to state: Serve me by believing what I believe and
Do only as I say or die a public death as agonizing as crucifixion, burning or
Stoning so that observers, fearing my power to brutalize your lives, will
Bend to my will and thus, if at this point on the historical time line you think
To ask: What has changed for the better since biblical times? I'd reply:
Manifest Destiny continues to bow to the well-educated concept of
All for one and one for all on a global scope, and if you think otherwise
I'd suggest trading in your camera for one with a wide-angled lens, because
Just as terrorists terrorize innocent families, today, any amongst us who feels
Holier than thou would be wise to watch Dances with Wolves, from
Time to time, followed by wandering down to Walden Pond so as to ponder upon
The fact that one native American tribe enslaved another, because
Time and again, deeper truth uncovers the sad fact that
From time immemorial, human nature is human nature, and line of
Control or not—Pocahontas and John Smith will continue to defy
Their elders’ separatist beliefs, born of defensive fear, by falling for each other
Each time we remember to expand narrow thinking patterns so as to look
At history through a wide angled lens, we can clearly see that
The classic nature of Romeo and Juliette are reborn within
Every generation, suggesting that our children are innately meant to
Love one another without prejudice (which must be taught) regardless of
Restrictive societal customs, religious beliefs or variations of color—
As for me, while my love and respect for my Jewish heritage
Remains strong, I've grown to overcome my fear of
Assimilation in favor of embracing the universal spirit of
Togetherness that I believe a humble stonecutter, who chose
To grow up to be a rabbi, did his best to inspire one and all to
Adopt the attitude of mental, emotional and religious generosity in
Hopes of passing a far sighted ideology onto future generations—and
Somehow, his ideology was changed, not for the better, after his death, and
Having mustered the courage to pen today's post on the weekend when
Passover and Easter converge, my time to write has drawn to a close; so
I'll leave you with several thought provoking videos and photos upon which
To ponder until time permits us to pick up this thread in hopes of continuing to
Sew a patchwork quilt that proves everlasting concerning our global need to
Strengthen the spirit of universal togetherness when next we meet
Conjoining Thanksgiving with Jewish Traditions from 'the old country' 2016
Ravi rolling dough for knishes
Conjoining Chanukah and Christmas Traditions for tomorrow's leaders, today
(See Santa Claus Hats and Hebrew letters on spinning dreidels sharing the stage at school)
(See Santa Claus Hats and Hebrew letters on spinning dreidels sharing the stage at school)
As Tony and Ray were not with us for Thanksgiving, Marie asked to make
Knishes for Christmas—and yes, we made latkes, too 2017
Knishes for Christmas—and yes, we made latkes, too 2017
Conjoining Passover and Easter Traditions for tomorrow's leaders, today 2018
As we glance over the historical time line, we find, time and again, that
The only constant in life is change—and though it's true that some things change while
Others remain the same, the conscious absorption of
Others remain the same, the conscious absorption of
Attitudinal changes for the better is everything
If you ask what will Tony, Ray, and Ravi absorb
Concerning their existential beliefs about God?
Well, they'll absorb the ideology that is true of each of us who
Make up our expanding family:
Whether Jewish or Christian, insight into deeper truth suggests that
We've each decided what to believe and how much to believe for ourselves
And as time marches forward and changes in my belief system continue to
Inspire intriguing thoughts to stimulate my processor to dive ever more deeply within
History suggests that I'll open my mind in hopes of encouraging my think tank to embrace objectivity, Again and again ...
WISHING A HAPPY PASSOVER AND EASTER TO
ONE AND ALL ...
(And if voice has not been given to Muslim celebrations—
Please NOTE—comment box is always eager to be fed ...)
If you ask what will Tony, Ray, and Ravi absorb
Concerning their existential beliefs about God?
Well, they'll absorb the ideology that is true of each of us who
Make up our expanding family:
Whether Jewish or Christian, insight into deeper truth suggests that
We've each decided what to believe and how much to believe for ourselves
And as time marches forward and changes in my belief system continue to
Inspire intriguing thoughts to stimulate my processor to dive ever more deeply within
History suggests that I'll open my mind in hopes of encouraging my think tank to embrace objectivity, Again and again ...
WISHING A HAPPY PASSOVER AND EASTER TO
ONE AND ALL ...
(And if voice has not been given to Muslim celebrations—
Please NOTE—comment box is always eager to be fed ...)
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