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The Fear Flavor of the Week
September 26th 2014

I’m going to enjoy this first Autumn Friday night around a campfire sucking down some MGDs scattered with a few shots of Cuervo. Hopefully, when I wake on a crisp Saturday morning, my mind won’t be dull and not notice the changing of the seasons. I hate the cold winters, but the beautiful color in the trees is in itself, a reminder of life. The trees, the very planet itself is exhaling, ready to sleep here in our Northern hemisphere.

Things change constantly, and I find a comforting irony in the fact that change is the only consistent thing in life to hang onto. You can’t stop change, but you can shape it. There’s a lot of truth in knowing how to make lemonade out of lemons but the sad truth is, far too many people fail at a such a simple task. Especially change that’s dark and foreboding.

Yea, I know, easy to say, huh?

It is easier to say, and much harder for most to bear. Change at times, is by nature hard, sometimes even tragic. A life threatening diagnosis, the abrupt death of a cherished friend, a paralyzing accident. There is also a slower type of change that's harder for most to deal with. The change that you see coming like a slow motion train wreck. A sister caught in an abusive marriage, a brother who drinks way too much, a wandering husband or a friend who lives a bit too dangerously.

Most of us just set back and kinda watch. Most of us fall into that category these days because we're tired, tired of trying to help and getting our asses bit, and bit hard. So much for trying to do the right thing! We have our own lives to worry about.

It’s not that we don’t want to help, it’s that we no longer know how to help. Energy, time, money has already been spent, and to what avail? Nothing has changed! You look around and see others stepping up to the plate, and you wish them the best of luck, you’re going fishing or shopping.

Seem familiar?

Think about this old saying, ‘As Above, So Below’ which can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, one of which is; what happens on the smaller scale of the individual, happens as well with the collective whole. It’s a nice way of saying, we are all in this together.

I believe most of us are tired. Tired of reading about hate, police brutality, racism, financial inequality, ineffective politics, war, terrorism, mass murders or whatever else happens to be the fear flavor of the week. How can you not be beat down, your compassion drained, your energy sucked right out of your soul as if your mouth was duct taped to the end of a vacuum cleaner hose, 24/7. It just never ends.

You and I are busy with our personal lives and in those rare moments, when we happen to look up, the leaves on the trees have changed, and when we look around us, all we see is a train wreck waiting to happen, how rotten the world is, how terrible people are. We've listened to it all week long. We’re ready for the weekend, for Friday night.

Some will find refuge in other things, facebook and twitter come to mind, you know, cute little kittys, jokes, cartoons and memes are always a nice distraction to comment on as opposed to all the evils and ills in our world

That’s when my tequilla really calls.

swr 9 7 14

The Handiwork of Man
September 9th, 301

With summer quickly receding, I find myself relishing the past few months of late moon-lit nights, searing campfires, friends and quiet conversations. I have one, maybe two weekends left as leaves are dropping, trees turning. My youngest has started school. On a much more personal level, I’m looking to the future, a future that isn’t so bright, but one that I’ve come to understand, I own.

Not all businesses succeed, and I’ve always known that but I’ve never believed that I would fail. I took a chance, I lept and fell short. I took a chance and I failed, it’s that simple.

There's a new beginning, a new adventure that’s about to start, the genesis will be born of pain and suffering no doubt, but in the long run, it’ll be ok, I’ll be okay.

When I look around at what’s happening in our world and I think of my particular life's experiences and journeys, I’m struck by an indelible sadness. Life has not been particularly good to me but neither has life been good for most of our population. By good, I do not meant the financial security that many enjoy, rather the security of what ever we value in our lives. Our loved ones, our friends, our God, our morals and personal ethics, for those, are those things of importance when we take our last breath.

Human pain and suffering, be it sickness or war, seem the prevalent theme with our species, a theme I fail to appreciate much less understand. I find it easy to understand why one would find comfort in their God and the next, deny there is such a deity.

I find none of Gods handiwork in the human theme of things and I blame none except those individuals of yesterday and those alive today.

This is our doing.

There are of course, those who look out across the width and breadth of their lives on a cool but bright, summer day and give thanks for all that is good in their lives. They smile, and wonder what joy will come next. They lead good, energetic and hardworking lives. They will claim they understand that everything can change in a split second, but they do not know how everything can change in a split second. No one can until that fateful second arrives. Yes, there are many insulated from the horrors of the world, their only knowledge is from sources they choose to pursue. Far too many of us understand the horrors of sickness, war and all the proverbial ills of mankind, but not enough know, not enough know to care.

This is our burden, humanities burden, that essentially, we are a weak species, indifferent to those in need and in pain. We accept that weakness, we give it reason, we give it value, we find merit in being poor, in suffering and then claim our salvation lies in whatever God we justify. We intellectualize that there are those who suffer greatly, that it is Gods will, as long as I am not one of them who suffer so..

But their fates are not in the hands of God, they are in your hands, and that is where you will find salvation.