Say what you will about our founding fathers and their philosophy but there was one thing that I believe Thomas Jefferson had right when he penned the Declaration of Independence. He wrote, and I quote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
"...the pursuit of happiness"? He said it. "Pursuit". He did not say the achievement of our happiness.
Think on that for just a moment. He basically says no matter what happens, everyone has a right to their life and their liberty. We get it, he helped design a free country. He also said we have the right to pursue our own happiness though, as if it will take work to get there. I believe his wording to be of a purposeful and profound impact.
We are charged with the responsibility of our own happiness, not the guarantee of which. We all must reach within and discover that which our passions pour over. We must find what assignment brings the most happiness to our hearts. This is our trial and our option to continue to error within, until we correct it or submit to it.
To the masses that feel life is unfair or that feel something is owed to you based solely on the principal you exist; it does not. This life owes you nothing. Your circumstances, no matter how adverse, are required to yield nothing to you. Your situation, no matter how seemingly awful, does not subjugate a return. Everything you receive in this life must be paid for with your effort. Everyone would do well to recognize and understand this principal.
Why? What does that effort bring? I'll tell you. When you work towards something, when you shun a negative attitude about adversity and when you focus on what you can actually accomplish, you ultimately find success. Within that, a lesson is learned. You possibly paid blood, sweat and/or tears to perpetuate what you now have. Nothing less than effort, failure then eventual success can bring you this lesson. It is essential for everyone to understand this lesson because without it, we all stand around with our hands out, asking for what we think we are owed.
Do not stand and think you deserve something, stand and deliver what is required to yield that which you want. What is ironic is that Isaac Newton has already explained in physics what applies in social science. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Apply that to your life. If you want to stand around and demand what you think you deserve, when an opportunity strikes, you'll probably continue to stand and do nothing. However, if you move after that which you want, when an opportunity strikes then you move that much faster towards it.
Jefferson tees up the concept and Newton sends it reeling, pun intended. Move forward and make motion, do not create commotion. Jefferson tells you to be free and make pursuit, Newton tells you when you move to pursue, naturally nothing wants to stop you.
Some of the most sound foundations on Earth are made from steel. Remember, so are wrecking balls.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Willing
As I have mentioned in this blog several times before, since my divorce I have spent the last three and a half years practicing my adopted philosophy of finding and then keeping good people in my life. Recently that means I have picked the phone up when I know I should have months ago. It also means recognizing a friendship as not healthy for you and ending it. Lastly, it requires you to own up to when you have made a mistake with a good person and working to build a track record otherwise.
Yesterday I exercised the first action mentioned and reached out to someone I should have in the last two years since we last spoke.
You see, in high school I had the fortune of being taught English for two years by one of the most beautiful souls that I have ever met, Mrs. Patricia Willing or "Patti" as I get to refer to today as a friend. She was more than a teacher, she was an inspiration to me. She was the one who introduced me to Dead Poet's Society and then afterwards she copied Professor Keating's assignment from the movie and asked us to write a poem if we dared. It was the first time someone challenged me to pick up a pen and attempt to translate my thoughts and feelings to words. What I turned in to her wasn't the greatest in my opinion but it impressed her nonetheless. I will never forget her pulling me aside and telling me what I will have to paraphrase because it has been two decades since. She told me that it may be a talent to be able to write like that but there is something beautiful about people that come to feel compelled to actually express it. Then she told me the older I get, the more difficult it will be to hold on to that but to do my best to never forget that about myself.
She is why I love American Transcendental poetry. Her influence is why I am a grammar Nazi to my friends and co-workers and why I strive to actually command the English language correctly. Most importantly, that conversation with her is why I blog today and is the reason I write poetry well into my adult life. I never let myself forget that passion that I possess.
I called her yesterday and as much as she had been on my mind, ironically I was on hers. I look forward to reuniting with her later this year for the first time since shortly after my graduation. My point in all of this is that if you had someone in your life that meant the world to you, it is your due diligence as a human being to reach out to them and let them know that. Life happens but it happens to all of us. We are all driven by different things and choose paths that lead us a part. That does not mean you cannot uncover, cut down and clear a path back to someone.
Having said that, in a tribute to her and towards a poet that I love, I will simply end this as appropriately as I can, with a quote from Walt Whitman or "Uncle Walt" as she loves refer to him as. "I have learned that to be with those I like is enough." Choose to surround yourself with that which you adore and challenge yourself to keep that which you like, close.
Yesterday I exercised the first action mentioned and reached out to someone I should have in the last two years since we last spoke.
You see, in high school I had the fortune of being taught English for two years by one of the most beautiful souls that I have ever met, Mrs. Patricia Willing or "Patti" as I get to refer to today as a friend. She was more than a teacher, she was an inspiration to me. She was the one who introduced me to Dead Poet's Society and then afterwards she copied Professor Keating's assignment from the movie and asked us to write a poem if we dared. It was the first time someone challenged me to pick up a pen and attempt to translate my thoughts and feelings to words. What I turned in to her wasn't the greatest in my opinion but it impressed her nonetheless. I will never forget her pulling me aside and telling me what I will have to paraphrase because it has been two decades since. She told me that it may be a talent to be able to write like that but there is something beautiful about people that come to feel compelled to actually express it. Then she told me the older I get, the more difficult it will be to hold on to that but to do my best to never forget that about myself.
She is why I love American Transcendental poetry. Her influence is why I am a grammar Nazi to my friends and co-workers and why I strive to actually command the English language correctly. Most importantly, that conversation with her is why I blog today and is the reason I write poetry well into my adult life. I never let myself forget that passion that I possess.
I called her yesterday and as much as she had been on my mind, ironically I was on hers. I look forward to reuniting with her later this year for the first time since shortly after my graduation. My point in all of this is that if you had someone in your life that meant the world to you, it is your due diligence as a human being to reach out to them and let them know that. Life happens but it happens to all of us. We are all driven by different things and choose paths that lead us a part. That does not mean you cannot uncover, cut down and clear a path back to someone.
Having said that, in a tribute to her and towards a poet that I love, I will simply end this as appropriately as I can, with a quote from Walt Whitman or "Uncle Walt" as she loves refer to him as. "I have learned that to be with those I like is enough." Choose to surround yourself with that which you adore and challenge yourself to keep that which you like, close.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Wanderlust
When I travel, it is a somber experience. I might venture to say it comes with a slight wave of depression. I travel a distance from that which I know and from that which is comfortable. By default I reflect on how far I have come in life, I appreciate what I have and I think of what I have lost and I dream for that which I do not have. One would think by now I could perform a simple task like get on a fucking plane and not feel something about it. Nope. Not this time.
At home we are the largest things of our own significance and what we surround ourselves with is all that we know. We bind ourselves so tightly inside of what is comfortable and live within our routine, naturally as any creature of habit does. That routine is the highest priority we assign. When we explore the "new" world around us, we become aware of how insignificant all of what we are is to the grand scheme of our collective lives as a human race in its entirety. In that, we are humbled or at least we should be.
A vacation is not as much to explore a new place as it is to understand other lives and to observe them without the demand our routine puts on us. The new landscapes and skylines around us serve as a contrast against the ones that which serves as our hometown. The new people we meet and their lives should- in some part -serve to show us how we can improve ours. The adrenaline and anxiety of a new experience should enlighten us as social beings because it is those experiences and growth that make us human. Going somewhere new and learning about the city, the culture and what makes it unique is to be exposed to something. Exposure leads to understanding and empathy which arguably can only make you a better person if not elevate what you are entirely.
There is such a beautiful world out there that I have only begun to witness and my heart longs to see more. Be the best human you can within your circles and feed the natural nature within your soul to learn new things; there is a waking world to explore outside of your shell. Come out of it, explore and live in it deliberately.
At home we are the largest things of our own significance and what we surround ourselves with is all that we know. We bind ourselves so tightly inside of what is comfortable and live within our routine, naturally as any creature of habit does. That routine is the highest priority we assign. When we explore the "new" world around us, we become aware of how insignificant all of what we are is to the grand scheme of our collective lives as a human race in its entirety. In that, we are humbled or at least we should be.
A vacation is not as much to explore a new place as it is to understand other lives and to observe them without the demand our routine puts on us. The new landscapes and skylines around us serve as a contrast against the ones that which serves as our hometown. The new people we meet and their lives should- in some part -serve to show us how we can improve ours. The adrenaline and anxiety of a new experience should enlighten us as social beings because it is those experiences and growth that make us human. Going somewhere new and learning about the city, the culture and what makes it unique is to be exposed to something. Exposure leads to understanding and empathy which arguably can only make you a better person if not elevate what you are entirely.
There is such a beautiful world out there that I have only begun to witness and my heart longs to see more. Be the best human you can within your circles and feed the natural nature within your soul to learn new things; there is a waking world to explore outside of your shell. Come out of it, explore and live in it deliberately.
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