363 days...

'Nothing lasts forever...except bad politicians'
-The Puppet Master

A stillborn creature lies before me. My eyes once filled with compassion and saddened are now full of glee.

The poet who never wrote a poem closes his eyes…

The mime who never expressed a thing is frozen…

The painter ends his art before the first stroke…

Almost a year is gone, and the dreams will remain just dreams. The wounded swallow will fly once again home. The man tending its wounds remains silent, left in the background while the bird seeks its way. He sighs, and he turns around to once again walk the way he left behind while in the care of the wounded soul.

Memories solid like the hardest diamond will remain. Lessons are learned, they must be remembered. Life ends, and in the eternal cycle of this existence it begins once more.

Good luck, my little one, wherever you fly to, wherever you nest I’ll be here remembering you…

Lesson learned: ‘If I were to write all the lessons learned in these last 363 days I would never stop writing. But, above all, I have learned to love truly’.

Deafening words...

‘Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens’
-Jimi Hendrix


Wait…
Take a minute to stop doing what you’re doing, even reading these words, and listen.

I am sure it may be the only minute today you may have not just put your ears to work but to listen carefully for once.

You certainly felt different even if for an instant.
Some among us have studied a lot. Others may have watched the news for years, maybe even read all the great poems and more than a hundred books and in the process have obtained great knowledge. They think, even if they don’t want to admit it, their role in life is to ‘educate’ or ‘enlighten’ others with their vast array of lectures. Most of them become orators who are ever ready to make a speech at the first opportunity. These people become the best of listeners…if listening to their own words was the only thing that counts.

History recognizes great speakers, the greatest orators of times past and present. Their names will never be forgotten for what they said at one time. It doesn’t honor those who have listened.
Funny, isn’t it? Most of us refer to ourselves great listeners. Guess that is only because we are all great liars. The only words we pay close attention to are the ones which could trampoline us to a masterful interruption of what is being expressed and an inclusion of our own set of ‘knowledgeable’ blabber.
When we speak mindlessly we make ourselves deaf to other people’s expressions, and we deafen their own ears. Our knowledge then becomes bland, only a group of words coming out of the lips of a robotic being. We show our low self-esteem.
An argument is not won by the one who expresses the most words, by the one who interrupts the most, or even by the one who talks last…

So, if I admire those who seek knowledge by their sheer intelligence and their ambition to read more, I admire even more those who develop a greater understanding of things, of people and of themselves by choosing to listen intently. They learn how not to be from those incapable of taking their time to listen.

There would be no need for therapists if we would all listen to each other.


Lesson Learned: The greatest changes in the history of the World were accomplished not by the ones who spoke new ideas, but by those who chose to listen.

Be strung...

When the going gets tough the tough get going…the wise look for a better way around
-The Puppet Master


We cannot save the World.

If we keep focusing on the problems we face every day: the overwhelming weight of the guilt, the hatred, the feeling of impotence, the arrogance, the indifference, we won’t ever solve anything. We will end up committing mass suicide one day.

We as humans are the (some say) most evolved of species, yet we are also the most primitive in one too many a way. Humans have a great capacity to learn and to be understanding, but also capable of being exceedingly cruel, unforgiving, and demanding. We are happy only when sitting at the judge’s podium, someone else being the victim. We then become powerful, cold, distant, different, listening only to our own decrees and determinations. Yet, when we are in the spotlight we’re like wild beasts defending ourselves against any judgment from someone else. In our minds we aren’t holy, for we foolishly think we are better than that.
The past can help us guide ourselves towards our own future. Some, however, are so rotten inside they will dwell in the past like vultures over a morbid corpse, pecking at the broken pieces of the person you once were.

Despite it all, despite the desolate future we can foresee if things keep going the way they are be strong.
Be strong when you are hurting and no one seems to care.
Be strong when you have been humiliated, for taking revenge is showing weakness.
Be strong when you’re misjudged, when others don’t believe you, or don’t believe in you.
Be strong when you’re alone in your quest for becoming a better person, when others think you have no hope for change.


Oh, but the vultures of the past will still be haunting you, flying above, their shadows looming towards your every failing step. They will feed on your fear, they will delight on your pain upon remembering your transgressions, they will flaunt on their only virtue, their ability to hurt.

Lesson Learned: By being strong you will not only survive the continuously evolving chaos we live in, you’ll also be above the likes of those who live reminding you of your past mistakes, and above those who can’t do more than point at your present ones.