LEADERSHIP

 I once read that leadership is less about your title and your designation

and more about your impact…your influence and your inspiration..

If you are looking for an example of true leadership…it’s being displayed today for all the world see…in Ukraine by the words and actions of its president…Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

At his inaugural address in 2019 Zelenskyy famously said

I do not want my picture in your offices…

no president is an icon or an idol

Instead….

(Because this is the world that he envisions)

Hang your kids photos…and look at them each time you have to make decisions.

Despite his best efforts to avert this war and its suffering…the war and its suffering came…and I imagine, being a true leader, he will take more than his share of the blame….

And if he and his country survive, as I pray to God they do

I imagine he’ll take a little less than his share of the credit too.

Because..when all is said and done…when the day is through….

taking more of the blame and less of the credit…

is what great leaders do. 

When offered a chance to flee Russia’s invasion…to escape his country’s plight….he declined the offer, asking instead for more weapons…he was staying and he was going to fight.

I do not know what will happen…what final outcome we will see…

but either way I salute Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being the kind of leader….

I wish more leaders could be.

Today I stand with most of the world….

saddened, angry and appalled….

hoping soon Mr. Zelensky is back in his office 

making decisions 

with photos of his family…

hanging on his wall.

SEARCHING FOR THE CORRECT RECIPE

 

Once again in the world we see in use this familiar recipe for war

It aways begins with two countries but you’ll certainly be adding more.

The leaders of one country have two goals…to take another country’s freedom and to expand…The other country and her people want to keep their freedom and hold on to their land.

This recipe is guaranteed to cause countless deaths and endless pain..

We start by amassing an army with guns…then add some tanks and boats and planes…

From the guns bullets fly…from the tanks missiles are launched…and from the planes bombs will fall…creating a path of death and destruction…not for one…but for all.

We’ll need blood…lots of it…knowing so much of it will be spilled…as men…and women…and their babies…entire families are killed.

We’ll have to add more people and then more people and more people still…

until there’s no one left to add…until there’s no one left to kill.

Leaving us with only sorrow and tears where happiness dwelled before…because without sadness and sorrow and tears…you cannot make a war.

When the recipe is completed…when the last ingredient has been eliminated…is there any sane person in the world who enjoys the taste of what that recipe created?

And we think since it tasted so awful…perhaps we’ve had our fill of war…until the next time we look up and see two countries…maybe more.

Who have forgotten how bad war tasted…or worse ignore it…and then…begin to gather the ingredients to try that recipe again!

While the rest of the world who dream for the day when all wars will cease…

are desperately trying to develop…a recipe for peace.

kindred spirits of us all

 I believe nature is our teacher

that there are lessons in her trees...

in her flowers...

in her animals...

in her oceans...

in her seas...

She teaches us how life is beautiful...

how it’s wonderful to be alive.

She teaches us we need each other

in order to survive.

She teaches us how we’re all kindred spirits

every you…

and every I

How we’re meant to live harmoniously

with each other

with her winds...

her stars...

her sky…

But some of us have not been listening…

Some of us simply disobey…

Some of us seem to have forgotten…

Some of us have gone astray

Nature, however, is hopefully optimistic…

She knows if we will only heed her call

and practice the lessons she is teaching

she’ll make kindred spirits of us all.

TIME FOR GRANDMAS TO LEAD

 In 1673 German philosopher Samuel Von Pufendorf disclosed:

‘Man has done more inhumanity to man than even nature has imposed!’

In the 350 years since he wrote that…there have been some minor gains…

but look around and you will see man’s inhumanity to man remains.

So I propose it’s time for all men to concede:

We have done a terrible job…it’s time for someone else to lead.

Below you’ll find my reasoning…my suggestion of who I think can

lead us out and away from the last 350 years of man’s inhumanity to man:

My grandma was there when I was born

or so the family’s told me.

after Mom and Dad, the story goes,

she was the next to hold me.

My grandma was there to teach me

about life…about unconditional love and how to give,

She believed a world of peace and acceptance

is the only world in which to live.

I was there when Grandma died

as her skin turned ever colder

after Mom and Dad...I waited

to be the last to hold her.

I held her in my arms one final time

as she held me at birth

and I wondered…then…as I wonder now…

what our world would look like...

if Grandmas ruled the Earth.

With their wisdom, their patience…their compassion 

I think it’s time for a new day…

time for man to step aside…

and let grandmas lead the way.

ALL THE LITTLE THINGS

 I have always counted myself extremely lucky to have been blessed with a wife

who agrees with me that it’s the little things that make a happy life.

It’s not only listening when the other person talks but hearing what they say.

It’s a card to say I love you at the end of a bad day.

It’s a little gift that’s given when there’s no reason for a gift.

just to say ‘I love you’…to give someone’s day a lift.

It’s a drive out in the country with a filled picnic basket in the back.

It’s making pancakes together for dinner and sharing one large stack.

It’s reaching something on the top shelf when your short wife is unable

It’s the family gathered together for a dinner around the table.

It’s sharing our stories, our joy, our laughter, with our children and grandchildren too

It’s the smile that will not leave your face when the evening is through.

It’s feeling a baby kicking while still inside a mother’s womb

It’s holding hands, stealing a kiss or a shared smile across a room.

It’s the sharing of our deepest fears, our long range hopes, our dreams and wishes

It’s one person doing the cooking while the other does the dishes

It’s sharing every joy and sorrow that in life comes our way.

It’s calling just to hear a voice in the middle of the day.

It’s watching the sunrise together and thinking of the day we met

It’s spending a whole day doing nothing…then watching the sun set.

It’s a walk under a moonlit sky or a stroll along the shore

It’s simply living a life with someone you adore.

Because these little things…

these little gestures…

these little moments that on the surface may seem small….

when you stop and think about them…

they’re not so little…after all.

BEST ADVICE

 

The best advice I ever received about growing old…I offer now to you:

It came from an old married couple…She had just turned 80…he was 82

You are going to love this couple… before I met them I was told

and that was true as their energy and their love was a wonder to behold.

They would drive across the country to see their children and grandchildren for they could think of nothing greater…

The young 80 year old did all the driving while the old man was the navigator.

She pictured herself a race car driver…for her…speed was all the rage…

“When I get on the highway,” she’d say, “I like to drive my age.”

She was proud of her driving accomplishments…how she was always early…never late…and she bragged how’d she’d gotten a speeding ticket in almost every state.

One day they stopped long enough for me to ask, “Hey, you two…what’s your secret…won’t you help me see…the mystery to all your energy…the key to your vitality?”

They smiled at one another and immediately I was caught by the way they gave me this advice by finishing each other’s thought.

“Life is precious.” He said. “We plan to enjoy it or as long as we can.” 

We figure at our age.” She continued. “If we stop we might not get started again.”

Eventually, as Emily Dickinson wrote, (just one of her many gems)

‘Because they would not stop for death…it kindly stopped for them.’

But not until they blessed me with the advice I follow every time my two feet meet the road….

given to me by an older couple 

long ago…

who in their many years together…

always loved and never slowed. 

A LITTLE BEAUTY AND INNOCENCE

This simple story I relate to you exactly as it unfurled…reminding me there is still pure beauty and innocence in the world.

A mother and her daughter entered the bookstore…at guessing ages I am poor…I know enough not to try to guess the mother’s age…but her daughter was five…or maybe four.

They browsed around the bookstore for a while…up and down every aisle they looked…then they exited the store…without purchasing a book.

I could see them talking outside the window…I imagine there was a lesson the mother wanted her daughter to learn…because a few moments later…by herself…the daughter had returned.

Soon she was at the counter…book in hand…and in a voice so pleasant and nice asked, “Sir, could you please tell me…this book…what is the price?”

I told her $4.99…she smiled then I said, “Wait! There’s more…with tax this little golden book comes to five dollars thirty-four.

She thought for a moment and this is my favorite part to reminisce…then held up a twenty dollar bill and asked, “Is the price of the book less than this?”

And I had to smile as I witnessed the beauty and the innocence in this little girl with her hair flowing down her back when I told her, “Not only is that enough…but you’ll be getting money back!”

Once again with her beauty and innocence now on full display…she smiled…handed me the twenty dollar bill, picked up her book…and began to walk away.

“Wait!” I cried as she walked away while still within my range… “I’m glad you have your book but you forget your change.”

I will remember forever her expression…it was a smile both innocent and grand….when I counted out fourteen dollars and sixty-six cents and put it in her hand.

I could see how her mind was working…how lucky she felt…I could tell…

Because after coming in with one bill…

she was leaving with her book….5 bills and 4 coins as well.

“I’m rich!” She said smiling at me.  “Richer than I was before….

I nodded thinking how we’re both a littler richer since she walked into the store.

As she left I silently thanked her for reminding me in this world there is beauty and innocence still….

a fact I will remember every time I find within my hands…a twenty dollar bill.

 

DAY AND NIGHT

 

With their nightly story completed and a kiss placed upon her head

“Mommy, I have question.” the young girl said as her mother tucked her into bed.

What is it sweetheart?” Her mom asked stopping before turning out her light

“I was wondering why did God create the day and follow it with night?”

Her mom sat upon her bed thinking, “I’m not sure why God chose day and night to interweave, and I can’t speak for God…but here’s what I believe.”

“Although night and day share many things…their differences run deep…perhaps God gave us the day to work and play….and the night so we can sleep.”

“I believe God knew what she was doing when she put night and day on the same team….perhaps during the day she meant for us to dance….and during the night for us to dream.”

“The night, while we are sleeping, is when our dreams come peeking through…the day, when we’re awake, is when we make those dreams come true.”

 

She can’t be sure how much her daughter understood or even if she thought her words were wise but she did notice a smile touch her daughter’s lips as sleep slowly closed her eyes.

“Good night little one.” She said as she kissed her forehead before turning off the light.  “Now that your day is over it’s time to enjoy your night.”

“May your sleep be a peaceful one…may only sweet dreams come peeking through…and tomorrow…if you need me I’ll be here to help those dreams come true.”

KINTSUGI

 

I thought about Kintsugi this morning while looking in the mirror…feeling old…Kintsugi is the art of repairing cracks and breaks in pottery with lacquer dusted in silver, platinum…and gold.

The philosophy being those breaks and cracks are to be embraced…something everyone should see…a vital part of that pottery’s essence…its past…its history.

It’s a way of celebrating those the flaws and imperfections in an object that occur as it gets old…by filling those flaws and imperfections in silver, or platinum…or gold.

Kintsugi is an art form that has helped the Japanese find a way of seeing the beauty in the cracks and breaks…of keeping an item useful…instead of throwing it away.

I wonder if the Gods who created our Earth…seeing the breaks and cracks in their creation knew just what to do…they filled those breaks and cracks with water…and painted the water blue.

Yes, instead of starting over…they embraced our planets flaws…they saw its worth…and by painting the streams and rivers blue…created Kintsugi on the Earth.

I try to remember this when I look in the mirror each morning…I try to smile and embrace every flaw that’s staring back at me…every wrinkle on my face.

I try to celebrate my Kintsugi-ness as I have gotten old…

Perhaps, one day, I’ll pick up a brush…and paint my wrinkles gold.

HER EYES

 

I asked my grandpa once…what made you fall in love with Grandma…

He smiled, “I love so much about your Grandma…love how much to my life she brings…but I think what made me fall in love with her is how beautifully she sings.

I have to admit at that particular moment Grandpa’s answer came as a surprise to me….for I have heard my Grandma sing…and she often sings off key.

Grandpa must have seen the bewilderment on my face…and my bafflement at his choice…because he smiled and said don’t worry…I’m not talking about her voice.

He continued with another answer that caught me by surprise…

No, he said, I fell in love with the music of her eyes.

Next time you look into her eyes…let it awaken your imaginings….

watch how gracefully her eyes dance and how beautifully they sing.

And even today whenever I think of Grandma….

It is too that memory I cling

Of the first day I really looked into her eyes…

watched them dance

and listened to them sing.

today I wondered

 

Sometimes on my morning wanderings I like wonder to let my mind roam free…because I never know when I wonder while I wander what thoughts will come to me.

Today I wondered what life is like up on the moon…up on Jupiter and Mars

I wondered if it’s easier to dream when one is gazing at the stars.

I wondered how many people have ever seen a unicorn, a dragon or a leprechaun.

I wondered how many people have ever mistaken the sunset for the dawn.

I wondered when it comes to love…what happens to ignite it.

I wondered if two countries declared war what would happen if no one came to fight it.

I wondered what it is within the heart that causes it to swoon

I wondered how long it’d take if you climbed upon a moonbeam before you reached the moon.

I wondered what it is about a baby’s laugh that so innocently endears.

I wondered if you cry in the rain…or in the ocean…does anybody see your tears.

I wondered why some people find it so easy to conform.

I wondered if a rainbow is the sky’s apology for a storm?

I wondered if a meadow filled with flowers is where a rainbow goes to die.

I wondered what it would be like to be a bird…or a butterfly.

I wondered if what makes us rich is how much we save or how much we give away…

I wondered if it’s really true…that love will always find a way.

I wondered if there is any part of prejudice and bigotry I will ever understand.

I wondered why a walk in the moonlight always feels better holding hands…

And as I reined my mind back in when my morning walk was through…

I wondered if I shall always be someone lucky enough to wonder while I wander….

I certainly hope that’s true.

THE LETTER

 

Jacki, a good friend, wrote my wife a letter with some stories, a smile and a compliment….thanking her for the birthday card and the letter she had sent.

As Deborah read Jacki’s letter aloud…her words floated in the air with an innocence…and grace…saying how Deborah’s card and letter put a smile on her face.

And I thought as I watched Deborah reading Jacki’s letter sent across the miles…how letters are still such a wonderful way of slowing down…of sharing smiles.

The letter was printed in ink, two pages long and filled with stories of Jacki’s family throughout….as if when she sat down to write…a door in her mind opened and these memories came pouring out

Jacki ended her letter with a little drawing of herself…it took up the letter’s final space…a drawing of Jackie with the smile Deborah helped to put upon her face.

I think we should write more letters…to our friends and families….

It’s a great way to keep in touch…and evoke a host of memories.

Because there is something magical in writing a letter…how it forces us to take a break

to think about the joy of friends and family…and the memories we make.

There is magic when we write a letter….in the way  our thoughts and memories are prepared…and magic when the letter is received and those thoughts and memories are shared

When it comes to Jacki’s letter….there was magic in every word because as Deborah read what she had written…it was Jacki’s voice we heard.

Sending smiles through the mail can be slow…

letters can take time to compose…

can be an effort to create….

but anyone whose ever sent or received one knows…

they are totally worth the wait.

BEWARE THE BANNING OF BOOKS AND SPEECH

 

I’m not sure what’s happening in this country…sometimes I think it’s being overrun by fools…in some states they’re banning books…in my state, Florida, they’re banning talking about gender and sexuality in schools.

While closing up the bookstore the other night I was thinking how crazy can this be…

as I was re-shelving one of the books they’ve banned in Tennessee.

Topics not allowed to be discussed…books not allowed to be read…I don’t have the words to express my sadness and dismay…so I walked around our bookstore and listened to what the voices around me had to say.

Kurt Vonnegut was first to speak…at how banning book displeases:

“I hate”, he said, “that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas, as though they were diseases”.

Mart Twain was next on banning speech and books…he doesn’t want to see us do it:

“Censorship”, he said, “is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby cannot chew it”.

Next stood Benjamin Franklin…with his willingness to teach

“Whoever wold overthrow the liberty of a nation,” he said, “must begin by subduing the freeness of its speech”.

Stephen Chbosky waited his turn in the bookstore to be heard that night:

He said, “banning books gives us silence when we need speech…

it closes our ears when we need to listen 

and it makes us blind when we need sight”.

Isaac Asimov weighted in next…he was succinct in what he was conceding:

“Any book worth banning," he’s said, “is a book that is worth reading.”

Up and down the bookstore I walked listening to a multitude of authors from the present and past…and fortunately for me…I saved the best for last..

It was Maya Angelou whose words are always inspiring, thought provoking and wise…She said, “You may kill me with your hatefulness but still, like air…I rise”.

I thanked Maya and all the other authors for their insights as I turned off all the lights

Then wished them a calm and peaceful sleep as I locked up for the night

Filled with hope that for those who want to ban books and speech…there will come a day when they will take a walk through a bookstore or a library and listen to what the voices have to say,

VALENTINE'S DAY

 

I write love poems about sunrises, sunsets…

about the clouds the moon and the sea…

because their beauty and their magnificence constantly inspire me.

I write love poems about the Earth…

her land, her mountains, her flowers and her trees…

because the beauty of these miracles of nature constantly inspire me.

I write love poems about the animals 

who frequent the sky, the land and the sea…

because their beauty and diversity constantly inspire me.

But I think the best love poems I write 

are saved for my friends and my family….

because the love we share constantly inspires me.

Which is why, when I sit down to write a love poem…

of the Earth, of her nature, her animals 

or my friends and family…

I will usually choose the latter…

because when it comes to understanding love…

without the latter…

the former doesn’t matter.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

THERE ARE OTHER STORIES THAT MUST BE HEARD

Over time in the history of a people their recollections tend to become a little fuzzy…their memories a little blurred…which is why when we teach history every story must be heard.

What if you are happy and peacefully living in your country…then one day you’re rounded up like cattle….put upon a ship sent across the ocean and sold on a block like chattle?

What if you had no choice…no chance to agree or disagree?

What if your wife, your children…your entire family was sold off…separately?

What if you were made to work in households…on plantations…now called a slave?

What if there was a good chance this plantation would one day be your grave?

What if those who ‘owned’ you kept you chained, restrained…confined?

What if you were whipped and beaten if you dared to speak your mind?

What if one day you were ‘freed’ and you thought a new life you’d begin

only to be mistreated and abused because of the color of your skin?

What if the way you were treated befuddled and confused you?

What if they erected statues to to the very people who abused you?

What if the schools who teach our children decided as a general rule….

that these stores…your history…should not be taught in school?

Because anyone who looks at your history…has no choice but to abhor it…

But there are people who..instead of discussing what occurred…choose rather to ignore it.

But you know if all lives truly matter you must be brave…you must be bold…and these stories no matter how horrific they are to hear…these stories must be told.

They must be taught and discussed in homes and schools…for isn’t it absurd…to think we could evolve as humans…as a people…without these stories being heard.

 

SOME STORIES MUST BE HEARD

 

Over time in the history of a people their recollections tend to become a little fuzzy…their memories a little blurred…which is why when we teach history every story must be heard.

What if you’re peacefully living in your house…life is wonderful as you perceive it…and one day someone says I want your house and your land…you’re going to have to leave it.

What if you say, “NO”…what if you fight to keep your land and the house you’re living in…what if you are called a savage…and what if it’s a fight you cannot win.

What if they move you to a place where the land is barren and dry…and what if their diseases, the war and the difficulty of your move cause many of you to die.

What if the government came to those of you still living…and without giving you a say…callously…without warning…took your children…took the future of your family away.

Far away to a school where they cut their beautiful hair…where they forbade them speak their beautiful language…where they were frightened and confused…where they tried to extinguish who they were…where they were beaten and abused.

What if you never saw your children again…never knowing what happened…never knowing if they survived…wondering if your children were some of those in that far away school who died,

What if these stories are lost to history because as a general rule you won’t find them in our history books…or being taught within our schools.

Because there are people who don’t want this history taught…who would rather these pages of history remain black…who do not care if you ever get your culture or your language back.

But you know if all lives truly matter you must be brave…you must be bold…and these stories no matter how horrific they are to hear…are stories that must be told.

They must be taught and discussed in homes and schools…for isn’t it absurd…to think we could evolve as humans…as a people…without these stories being heard.

SHE SEARCHED

 

She searched and searched her whole life long

through many a summer, winter, fall and spring

but never did she find that person

who could make her lonely, quiet heart sing…

She began to think she may never find

the person she’d been dreaming of…

the one who made her heart sing

never find her one true love…

So she stopped looking

and then one day…

it happened purely by chance

she found the person who not only made her heart sing

but taught it how to dance.

WINDOW ART

I love to visit art museums…to see how the artist has found a way to capture what they see onto a canvas…my favorites are Van Gogh and Monet.

But when I can’t get to an art museum…not one tear do I shed….no, when I can’t get to an art museum…I look out my window instead.

For when I look out my window…nature’s art is what I see…I love the vibrant colors she uses to paint her birds, her flowers…her trees.

Most days the art outside my window makes me gasp…and often makes me sigh as I marvel at the intricacies of her brushstrokes…the way she paints the clouds…the rainbow colors of her sky.

And it never ceases to amaze me as I stare open-mouthed with my hands against my window pane…at how elegantly she paints the sunshine…and how delicately she paints the rain.

I once lamented having poor eyesight…being born with eyes that blur everything I view….eyes that do not see the world the way that other people do…

But without my glasses…looking out my window at the beginning of the day…I see an impression of the sunrise as painted by Monet.

And with my glasses off in the evening….at my window after turning off my light when I look up at the sky…I see Van Gogh’s starry night.

(Now I celebrate my blurry vision….because, in my heart, I know

It’s the reason I love the sunrises painted by Monet and the starry nights of Van Gogh.)

So when I can’t visit an art museum…I never grumble…never grouse…I simply make it a point to visit every window in my house.

Where I am blessed with a masterpiece painted by nature inside every window frame…

where thanks to the artistry of nature..no two paintings will ever be the same.

 

TREE LOVE

 

If I could choose one type of love for two people to share that would allow them throughout their life together to be happy…to rejoice…one love above all others…

then tree love would be my choice.

Tree love begins when two seeds of love are planted together…how it happens…no one really knows…but once planted side-by-side, like two trees, their love begins to grow.

They grow so close together their limbs are always touching and anyone who sees them understands the love they share between them…as they’re forever holding hands.

Individually they are independent and wonderful but together…each other they enhance…

Watch them in the wind…see how beautifully they dance.

Watch them weather any storm together…watch them feel each other’s pain…watch them share their joy and laughter watch them play out in the rain.

Watch if one tree teeters in the wind or a sudden summer squall…how the other tree is there to catch them…and will not let them fall.

Watch if one tree is filled with sorrow…is ever nervous or afraid…how the other tree is there with arms outstretched to offer the comfort of its shade.

Watch how there is no jealousy between them…no feeling they have to hide…if one tree is taller or more colorful than the other…there is only delight…and joy…and pride.

Watch how, no matter how old and wrinkled they become…they remain young in their hearts…and how their roots have grown so intertwined they can’t be pulled apart.

The road to joy and happiness…that’s an easy choice for me…

Yes, if I could choose one path to true love…then tree love it would be.

RIDING ON A PENDULUM

 

Life is like a pendulum…rhythmically swinging to and fro…

it swings back and forth through opposing forces wherever we may go.

Nothing ever stays the same…our world is in a constant sway…

it’s like there are a multitude of pendulums swinging every day.

We come, we go…we give, we take…sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail…

we sleep, we wake…we have highs and lows…we breathe in, we exhale.

We’re at war, we’e at peace…we create, we destroy…we agree and we disagree…

we feel sorrow, we feel joy…we ‘re serious, we’re silly…we are a friend, we are an enemy.

We laugh, we cry…we’re foolish, we’re wise…sometimes we are the patient, sometimes the nurse…

we love, we hate…we’re true, we’re false…why we even marry for better or for worse

It doesn’t matter where we’re from, who we are, or our individual upbringing…

the rhythm of time doesn’t stop…the pendulums keep swinging.

There are times we know the length of the arc…like from sunrise to sunset…

while other swings are indefinite…like through sorrow…or regret.

Sometimes the pendulum seems to swing high and fast…like how quickly our family grows…

Sometimes when we’re lost in sorrow…it seems to swing so slow.

Most of the time we have no control over its distance or its flight…

and the best we can do is climb aboard…close our eyes…and hold on tight.

If we’re lucky along the way we realize the pendulum doesn’t just swing…it glides…

so we sit upon its bob…hold on…and try to enjoy the ride.

All the time praying the pendulum will swing quickly through our sorrow…allowing us to retain our smile…

and when it swings to joy…we pray it lingers there a while.

STILL A LOT TO LEARN

We come from Earth…we are but one part of nature…our brothers and sisters are the land and the sea and the rain…but too often we think we are better than nature…because, we think, we have a superior brain.

We think we’ve evolved beyond nature’s lessons…which causes nature every day to beseech us…pleading how we still have so much to learn…and she…still so much to teach us.

Take acceptance for instance…after millenniums of watching us…nature continues to be concerned…for she knows there is still so much about accepting one another we have yet to learn.

Do the animals care what we look like…if we are tall, short, heavy or thin?

Do the flowers care what God we pray to?

Do the oceans even notice the color of our skin?

Does the snow or rain care about your gender or who you love?

Do trees stand in judgement of you?

Does the Earth draw boundaries across her lands…

or is this something only we humans do?

No, nature continues to try and teach us how we’re all connected…

how every part of nature is our sister and our brother….

and that she doesn’t care who or how we love…

only that we love one another.

It’s a lesson natures’ been trying to teach us throughout all of human history…

a lesson she hopes we humans…

with our superior brains…

one day will be able to see.