OUR FAMILY OUR HOME

 

Imagine the world we would create…

If no matter where we roam…

we saw every person on this Earth family

and all of nature as our home.

OUR FAMILY OUR HOME

 

Imagine the world we would create…

If no matter where we roam…

we saw every person on this Earth family

and all of nature as our home.

THE THINGS I COULD NOT SEE

 

I stepped outside into a misty rain…the kind you cannot see

I always smile when tears from heaven find their way to me.

I felt these tiny droplets softly land upon my skin…deciding not to stay…

Stopping only for a moment…before fading away.

It was the kind of misty moisture…you don’t soon forget…

the only rain you can walk through…without ever getting wet.

So I decided to walk some more…and enjoy this little piece of nature’s charms

allowing the drops to quietly and tenderly kiss on my head, my legs…my arms.

Suddenly breaking through the silence I heard a sound…a sweet soulful refrain…

somewhere high up in the trees…a bird was singing in the rain.

 

And I wondered was this bird singing A Cappella…or through her tiny little ears

was she hearing music in the rain that only birds can hear.

I wanted to ask her where she learned to sing…was it part of her upbringing

but I was hesitant to interrupt the tune that she was singing.

So I stood there listening as she sang up high…while I was down below

standing in the misty rain…enjoying nature’s show.

As the rain turned from a mist to a gentle shower…with nowhere I could hide

I turned and walked toward our house…then headed back inside.

As I stood safe and dry with the door open…again I heard that sweet soulful refrain

as the bird impervious to the shower…was still singing in the rain.

It’s funny I only felt the rain for a moment…I never saw one raindrop fall on me

and I never saw the bird that was singing in the tree. 

But that specific moment…will always be special to me…

when my other sense were heightened…by the things I could not see

DAILY GRATITUDE OUR DIFFERENCES

 

I am grateful…so thankful…for our differences…

and know…if as a world we ever want to start healing…

We must understand our differences 

are what make this world beautiful…

are what make us so appealing.

EVERONE BELONGS

 

May we all be blessed to one day put aside our fear and prejudices

our bullets, bombs and guns…

and realize I belong to you…

you belong to me

and everyone…

belongs to everyone.

YOU BELONG

 

In college during my Hippie phase I had long hair, wore fringe pants

and as a flower child…I was a sight…

I remember going home to meet up with a friend who had joined the Army

and attend our high school basketball game one Friday night.

We walked into the opponent’s school…to watch our high school team perform 

me decked out in my Hippie threads and my friend in his Army uniform…

We were excited…two best friends, smiling and humming our school’s fight song

when we were met by a security guard who welcomed in my friend

then told me to go home…because I didn’t belong.

A little less than a year before we sat side by side watching our futures being determined on TV

wondering where our numbers would come up…in he Vietnam War draft lottery.

 

On that night…the Fates were both compassionate and cruel…

because my friend…whose number was low…joined the Army

While I…whose number was high…headed off to school.

So we were stunned when we met a security guard so headstrong

that my friend was welcomed to the game while I was told…I didn’t belong. 

I also taught Autistic students for years…where my feelings were quite strong

to help them navigate a world where some people thought they didn’t belong.

This was my only personal experience with that kind of prejudice and discrimination

I never felt it’s sting based on my sex, race, age, skin color, religion, or sexual orientation.

But to all you who some people are convinced in this world you don’t belong….

Stay strong…for they are wrong…and no matter how loud they shout…

they will always be wrong. 

It doesn’t matter iif their reasons are based in their religions, their biases, their irrational fears 

or what they decide are societal norms.

No matter what road blocks they put in your way…what obstacles…what storms…

No matter how many times they tell you you don’t belong…stay strong 

because no matter how loud they shout…they are wrong and they will always be wrong.

I pray these same people will one day see the light…and find a way to start

to know you…for who you are…for what ’s inside your heart…

When they do they will understand not only do you belong…

but how the world is a much more beautiful place since you came along.

I believe if they can put their fear and prejudice aside…they, too, will be amazed…

Wisdom from a 73 year old man…now well into his Hippie phase.

HRMONY WITH NATURE

 

I am grateful for the words of the Seneca, 

His philosophy is what he’s most noted for:

He believed:

If you live according to what others think

you will never be rich.

and…If you live in harmony with nature 

you will never be poor