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

MOTHER NATURE

 

The moment we think because of the wonders we humans have built

we are superior than all the other creatures and mother nature herself…

the moment we foolishly fill our egos with arrogance, pride and joy…

may we be blessed to remember:

whatever we humans can build…

Mother Nature has the ability to destroy.

WHY WERE HUMANS CREATED

Trees are created for the shade they provide

flowers for their distinctive bouquet.

Waterfalls are created for their overflowing beauty 

bees for their honey and their beautiful ballet.

Oceans are created for their vastness and rhythm

the sun, moon and stars for their light.

Clouds are created to bring us the rain

birds for their elegant flight.

Meadows are created for their peacefulness

mountains for their peaks so tall and grand.

Rivers are created to carve out landscapes

beaches for their endless sand.

The trees, the bees, the mountains the beaches every day are celebrated…

as are all the other unique wonders Mother nature has created.

Which makes me ask when nature looks at us…

from the flowers that bloom to the the trees that shade 

to the birds and clouds that soar…

do they ever ask themselves…

I wonder…what are humans created for.

Of course if we could ever stop our hatred of one another

stop our discrimination and our wars

wouldn’t it be wonderful if we found our compassion, our acceptance

and our kindness is what we were create for.

Then we could proudly take our place in nature…

next to the sunlight peeking through the trees…

If creating kindness could be as natural to humans

as creating honey is to the bees.

 

DAILY GRATITUDE WONDERFUL LIFE

 

I am grateful for understanding early on…

and can say without any misgivings…

how lucky I am to to have been gifted

this wonderful live I am living.

LITTLE THINGS

 

May we be blessed to understand….

since we are only on this Earth for a short while…

it is imperative we do what makes us happy

and surround ourselves with people who make us smile.

ALL THE REASONS I WAS BORN

 

Although I have no recollection of the day when I was born…

my parents said it was a cold day in December…sometime in the early morn.

Whenever I ask myself why was I born on that cold day in December

I stop a moment to think about my life…and take time to remember… 

And though I can’t remember every moment

as the years and my memory have intertwined…

I do remember some that are etched within my mind.

I remember the town where I grew up…because it’s influence never ends…

and some of the people I grew up with…I still proudly call my friends.

I remember the day I became a teacher…

standing in my first classroom filled with apprehension…filled with fear…

and I remember many of the students…I taught in my career…

I remember the day I became a father…how proud I was…how glad…

I remember the day Bryan first smiled at me…

and I transformed from a father to a Dad.

I remember the daughter who followed…I remember life beginning to swirl…

for just as I was getting comfortable raising a son…I’d now be raising a girl…

I remember the day I married Deborah…and how when that day was done..

what started out as two separate families…were blended into one.

I remember the birth of my grandchildren…1 amazing girl and 3 wonderful boys….

and how, when I hear them call me PopPop…my heart still fills with joy.

I remember the day Damien our eldest grandchild…asked Trista to be his wife…

and I remember the day together they brought Violet to life.

And when I stop remembering I smile…felling joyous…contented and pleased…

to be lucky enough to have lived a life filled with memories like these.

Memories that began on a cold day in December…sometime in the early morn…

which through the years have helped me realize

all the reasons I was born.

DAILY GRATITUDE MEMORY

 

I am grateful for my grandpa's wisdom

and offer one of the many lessons that he taught:

How time moves fast and forever forward…

but our memory…does not.

MEMORIES

 

May we all be blessed to live a life

filled with beautiful moments

that lead to memories

we are happy to revisit once in a while.

Memories that find a way to leak our of our eyes

roll down our cheeks

and join both ends of our smile.

THE WORST CARTOONIST

 

As we’re deciding what to keep and what to let go of for our move

which will be happening soon

we ran across some old books I made… filled with with my hand-drawn cartoons…

There was a time when I was younger…

I felt by the art gods I was was kissed…

When I thought about leaving my teaching job behind

and becoming…a cartoonist.

So on our family vacations each summer…late hours I would keep…

drawing cartoons recreating our day’s activities… 

after our children were fast asleep…

Our family thought those cartoons were silly, funny and unique.

We laughed a little at the humor I created…

and much more at my unusual cartooning technique..

It seems that not only was there no perspective in my drawings…

which caused us all to scoff…

but looking at all my drawings…my proportions were way off.

Heads and feet were too big…arms were too long… 

and I still don’t understand…

the correct way to draw faces, shoulders, fingers, legs or hands.

The funny thing is in the 10 years I drew cartoons…

no matter what the circumstance….

because my perspective and proportions never improved…

my artistic ability never advanced.

But perusing through these old cartoons…

still caused Deborah and I to laugh and cry with ease…

for as bad as my cartoons were…they brought back a host of memories.

Memories of times long ago..when our family was together 

and all the world seemed right…

when we’d play as a family during the day

and I’d draw my cartoons at night.

These home-made albums held treasures from a fun-filled wonderful past…

and reminded us of times we spent together…that were over much too fast.

But there’s something in these old cartoons…

a feeling in these pages that still enthralls…

Which means these old cartoon books I drew back then

are moving with us

big heads, big hands…and all.