MY FELLOW AMERICANS

 

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MY FELLOW AMERICANS

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How does patriotism

That swelling affection for one's homeland

How does that become hatriotism?

That destructive rage towards those who have different ideas

This is a case of love turning sour, curdling, poisonous

We need to know when patriotism goes bad

Here are some signs:

Are you speaking to your fellow countrypersons

Or speaking to the enemy?

Are your words and actions aimed to increase understanding

So we can stand on common ground

Or do you merely want to shut the Other Side down

Silence them, drive them off with stones and curses?

We all acknowledge there are differences among people

These differences can not be irreconcilable

All our ideas are thrown into the melting pot

And can produce a great benefit to progress

If we can stop chucking rocks like enraged primates

We, who love liberty, free speech, equality under the law

Being the land of progress

Must make progress our goal

We are the shining city on the hill that all look up to

The hope of the future, the healing of the past

The motto "Love one another" goes double in times

Like these

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SYSTEMS

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SYSTEMS

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Systems are the worn paths

We use to navigate our days

We must invent new systems 

If we want to change our ways

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The tried and false solutions

We leave by the side of the road

Our new, better ideas

Will actually lighten our load

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Get rid of excess baggage

Like the regrettable parts of our past

Our eyes are on the future

And the solutions that will last

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THE HIGH ROAD

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THE HIGH ROAD

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It is one thing to be lost in the woods

To become disoriented in time and direction

Get turned around somehow and lose sight

Of the Path

Wandering around in circles as day slowly fades to dusk

There are tricks savvy travelers can use to find their way

The position of the sun or stars, marking trees

To avoid wandering around in circles

Being lost in the woods is scary but not as scary

As being lost in one's own mind

When all the familiar thought paths seem to shift or even blank out 

You can get confused about what you are doing next

Or recalling what you just did

Anyone can get lost, wander off the path

This moment is the nexus with your next destination

So stop, figure out a good orderly direction

You might need help, either cosmic or a fellow human

Move forward carefully, feeling your way

Until you see a light in the fog of confusion

That light is held by your higher self to guide you

Back to warmth and safety once again

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YOU KNOW

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YOU KNOW

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You know how to be you

Nobody else knows exactly how to be you

All the myriad details of your existence

Are known only to you

Your thoughts, reactions, associations

Of your day to day existence

Only you know what they are

Our secret lives have paralleled our public lives

Since we first formed a memory that we hung on to

You know how things should be handled

You are the world's leading authority

On you

Your private history could fill volumes

Your unique talents and knowledge can be shared

With the world puzzle and the you-shaped piece

You help complete the picture, you are needed, wanted

Just as you are

Only you does what you do, knows what you know

Brings what you bring to the potluck feast

That is life

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ETERNAL HOPE

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ETERNAL HOPE

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The statute of limitations never runs out on some crimes

They chase the wrongdoers down the corridors of time and power

Like a pack of savage shrieking hyenas, like a huge millstone

Rolling out the truth, crushing the wicked like grapes of wrath

Generation after generation hear the damned echoes from the past

The cries of the innocent can not be silenced by the evildoer

Forever

If we trace evil back to its very roots, it gets lost in the mists of time

We have had to develop a morality, create laws

To prevent the strong from crushing the weak

Under the heel of greed and corruption

Unhealed trauma is passed down like a curse

Healing is the only hope, individual healing

Healing as a society, healing as a planet

Denying the past happened the way it happened 

Will not fix anything, a pretty bandage of lies

Can never cover the stain of wickedness

Because the statute of limitations on exposing evil

Never runs out

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SHAPING THE INVISIBLE

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SHAPING THE INVISIBLE

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How we make decisions is a hidden process

Sometimes we don't even know ourselves

Why we decided this and not that

Out of the formless universe of infinite possibilities

We choose one - giving the invisble shapeless ether of existence

Shape and form, sequence and results

We are the sculptors of our realities

Our minds the wands, energy and cauldrons

We use to make something of substance and value

From raw unhewn time and infinite space

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SOME OF MY FRIENDS

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SOME OF MY FRIENDS

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Some of my friends are rectangular

Thick with pages covered in lively ideas

Always ready for an interesting chat

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Some of my friends are green, orange and yellow

They grow in fertile soil

Bringing me all the nutrients I need

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Some of my friends are invisible

They once lived here on earth

Now they watch me and cheer me on from the Mystery Beyond

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