good news…..I guess

So many of us have lived our lives placing unmerited value on the opinions of others while discrediting our personal truth and reality. Breaking the shackles of people-pleasing requires honest self-appraisal, a healthy dose of self-esteem, and an enormous commitment to self-realization.

pride8

SCOTUS decision

By a vote of 7-2, our SCOTUS denied the bid of our POTUS to reign supreme over the justice system. Check out the link above from YES MAGAZINE for the details. No, we are not yet out of the woods threatening our democracy, but there is a glimmer of hope shining through the circus which has become our government.

May 22, 2020

compromise

What are we willing to compromise for government protection or assistance? Perhaps another regulation or federal snoop is not too great a price to pay for those promised benefits – or is it? When should we stop giving away another little piece of our liberty?

No, I don’t have the answers, but the words of ancient wisdom would advise this:

"When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit;
trust them, leave them alone."

verse 75, the TAO

When fewer demands are placed upon me, I demand less of myself. I embrace a freedom (john 8:31-32) to commune with nature, watch my garden grow, read verses, write or

JUST DO NOTHING 😄

March 2, 2020

BEACONS

So many of us have lived our lives placing unmerited value on the opinions of others while discrediting our personal truth and reality. Breaking the shackles of people-pleasing requires honest self-appraisal, a healthy dose of self-esteem, and an enormous commitment to self-realization.

The wisdom seekers from ancient times offered to us these words as recorded in writings which were incorporated into the Old Testament of today’s Bible:

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

ISAIAH 58:7-10

“Then your light shall break forth….”

Is my beacon of hope and compassion breaking forth today? Is yours? How about the beacon of America? I know that I can do better, but I believe that America has lost its way. Granted there are many who continue to offer food, shelter, solace to the homeless and oppressed, but they are not the ones in power today, are they? Our government and, sadly, a handful of religious leaders seem to have forgotten that it has been immigrants who historically have made this nation a melting pot of ingenuity, intelligence and hard work. Perhaps we can live today as if that beacon of hope is shining brightly.

I AM LARRY – worthy, unique, loved

February 26, 2020February 26, 2020

follow the leader?

Follow the leader. Just a child’s game? How about Simon says? For us they were playtime activity intended to teach interaction with other children. But, have you ever considered the ramifications of a 5 or 6 year-old being taught to follow a designated leader wherever that person leads or to do explicitly what Simon instructs? Of course not, they were just games for children.

What about adults? Life is not a game. Do you and I have enough self-confidence, enough courage to walk away from the herd trailing after a proclaimed leader when we know that person is dishonest and corrupt? Whether that person is speaking from the pulpit of a church or from a governmental office, do we have the cojones to say, “No, I will not follow you nor do as you say?”

Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi, Desmond Tutu were such men. They viewed their country’s status quo as unacceptable. Violence was not the answer; however, passive disobedience created movements which fueled social action that could not be ignored by national leaders with their trailing herds and toadying sycophants nor preachers with their ‘amen & hallelujah’ congregations.

It was called civil disobedience. In the months leading up to November 3rd, we should, each of us, consider what it is we are willing to do to press forward on a path which honors the validity of all citizens whether white, black, brown, religious or non-religious, gay or straight, wealthy or poor, Muslim or Christian. When our elected leaders ignore us, when our spiritual mentors speak untruths, our options as a nation dwindle. However, a greater power within each of us commands us to disobey government and religious leaders when that obedience would be illegal, unlawful and unjust.

The days of child’s play are past. A new era in American history is upon us and its future will be determined by whom we choose to follow and whom we choose to obey.

These words from CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE by Henry David Thoreau are well-advised in today’s political turmoil:

The government, according to Thoreau, is not just a little corrupt or unjust in the course of doing its otherwise-important work, but in fact the government is primarily an agent of corruption and injustice. Because of this, it is “not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize”. WIKIPEDIA

I AM LARRY – worthy, unique, loved

January 26, 2020January 25, 2020

DC shenanigans

Living on planet earth makes it difficult to avoid the continual stream of bull crap coming out of that humming nest of discontent called Washington, D.C. It stinks up our air waves, phone screens, civic meetings, and neighborhood chit-chats. It presents itself as material of utmost importance even though most of it is nothing more than glorified, recycled, regurgitated, repurposed manure fit only for its final repose on the compost pile. Unfortunately, even the worms and maggots (read between the lines and use whichever news services you find offensive) find difficulty digesting what is being presented as newsworthy and consequential. And yet, we gorge on it like pigs at a feeding trough. Yeah, me too. Guilty as charged.

We, you and I, need to grow a pair. You heard me right. We (women included) need to show our cojones and refuse to allow this chapter of historical malcontent so much space in our brains. It is, after all, just a brief blip on the radar screen in the history of mankind, just a grain of sand on the beach of humanity, just a fleeting moment in the nefarious schemes of world governments. Is it worth the sleepless nights, the headaches, the heartburn, the ulcers, the broken relationships and the emotional anguish? Is it?

I don’t know about you, but my time is more valuable. I know what my political philosophy is, I know my priorities in relation to fellow man, I know whom I will vote for in our upcoming primary election and I definitely know whom I will not vote for in the 2020 general election in November. It’s a settled, done deal. Can’t get any easier than that. There is no need to spend endless hours analyzing the talking heads on TV or wasting precious moments arguing with neighbors and friends who think my brand of politics is lunacy.

For me it’s all about time and how I choose to use it. It’s about mental space and whether I choose to abuse it. Tomorrow is never guaranteed and I will be seriously pissed off if I have spent my last day on earth fussing and fuming about a bunch of nincompoops sitting in the halls of government with their heads up their nether regions. I am worthy of a more substantial, fulfilling day than that. How about you?

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019

Alice’s Restaurant

Why do we call it social media? It’s not at all socially responsible and it is certainly not socially civil. Its users will blast you with profanity if they disagree with your viewpoint and castigate your intelligence when you don’t march in step with their thinking. So, instead of ‘social media’ let’s name Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. ad nauseum THE SCOURGE.

The Scourge is our punishment for relinquishing the ability to think and behave responsibly. Undoubtedly, 95% of those folks, the ones who prolifically pound their keyboards cussing you and me with various impossible acts which we should perform upon ourselves, they would not have an ounce of courage in an up-front, face-to-face encounter. So there, I’ve said it. You just take your FB, Twitter, Instagram and assorted other forms of self expression and stick them where the “sun don’t shine.” Hah! How’s that make you feel? Got a problem with that? Here’s my address, I’ll be waiting out front at sunup.

You might ask, “Larry, what’s got you so riled this morning?”

Thanks for asking. I woke up at 1 o’clock AM humming a few bars from ALICE’S RESTAURANT. Trust me. Strains from Moonlight Sonata or Frank Sinatra are welcomed music wafting through my head at 1 AM, but not Alice’s Restaurant. Just like me in the 1960s, Arlo Guthrie also had a hair up his butt about society, particularly the government, the military and the Vietnam War. I’m over all that 1960s crap, but I still like humming ALICE’S RESTAURANT –

“And can you imagine fifty people a day? I said FIFTY people a day
Walkin’ in, singing a bar of ALICE’S RESTAURANT and walkin’ out? Friends,
They may think it’s a Movement, and that’s what it is, THE Alice’s
Restaurant anti-massacre movement! And all you gotta do to join is to
Sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar”

The anti-massacre movement Arlo wrote about was the resistance to our government’s military draft which was expediting young American men to the jungles of Vietnam. During those years, the journalists whom we trusted to present factual, unbiased news reporting included names such as Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley & Chet Huntley, and Edward R. Murrow. They gave to us straight-up news – no hype, no entertainment, no bullshit. We listened to the newscast for half an hour or sometimes an hour and we were then informed citizens able to form rational opinions.

We could have a draft again in America’s future if the current Administration, believing it can institute anything deemed necessary to achieve its military ends, conscripts our young warriors to the sand jungles of the Middle East. Sadly, today we don’t have much professional journalism to inform us truthfully of world events and political shenanigans. Instead, we have a proliferation of ‘social media’, most of it posing as newsworthy journalism.

But, thank God I still have at 1 o’clock AM a place to go, a song to sing. Join me?

“You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant
Walk right in, it’s around the back
Just half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant”

🎶🎶😴

It has never been about Alice or her restaurant. It was and always is about taking the protest to the streets, to the leaders in DC, speaking truth to power. Some things never change – the inherent corruption of unbridled power is one.

Pete Seeger knew that, Bob Dylan sang it, Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie had messages that I still hear today. Times really haven’t changed a whole lot since 1968 and Vietnam. You can still get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019

burning mid-night oil

I’m sure there has been a song written for this sleepless night of worry and insecurity that is keeping me from my comfortable bed drinking coffee when I should be cutting ZZZZZZs. Fortunately, I don’t have a job which will set my alarm clock to jingling at 5 o’clock AM – or perhaps not having a job is unfortunate. Is that why I worry? If I had an income other than my monthly social security, I would probably not worry and feel insecure.

Naw, I would worry anyway about other things. Where is the USA heading? Tonight I believe I’ve been blowing smoke up my butt about this country which I have learned to love, the one which I served in uniform many years ago, the one which I boasted to be the best in the world on so many occasions. Could I have been so blatantly bamboozled about its people all these years? Is it possible we are nothing more than a racist tribe of self-serving bigots who are just now creeping from our underground sewers?

I would worry about the plight of our earth. Assault after assault on its delicate balances and natural beauty will not be tolerated by our Mother much longer. We devastate in the name of profit and threaten mass destruction in the pursuit of power. She will prevail in the end, but I fear we, the human species, will not be here to witness her victory.

I would worry about my blogging friend, Jill. She steadfastly burns the late night oil informing her readers of the corruption and deceit being foisted upon us by a government which obviously does not serve WE THE PEOPLE. Like me, Jill is also tired. I wonder if she worries.

Ahhh, I think maybe now I will go to bed. The sun is about to rise as it has for billions of years, the birds will greet its rising, the oceans’ tides will flow, the stars will retire for the day, and mankind will continue to confound the creating powers with his violence, greed, pride and lust for power. Nope, not much has changed since we appeared on the scene and me worrying about it won’t change a damned thing.

And yes, there has been a song written about tonight…..thanks to Freddy Fender

August 31, 2019

I will not!

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” ERNEST HEMINGWAY

The very good and the very gentle and the very brave – let’s focus on those words. The world system seems to despise those who have a moral compass, those who are peacemakers, those who have the courage to march to a different drummer. Governments, religions, and financial systems do not honor a man/woman who answers their demands with “no, I will not live that way.”

We are labeled ‘unpatriotic’ if we do not toe the current disgrace posing as a legitimate government. When we kneel in obeisance to compassion and tolerance rather than stand pledging allegiance to the cloth symbol of a nation, we are castigated as revolutionary and disrespectful. Well, maybe we are. All great accomplishments in governing have been manifested by protest. No, I cannot be silent when brothers and sisters of a different color or creed do not equally enjoy the fruits of the nation they have served in battle and embraced as home.

I will not profess the creeds of religions which deny even the most basic human understanding that all creatures are made in the image of the One whom they profess as God and Savior while simultaneously endorsing locked cages of children on our border and a war in the Gulf which threatens the citizens of Yemen with epic, catastrophic starvation. No, I will not.

I will not participate in the corporate destruction of our sacred ecosystem for the sake of increased profits of corporations which have abdicated ecological responsibility in lieu of financial extravagance. While much of the world’s population lives without the basic comforts of adequate food and clean water, placating the luxuriant appetites of the privileged at the expense of the marginalized poor cannot possibly advance the survival of our species materially or spiritually.

Enough is enough. Enough corruption, enough hatred, enough greed, enough racism, enough killing. Where will we choose to stand as our country approaches the threshold of despotic, authoritarian leadership? As the earth’s ecosystem is screaming “enough” where will our allegiance be placed? The answer for each of us is within. When that quiet voice of protest within becomes a scream reverberating throughout the universe, then, perhaps, we can be assured that we have done enough.

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I AM LARRY – worthy, unique, loved

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I AM LARRY – worthy, unique, loved

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🎶🎶😴

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