Read the previous three posts or so, starting with the one titled "To be a kid again..." before you read this...
Re reading this post, I think I finally put a finger on what the point to it was.
This little boy went out of his way to give me a piece of garbage really. But in his eyes it was a masterpiece. Thus, it was in my mind too.
Point is, if none of us really grew up at heart and still drew pictures for other people and went out of our way to make another person smile but just once a day, what kind of world would that create? (Quite the run-on huh Britt?)
Throw out all of the fears in everyday life that the media has created.
If you sit down and think about the effect that one smile can do, its almost mind boggling.
If one boy went out of his way to draw pictures on a place mat for a complete stranger, just to give him something to show that they have the same name, think about the possibilities that grown adults would be able to conceive.
Paying for someones dry cleaning, or stopping to say Hi to one person you see everyday but never talk to.
This past Christmas, one man, ONE, bought the coffee of the person behind him at a starbucks and set off a chain reaction of the next 350 people doing the same gesture. ONE person, created a dinner time story that brightened the day of not only the direct 350 people, but everyone person connected to one of the 350 who got a free cup of coffee.
The real point is, that if one person sets off the reaction, ultimately millions of people will unknowingly produce and spread smiles to those around them.
If someone went out of their way to make you smile, it will be with you the rest of the day. And since it's always with you, you may very well be smiling the rest of the day because of it. If you are smiling you are automatically giving the people around you, not only a reason but, the permission to do the same. So, unknowingly, you have liberated the souls of others who will unknowingly spread the same seed to others. It's an unstoppable, uncontrollable, unexplainable phenomenon
Make someone smile today..
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Part two...
Don't read part two until you've read part one...
Does the beauty in life vanish when our worlds and hearts are shattered?
Many people would agree so.
So many of us lose the motivation to seek out the beauty in life when we’ve lost.
So many of us lose the courage to get up in the morning and go on with our lives.
No courage to put ourselves in situations to be able to see what else there is in the world.
We fail to force ourselves to move on and see a sunset or a sunrise.
We fail to open the windows and hear the songs of the morning birds.
Why though?
Why do we stop seeing the beauty in life?
Is it because it reminds of us of what we’ve had and lost?
What we had, we have.
What we were, we are.
Everything in our past is what made each of us who are we today.
Why don’t we listen to the songs and get lost in the stars and not think about a hurtful past?
But instead, why don’t we think about how everything will look in the future?
Day dream about what could happen under the stars or what amazing sunsets you could share with somebody.
Instead of forever remembering the hurt in loss that every day beauties remind us of, we need to look back and thank those who hurt us for making us the people we are today.
In reality, nothing is more important than today.
We aren’t promised anything, not even the rest of today.
That’s why I hate making plans so long in the future.
I hate when people take things for granted and live everyday as though tomorrow will be the same.
It’s just as easy that there will not be a tomorrow than if there is a tomorrow for you.
If something makes you happy, don’t throw it away with the thought that it may one day not.
Work towards dreams and goals, but don’t make it everything in life, because it’s not.
If all we do is work towards our future then we pass up so many little things that we will one day regret not taking time to learn about.
Accidents happen.
We lose people.
Lose loved ones.
Lose them to cancer and accidents.
Heart attacks and diseases.
The list is endless.
Why do we take for granted what is in our life every day?
The sad thing is, we all do it.
Every one of us.
And really nothing is going to change that unless a tragic event happens to any particular person.
I know I’m guilty of this.
I’m lucky though that nothing really tragic has happened to me.
Or am I?
Maybe it would be better for me if something were to happen to me.
I rather it happen to me so I can put my life into perspective than losing a loved one.
Maybe because something horrific hasn’t happened to me I am unfortunate.
Ask anyone who has had something catastrophic happen to them, that it changed their life forever.
At first, probably for the worst.
But then it more than likely helped them realize what was really important in life.
And to know what is important in life is to have a gift.
We go through our entire life trying to figure out what is most important to us.
And it’s rarely before an old age, before death, that we begin to figure out what mattered most in life.
And by then its almost certainly too late to pass it down to younger loved ones.
Even if we get a chance to, the ones that haven’t figured it out yet will never lose the ignorance that is learning about life.
Throughout our entire lives, elders give us advice about what to do and where to go in life and what to hang on to.
But until we are in their shoes and at that rightful age, we never truly understand what our elders were trying to tell us.
So though we try to pass on advice or stories, the truth is, the younger generations will not grasp the helpfulness in them.
Ever.
Which is actually another phone part of life.
Though it can be frustrating for younger loved ones to not listen, it’s a phase of life we all have to go through.
Does the beauty in life vanish when our worlds and hearts are shattered?
Many people would agree so.
So many of us lose the motivation to seek out the beauty in life when we’ve lost.
So many of us lose the courage to get up in the morning and go on with our lives.
No courage to put ourselves in situations to be able to see what else there is in the world.
We fail to force ourselves to move on and see a sunset or a sunrise.
We fail to open the windows and hear the songs of the morning birds.
Why though?
Why do we stop seeing the beauty in life?
Is it because it reminds of us of what we’ve had and lost?
What we had, we have.
What we were, we are.
Everything in our past is what made each of us who are we today.
Why don’t we listen to the songs and get lost in the stars and not think about a hurtful past?
But instead, why don’t we think about how everything will look in the future?
Day dream about what could happen under the stars or what amazing sunsets you could share with somebody.
Instead of forever remembering the hurt in loss that every day beauties remind us of, we need to look back and thank those who hurt us for making us the people we are today.
In reality, nothing is more important than today.
We aren’t promised anything, not even the rest of today.
That’s why I hate making plans so long in the future.
I hate when people take things for granted and live everyday as though tomorrow will be the same.
It’s just as easy that there will not be a tomorrow than if there is a tomorrow for you.
If something makes you happy, don’t throw it away with the thought that it may one day not.
Work towards dreams and goals, but don’t make it everything in life, because it’s not.
If all we do is work towards our future then we pass up so many little things that we will one day regret not taking time to learn about.
Accidents happen.
We lose people.
Lose loved ones.
Lose them to cancer and accidents.
Heart attacks and diseases.
The list is endless.
Why do we take for granted what is in our life every day?
The sad thing is, we all do it.
Every one of us.
And really nothing is going to change that unless a tragic event happens to any particular person.
I know I’m guilty of this.
I’m lucky though that nothing really tragic has happened to me.
Or am I?
Maybe it would be better for me if something were to happen to me.
I rather it happen to me so I can put my life into perspective than losing a loved one.
Maybe because something horrific hasn’t happened to me I am unfortunate.
Ask anyone who has had something catastrophic happen to them, that it changed their life forever.
At first, probably for the worst.
But then it more than likely helped them realize what was really important in life.
And to know what is important in life is to have a gift.
We go through our entire life trying to figure out what is most important to us.
And it’s rarely before an old age, before death, that we begin to figure out what mattered most in life.
And by then its almost certainly too late to pass it down to younger loved ones.
Even if we get a chance to, the ones that haven’t figured it out yet will never lose the ignorance that is learning about life.
Throughout our entire lives, elders give us advice about what to do and where to go in life and what to hang on to.
But until we are in their shoes and at that rightful age, we never truly understand what our elders were trying to tell us.
So though we try to pass on advice or stories, the truth is, the younger generations will not grasp the helpfulness in them.
Ever.
Which is actually another phone part of life.
Though it can be frustrating for younger loved ones to not listen, it’s a phase of life we all have to go through.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Part one..
The blank paper stares back at me in mockery.
The few words that are scattered across the page
In what is a lame excuse for a thought,
Only add insult to injury.
Like it’s almost better to not have started writing.
No flow.
No rhythm.
No subject.
No body.
No purpose.
What quantity of thoughts my mind fabricates,
More than lacks in diversity.
You can’t write, Tucker.
You have no more Passion.
No Creativity.
No Words.
No Motivation.
No Will.
The words are laughing like a voice in a Haunted Halloween house.
Is that because I’m haunted?
Come to think of it, maybe.
Not maybe, yes.
I’m haunted every second of every day.
But, we all are.
Who doesn’t wake up in the morning or fall asleep at night thinking about some regret they’ve had in life?
I write these words in search of an answer.
But these are my words, and I have no answer.
So why am I writing to find one?
What is could possible stick out and give me an answer?
Hell, I don’t even know what answer I’m looking for.
Is there even an answer?
An answer to what though?
Love?
Loss?
Happiness?
Life?
Death?
No.
There can’t be.
If there is then it’s not your question to be answered, is it?
If I have a question that doesn’t have an answer, is that even a question?
What else would it be, Tucker?
I don’t know. Does anyone?
Probably not.
Or is that why we live life?
In search f those answers?
Maybe, but how do we know if we’ve found them if they don’t have an answer?
Or maybe they do have an answer.
But since, it’s not a universal answer, we have nothing to compare our findings to.
Someone told me that only consistent thing in life is change.
Why do we change though?
What makes us love, only to throw it away?
What makes us want to gain what we know we’ll lose?
And conversely, lose what we’ve gained so we can gain something new?
Why are we never contempt with filling our cups of life?
Is it the desire to better ourselves?
It has to be, Tucker.
But when do we know when we have all that we deserve?
We don’t. We can’t. Otherwise it’s like life has been put into our hands.
We would have no passion to get more than what we’re told.
No creativity to work around the adversity that life throws at us.
No motivation to better our current situation.
No will to better our lives.
Tucker, this whole this is stupid.
Why are you even writing this?
You told yourself that it’s not going to teach you anything.
So it can’t teach anyone else anything.
This entire thing is a mockery of poetry, Tucker
Stop this.
But never stop wondering.
There is so much to wonder about.
An infinite number, really.
Infinite isn’t a number though.
It’s an expression.
An expression to say that numbers are never ending.
But how else can we begin to fathom infinity if we didn’t give it a word.
We can’t imagine infinity. We have nothing to try and compare it to.
But by trying to put a label on something that doesn’t exist so that we can try to comprehend it, almost eliminates what was really there in the first place.
It isn’t as pure now.
By placing the word infinity for the fact that it lasts forever, we forget that it really does.
But nothing lasts forever, or so I’m told.
What makes love an exception?
You can ask anyone who is happily married that love lasts forever.
But, at the same time, experts in every field say that nothing lasts forever.
If love is the one thing that lasts forever and stands above all things,
Does that make it the answer?
Is love what drives our desire to better ourselves and those around us?
Is it love that makes us want to become more successful?
Is it love that can ease the pain of loss and death?
Is it the want to love and be loved in return that fuels our universe?
Do the sun, moon, and stars appear in rotation to give us motivation to try and compare what we are feeling to something in the universe?
Do birds sing the melodies that our hearts put forth when we are in love?
Or do we see the beauty in these everyday things because we are in love?
To be continued...
The few words that are scattered across the page
In what is a lame excuse for a thought,
Only add insult to injury.
Like it’s almost better to not have started writing.
No flow.
No rhythm.
No subject.
No body.
No purpose.
What quantity of thoughts my mind fabricates,
More than lacks in diversity.
You can’t write, Tucker.
You have no more Passion.
No Creativity.
No Words.
No Motivation.
No Will.
The words are laughing like a voice in a Haunted Halloween house.
Is that because I’m haunted?
Come to think of it, maybe.
Not maybe, yes.
I’m haunted every second of every day.
But, we all are.
Who doesn’t wake up in the morning or fall asleep at night thinking about some regret they’ve had in life?
I write these words in search of an answer.
But these are my words, and I have no answer.
So why am I writing to find one?
What is could possible stick out and give me an answer?
Hell, I don’t even know what answer I’m looking for.
Is there even an answer?
An answer to what though?
Love?
Loss?
Happiness?
Life?
Death?
No.
There can’t be.
If there is then it’s not your question to be answered, is it?
If I have a question that doesn’t have an answer, is that even a question?
What else would it be, Tucker?
I don’t know. Does anyone?
Probably not.
Or is that why we live life?
In search f those answers?
Maybe, but how do we know if we’ve found them if they don’t have an answer?
Or maybe they do have an answer.
But since, it’s not a universal answer, we have nothing to compare our findings to.
Someone told me that only consistent thing in life is change.
Why do we change though?
What makes us love, only to throw it away?
What makes us want to gain what we know we’ll lose?
And conversely, lose what we’ve gained so we can gain something new?
Why are we never contempt with filling our cups of life?
Is it the desire to better ourselves?
It has to be, Tucker.
But when do we know when we have all that we deserve?
We don’t. We can’t. Otherwise it’s like life has been put into our hands.
We would have no passion to get more than what we’re told.
No creativity to work around the adversity that life throws at us.
No motivation to better our current situation.
No will to better our lives.
Tucker, this whole this is stupid.
Why are you even writing this?
You told yourself that it’s not going to teach you anything.
So it can’t teach anyone else anything.
This entire thing is a mockery of poetry, Tucker
Stop this.
But never stop wondering.
There is so much to wonder about.
An infinite number, really.
Infinite isn’t a number though.
It’s an expression.
An expression to say that numbers are never ending.
But how else can we begin to fathom infinity if we didn’t give it a word.
We can’t imagine infinity. We have nothing to try and compare it to.
But by trying to put a label on something that doesn’t exist so that we can try to comprehend it, almost eliminates what was really there in the first place.
It isn’t as pure now.
By placing the word infinity for the fact that it lasts forever, we forget that it really does.
But nothing lasts forever, or so I’m told.
What makes love an exception?
You can ask anyone who is happily married that love lasts forever.
But, at the same time, experts in every field say that nothing lasts forever.
If love is the one thing that lasts forever and stands above all things,
Does that make it the answer?
Is love what drives our desire to better ourselves and those around us?
Is it love that makes us want to become more successful?
Is it love that can ease the pain of loss and death?
Is it the want to love and be loved in return that fuels our universe?
Do the sun, moon, and stars appear in rotation to give us motivation to try and compare what we are feeling to something in the universe?
Do birds sing the melodies that our hearts put forth when we are in love?
Or do we see the beauty in these everyday things because we are in love?
To be continued...
Sunday, January 6, 2008
To be a kid again..
The imagination and mindset of a child is a wonder that no one will ever understand. Yet, it is one of the purest things on this earth. The imagination of a child is so creative, so intuitive, so free, so living, so loving, so involved.
I'm not a religious person, not yet at least. But someone once told me that they believe that angels spoke through the laughter of children and infants. That whenever they are smiling and laughing, you cannot help but smile yourself, no matter what mood you are in. I'm yet to find that untrue. I just wish what these "angels" were/are trying to say...
I only bring this up because today while I was folding napkins at work and thinking about everything that was going on, I wasn't in the best of moods. A family of three came back from dinner and immediately their 5 year old son came walking towards me.
"I have something for you!" he had proclaimed with the proudest smile a kid his age would ever be able to conjure.
"Oh, yeah? Well let's see it!" I couldn't quite figure out what the folded up piece of paper was. But as I opened it, for some god given reason, I couldn't help but start to have tears well up in my eyes.
As I unfolded it, the little boy looked at me with the eyes of a child seeing his living room on Christmas morning. I looked at the paper, and had to hold back a little chuckle. All it was was a child's word find from Bubba's restaurants. You know, one you used to color and stuff while you were waiting for your food.
I looked back at the boy and thanked him and he still had such a pure, golden, proud smile. I finally looked at his parents and asked with my eyes 'Why?' their kid had given me this.
"Because you both have the same name," the told me in unison.
Because we had the same name.
This young boy went out of his way to draw me pictures and try and find words, which he could not. With green crayon the most random letters were circled and squared in no way resembled any of the words he was supposed to find. Yet, in his mind, in his imagination, he did perfectly on this puzzle. He was so proud that he made me this piece of paper. This little boy went out of his way to make this for me. For me! Just because we had the same name...
I really don't know where I'm going with this post. I wish I had a point to this..
All I really know, is that when this boy gave me his word puzzle, I really felt lifted. I don't know if that's what angels do or anything, or if that is a god or higher power talking to me, but I felt lifted. I don't know how else to put it. I don't really know why I wrote this, but I felt compelled to. I know most of this doesn't make any sense.
I don't know why, but this piece of paper will stay with me for a long time...
I don't know...
I'm not a religious person, not yet at least. But someone once told me that they believe that angels spoke through the laughter of children and infants. That whenever they are smiling and laughing, you cannot help but smile yourself, no matter what mood you are in. I'm yet to find that untrue. I just wish what these "angels" were/are trying to say...
I only bring this up because today while I was folding napkins at work and thinking about everything that was going on, I wasn't in the best of moods. A family of three came back from dinner and immediately their 5 year old son came walking towards me.
"I have something for you!" he had proclaimed with the proudest smile a kid his age would ever be able to conjure.
"Oh, yeah? Well let's see it!" I couldn't quite figure out what the folded up piece of paper was. But as I opened it, for some god given reason, I couldn't help but start to have tears well up in my eyes.
As I unfolded it, the little boy looked at me with the eyes of a child seeing his living room on Christmas morning. I looked at the paper, and had to hold back a little chuckle. All it was was a child's word find from Bubba's restaurants. You know, one you used to color and stuff while you were waiting for your food.
I looked back at the boy and thanked him and he still had such a pure, golden, proud smile. I finally looked at his parents and asked with my eyes 'Why?' their kid had given me this.
"Because you both have the same name," the told me in unison.
Because we had the same name.
This young boy went out of his way to draw me pictures and try and find words, which he could not. With green crayon the most random letters were circled and squared in no way resembled any of the words he was supposed to find. Yet, in his mind, in his imagination, he did perfectly on this puzzle. He was so proud that he made me this piece of paper. This little boy went out of his way to make this for me. For me! Just because we had the same name...
I really don't know where I'm going with this post. I wish I had a point to this..
All I really know, is that when this boy gave me his word puzzle, I really felt lifted. I don't know if that's what angels do or anything, or if that is a god or higher power talking to me, but I felt lifted. I don't know how else to put it. I don't really know why I wrote this, but I felt compelled to. I know most of this doesn't make any sense.
I don't know why, but this piece of paper will stay with me for a long time...
I don't know...
Saturday, January 5, 2008
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