Poem: Chains

Chains

Rusted, they no longer hold you,
no longer bind you to the past, straining
like Atlas holding a world not
of your making,

no longer wrapped around you
like a death embrace, false protection,
false love, false truth. No,
they are now

museum pieces, and you wonder
how you made them, what
madness caused you to forge each link,
one by slow one, what

blindness could not see the binding
was not theirs,
but yours and you laugh
even as you forge new links. 

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The picture was taken in Rupert, VT. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Thoughts: Election Day and the Bigger Picture

It's primary Election Day here in Vermont. So I broke away from work this morning and made the picturesque drive to Pawlet to vote. Turnout is predicted to be low. Vermont is not a heavily Republican state and President Obama is not being challenged. The polling area, judging from the conversations around me, was full of a handful of Republicans, and a handful of Democrats who wanted to influence the Republican challenger.

I have a lot of friends who do not vote. Most of them have their reasons, which on the surface, vary, but which in the end boil down to the fact that they don't think it matters. So, for the next four years, they are likely to chafe under a president they did nothing to elect or push out of office. And they missed something else too. The ballot was full of local issues and questions. In the same election there were a host of questions about the town budget, about town officers, and about many things that affect us directly and at a local level.

While (Thankfully!) Vermonters are a pretty level headed lot and the results will likely reflect the general opinion this go around. It could very easily not be the case. A small group of people could easily move us to a place that we as a group don't want to be. And all who didn't vote will have relinquished the chance to make the positive changes in our lot.

But this post is not about the elections. It's just that the elections got me thinking, and wondering, how many of us simply live unconsciously, going with the flow of life, and don't ever step up and take advantage of the opportunities that life gives us. How many of us flounder and rail against life, when the chance for something better is right inside of us? And yet, like those who don't vote, we do nothing.

My life has not always been an easy one. But one life lesson I have learned is that if I want something to change for the better in my life. I am probably the one who will have to instigate it. I am the one who will have to reach out and try something. My taking the steps doesn't guarantee success, but it increases my chances of a positive change. And when I wait or just hope someone else will, it rarely does.

I don't like being the victim in life. I've let it happen in a few periods of my life and it has never been a good thing. Never. Let me repeat that: NEVER. When it happens, I feel weak, vulnerable, and helpless. When I step up, even when I step up and fail, I feel stronger, full of purpose, empowered.

Voting this morning is a symbol of that for me. I doubt my vote will turn the tide of history. But whichever way the tide turns, I did my bit. I stood up. I have a right to cheer or complain. I am not a victim of history, I am part.

And that is the same thing I want for my life. To stand up. To try. To make the effort, create the changes I want and not hope. God, I believe, rewards those who try. Maybe not always with exactly what we want (though often that does happen!), but with peace of mind, a sense of purpose, and personal power. I'll take that equation any time.

Tom

PS - The picture is of Pawlet's town hall, our local polling place. You can click on it for a larger version.

Poem: The Limits of Power

The Limits of Power

Oh, you can change things.
Don't get me wrong.
Of course you can.

You can repaint a room,
get a new job,
change your mind,
open your heart,
or close it like a wall of stone.
You can tremble in fear,
or decide to stand firm
in the midst of that same fear.
You have the power to be vulnerable,
strong, or both
at the same time.
You have the power to claim your vision,
to dare to dream,
or not.

You can use your power,
offer it to another,
lock in a closet for safekeeping,
or squander it wildly like a summer thunderstorm.
You can aim it like a weapon,
or with mercy, be gentle
like a mother's arms, touching others, offering
love, or healing, or hate,

But that is where it ends.
With you.

Anything else is an illusion,
a rainbow, a beautiful lie
without end, ephemeral,
a dream,
and nothing more.

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The keys are from a big box of keys that Rona bought my son at auction. You can click on the picture for a larger version.

Tom

SOS Creativity

Despite the dire sounding title, this is a wonderfully encouraging article on the power of creativity to transform. It comes from the web site i-Africa.

Tom

Poem: True Magic

True Magic

In your past you were a magician,
energy and joy your aura,
life changing, healing, brimming
with sensible magic,
quiet and consistent,
sure of yourself
and the world around you,
unaware

of the dark power of failure
to transform your magic
unaware

of how fragile
your own power had become, how easily,
like chaff, it could blow into yesterday's fields
and become something looming
and fearful,
a candle flickering
of another's winter wind,,somehow
unaware

that there were other magicians
whose minds had the power
to transform fine wine to dank water,
love to pain,
present to past,
unaware

that the only power you truly have
is the power over yourself
to see, to understand,
to refuse to be
unaware.

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The picture was taken near my house on Rupert Mountain, Vermont. You can click on it for a larger version

Tom