The Perfect Stone

"Everyone says love hurts, but that isn't true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love, but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all pain and makes someone feel wonderful again. Love is the only thing in this world that does not hurt."

~Unknown~

I saw you there,

but I passed you by.

Oh, I noticed,

your uniqueness, 

your beauty, 

your inner strength.

But I passed you by,

thinking where you were was best,

as I moved on to search for other stones.

And stones I searched,

held them, 

turned them over,

admired them, 

and loved them for a time.

Ten million to one,

a hundred million to one.

The odds I'd stumble upon you again,

as if the universe needed me to take another look.

Connected by one day,

and chance meetings, 

and a feeling no one thought to share.

You couldn't.

I didn't.

Those that knew didn't.

And so I searched,

found, and tossed away.

And there you were.

Just as beautiful, 

and smooth,

and strong, 

yet more embedded.

Perhaps it's best I leave you there again.

Perhaps the perfect stone was there from the beginning,

and the searching in vain.

I saw you there, 

but I passed you by.

~Matthew Leatherwood~

 

 

America Isn't Easy

"America isn't easy.  America is advanced citizenship.  You gotta want it bad, because it's gonna put up a fight."

~ Michael Douglas as Andrew Shepard, The American President ~ 

Every day, men and women by the hundreds sign up for active duty in our military.  Thousands more are putting their lives on the line each and every day in a land foreign to them.  Every day, an American soldier or an ally dies and you never see it on the news.  Not any more you don't.  Don't you think it should be?  Don't you think, above all else, soldiers dying for a cause they barely understand should be front page news?

Once again, the media calls the shots on what's news and what isn't, and we soak it up like sponges.  It doesn't matter whether you watch Fox or CNN, you're being fed a pre-scripted line of crap designed to wash your brain.  And we just keep feeding at the trough.

The sad part is, we think we're fighting for "freedom."  The truth is, we're fighting to support a money-generating war machine that World Bank discovered long before most of us were born.  War on terror?  No.  We're killing young soldiers to help the rich get richer.

But let's assume, just for the sake of argument, what these young men and women are fighting for is American Freedom.  Each and every one of them that read the brochure or enlistment papers will tell you that's why they're putting their lives on the line.  They're risking it all for your freedom.  But what exactly IS freedom?  It's certainly not something good for one, and not good for another.

Our news if full of tragedy.  If it's not the Neo Whatever movement, it's a mass shooting or some dispute over confederate flags, or the American flag, or even confederate monuments.  There's fighting over health care, racism, land rights, kneeling during a football game, ad infinitum.  We're being divided.  The sad part is, we're volunteering.

So, let's discuss freedom.  That's the roof we reside under, right?  For starters, let's clear up this whole "democracy" thing.  The good ole U.S. isn't a democracy.  It's a Republic.  Look it up.  And within that free republic, you and I are free to do anything.  Anything.  Stick with me here.

I think racism is wrong.  It's ugly, grotesque, ignorant, and cruel.  But if you're a racist, you're free to believe that way.  I'm free to disagree with you.  In fact, you're completely free to host your own little rally to support your cause.  If you do it peacefully, it's lawful.  If it gets ugly, it's no longer lawful, but you're free to do it.  And I'm free to oppose it under the same rules.  If I dissent peacefully, I'm good.  If not, I can go to jail.....just like you.  We're both free to make the same choices.

Guns are another hot topic.  You're free to own one.  Hell, I don't even like guns and I own two.  But I am free to disagree with you about assault and automatic weapons.  It doesn't even really matter what the debate is.  The bottom line is, we're both free to believe what we wish.  I just wish we'd stop using a "this side or that" mentality about EVERYTHING!!  When it comes to guns, there are a dozen things that need addressed, including addressing mental health issues.  There isn't a single solution, and I don't care what side of the argument you're on.  The world isn't black or white.  It's a million shades of gray.

I'll do you one better.  You're free to kill someone.  Nothing stopping you.  You'll probably go to jail or get put to death for it, but you're free to do it, nonetheless.  Freedom isn't about things.  It's about choice.  And in this country, we're free to do what we choose.  That includes taking a knee during the National Anthem (it's a song, for Christ's sake), firing your players for taking a knee, saluting a flag, burning a flag, or standing in protest about whatever it is you feel "protesty" about.  You want freedom without consequences?  Now you're just being silly.

America isn't easy.  We are free.  But if you're going to go around using the word "freedom" as a catch-phrase, you'd better understand what it means.   Because if you use the word freedom and then give an example of why you're free to do something and someone else isn't, well, that just makes you a hypocrite.  But you're free to be one!

You know which freedom I wish we'd exercise?  I wish we'd exercise the freedom to love each other.  

I keep hoping.

Namaste

 

  

And the Answer is..........

"If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity- and will leave a ravaged world."

                                     -Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall 

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

- Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Colorado; World Population Balance Board of Advisors 

When I was a child, my family made the trip from Nebraska to Texas at least twice a year to see my dad's family.  On such trips, the construction along the I35 corridor became evident somewhere in northern Kansas.  As the years progressed, so did the construction, as it moved south toward Oklahoma City and beyond.

As I grew to adulthood, I made trips to, and eventually settled in, Texas.  Since, I have made hundreds of trips up and down the I35 corridor to see MY family in Nebraska.  The road construction, once completed south of Oklahoma City, started over once again in northern Kansas.  You see, as time passed, the population grew and, the once sufficient new highway, was no longer sufficient.  So they started over.....and over, and over.

Just recently my girlfriend and I made a trip from San Antonio to Dallas.  The road construction was hideous.  San Antonio, Austin, Dallas:  the work goes on and on and on in an attempt to keep up with growing traffic pressure.  It's the same in every major city and every major highway throughout America, and I suspect, other developing countries as well.  Every time we build a bigger highway, traffic demands surpass what we've built before we can even finish. 

And the answer to that seems to be making the larger highways toll roads so that only the middle class and above can take advantage of the lighter traffic.  The rest of the population is stuck in the same old traffic jam.  The bottom line is, the only people winning are road contractors and civil engineers.  We can't ever catch up.

So, "Where is he going with this?" you may be asking.  Lucky you, I'm going to tell you.  And this might be my most controversial post yet.

We live on a planet of finite resources.  What is it we're always fighting about?  Oil, natural gas.......energy!!  But that's only the beginning.  We're battling over all sorts of resources like food, water, and even things like wood and countless other products produced by our dying forests.  And while we have most certainly grown accustomed to the conveniences of the combustion engine, warm homes, and electricity, the battles over oil are nothing compared to the battles we'll see over food and water.  And trust me, the numbers that don't have those basic needs is growing.

The news has some blurb almost every day about climate change.  And unless you're completely ignorant, you simply can't ignore the fact our climate is changing.  It's warming.  The scientific data is clear. Now, obviously our planet has gone through a series of changes over the billions of years it's been around.  The "ice age" you hear people discussing was simply the most recent ice age.  There have been others and, left to it's own divices, Mother Earth cycles through those every 10,000 years or so.  The next one is coming faster.  (Go ahead and google how warming leads to an ice age.  It's too detailed a topic to discuss here).  And it's happening more quickly because of only one thing....population growth and the demand that puts on our atmosphere.

In every other species, without exception (at least I haven't found one), a growth in population beyond the scope of available resources results in catastrophic population decline.  If deer overpopulate in an area of abundance, and eat all the foliage, corn, whatever, until it's gone, the deer die off until the ecosystem can support them again.  I can't even begin to name all the examples of where that's happening, but suffice it to say, many species of animals, insects, and plants become extinct EVERY DAY!!  Are humans truly so self-centered as to believe it won't happen to us? It will.  And unless we address overpopulation scientifically and systematically, Mother Nature will do it for us.  And it will be catastrophic.  That's a promise.

Look carefully at the charts above.  They all basically say the same thing.  It took nearly 1000 years for our population to reach 1 billion.  It took only 150 ish years for that to double.  And only 50 more years to reach 4 billion.  In less than 50 years, we're approaching doubling that figure again to 8 billion.  By the year 2050, most agree our world population will exceed 11 billion people.  And then it begins to taper off. 

This is the part you're going to hate.  Our advances in modern science and medicine have made it possible for humans to live longer.  In fact, it's made it possible for thousands of humans to be born or survive at all.  Infant mortality is WAY down and we've eradicated dozens of fatal diseases from human existence.  If that's your child or my child or your relative or mine, that is absolutely a great thing.  Of course we want our children and loved ones healthy and free of deadly diseases.  That's a wonderful thing on a micro scale.  But what does that look like for the survival of the species?

In essence, we've largely eliminated natural selection, or "survival of the fittest."  The weak no longer die as they did less than 200 years ago, and as they continue to do in animal populations.   At least that's the case in developed nations.  So we continue to grow a population of healthier humans which in turn, produce healthier humans, and so on and so on.  There's an entire field of study regarding Transhumanism, which is, no doubt, fascinating.  And wouldn't it be amazing to evolve to a species of super humans, free of disease.  Theoretically, it could happen one day.  That is, if we survive as a species long enough for that to happen.

Look, there are hundreds of conservation and resource concerns today.  You can drill more oil wells, tap more natural gas pockets, dam more rivers, harness the energy of the sun, and even the wind.  But sooner or later, the demands of the population exceed the ability to support it, and catastrophic de-population begins.  In my lifetime?  Nah.  In my children's lifetime?  Not likely.  Their children?  Who knows.  But it's coming.  And it's coming at an exponential rate.

We can launch debate after debate of how we protect the human species.  But if you want to solve the world's energy and resource problems, you have to address the population.  In the long run, there simply is no other way.  It's ugly.  It's unpopular.....

But it's the only real answer.

The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Thomas Malthus
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasmalt366123.html

The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Thomas Malthus
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/population.html

Where Is Your Faith? Or.....Predestination Versus Free Will

“God is going to send you someone that will rescue you. Then one day you will rescue them in return and together your story will rescue others. He has always been a God of rescues and a maker of warriors for his grace. You only need to believe that you are part of something greater than you know.”
― Shannon L. Alder

If you would, please take a good, hard look at the above images.  The first is a rendition of a rifle hole, like dozens of other rifle holes, around the perimeter of a Mission:  a church or house of God.  The second is the holiest of men himself, the Pope, being escorted by the equivalent of the Secret Service.  And the last, of course, is an image of armed soldiers guarding the front of a church.  Hell, even the Notre Dame in Paris, France had gargoyles guarding it's structure.   I actually couldn't find an image of police officers patrolling the halls of many churches today, but by now you get the point.

Each and every time I see an image like this, the same question comes to mind for those who practice organized religion.  Where is your faith?  Now, if you are one of those that adhere to a particular doctrine, you might be thinking I'm short-sited and cold-hearted.  "How could you possibly suggest we not be safe and secure in our own place of worship?" you might ask.  Hear me out. 

God is sovereign, is he not? He is omnipresent, omnipotent, all seeing, all knowing, all loving.  That's what you believe, right?  Even biblically, you can make an argument that God knows all.  He knew everything you would say and do before you were even born.  He had a plan for you.  He knew every decision you would make, and He even knew whether or not you'd accept His sacrifice for your salvation.  That's called predestination.

If all that is true, then why on earth do you need security at your church?  Doesn't God have a plan for that?  If he created the heavens and the earth in 7 days, do you really think he can't handle security at your church if he chooses?  Where are the archangels?  Where are Michael and Gabriel?  If you really believe God is in control, then why don't you let Him handle it?

And here's where it gets dicey.  I can hear you already quoting, "God helps those who help themselves."  Does he?  He has a predetermined plan, remember?  Who are you to interfere with that plan?  "God gives us (including the bad guys) free will," you say.  No, he doesn't.  If predestination is a thing, then free will is smoke and mirrors.  You have the illusion of choice.  But God already knew you'd make that choice.  That choice is part of a predetermined plan.  Therefore, that choice isn't free.  It's programmed.  You simply can't have it both ways.  Predestination and free will don't exist on the same plane.  They can't.

"But we don't want to die," you might be saying.  Of course you don't.  But what are you afraid of?  This is an incredible puzzle for me.  Some of the most fearful of death I ever met, were also believers they were saved by a divine deity, that He conquered death, and you have nothing to fear.  In fact, you have a mansion and streets of gold waiting for you.  No pain, no suffering.......Nirvana, if you will.  Hell, why would you be afraid of that?  I'll tell you why.  Because in your heart of hearts, it sounds too good to be true.

Look, I get it.  It's important to have something to believe in.  I, for instance, believe in a universal connectedness.  ALL the parts are part of the greater whole.  Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, so the only thing that dies is this fragile vessel we call a body.  The rest of us lives on.  And I also believe that every thought you have influences your reality.  In other words, if you put an armed guard in your church, you send the message to the universe that you NEED an armed guard, thereby actually inviting the evil you profess to be protecting yourself from.  And frankly, if I were God and saw you taking over the reins like that, I'd be pissed.  "HEY!!! I got this!!"

Thoughts become things.  Sure, have faith.  But don't have hollow faith.  You're either in or you're out.  Get out of the way and let the plan unfold.  I'm pretty sure it's a cool plan.  Tell your security guard to go home and put away your rifles at the perimeter of your mosque.  God has a plan.  If you believe that fully, then you being harmed at the hands of armed gunmen have to be part of it.

Let that sink in.

Namaste,
Matt

Why did men worship in churches, locking themselves away in the dark, when the world lay beyond its doors in all its real glory? Charles de Lint
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/churches.html

Same, Same

“Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.”
― Angela Carter

 “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast 

The wheels from the Boeing 767 touched down on the runway in Paris, France with a puff of smoke (at least, I assume they did.  They always do in movies), after a long trans-atlantic flight; my first trip to Europe.  I was both excited and exhausted as I glanced out the fuselage window to see.............an airport and grass.  Indeed, it looked just like any other airport and most any other grass I'd seen back in the States.  I only knew I was in Paris because a flight attendant told me I was......in French.

My youngest daughter is an exchange student in Paris.  I was there to visit her and allow her the privilege of being tour guide to a dad who takes too many pictures and walks too slowly.  We walked EVERYWHERE.  And it's a good thing we walked, because I engulfed the french cuisine as if each meal were my last.  

Without Alex, navigation would have been challenging, to say the least.  The only French word I know is "oui."  Thankfully, my daughter is fluent in the language, which allowed me the opportunity to just soak in the sites and let her do all the talking.  As you might have imagined, I began to notice some things.  There are, no doubt, some cultural differences between America and France.  

For example, many of the cafes are set up with the chairs arranged side-by-side, as opposed to opposite or facing each other.  This allows people to actually rub shoulders while they dine.  The meals are in much smaller portions and they enjoy lots of duck and veal.   Wine is a staple.  Desserts are amazing.  Entre means appetizer and Plat is the main course.  I got that confused more than once.  Water is served without ice in a once-used wine bottle and you pour your own.  The one mixed drink I did order came without ice.  When I requested it, I got two cubes......two.  Wasn't the most frigid Jack and Coke I ever had, but when in Rome.....or France, in this case.......

There were other differences.  The pace was slower.  They don't have Siesta, per se, as in Mexico, but many restaurants do close in the afternoon for food service.  Dinner isn't really a serious thought until around 8:00 p.m.  People take their time.  Every night (and I mean EVERY night) people linger by the hundreds, in every quaint club, up and down nearly every street.  They drink and smoke, and chat until the wee hours.  They seem to enjoy the moment and each other's company.

Oh, and the cars are smaller, the health care is free, and you don't have to walk your pet on a leash.

But that's about where the differences stopped.  The people....the PEOPLE were just like us.  Ok, so they spoke French.  Whatever.  There were homeless people, rich people, millenials, and couples.  Couples held hands and kissed in the park.  Parents took their kids for walks in strollers.  People went to work, rode buses and bikes and trains, had dinner with family.  Children went to school.   

Being in Paris was like being in every major city I've every visited.  People share the same hopes, dreams, and fears.  They wake up each morning and do pretty much exactly what we do.  Sure, they share some fears about terrorism.  But with a military budget that's a fraction of our own, they can afford things like health care.  And I felt completely safe in Paris.  Completely.

Why does this continue to be such an issue for humans?  Why does it continue to be a question of differences and "us versus them?"  Sure, I've written about this before, but the point is worth making again......and again.  We're the same.  Where we live, what we believe, the language we speak, and the religion we follow (or don't follow) is a product of where we were born.  Sheer chance.  Someone drew a line on a map and called this place America, that place Mexico, that one over there England, etc, etc, etc.  You get the point.

The fact that we continue to wage war over what's "ours" and to get some of what's "theirs" just boggles my mind beyond reason.  How can we not understand that it's the rich, World Bank, and governments that wage war and send people off to die like insignificant pawns in a chess game?  I could have asked any one person in Paris if he hated me, and I feel sure they'd have said, "No."  

We don't need to fear Mexicans.  We need to fear their government's relationship with our own.  Muslims?  People just like us.  Just because a radical leader, government, or hate group continues to threaten us, it in no way means the people themselves are a threat.  They want what we want.  They want safety, a decent living, and safety for their family.  And before you tell me we have to protect our families from radical Islamics, tell me who is protecting them from us.  Remember, the U.S. is the ONLY country to ever engage a nuclear weapon.  And we did it twice.  Maybe war was different then.  I don't now.  But I continue to know in my soul of souls, that war isn't the answer.  

Same message, different story.  I get it.  But here it is again.  One people.  One planet.  We're the same.  We. Are. All. The. Same!!

Didn't we learn to share in Kindergarten?

Namaste,

Matt

I'm Tired - Unplugged

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” 

I'm officially bored with you.  I'm sick of you.  I'm tired of your rhetoric and your ignorance, your judgement, and your divisive words. 

I've officially grown weary of the human race and the limits we place on each other.  Let's be clear just one more time.  You're American because you were born here.  You're still here because of an arbitrary line drawn on some map that makes it difficult to move.  You could just as easily have been born in China.  

You're Christian (or Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist) because your parents raised you that way and you haven't yet learned to think for yourself.  You're white or black or brown or yellow or any other skin pigmentation you can think of because of genetics.  You white?  Good for you.  You could just as easily have been born another "color."

I'm sick of your ignorance regarding war, and poverty, and how it's perfectly ok to pay for one while you can't afford another.  It's as easy as a simple Google search to gather some facts.  I'm tired of it.  Read, for Christ's sake.  Visit a library.  Stop listening to morons.  And for the love of all things holy, stop believing everything you see on the news or read on a timeline on social media.  Think!!  For the love of God....THINK!!!

I'm exhausted by your religious dogma that you use to justify hating gays, or transgenders, or deny abortion rights to a female while you continue to support mass killings in other countries using, yes, weapons of mass destruction.   And stop quoting me verses from a book you clearly haven't read.  It makes you look stupid.  And don't even think about trying to sell me ANY kind of hate, or segregation based on what Jesus said (or Muhammad, or Buddha, or Allah, or whoever).  If you even have a thread of judgement for another, you haven't read the book.  Good for you.  You go to church.  You're the worst kind of hypocrite. 

I attended an officer's enrichment seminar not long ago.  As part of our training, we were shown a slide regarding how a terrorist is raised.  First, you indoctrinate them into your religion.  Then, you teach them that other people outside that religion are bad.  And then you teach them about the war machine and how to join the cause to kill the "different" people.  Sound familiar?  Jesus Christ.  Ask anyone across the pond and WE are the terrorists.  Same rhetoric, different perspective.

We. Are. Humans.  We occupy a planet that we're killing.  We share it.....all of us.  It doesn't make two shits where you're from or what your "religion" is.  We keep it up, and we'll be gone.  You think climate change is a scam dreamed up by liberals?  You're stupid.  Read the data for yourself.  Are humans contributing to the rate at which our climate changes?  Absolutely.  If you don't see that, you're stupid.  The data is clear. 

You just have to stop it, truly.  Read a book.  Take some time to think.  Reeeeeeeason.  Utilize Occam's Razor principle, which states that, all things being equal, the simplest answer tends to be the right one.  People that are spinning the hamster wheel (governments, World Bank, etc) want you ignorant.  They love stupid people.  I'll bet you really think your vote counted in the last presidential election.  Get serious.  Your vote counts for school board and city council.  The president was chosen long before you voted.  Your freedom and the count of your vote is an illusion.  It boggles my mind you can't see that.

Stop hating.  Stop dividing.  Stop being proud to be this or proud to be that, and please stop sending young men and women to die for a "flag."  And don't take that to mean I don't appreciate everything the people in our armed forces do for us.  But they do it for a machine that doesn't give two shits about them.  And in the end, it doesn't matter that much.  I just got back from Paris.  I felt no less safe there than I do here and their military budget is a fraction what ours is.  AND....they have free health care.

I don't rant much, but frankly, your continued lack of understanding rooted in laziness is just too much.  I've been trying to hold my head above water with hope for the human race.  But frankly, we're too lazy, ignorant, and misguided to make a significant change.  You're going to stand there and tell me Millenials are entitled?  I'll bet you voted for Trump, didn't you.

End of Rant,

Peace, Love, Joy, Harmony