Day: August 23, 2023

I wrote this on this day last year, before the pandemic and all of the recent Civil strife. I publish it again, as I find it may still pertain to the times we are in….as well as an addendum. Feel free to scroll by if you want.

The Chosen One

I walked out the back door this morning , looked at the sky with my eyes turned up and thought: “I am the chosen one”

I was chosen to live in the midst of the world’s beauty. But, I am responsible for helping to take care of it.

I was chosen to be the Father of my children and the grandfather to their children. But, I was and am responsible for helping to show them the right way to live. To be caring and empathetic. To be respectful and helpful.

I was chosen to help my neighbors, to love my neighbors. I have had to teach myself not to hate anyone, and it has been and will continue to be difficult. I choose to try and keep on trying, and to pray for forgiveness when I fail.

I was chosen to write about many things, and to record the world around me. I was chosen to share these things…right, wrong, black, white or in shades of gray. It is my calling. It is my obsession and many times it is my curse. It’s been a lifetime path.

I am king of nothing except hope. I am prince of nothing but despair. A harbinger of doom, but a prophet for survival.

I live my days and nights in constant thought about how to change evil to good. I despair sometimes at how great the battle is, and is becoming. Yet I know that it is not totally my responsibility because I am the savior of naught, not even my own fate.

Afterthought:

People are going to believe what they believe. I believe in what I think is right, and it’s vastly different than what many others believe. I don’t believe the path we are currently on will end well, but many do. Even though there’s a vast difference in our beliefs, most will still be here in the short term. I think that neither group can afford to simply write off the other. If that happens we will always be a divided and hostile country. I don’t have the “Golden arrow” answer. What I’m hoping for is that something or someone can prevail in a compromise which relieves some of the ill will from both sides. I respect most opinions, except the extreme and the conspiracy theorists, and hope we can all ride this spaceship we are on a few more years together and hope something paradigm changing happens.

Our most precious commodity, our gift, our one and only most important currency we humans have to spend, is our time. Our minutes are worth more than gold, and our days more than diamonds. All of the physical things we own amount to nothing if we have no time. They will sit until the dust covers them, and eventually will be reclaimed by nature. The time we are allowed here on Earth is all we will ever have. When we die and our time ends, our lives will eventually be as shadows in the memories of those who are left behind.

Our words and actions during our time here, are the only real manifestations of our physical existence here, and how those words and deeds affect other people is our only legacy. We need to think about that before we speak….think about it before we act. What do you want your legacy to be? One of hateful words and actions, or one of empathy and love?