Jim's Blog

Responsibility Prose

Below is a poem i wrote based on an idea shared with me by Marsha Plumbtree about Responsibility.

Responsible

Paint cans stacked
A bit to high
Lids are lose
Passerby's

Footprints colored on my floor
Child hiding near the door,

Who's responsible

Heat so piercing
Through the skin
Summer camp counselor
Endured back when

Teen decisions you forgot
Eternal hands lifted up,

Who's responsible

Pass the joint
Or roll your own
Lay with him
Your mom won't know

A course of life chose long ago
Mindless madness endless flow,

Who's responsible

See the ceiling
Of St. Cistine
Take it in
And try to breathe

What a mind and heart and hand
Could paint a masterpiece so grand,

Who's responsible

Now the fighters
And steeples soar
Children die
Rock stars roar,

Endless backtalk nothings sure
Science hopes to make a cure

Who's responsible

So here's to chances
That await
To let them pass
Or make them great,

Though I've still to learn from here
I'll make differences appear.

Who's responsible

A Fairy Tale

I decided to write a fairy tale to go along with a talk I am giving tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy it, and just know that I could make the main character a man as easily as a woman.   Here Goes

A Mercedes Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a beautiful queen. She lived in a palace with her husband a
king and had everything anyone could ever hope for. Her home was decorated just as she
liked it and every need or desire that she had was catered to.
One day she was looking at the pictures on her friend's myspace pages. She noticed that
most of the girls had pictures of their cars. And most of her myspace friends had shiny new
red convertible Mercedes coupe on their myspaces. On page after page her myspace
friends (who also had everything) she found red, convertible Mercedes after red,
convertible Mercedes.
She decided that it was obvious what she needed, a red, convertible Mercedes. Trying not
to be to blatent, she strategically laid brochures of the car she wanted around the palace
where her husband would see them. With the props in place she casually mentioned while
yawning one night before bed that she really would like a new car. Her husband the king
didn't say anything but two days later there was a shiny new Hummer parked out front with
a huge bow tied around it. She smiled gracefully as she was handed the keys but inside she
was thinking, "men do not know how to take a hint".
A couple of weeks went by and she tried to forget about it. Her dense husband the king
just didn't understand her car needs but she would survive. Then she got a myspace notice
that another one of her friends had added a new photo to her page. The young queen
quickly clicked the link to see and you guessed it, another friend had gotten a red, Mercedes
convertible.
She felt her neck and face turning as red as the car. She heard the servants downstairs
greeting her husband who was just getting home so she grabbed one of the brochures and
stormed down to meet him. This is what i want!! she said, and make sure its red!!! She
threw the brochure at him and stormed out.
She composed herself and acted civilly for the next couple of days until she walked outside
and saw a shiny new red Mercedes! But instead of exploding with joy she imploded with
anger. Instead of a convertible it was a red, Mercedes, 4 wheel drive, SUV. She would
handle this like any queen should, she would sulk in silence.
Weeks and months went by. When her husband would speak to her about the funk she was
in, she gradually unfurled her frustration that she did not get a convertible. And, instead of
ever seeing the car of her dreams she was just shown the usual gifts and affections.
The queen also had a myspace friend who was another king who lived on the other side of
the city. She found herself venting her frustration to him about the serious lack of a very
basic status symbol that every queen must have. Time went on and wouldnt you know it,
the king across town suddenly had a red convertible Mercedes and no queen to drive it. So
the queen, oblivious to all of the things that she had with her husband, left him and moved
in with the king across the city who had the convertible for her to drive. She quickly added
the picture to her myspace page and got lots of comments on how wonderful she looked in
the car.
One night as she was driving across her fair city of Nome Alaska to visit her mother she felt
her shiny new car slipping on the ever icy roads. she slid off of the highway onto a deserted
street into a deep snowbank. Her cell phone was not working, it may have been that her
new king didn't pay the bill, she wasn't sure, he was forgetful sometimes but she didnt care
because she loved her car. She wished her Mercedes had Onstar like the Hummer would
have had because the doors which sat low to the ground were unopenable in teh deep
snow. SHe spun the tires of her two wheel drive beautiful car but she could get no traction
like either of the two fourwheel drive vehicles her ex husband had gotten her. When her car
ran out of gas the cold quickly soaked through the soft top of the car and she knew that she
was freezing to death.
As the cold began to soak her body, she realized that she was passing out and all was
turning black. Her last clear thought was that if she was going out, she should go out
singing. She reached to touch the power button of her radio and heard the powerful stereo
come to life. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard a song that she had always
liked, she hummed along with mick jagger as he sang, "you can't always get what you
want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.
The End

and Again

I think one of the main points that Emerson realized and tried to get across, was that the creator, does not exist only in the stories of those who lived thousands of years before us, but is alive today, and is manifesting Himself in all that is.  I know that Emerson took a path that didn't necessarily lead him away from the message of Jesus Christ but probably did lead him away from a faith in Christ.

Emerson saw Jesus as one who realized that God was inside of him, and in doing so set the precedent and opened the door for others to do the same.

My own faith differs in that i look to and at Jesus Christ as God.  Yes I follow his example by finding him in me, but this comes as an act of my will to allow Him this access, not a discovery of what was there all the time.

So why mention Ralph Waldo Emerson in the first place?  In his discovery, he connected himself to the divine, which enabled him to transcend his circumstance.  In a sense, he felt he discovered a way to do what the scriptures were telling us to do all along.  Transcend circumstances. 

The words of Jesus and the writings of Paul speak of making our enemy (the things which keep us from justice and happiness) the very thing that we rest our feet upon.  To quote St. Paul, to make our enemies our footstool. 

Over the years having had conversations with many who have gone through difficult times, some excruciatingly so, I have made some observations.  First, it is almost always (in the US anyway) an emotional battle field more than a physical or material one.  It is the emotional stress and strain of uncertainty that effects us the most.  What if and when are the questions that keep us awake and night and tempt us to become depressed.

For some the big question is, will I be employed again, not when.  If we could only see into the future, and could see some sort of result we could be at ease.

I wrote a blog some time back about using a time machine to predict the future.  I never published the blog because it was very hard to read and borderline awful.  The basic premise however was that by looking at the progress of the past, we can estimate the outcome of the future.  I will add one thing to this concept as well, if the progress of the past deepens one's depression, then it is an opportunity to change some of the things we are doing now to reshape what lay ahead.

Emerson saw the god in himself connected to the god in all things. That somehow gave him hope and allowed him to live life transcending his circumstance.

I see the God of creation, choosing to take residence in me because of my acceptance of him.  He is Lord over all things and I can transcend any circumstance because of who he is in me.

I will rest in times of trouble, I will choose to lean on him.  I will transcend all that my enemies bring against me for my future has been written by the author of life itself.