I travel to meet people who are living a different life from mine
I enter their lives for a short time and having exchanged thoughts, ideas and feelings, I depart
Sometimes it will be years before I see the same people again
Sometimes I’ll never see them at all
It’s a short intense relationship
A connection of the hearts
And the fact that I won’t be with these friends for a while, seems not to matter
I don’t know why!
July 14, 2017
Amsterdam
Rediscovering my homeland from afar
Sometimes I feel like a tourist in my own town
There are also things I’m discovering for the first time
Technology makes this possible now
I travel to my place of birth everyday
And hang out with my friends
I learn about them and their experiences
There is good and bad everywhere
And there are challenges there as there are anywhere else
What I’m experiencing with my friends
Which is special though
Is an openness that’s new to me
My friends accept me as I am and
I feel a sense of belonging
I missed this feeling in my childhood
The feeling that I could share all that was dear to me
There was always this barrier between us
A divide in understanding
Time and distance, and new experiences
Have removed this barrier
And in some ways now, in a land far off
I feel closer to my countrymen
June 26th, 2017
When your long held ideas about something
Begin to change
When light starts shining through the blinds
When you reconsider how you thought about things
Because pleasant surprises come your way
You feel a newfound joy
You feel lighter
How we feel and think about things
Is not carved in stone
And even if is
The passage of water
And the flow of ideas can change it
And if that change leads to greater unity
What a blessed change it is
July 25th, 2017
Stay calm like the depth of the ocean
Pay no attention to the waves above
Trust, serenity, assurance, optimism
Approach life with open arms
Some days will be chaotic
Other days too long
But don’t lose sight of the blessings
And opportunities that abound
The world looks dark sometimes
And we wonder how
There is so much cruelty and ignorance around
Why haven’t we learned to love our fellow man
No matter where they come from
Why have we created these divisions
Why can’t we cooperate instead of fight?
Aren’t we all the children of God?
Why do we think we have the monopoly
On being right?
The age of isolation and division has passed
We can’t turn back the clock
Women are sharing their talents and strengths with men
Holding them back, an outdated idea
We can achieve more with cooperation today
We are so dependent on each other now
Diversity and co-existence is the order of the day
On our own we can’t survive and thrive
May 20th, 2017
Healing the wounds of the past
And making sense of trying episodes in my life
Needs reflection
I need to sort out my feelings
I need to express them
Sometimes I grapple with the same thoughts over and over
Sometimes I repeat the scenes in my head
But eventually I get to a place of calm
Where I can let go of the negative feelings
Understand that this episode
Was a chance for me to test my metal
To learn new things
To better understand reality
Yes, it was frustrating
Yes, it reeked havoc in my life and
My patience was tested again
But I weathered the storm
And emerged from the other side
With new insights
June 12, 2017
When hatred strikes
Turn your thoughts to love
When violence rears its ugly head
Think of peace
When sadness visits
Bow your head in prayer
When storms arise
Keep your vessel steady
Our world is in travail
People who preach division
Try to exert their influence
But we are on a journey toward peace
And there is no turning back
June 7th, 2017
Why don’t you do things this way?
Why don’t you wear that?
Why do you take life so hard?
Smile and relax!
We have a lot of advice for everyone else, it seems
And some of it comes from a place of
Compassion of course
But to accept someone as he or she is
That is love that’s mature
It says you don’t need to change to please me or anyone else
You need not improve to be acceptable
You are loved as you are
I respect your choices in life
To respect others’ choices
Especially those we don’t agree with
Is not easy
But when we do
We are sending them the message
That they have agency in their lives
Their decisions count
And they are free to choose their path in life
April 2017
What are the tools of living in an
Interdependent world
Where diverse cultures and languages
and customs come together
And must co-exist?
We can’t go back in time
Or use the tools that worked in the past
Competition, looking out only for one’s own interests
Emphasis on material things and
Feeling superior to others
Won’t work
This is an interdependent world
Debating does not work
Listening and an open mind will
Competition won’t work
Cooperation will
Rigid thoughts and ideas won’t work
Flexibility will
Living isolated lives won’t work
Mixing and mingling will
The concept of “a leader”
As the one in control won’t work
The leader as servant will
Wanting all the power won’t work
Sharing it, however, will
Seeing and sowing division won’t work
Looking for similarities will
Patriarchy won’t work
Celebrating the feminine will
We live in a new reality
We need a new vision too
A vision in which we see our fellow man
As our brother and sister
Not the other
Not inferior
In this reality
The pain of someone else
Is our pain too
The misfortune of another nation
Ours as well
In this reality
Women and men must work
Side by side
cooperation is needed
Listening is important
Compassion is necessary
Truth is paramount
And service a must
The world has changed and
So must we!
Feb. 4th 2017
Some days seem charged with a
Certain amount of electricity
A certain energy
I feel like I am being carried on
The wings of Grace
I feel the presence of my ancestors
I feel joyous in a deep loving way
Some days I feel like I’m floating on air
I feel uplifted
Some days are more special than other days
I call those days the days of Grace
January 26th, 2016
Our frozen world
Frozen from the lack of the sunshine of love
Frozen from the long nights of ignorance and prejudice
Icy cold is the world we live in
Hearts frosted over by greed
Cold from the scarcity of compassion and absence of brotherhood
Icy cold…
We shiver witnessing injustice and brutality
We long for the warmth of harmony and unity
Desolate, divided and ravaged
Is the world we live in
This ice age will not last forever though
It may be holding us in its grasp now
But spring is around the corner
Sunshine is around the bend
Warmth is nearby
The heat of the sun
Will melt this ice
And each of us can create some heat
Some warmth
By our loving words and deeds
By extending a helping hand to others
By caring for our fellow man
