simple truths

Yes, it's your birthday. So what? You were born. Beginning the same way everybody was formed. Here's some news, though not new to you Your birth was no more unique than the rest. We all start in like manner, now forgive my candor, but we'll each rot in the dirt or be ash for decanter. It's not the day of our birth or the sign of our sun it's the waves we create the ripples in the pond. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, unless acted on by a force, but that force is not death. Dying only moves you out of the way, so all the waves you create become future, time & space. Your birthday means nothing, it's what your everyday makes in a lifetime before death seizes your fate.

Raging mad and helpless, small outside, but inside looking through eyes as big as they ever will be. Cheeks flush with embarrassment. Saturated in disparagement. A little boy sits silent, in use of astonishing self-control most grown-ups could never employ. Knowing the hand that beats is also the hand that feeds He swallows a sturdy pride, to save it for later in life. For now he'll just hide. Still steaming and boiling A nuclear explosion, going off deep inside. It baffled those who watched on, how this tiny child carried on constructing the most amazing inner architectural feat. A wall so high and so deep, even now  that those two little feet are full-sized, he can't seem to scale it, the man inside now walking on in heavy steps paved with pride.

I didn't know my own strength And then it hit me, So I turned the other cheek And the enemy charged, Right into my warm embrace And it then pushed me away, But I had already let it go And then it came stalking, I waved asking 'how do ya do?' And then it finally asked me, Why can't I get to you? And wind blew the door open.

Would you be surprised if I told you religion and God have very little to do with one another? Or that going to church does not make you Christian? What if I said you would be closer to the truth if you threw away everything you ever knew about "God" and "Jesus," and turned everything you have learned about religion upside down on its ass? This is the simple truth however. As I tried to explain the powers of the universe to my twelve year old son, who claims already to be an atheist,  I asked him what or who God was. He described a man with a white beard who lives up on a cloud with a magic staff, who controls people and grants wishes, or 'prayers.' In that case, I replied, I did not believe in the same god that he did not believe in. When I inquired into his beliefs about the universal field of energy in which we all share, he disclosed his belief about "The Force." "'The Force,' you call it?...That's God!", I told him. H...

                                Beth  9 How can a young person stay on the path of                  purity?          By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart;          Do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart          that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, LORD;          teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount          all the laws that have come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes          as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts          and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees;          I will ...

For years we've been told to slather on the sunscreen when we go outside. We have been told that Mr. Golden Sun is to blame for ever increasing rates of skin cancer. But, I wonder why this more obvious cause has not been pointed out- especially since most, Americans anyhow, spend their time indoors. And since the rise in skin cancer seems correlated to the increased use of fluorescent lighting.  I discovered this darker side of fluorescent bulbs when a neighbor of mine stopped by, he was all excited to grow his own pot after the recent legalization of marijuana here in Oregon. He wanted to buy a fluorescent light strip I had in my shed because he was building a mini grow-room. He said, "I found out I can just use fluorescent lights in place of grow lights." Puzzled by how this could be, I did some research. All fluorescent lights are UV lights! What? 'You mean we're walking under artificial sun lamps all day?' Yes we are. A fluorescent light is a UV light ...

You've been caught in the midst of a conversation about the latest new tech gadget, or at least you think that's what they're talking about. You hear the word 'cache' and you just smile and nod- not wanting to appear uninformed, assuming that most others know about this new thing. Then you see this word appear on your phone and your computer. By now, you probably have a hazy sense of its meaning, still assuming you must be the only one left out of the loop. You're not I promise. I am a computer whiz, and I really can't describe what a cache is exactly, and when it became so important. I am guessing it must be something that 'catches' your data or holds it.  Only, that word is actually pronounced, 'cash-ay.' Who knew? Probably no one you ever heard say it. Is our tech world maybe just a grander, more real life, version of, 'The Emperor's New Wardrobe.' One of my children's favorite tales, it is about an Emperor who g...