General

Reena is the host of Reena’s Exploration Challenges.  Reena asks us to write to this short sentence:

Public figures make us hate their enemies.

I decided to deconstruct the sentence and took each word and gave it a working definition:
Public = Out in the open
figures = icons
make = coerce
us = a particular group
hate = extreme negative feeling towards
their = someone else’s
enemies = those who wish harm

Public is what is seen in the open, which is only a small part of what is happening either within the person or in the shady dealings that aren’t common knowledge. Hidden pieces leave imbalance.

Icons are symbolic, generic representations. They are a skeleton without any flesh on it. An icon is like a logo, an ideal, but it is not the actual thing. A symbol without substance is meaningless.

To “make” or coerce another is…

I never wanted to be a politician, as I think that all these people do is take from society and they never give anything back. Politicians are supposed to have a caring attitude that allows them to commit their best efforts toward the public welfare, but it seems that most of them are only interested in gaining money, status or power.  The 32nd president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt referring to the owners of power utilities whose actions he deemed to be against the interests of the American people said, “My friends, judge me by the enemies I have made.”  In politics, enemies are made, but there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, there are only permanent interests.  Politicians think that they are right, because they won an election and they develop their own preferences instead of trying to compromise and allow people to cooperate with…

he was the angry young man
he taught me to hate the wrong
against the evil wind he ran
he was the angry young man
if he could fight, well so I can
from my ashes, I emerge strong
he was the angry young man
he taught me to hate the wrong

In response to: Reena’s Exploration Challenge # 102

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon doing peer coaching with my friend and fellow inner leadership tribe mate, Joanna. Whilst I was being coached, Joanna led me through a visualisation which was so powerful for me that I felt compelled to capture it in words. Giving ourselves the gift of travelling to places within our imagination can open countless possibilities. Thank you Joanna!

Deep Sea Delight

Far out in the ocean’s soul

The miraculous moon slithers across velvet waves

There is a braveness in drifting out

Settling into the sound of the sea’s solitude

The voice of the wary waif slowly subdued by the invitation to integrate

Here she may gaze at The Amazing Oneness

Humbled.

Heightened.

Honoured.

Her feet floating like fairies in enchanted elixir

Beauty abounding in sparkling serenade

Unbelievable gratitude!

She expands into the twinkling tricks of the galaxy

Entranced by the calming chant…

There, I saw something in his hands,

Which I didn’t have in my toy stands,

Immediately I yearned for it,

Fought, stood obstinate, cried over it,

Later, I saw him happily play with his siblings,

Wanting one was one of my constant grumblings,

Just when I thought,

I had everything, I was now fraught.

His cheer and smile was all that I could I see,

His tattered clothes, he doing odd chores after school with glee,

Wasn’t my cuppa tea,

Only then I realised,

I saw what I deemed convenient, stepping into another’s shoes, I never analysed,

Each one of us,

Has a story to tell, has a life to lead, saying thus,

A little bit of empathy, sans any fuss,

Would go a long way,

Render me with this thought, now and forever, here I pray.

137 words.

Acknowledgements :- Thank you Reena Saxena for…

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11

I grew up in East London the second eldest of six siblings, three boys and three girls.. We lived, mostly, in a three bedroom council flat. My parents in one bedroom and the boys and girls in separate bedrooms. My brother and I slept at opposite ends of the bed and were constantly yelling at each other “get your feet out of my face”.

I’m not sure why, but I was the one elected to look after my younger siblings. I would baby sit them and walk them to school…..and I didn’t mind or protest doing this. As I grew older, left school…

animal nightlight
full moon and good night vision
humans flip a switch

For Reena’s Exploration Challenge

Image: Anastasia Elias

The mother is pleased to be turning out the light.

It’s been a long day.

Baby is demanding, for reasons unknown he cries, refuses to eat, is irritable, she hopes he will sleep tonight.

It hasn’t helped that she is doing this all alone,

He husband left her a week ago

Walked out, found a younger more agreeable woman,

A woman who expects so little, so soon,

Ideal for a husband who wanted to live a single man in a family situation.

She bears the burden of being the mother and the stigma of bitch of a wife.

That’s what she hears he is saying around town, painting her as the evil one, giving reason for justifying his decision to leave the marriage and look elsewhere.

She stands outside the bedroom, hoping her baby will settle and fall off to sleep.

There are too many nights of…