So Much To Think About

I was reading a blog that was artfully done. The individual took on a controversial issue that he was passionate about. I happened to be on the other side of the issue. I was entranced with the arguments and inspired by the delivery. However, my own personal set of values could not agree with what was being stated. It is not that I didn't understand the passion of the person's position, I just did not agree with it. I believe that we can feel for, and be empathetic towards, and yet not agree with what others believe. There is so much animosity and judgment today harbored against those who disagree with us. The hate and the disgust towards others for their opinions is one of the most damaging things that we deal with in this world. It is difficult to know exactly what is right and what is wrong. The world has gone from black and white to gray and there are many who applaud that. I am not one of them. I believe that there is a right and a wrong.

I consider myself to be an accepting individual. I have made mistakes in my life that have cost me periods of happiness. During those times I suffered because of my selfishness and my weaknesses. I could have gotten out from underneath my guilt by picking up the banner and changing my beliefs from what I know to be true to what I know to be false. By doing that I could have reasoned my way out of guilt, found allies to commiserate with me and finally buried that part of me. Instead of doing that I sunk down into the depths of despair. I was depressed and felt alone for a time. I never turned away from my beliefs or tried to blame others for the mistakes I had made. I was blessed to have a family that supported me through these times as well as others who were significant in my life. Through my belief I was supported through divine intervention and miraculously I feel that I am being helped up and out of the hole that I was in, back into the light.

We all have decisions to make as to what is right and wrong. It should never influence the love that we have for our fellow men. It should influence however how we react to certain situations that conflict with those beliefs. If we are so easily inclined to throw off what we believe so that others will think highly of us and to escape the guilt we might feel, then we are like a ship without a rudder in this life, being tossed by the wind. In that situation our real self will never have a chance to surface into the light and enjoy the freedom that personal truth and resolve can give us. There are some who may call me closed minded, and they may be correct in many instances. That does not mean, however that I respect them any less as a human being or in my belief as a brother or sister. I will not however accept positions that I believe to be wrong and are against my values.

Gaining the truth is a difficult task if we do not find a way to verify that it is truth. Again, only by divine intervention will we ever know the absolute truth. Is it possible to do that here on this earth? I know it is and I am thankful for that knowledge.
Found on Footnote.com




A Lighthouse on the Point


It’s black out, and I recoil, with the fear of a distant shore.
I’m gazing down, the pain is great, I cannot slam the door.
The clouds are heavy my course is set, there is little left within.
With the anchor tied around my chest beginning to descend


I realize that the rudders gone and time is lost in fog
My legs are heavy my body feels, as if I’ve just been flogged
Aboard the ship, the creaking ship, the ropes and rigging binds
So slight upon the darkened seas so small a spot in time


It’s hopeless but the crew’s intact still holding true to course
It’s the captain that has given up from a silent deadly force
Is it real you ask, or imagined, the danger that I face
It’s there to feel to touch and hear and even more to taste


The gales blow within my mind lightning strikes my heart
The beating stops it tightens up and threatens not to start
But slowly then the rhythms there I hear a clanging bell
I cling to something maybe hope it’s difficult to tell


Through the blackness and the gloom a silent ray shines through
It settles on my listless eyes, as a tender morning dew
It’s there and gone but now I hope with a quiet sure resolve
My eyes are set as I stand still, will my fear dissolve?


What is this luminosity that comes and goes tonight?
Will it bring me to the day, and make the darkness bright?
There’s a warmth the settles over me my feelings to anoint.
The fog is lifting there it is, a lighthouse on the point.

C. Bell