March 31, 2011
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most
certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” - Thomas A. Edison
Happy Thursday!
March 30, 2011
“Patience is the support of weakness; impatience the ruin
of strength.” - Charles Caleb Colton
Happy Wednesday!
March 29, 2011
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is
daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart
without words than words without a heart.” - Mohandas Gandhi
Happy Tuesday!
March 28, 2011
“Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is born
vanquished.” - Anne Sophie Swetchine
Happy Monday!
March 25, 2011
“Middle age is when your old classmates are so grey and
wrinkled and bald they don't recognize you.” - Bennett Cerf
Happy Friday!
March 24, 2011
“I loved school so much that most of my classmates
considered me a dork.” - Natalie Portman
Happy Thursday!
March 23, 2011
“My egotistical concern was less that I would fail to
relate to my classmates than that they would know nothing of my uniquely
tortured life's course and, thus, me.” -
John Thorn
Happy Wednesday!
March 22, 2011
“With my academic achievement in high school I was
accepted rather readily at Princeton and equally as fast at Yale, but my test
scores were not comparable to that of my classmates. And that's been shown by
statistics, there are reasons for that - there are cultural biases built into testing,
and that was one of the motivations for the concept of affirmative action to
try to balance out those effects.” - Sonia Sotomayor
Happy Tuesday!
March 21, 2011
“I was somewhat out of place among my classmates; I could
not be as bohemian as they were.” - Erno Rubik
Happy Monday!
March 18, 2011
“It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we
make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.” - Thomas Aquinas
“A cheerful frame of mind, reinforced by relaxation... is
the medicine that puts all ghosts of fear on the run.” - George Matthew Adams
“I love doing normal things - movies, shopping, going out
with friends, writing, reading, taking hot bubble baths - that's a big one for relaxation.
I also love to go to art and history museums.”
- Christina Aguilera
“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never
allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable
without knowing it.” - Herodotus
“My ideal relaxation is working on upholstery. I spend
hours in junk shops buying furniture. I do all the upholstery work myself, and
it's like therapy.” - Pamela Anderson
“I like to follow my favorite team and talk sports with
my band or fans. You won't believe how many musicians are sports fans. We have
so much time on tour that we need these outlets for relaxation.” - Garth Brooks
Happy Friday!
Haiku #1
Thunderous, clever,
funny, witty laughter
Barely breathing as we
laughed sincerely uncontrollably
Morning wrestle pure joy;
esposo
Haiku #2
Conceptualizing layouts
for garden beds
Growth for a dozen types
of flowers
Organic flowers – daily,
time-(lapse) pictures
Haiku #3
Ready for what comes
next
Learning to shoot a gun
like I
Did bow and arrow; focus
Haiku #4
Sharp focus on what
matters
Most change brings
strength which can be
Realized through freedoms
and wisdom
Haiku #5
To explore values and
ethics
About how people
perceive their unique worlds
At best of times;
differences
Cheers!
Gabriela
P.S. We’re wishing you
an amazing weekend.
Salud to you and yours!
Cheers to us and ours!
Cheers to all!
March 17, 2011
“A peace is of the nature of a conquest; for then both
parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser.” - William Shakespeare
“Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves.” - Swami Sivananda
“I think it's naive to pray for world peace if we're not
going to change the form in which we live.”
- Godfrey Reggio
Happy Thursday!
Haiku #1
Two ton machinery
spring-jumped
Into jostled position
and dodged another one
Frown across forehead;
pothole season
Haiku #2
Silence, no pointing
fingers today
Wow, no nagging hags
square dancing jigs
Flapping tongues did I hear?
Haiku #3
When a little girl tells
Others, how to live it’s
only because
Not knowing the world
hurts
Haiku #4
With the sharpness of a
Blade and hatred on her
tongue she forced
Her will unto others; bully
Haiku #5
Inhale exhale inhale
exhale inhale
In through mouth and out
of nose
Mindful breathing;
inhale life – evaporation
March 16, 2011
“People should realize we're jerks just like them.” - Edward de Bono (Psychologist and
Writer, leading authority in field of creative thinking. b.1933)
“We don't devote enough scientific research to finding a
cure for jerks.” - Bill Watterson
“Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out
the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are
simply jerks with a billion dollars.” -
Warren Buffett
“Love is bullshit. Emotion is bullshit. I am a rock. A
jerk. I'm an uncaring asshole and proud of it.” - Chuck Palahniuk
“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing
what they love.” - Chuck Palahniuk
Happy Wednesday!
Haiku #1
South of the equator,
people
Coping with flooding
that bulldozed streets - confusion.
Citizens bewildered and
astonished; tragedy
Haiku #2
Knock-Knock on my door
I place food on a table
- open
I hate her critical voice
Haiku #3
Power struggle – between
two women
Knock! Only if it’s
serious, otherwise; ____
Cry-wolf any other place
Haiku #4
“We’ll get past dorm
living.”
I shut my front door and
breathed
She demanded me to stop
Haiku #5
A record player; “The
Cure”
Twirls of smoke escape
through small windows
This woman isn’t asking
permission
Cheers!
Gabriela
P.S. I love this Haiku
writing. Who knew you could say so much with so little words? I’m going to
Haiku write for the rest of the month. Wonderful. Beautiful. I think, I found
my calling to become a Haiku writer. Broma. Chiste. Joke. I’m not very good at
writing Haikus but I enjoy the discipline form. I’m just getting started.
March 15, 2011
“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I
gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one
night.'”
- Charles M. Schulz
“A whole stack of memories never equal one little hope.” - Charles M. Schulz
“Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day
at a time.” - Charles M. Schulz
Happy Tuesday!
Ides of March.
It was my friend’s
birthday yesterday a long time ago.
Aloha to our Japanese
Brothers and Sisters all over the world. May your ancestors be with you as you
face this tragic and mourning period in your History. I have no real words of
comfort – except these: I say prayers to my ancestors and Gods daily to bring
you peace of mind, prosperity, health and more health as you move towards the
future. May the Gods be with you in these trying times. We watched quietly as
the news came over a Tele broadcast and we held our breaths and silently watched
in anticipation for your Nation. We could do nothing but to take a moment of
silence in reverence of you and Japanese heritage.
That time of year again.
The snow has begun to melt, finally and the birds are singing louder still.
Life is beginning to take form in these parts and as the ground thaws out we’ll
see what is in store for this upcoming harvest season 2011. Come rain or shine
hard working people will be out in their fields bringing the Minneapolis, MN
community organically grown produce and products and hopefully to the rest of
the country. This America has a strong Midwest back, intelligent organic
growers and non-organic growers as well. A place of impressive cheese makers,
dairies and farms that unite - this Midwest economy into balance by citizens
choosing to buy locally grown and certified produce, services and products.
This is a Nation where
we won’t let our Brothers and Sisters starve. Starvation is not an option in
the world any longer. Scientists, negotiators, politicians, heads of state,
world leaders, and implementers of civil obedience and civil negotiations will
need to consider re-building, re-laying out, re-considering and realizing a
whole new infrastructure because it’s time to rebuild our Nation in order to
survive. Restructuring will take time, resources, energy and patience -
frankly, schools need to be built, postal facilities re-established, new
technologies and information distribution restructured. Will the United States
consider building with stone so that our structures last as those of Ancient Mesopotamia?
Addressing violence and sexual crimes in America is our next tax-payers demand
for safer streets, neighborhoods and communities for our young, working-class
citizens and elderly.
Here it goes:
Writing exercise: Write
a Haiku: (Aye ya yai, Mama Mia.)
Haiku #1:
Sound drops into clear
puddles
Behind my shoulder a
drip drizzling outside
March showers are here
again
Haiku #2:
Loud knock – two quick
repetitions
“One moment please” as I
walked forward
In doorway Charlie
Brown’s Teacher!
Haiku #3:
How to react when
visited
By an alien; comes to
your door
“Would you like some
coffee?”
Haiku #4:
Ha, ha, ha - These
Haikus
Are hilarious to write
with seventeen syllables
So much more expressed freely
Haiku #5:
Shivering in early Spring
rain
Remembering, what my two
friends had said
Twigs from the
underbrush, hypothermia.
Sincerely,
Gabriela
Source from Wikipedia
The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martii) is the
name of 15 March in the Roman calendar, probably referring to the day of the full
moon. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May,
July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months. The Ides of March was
a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held.
In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius
Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in
the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60
other co-conspirators.
March 14, 2011
“When
I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.” -
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Happy Monday!
March 11, 2011
“A kind word is like a Spring day.” - Russian Proverb
Happy Friday!
March 10, 2011
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If
you want to be happy, practice compassion.” - Dalai Lama
Happy Thursday!
March 9, 2011
“Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret,
for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” -
Robert Brault
Happy Wednesday!
March 8, 2011
“What you feel spiritually. I think a lot of that has to
do with it. If you have no spiritual life, chances are everything is going to
aggravate you, you're going to fly off the handle at everything and that's what
I did in the past. I've kind of got that under control now.” - Mike Ditka
Happy Tuesday!
March 7, 2011
“Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger
than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happy Monday!
March 4, 2011
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live
without a spiritual life.” - Buddha
Happy Friday!
No Blog.
March 3, 2011
“From 1918 on, trade unionists were to express from the
platforms of their congresses the workers' desire for peace through a rational organization
of the world.” - Leon Jouhaux
“All too often miners, and indeed other trade unionists,
underestimate the economic strength they have.” - Arthur Scargill
“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not
speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.” - Martin Niemoller
“If the British government is prepared to say that the
Unionists will not have a veto over British government policy and that guns,
vetoes and injustices will all be left outside the door, then there is no good
reason why talks cannot take place in an appropriate atmosphere.” - Martin McGuinness
Happy Thursday!
Aloha. Wow, I haven’t
used that word in writing in a while.
How are you? Right?
Right.
I’m sure many
responsibilities have been met, making time for family, friends and others as
well as play and relaxation is what moves life along to any natural cycle and
season: Food, drink, tranquillo and fully content with what life has and has
not to offer. We head into a spring full of hope. “What is your hope?” Read a
public sign and I slowly caught my breath. I understood the significance of that
public sign as something worth far more intellectually and spiritually revolutionary
than any selling campaign or slogan ever could be. “What is your hope?” jetted out
from a metal street lamp-post emblazed in thin metal of glazed coloring and
inverse lettering - I could see the mid-afternoon hot big-blue-sky through the
lettering while I stood still and thought about what I hoped for…
Beautiful.
Moving on…
Writing Exercise:
The State of Wisconsin
of the United States of America has been on my mind as I’ve listened to others
hold conversations about the affairs of Wisconsin and the news reports and
media coverage about Unions, Republican and Democratic choices which require
further scrutiny as of any other legal documentation is upheld to be so, mode
of conduct and reasoning to strike a balance and to do best in the interest of
others welfare, system and beliefs.
I sat back and watched a
rural community hold its breath while they watched on a Tele many of the news
reports about Wisconsin’s political negotiations with the Trade Unions. Some
speculated Teacher and Police Unions to be the first to have budget, wage and
professional positions cut throughout the state of Wisconsin. We listened on as
one broadcasting source reported on the situation at hand as peaceful
demonstrators met all throughout the Upper Midwest. Working class citizens of
all backgrounds were noted to assemble thoughtfully and mindfully before
courthouses and public meeting places. Beautiful.
What is there not to
like about people being aware and political. Budget short-cuts and lack of distribution
of wealth is holding an American government back from the reigns to freedom of
prosperity. As an intellectual exercise let us consider for one moment the
causes of National debt, education and health care. I’m not going to write
about anything new that average citizens don’t already consider because they
are that smart as world citizens – American civilians discuss openly and
willingly any subject matter because anything can be left open to discussion
without shame, fear or regret of anything ever being discussed - people are
meant to share ideas, hold discussions and be adults about it.
Wisconsin: Well, what is
there to say, really? Where does anyone begin? Let us begin with some basics on
education: Teachers are underpaid by $150,000.00 a year. (Period. I’m not even
going to discuss that one in my truest of bias opinions.) Classrooms are over
populated by 15 to 20 students in each classroom and many urban and rural
public school systems in the country which makes it difficult for teaching
especially when there are so many children with special physical, mental and
learning needs (that is one of Upper Midwest complaints it seems when listening
to teachers speak).
Lifestyle costs, food
and living expenses have gone up, along with individual and National debt as
well as gas prices. Americans have witnessed one decade of war now, many wait
in hope for the safe return of their many family members sooner than later.
Americans understand the sacrifice of war, the lack of resources and the dollar
value while they run households full of children to the best of their
spiritual, physical, mental and emotional health and overall well being needs
of all American children everywhere. And even though classrooms are
overcrowded, books are outdated some by as much as twenty years out of circulation;
technological resources are not made available for personal keep to all students.
I believe that every
child in any public American school system should be entrusted to personally
keep for their life usage any digital witting device, a compass and GPS systems,
a state of an art digital and analogue calculator and a stop watch, books,
pencils and any other necessary uniforms if public schools so chose to. I
believe that if some brilliant and creative economists decide to come up with a
model in how to restructure budgets for the public school systems then children
of any school age and public universities as well could be provided free of
charge such devices for students to personally own under some property or
public works taxation. It can be done and it is done in other countries much
smaller and mindful about the well being of any citizen attending public
education. Silly, I know - right? It’s a creative thinking exercise.
So…
What
would it take to get the entire American educational system back on track? Probably, first, restructuring of any
budgetary system and looking to reconfigure an archaic system of budgetary
funds either through taxation or public and private funding for public
education but it will take patience, time, a direct point to navigate towards
because it is important to provide smaller classroom sizes, provide educational
tools free of charge, implementing more money into organic dietary basic needs
and physical education such as martial arts, mental and physical strengthening
and endurance to our larger growing population of obese American children, and
those with learning disabilities and those with lack of resources in their
homes, no advertisements in schools and no parenting should be left up to teachers,
rather let teachers do their jobs to teach material that is resourceful,
intelligent and necessary to get on in life, and finally but not least catapulting
the average teacher’s salary anywhere from $21,000.00 a year to $80,000.00 for
those administrators who have seniority and for the system to raise the base
and average teacher’s salary to (Correction: $150,000.00 yearly) - this can be done because people are
discussing it in creative, intelligent and genius ways. Why not? We keep
hearing as citizens that education is the most important of fundamental
American values, so why not put money where the mouths of politician, special
interest groups and lobbyist are? What gives?
Is public education in
America important or not?
Many other professions
make millions if not billions of dollars a year, such as sex trafficking, drug
trafficking and any other justified industries that brings in forth - if not
trillions of dollars into the United States annually. Who sets the salaries of
teachers? Shouldn’t they? If teachers are so important then why doesn’t our
government provide them with a decent professional wage when they do so much
already by sacrificing their time, energy and able skills to American students in
the public school systems everywhere in our Nation?
Health
care is the easiest of
all of the topics to undertake in a creative thinking exercise only because just
as most adult American citizens understand that an American health care system
is run by pharmaceutical conglomerates and really it’s not pharmaceutical
companies fault the American government made allowances to creating a health
care business as well as universities and National broadcasting business is and
so we have people’s health, educational and consumerist needs set aside for the
profit of conglomerates rather than valued as hard working, intelligent and as
an incredible American middle-class.
A business, not
human-needs but human-made dollars were implemented into an American system of
economics in health care and business, so teachers can barely afford their
health care costs or those of their families and their elderly. Where does that
put teachers and their families? Nowhere. That message indicates to citizens
that people are not important and they feel it and recent a system that puts
money above the needs of working class citizens for the overall of a profit of
few. It’s a rotating circumference inside a cycle of economical mistakes and
they get made again and again because, well - frankly, no one wants to be the
one to turn off and turn on any power source and reboot our system as in any
running system ever can be.
National
debt: War, outsourcing,
environmental resources, climate changes, agriculture, imports and exports,
recession, depression, unemployment, rise of prices, real estate market crash,
and individual debt – credit card debt has made many rich and many more poorer.
Many fine budget points require change. Change. Restructuring. Rethinking. Re-conceptualizing.
Remaking. Recreating. Renegotiating. Re-anything so long as new and better,
smarter and more creative solutions are put on any table. This is not
impossible as other Nations have had to make changes through thousands of years
of historical governments who made their people’s needs, interest and resources
a must necessity to flourish as any civilization that may and can change course
for the survival of all and not only in a few privileged citizens, parties or
others.
If
working Americans lose a strong foot-hold between our government, law makers
and trade unionists then
Americans have much to lose. Unions were implemented for the betterment of
worker’s wages, safety and benefit. The institution of unions must not be
abolished unless something so brilliant and with the best interest of worker’s
rights is implemented in its placement, otherwise, no one is really looking out
for the middle class worker because greed then has crept into the deepest parts
of our National Heritage and - that - I don’t believe for one moment is the
most valued morality in America and for Americans. Someone will come along in
the next few generations and begin a creative process in which they will
restructure our entire value system of lifestyles, choices and responsibilities
because there will simply just be a need for it.
I have more responsibilities.
My soul is looking forward
to dancing if only for fifteen minutes on any dance floor with peace,
mindfulness and thoughtfulness I wish you great respect, consideration and
power anywhere you travel as you come in and out of places, cultures and
peoples with dignity, strength and humility. Peace.
Ciao.
Gabriela
P.S. I’m horrible with
numbers, dates and times when I write. I would like to become more mindful
about the writing of numbers; otherwise, I just need to start writing out
numbers with words in what I mean to convey. It’s all in the editing. Ciao.
March 2, 2011
“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.” - Sun Tsu
“To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial art is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.” - Bruce Lee
“The ultimate aim of karate-do lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” - Gichin Funakoshi
“A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude.” - Rick English
“The art of the sword consists of never being concerned with victory or defeat, with strength or weakness, of not moving one step forward, nor one step backward, or the enemy not seeing me and my not seeing the enemy. Penetrating to that which is fundamental before the separation of heaven and earth where even yin and yang cannot reach, one instantly attains proficiency in the art.” -Takuan
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” - Rumi
Happy Wednesday!
The week is passing me by all too quickly.
I’m enjoying the writing process as much as I have in the past in the
training for a triathlon. I have a great deal of respect for those athletes who
are aware, disciplined and focused to causing learning, growth and change.
I’m a spectator who enjoys watching others compete in athletics. I’m
not much of an athlete as far as competition is concerned but I do like ballet
like qualities in movement and rhythm of any athlete. I’ve watched beautiful
men and women athletically perform which has brought me to tears. (In my writing it must seem like I cry a lot
but I’m speaking internally – being completely moved with the appreciation for
another who creates something from nothing. I physically cry if I feel moved
but very rarely outwardly. In other words if I had Spanish words for you then I
could create a sentiment rather than describing it in terms of literary
translation. I’ll work on that in my English writing. Moving on…)
Athletes, I always wanted to be a great one
and as hard as I tried in my youth – the enjoyment wasn’t so much the
movement for the sake of movement but finding my heartbeat to a natural rhythm
in melody to my body. I never competed in a triathlon but I disciplined for one
for about a year and the day before the race I decided not to compete because
frankly I did not like the clothing that was made for those of us more modest
athletes, so I went and cheered my friends on but I did not volunteer to be on
a team. I knew I would do my friends a disservice if I was uncomfortable in my
clothes and no, I’m-not talking about my body. My clothes and the materials
that were available at the time. I wanted bamboo fabric next to my skin but I
don’t think that’s even aerodynamic nor does it exist in sportswear now – yet
anyway.
I’m not rambling I have a precise idea of where I’m going with all of
these words and how the smallest aspects of life keep us from participating due
to our discomforts and possible fears of taking on anything new that challenges
us to the core.
I had no idea how to train much less eat for a triathlon because there
were three components, to this discipline swimming, bicycling and running.
Nope, competing was too uncomfortable for me and at the time I was in my early
twenties and still very skittish about not knowing how to pace myself because my
heart and mind were not into the competition of the sport. I think that people
who compete must have to develop a love for competition or at least some kind
of appreciation for others involved in the sport.
As dreamy as I had been in my youth I enjoyed taking my sweet time and
if the spirit did not call for me to be moved enough to compete then good luck
getting this Taurus to budge. I could be a beast now. I know I could. I could
compete as a thirty-three year old like a wild and furiously calm animal but I
wouldn’t know where to begin with the strategy in pacing and a worry about
_________. My mind is strong alright and so is my body but not at the same time
while competing in athletic sports. I know why and I understand why I do it as
a behavior. I know myself better than anyone else.
As a writer nothing in my subconscious mind
allows for me to get away with bullshit. Writing is an art form that
pushes, forces and demands for a writer to look to some of the deepest of
places as any athlete can and does. The two disciplines are performed by humans
who have endurance, calm attitude, tranquility and flexibility to change course
at any given moment and to be smart about how to hold back and how to go forth
when it’s called for.
I’ve shivered while my eyes watered watching humans enter an athletic
arena and take command and have great presence of mind, body and spirit. I’ve
understood all too well - what - it’s meant to be focused, channeled and
harnessed in energy, duration and stability.
I understand what it means to feel beautiful in the middle of movement
and deliverance. People are beautiful this way and I can appreciate and be
inspired as any artist can by this beauty because that is raw power and energy being
generated and what is there not to like about people in their most beautiful
forms?
I competed in two-26 miles in speedskating marathons in my life and
trained for far more than two but never actually competed in more than two. I
did alright but not great. I found that going around an oval ice rink a most
boring task of my life. I could not wait for the skating to stop, for a bell to
ding and let me know that I was done marathon-ing. ‘How ghastly’ I thought to
myself to put myself through that kind of mental torture. I couldn’t say that I
would put myself through a skating marathon today – only if I had to, but I’m
glad that I’ve had experience, knowhow and ability to do something like that
because its apparent in my writing that I’ve had athletic discipline, example
and coaching.
Now, this leads me to a point and
thought at hand. As most grown citizens of the world I read an on-line
news report about a man who sexually assaulted two women here on the streets of
Minneapolis in the last week both incidents several blocks apart from one
another to two women who had either ridden a bus and or had been in and near
bus stops that this hooligan passed through.
My heart went out to these women. However, and nevertheless, I wondered
what had occurred. I truly did. I wanted to sit down and write an entire
manifesto of women who need to get in touch with their utmost inner athletic
abilities, warrior mindsets and fighting animal and calm spirituality.
I thought about women all throughout the world who have to deal with
violent crime because that’s what’s being presented to them. Now, I don’t mean
to sound completely absurd but I was (Correction: not forced directed; strongly
recommended) to take classes that would someday save my life through and by the
means and the power to either terminally injuring another or to kill as I would
be prepared to do so at any moment (another blog for another day). I’m being
very forward about this because my years of study made it very clear that we
all have a type of power in us to kill and to never abuse it for any reason especially
when in conflict and in struggle. The martial arts are about mindfulness and
thoughtfulness. Although, nobody is perfect nor are we suppose to be but we can
be able about how we carry ourselves in any situation.
I wondered as I read this crime news report if women just didn’t have
enough information and ability to take on opponents. Women must learn in this
modern era to self defend, to fight and yes in some Zen disciplinary art form to
learn to kill if it meant that you had to for the sake of survival although many
martial arts teach offensive rather than defensive techniques. Now, I’m a
pacifist by and by and I can’t help the type of training that I received
through schooling, apprenticeships and in life in general through masters,
teachers and others.
Even when some of my closest friends have taught me calmness by pushing
my buttons to a breaking point and causing me to lose my calm demeanor in
yelling possibly five times in my life I have still recognized – what exactly -
was happening and never hit anyone but I did have to assert that a wild beast
could come out at anytime and please step back over a boundary of respect. I’m
human and I didn’t create that type of angry energy alone – no one does. Normally,
the person out of control is reflecting the quiet and exploitive-manipulative
energy in the other as a mirror of what is really happening. Simple. Right?
Right.
I’ve been thinking about physical
education, obesity in children in America and abuse in girls and women
and the elderly and I think that it’s high time that we introduce martial arts,
mindfulness and thoughtfulness as well as self protection into the grade school
systems.
I didn’t like square dancing much and to
this day I’m glad that I can waltz, square dance and do a mean jitterbug,
I’m truly glad that I can but I think that the martial arts would prove far
more contemporary and useful a tool to a new generation of thoughtful and
mindful humans.
I’m grateful it was my Dada who introduced martial arts into our home
at a very young age because I was taught that it was in the calmness and in the
silence that power was manifested not through bullying, negative force and
pressure.
I’m human and some Latina-Indiana aspects of my personality are verbose
especially when injustices are created but my upbringing and teaching taught me
never to be afraid even when faced with some of my darkest fears.
Street smarts, spiritual smarts, physical smarts, intelligence smarts
and any other type of knowledge will save the lives of our citizens, females
and children in general. We must implement new ideas and standards for our
civilians so that we can become that much more mindful and thoughtful as most martial
artists and athletes are taught to be about power and strength.
I have more responsibilities for today.
Ciao.
Gabriela
March 1st, 2011
“After you're older, two things are possibly more important than
any others: health and money.” - Helen Gurley Brown
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it
doesn't matter.” - Mark Twain
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your
mind young.” - Henry Ford
“As I approve of a
youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an
old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old
in body, but can never be so in mind.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero
Happy Tuesday!
We sat around two elders’ tables and
discussed a wide-range in subject matter. We spoke openly and without shame as
we communicated as fully grown adults – anything is open for discussion,
because we do give thought to world issues as they happen.
“I think prostitution should be taxed.” My Finn Elder nodded her head
once and sharply looked straight at us from one to the other.
I agreed with her and I believed in her eighty-something year old
wisdom only because it made sense to me. I slowly drew in a breath of life and
slowly let it out through my nose. I felt calm, confident, curious and
respectful to speak to a woman of the world. I understood many of the great
points, sentiments and criticisms towards the legalization of prostitution.
I was honored that such an intelligent woman of the world could openly
speak of any subject matter without shame and regard for logic, practicality
and function. We spoke about many aspects of life because it was an open table
of discussion and respect for the other in conversation.
“The thing about prostitution and polygamy is that everybody makes up
the rules as they go along” Said another Finn-Jewish Elder while in discussion
and direct communication. I drew in another breath of life and out through my
nose. I, too, felt confident to bring any questions, ideas and sentiments to
the conversation. It was also an honor and a joy to be holding intimate and
intelligent discussion about one of the most difficult subjects humans’ have
addressing while in conversation.
Prostitution and drugs are deeply controversial subject matter like
abortion, fair wages, health care, violent crimes and education and business
ethics are in any conversation. Most people have heated sentiments about what
should and should not be done about prostitution and drugs in America – I’ve
heard many arguments for and against a taxation of prostitution and drugs. How
do I feel about it? It doesn’t matter, here. No dissertation, paper or
questionnaire.
What’s important is that people are holding conversations openly to
learn, grow and change. “I don’t suggest this but as an example you’d be better
off doing business with mafia only for the sake of argument that they’ll let
you know what their expectations are and if you screw up the first time, then
they break a leg, if you cross another line then they’ll break your other leg
and eventually you’ll learn that after two broken legs that those are
boundaries to uphold.” This Elder let-out laugher and he looked around
approvingly of his example applied to current events that the world is faced
with. I understood his extreme point in case.
I made my mind-up about the subject matter of prostitution and drugs;
(that as any tax-paying citizen) I believe in the taxation of prostitution and
drugs only in that prohibition did nothing for the abolition of alcohol. (To
each his own) I was made to give an argument for and against the taxation of
prostitution in my liberal arts studies. I knew how I felt about the subject
matter but I felt ridiculous and awkward speaking in front of my peers. I had
thought about the subject matter the moment it was handed out as an assignment
to come up with points, arguments and examples to debate and to study
presentation but public presentation did not came easily to me – so I did the
best that I could with crude models placed in structure with magazine cut-outs
in the form of collages.
I travelled through Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1996 and I loved
meeting the young generation of people out on the streets at that time,
peacefully co-existing, holding conversations in cafes and being radically political
in calm and peaceful approaches. I was 19 years old and in heaven with the idea
about the consideration that the government of the Netherlands gave to its drug
users and prostitution sector of the population such devices as technology and
resources to have that population of citizens better taken care of.
Dutch Citizens could get clean needles and contraceptives each and
every day of the year for their usage and this did and has - minimized the wide
spread of HIV, Aids and other sexually and drug transmitted diseases amongst
any population that uses and practices the usage of drugs and prostitution. I
was positively affected by this and I was honored, glad and astonished to pass
through, hold discussions and travel peacefully through such a thoughtful and
intelligent culture and body of Dutch citizens, other tourists and students
alike. I understood the citizens and the government’s reasoning for providing
such services to such civilians under some type of taxation, political and
logical arguments for overall health and the flow of their country’s currency
for example such as public Marijuana purchasing and smoking of in city cafes.
Brilliant. Truly.
I got it. Now, think about how the government applied this into effect.
I will continue this blog later…
I have more responsibilities for today.
Ciao.
Gabriela