a matter of choice

When we shut down our minds, we live in a box. The box can only be filled and we might just take what we’re given. 

What we have that we can give may have no space other than the box itself. The box eventually gets crammed. 

We feel suffocated. No air to breathe. Unhealthy. Our minds lack nourishment. The rest is quite obvious. 

We do what our dying minds can afford and our actions get feeble. In time, our bodies shut down and we walk about like zombies. 

Now, somebody might ask, “Can’t you empty the box?” 

I’d say, “To empty the box, the mind has to be opened...set free.” 

It’s really a matter of choice, but some choices need courage. The courage comes from our integrity to things that matter.

 

If we have the might to endure the pain of being who we're not, 

we most likely can sail through the risks of freedom.

a moment, one morning

a moment today -
a car starting and a snore,
a woman’s stern voice,
sweet little children screaming
and the busy road below

and yes, yet again,
another car starting – loud!
a man’s snore - louder
as if in a noise contest
for the day’s precious award

while I, still in bed
wondering about the weather
anxious of tremors
loud noises outside rolling
hardly escaping my ears

just another day
yet different - the way it feels
a soft subtleness
and news on tv reminds
of impermanence, lost souls

my mind – it travels
to a small mourning nation
in devastation
endless compassion flowing in
from good souls near far and wide

to other nations -
where girls molested, murdered
poor farmers hope lost
people warring and killing
corruption, injustice, lies

at the same time
a deep longing in my heart…
for my village folks
my daughter far far away
my son in the land next door

snore getting louder
more and more cars starting
I’m helplessly conscious
of fear lurking in my mind
and I ask, “What would Buddha do?”

suddenly a yawn
I turn slowly to my left
a sweet smile greets me
I smile back, stretching my arms
a tight hug, a warm kiss – bliss

Times have changed

Times have changed
marvelously, in strange ways.
The child I was,
I see not in today’s child.
The parent I am,
I remember not of my parents.
The education I had,
I find not in today’s education.
The teacher I am,
I remember not of my teachers.
The grandparents I see, of my children,
I wonder if I’ll be to my grandchildren;
my own grandparents I saw none.
Times have changed.
Change is permanent,
as everybody says.

empowered to disempower

I think empowerment is also about being able to stand up for what’s NOT right and being able to tell the nation or world, “It’s NOT ok”…and fighting for justice, while at the same time we ourselves remaining true to good principles. The danger, of course, is abusing ‘empowerment’ to defend ourselves even when we’re wrong…just to safeguard our image (?). But then, the irony is in the court of justice itself…when the wrong doer is proven right by the defendant’s lawyer because there’s no evidence (or weak evidence) to prove him/her guilty of wrongdoing…and the lawyer uses his/her skills to defend because that’s his/her job and that’s what he/she’s paid for. 

On the other hand, we do also talk about everybody making mistakes, nobody being perfect (in fact, there being no such thing as perfect according to newer thinking) and everybody deserving a second chance. EVERYBODY! 

It’s a hugely complicated world of hypocrisy that we live in, I’ve gathered. What are we going to fix? Or, is it really about fixing? Is something fundamentally gone messy or is it the work of the Universe to keep the balance balanced? 

Are our voices becoming noises? Are we just righteousness-conscious (by virtue of living in the box we were put in by formal education), and don’t even know what we’re talking about, what we mean (because we are good at parroting)? 

Or, are we trying to prove our ‘individual’ selves right about everything and seeking attention and recognition…of the ‘grand’ order? If so, we better be well informed to validate what we feel empowered to say or do. Otherwise, I think we’re recklessly minding everybody else’s business, our own business missing the bus…

...leading to dis-empowerment.