Begin This Way
A little time on hands and knees Is good for the spirit. World leaders, begin this way: Clean your bathrooms, Scrub your floors, Make bread for the poor; They may or may not love you, But this is what your life is for. ~ [ 2088 ]
Tag Archive for ‘Peace’
Twenty-Three Hundred
In my seventy years I must also have walked twenty-three hundred miles or more. Of course not every step was taken in peace, for peace. If only they had been. Alas, many were wasted. But I’m learning. ~ [ 2076 ]
A Flashing Yellow Light
If you were to ask me what I really do, I wouldn’t know what to answer, except that it appears to be very little. I write decently, and say some decent things, but I’m probably at my best when I’m not writing, and even better when I’m not saying anything at all. Sometimes I think that if I were to remain silent long enough, the meaning of my lifetime of […]
Waiting Room
A warm, steady rain. Sirens half a mile away. A common sound these days. Doctor, I have pain. It’s fading now. To rain. ~ [ 2074 ]
Thoughts Along the Way
As I sit here watching the world go by, I remind myself that those who sign up to terrorize their fellow human beings suffer from a lifetime of anger, fear, loneliness, and trauma. In this way they’re like the wealthy, powerful bullies whose unconscionable bidding they do. Their outlook is beyond sad. Isolated as they are, seeking security and a sense of belonging in numbers, they epitomize the tragedy of […]
Pebbles in a Pond
Our questions, problems, troubles are pebbles in a pond. Out of reach, yet they rest in the peace of a quiet mind. If we go in after them, up comes mud. ~ [ 2065 ]
Homecoming
Of all the pleasures, of all the joyful sensations, of all that’s charged with balance and meaning, first and foremost is one’s own breath. All others radiate from this single, central, indispensable gift. When we forget this, and are in the habit of taking our breath for granted, we’re more likely to be hasty and fretful, and to fall out of step with life’s natural pace and rhythm. To notice […]
Unto Peace
Owing to morning temperatures in the low-twenties, the birdbaths have seized up again. The air, meanwhile, is very dry, the streets are dry, and every bush and twig. Saturday afternoon, I was able to climb onto the roof with our electric blower and hundred-foot extension cord, and blow off all of the debris left behind by the fall storms. The fir needles were deep; the cones were plentiful; and there […]
Today
What can I do? I can be kind. I can listen. This is the most valuable, abiding contribution I can make in this world. It might also be the last thing I’m able to do, because my life is made to go out in an instant. What a sad thing it would be if that moment came in the midst of selfishness, impatience, anger, or the tired, desperate feeling that […]
Call Them Teachers
The first thing to remember is that the ants were here before we were. The house we live in was built on top of their house. That they find their way inside during the winter is inevitable, as they seek warmth, moisture, and food. This does not make them invaders or enemies. And so to treat them as such is an unenlightened response that mimics American history in particular, and […]
William Michaelian 