OLD SKEWL: Frustration
Hello again everyone,
Tonight, Shaun Meredith and myself went to see the movie 'Traffic'. I felt lonely and I needed some time out of the house. That, and Shaun is a good friend, and any time spent with him is a pleasure. The movie Traffic inspired some thoughts in my mind, and I just couldn't get them out of my head without writing them down. So I thought I would share them with you all in the course of this letter. The reason I felt lonely was because I had been sitting at home all day with no one to talk to but my parents, with whom I do not share a comfortable conduit of communication. I was without the woman I love. Yes, you read that right. I've found myself flat on my nose again; I've fallen in love. The lucky, or unlucky lady, you make the call, is Sarah Eiben. I've spent much time with her recently, must to our parent's disdain, and she has grown very close to my heart. So rather than sit home wallowing in my own loneliness, I decided to take the initiative and go out to a movie with my buddy Shaun. So after watching Traffic, I come to you all with open arms, nothing to hide beneath the following inspired ranting and raving. It is so easy to pat ourselves on the back by saying, I went to class today, good for me, or, I have friends who like to share my company. Our society has constantly spewed at us, messages that inspire contentment. Society likes to promote its own perceived wonderfulness, strength, civilization, responsibility, and determination. But such promotion and contentment is weak. It takes strength to point out our own flaws and work on them. Such strength is very hard see as evident in today's society. Some of us go about thinking that we are so strong and able to capture our dreams. Some of us try and teach others that they are strong and have extraordinary potential. This uplifting message is one that keeps us all alive, swimming through the ocean of distress that as much as we hate to admit it, is our daily life. It is an excellent message that if sent by more people, more often, to those who want to listen as well as to those who do not want to listen, will conquer all that is negative. It will. It has to. But turning a blind eye to the negativity that is there, the anchor that weighs down our souls is like smoking. It is like ignoring the problem by focusing on sociological 'nicotine' that we think makes things better. All the while it is eating us away from the inside, and not even helping the problem with its 'good' side. The problem does not go away; it is still there when the 'nicotine' wears off. The problem being the depressing feeling of almost futility that comes with trying to seize your dreams, help society, people, yourself, those you care about, the world. That problem of futility is still there when we awaken from our slumbers of pretending it doesn't exist. It does exist and as all of us have discovered, it is bloody annoying. Whenever we find ourselves disconcerted, unsatisfied, frustrated with something; whether it is world, the people we love, and ourselves, or anything, we feel angry. We feel enraged. This anger often seems unfocused and that makes us almost sad and depressed, which in turn leaves us angrier. I ask myself what it is that drives me into this rage I feel from time to time. It is my own brain's response to my inner queries and contemplations that usually is embodied in these gigantic letters to all you. It may seem to some of you that I am speaking to you directly, to others it may seem that I am howling to the moon. Both of these instances are intentional and at the same time unintentional. Most of the time it seems that what is prompting my own inner rage is the ignorance that I see in myself, or other people. The most recent occurrence of which happened while I was trying to figure out my own feelings for various people in my life. I can see the sorrow in people, because I have it in myself. This sorrow is something I try to beat daily: sometimes I win. Other times I am conquered. This sorrow that I see, intrigues me. It makes me want to help those who are sorrowful, to guide them towards relief. In very many people, I have seen the sorrow that comes with not being valued. There are people who think they are not special, beautiful, wonderful, precious people. These people need to believe this so desperately. Sometimes they are aware of this need, other times they are not. In these other times, they are like me with my own sorrows, so conquered and depressed that it is as if the sky turned black and the brightness of the sun was completely blotted out. This sorrow that they feel is rarely just placed onto their hearts by themselves. It's not like they wake up one morning and think, 'I want to be sad today'. No one wants to be sad. Sometimes we want to be humble and supplicant, but rarely sad. Usually someone or something places the sorrow upon them. This sorrow is rarely generated initially onto them. Usually frustration is generated onto oneself, which turns eventually into sorrow. In most cases, it is our society that we like to think of as so bright, wonderful, and uplifting that generates this sorrow that plagues us all.
There are people whom I see, whom I know, whom I admire, and whom I love. Some of these people know they are loved and that they are wonderful people. However, we all know that there are people out there that think they are nothing. We know people who think they are not beautiful, gifted, precious, special, or important. We all like to think that they are to blame for this mindset that they are drowning in. At the same time, we know people who think are beautiful, talented, strong, precious, fragile, and magnificent creatures. We know that because we are on the same planet as these wonderful people we are so much more the better, and that any opportunity to interact with them throughout the course of our day is a blessing in every sense of the word. This is not to say that we all adore the same people, granted one or two of us do, but not all of us find the same person beautiful. For example, I find Sarah McLachan to be an extraordinary beautiful and radiant woman; both physically and spiritually. Although it is pleasing and exciting to behold in our eyes, minds, and hearts, that which is beautiful to us. We must admit that by doing so, we are in some way or another ignoring the problem that there are people who do not think well of themselves. It is easier to ignore problems, especially when they are problems that do not directly affect our daily lives and us. It is also easier to place the blame on problems that may wander through our minds onto someone else, and continue to go about our lives as if such problems did not exist. Just because it is easier does not make it better. The road is long, but it is so much more satisfying if along the way we conquer our own personal demons and help conquer the demons that torture those we care for. The practice of ignoring our problems and the problems of those we love is wrong. It is weak in the respect that we only want to tackle problems we feel we are more than likely to succeed with, and it is selfish in the respect that we ignore the problems of others that we are socially obligated to help with. We are to blame for the prevailing social mindset of low self worth and depression whether specific instances thereof are caused directly by us or not. We all want the best for ourselves. As much as we like to think we are all so strong and independent, we need other people. That's why we want to find a partner in life, someone to share burdens with. Because of this desire for companionship, as well as our desire of excellence in ourselves, we knowingly or unknowingly hurt others. I'm going to use many examples in this letter, rant, whatever; that come from a male standpoint because is with which I am most familiar. This reflects no intentional sexism on my part and I apologize if this standpoint of my writing offends anyone. That being said, the way I see the hurt that we put upon others in my own life, goes about something like this. For like of a better example name, Jim, wants to have a girlfriend. One day Jim wants to get married, have kids, and be happy. Jim refuses to accept second best in himself. Jim sees women in his life, which other men would 'rate' as 6's and 7's. These are beautiful women, who aren't supermodels, but they are very exceptional individuals. Jim, wanting the best for himself, tells these women somewhere along the path of his relationship with them that they are not his type. These women hear 'you're not my type' as 'you're not good enough'. So they apply that message they receive to qualities that they see in themselves as different from the qualities that are promoted in our society by television, books, movies, music, art, and community values. And because they see this difference between them and an incredibly skewed, partial, favored value system. They hate themselves. They think they are less, weak, and ugly. They get depressed, sorrowed, and angry with life and themselves. They change. Some try to become aesthetically different through plastic surgery, piercing, tattoos, colorings, make-up, or whatever. But many change emotionally and mentally. Some women turn to anything that will tell them is beautiful, even if whoever is sending that message wants to use them. There are men out there who tell women they are beautiful just so they can have 'property'. Someone to drag around and 'claim'. Someone to have sex with, and use to make themselves feel more successful and powerful. Some women turn into prideful angry women who are so convinced in their own beauty that they become angry and stubborn and consequently are so embodied in their own pride they turn into women who consider themselves better than everyone else. They force this message of negativity to cascade through social relationship trees onto even more people. Some women stay in their own depression. They go through life refusing compliments, praise, or even recognition. They have been deprived of positive feedback for so long, that they almost believe that negative feedback is the only true kind that exists. These are a few examples that I see in our society, I'm sure there are others that I have not perceived yet, but you get the general idea. Anyways, I have come to the conclusion that after Jim keeps intentionally or otherwise forcing women to change into different saddened people, he finds that other men are doing this too, and that consequently there is little to no chance of him ever finding that perfect someone. His whole life, in pursuit of the perfect one, he has actually been building up a wall between him and her. Whenever we want something, we go for it. I mean whenever we really and truly desire a goal. I mean, we'd all like a million dollars, but we don't all set up schemes to by the exact number of lottery tickets to cover all numerical possibilities in order to win a lottery high enough to pay off the cost of the exact number of tickets and still gain a justifiable profit. It takes effort to achieve goals. We are rarely willing to apply the effort unless we really care about the task we wish to accomplish. In order to truly accomplish a goal, we need to apply effort in our lives so we can put forth the time, and dedication in order to gain what we desire. But we also need to dedicate the time we put forth to consider, why we desire such things as well as all respective consequences our actions may have in the course of our pursuit of our desires. I think this consideration of our consequences is a big part of why society is filled with people we see as hurtful. Not all people can be truly hurtful in their heart. There are those who are sure they are better than others and put down everyone in order to subconsciously secure their superiority. But I think there are also those people who are simply striving for their goals as best they know how, but they are not aware that in their journey they are stepping on other people and their respective journeys. We like to make excuses. We like to force blame for our own shortcomings onto something or someone else. However, we already know in our hearts that such excuses are irresponsible as well as immature in nature. However there are such things are justifiable reasons. There is a fine individually perceivable definition of justifiable, but it is there within all of us. An example of a debatable justifiable reason is that of blaming ones shortcomings onto their environment. In some cases, we can view this as an excuse. We've all heard, or even said the ever popular, 'everyone else was skipping class, and so I did too'. I have also already addressed the reason of ones social environmental surroundings being responsible for shortcomings. However, something that has occurred to me, which is something that I think need to occur to other people is the reason of ones social upbringing. The reason I say that this needs to occur to other people as well, is because of how it may trigger something in their minds, to inspirethem to realize how this has affected them, or how in the future they might fall into the trap of letting this effect others. I know that was very vague, so let me explain. We all know that being a parent is a job. You know this if you have kids or not. However, we also know there are people who have normal jobs in life that they are not happy with. I see this in some teachers I know quite often. These are people who were once so passionate about teaching, who dove into the field of education ready to change the lives of anyone who would let them. Over the years, their passion has dwindled. More recently, I have noticed that such an occurrence happens with parents. These are people who once wanted so passionately to bring a life into the world. To share the happiness and beauty of life, with someone who they could guide through the stumbling blocks included in the journey; someone whom they could give the gift of life, as well as the gift of the enjoyment of life, and gain personal happiness through the giving thereof. However, I have seen parents that simply stop having the zeal in them to continue giving the gift of life to their children. In some cases, this is because they themselves are reaching ages of retirement, and are getting older. In some cases, this is because they have eight million children and for some reason find the process boring. But in most cases, it is because they have discovered contentment somewhere along the way, and have let the contentment evolve into a routine boredom. They got used to waking up each morning, fixing the breakfast, then watching their children depart on their own routines. Or they encountered too many obstacles in their own lives, and stopped asking their children, how they were feeling, how their day was, or what they enjoyed doing. Whenever we are content with our own mediocrity, we get bored with our lives. Our boredom not only affects our own psyche, but it affects the personalities of those we are near and care about. As you all undoubtedly know, I love music. I love listening to different aspects of different kinds of music. It is the variety that I love. I love being able to listen to a new choral piece and hear the interesting bass part and how it relates to overall rhythmic and chord progressions found in the piece. I love being able to sing a bass part I find challenging and interesting, while at the same time listening to how it interacts with the other parts at different interesting portions of the piece. I love being able to listen to the alto part, and how it relates to the tenor and the soprano. It is the interaction and the variety that I love so much about music. There are endless possibilities of things to listen to and learn from. This interaction and variety is what makes music so dynamically wonderful for me, and it is what needs to make life so dynamically wonderful for people everywhere. Whenever you are in love with someone, say it is because they have a wonderful smile, you know you cannot be content to sit all day and look at their wonderful smile. It is enjoyable for a period of time, but you they get tired of smiling after a while. Also, you know you want to know what is that makes them smile and what makes them happy. You are also curious to know if what makes them happy also makes you happy. You want to learn more. The process of love is a fine wonderful mixture between learning, development, contentment, and sharing. The process of life should be the same. Parents should be able to learn from their children; from the mistakes they make, and from the new things they learn and perceive. They should be able to learn from their spouses whom they love, because the process of love never dies. They should know how to let their learning become a positive tool in their lives, so they can develop the parenting skills further to help their children as well as their spouses. They should not always want more out of their children or their spouse. Development encourages wanting more, but it does not demand it. One must look to the past to continue to the future. But more importantly, one must look at the present as well. You can learn very much from looking at how wonderful certain things are now, and how horrible certain things are as well. But something I think that needs to happen most of all, is appreciation. You must be content and appreciate the accomplishments you have made. You must be proud of the accomplishments you have made, not haughty because of them. You must also appreciate the accomplishments, and the presence, as well as presents offered by your children and your spouse. Having a spouse and child in ones life is a great thing; it is also a gift. You must be proud of your spouse and your child, and let them know that. You must let the people you care about know that you care about them, that you are proud of them, and that you love them. That positive reinforcement that you get makes you stronger, and you must let your positive reinforcement make others stronger as well. You must share your heart, and all aspects there of. I do not believe there is truly such a thing as weak intimacy, and I don't think anyone else should either. All these aspects of learning, developing, sharing, appreciation, and caring that should be incorporated into marriage and parenting, should also be incorporated into any other job. Stay passionate about what you love. All of us love life for different reasons. Consequently, we should all stay passionate about life and our love for it. So often we like to compare ourselves to what we perceive as normal. Normalcy is simply the skewed perceptions of perfection viewed by all people. These skewed perceptions are all forced into the embodiment of one mythical figure, to whom everyone in society subconsciously compared everyone else and holds them all accountable. This comparison needs to stop. Everyone is special. Everyone is different. Everyone needs to love him or herself, and at the very least respect everyone else. That is all there is too it. Finally, everybody needs somebody to love.
I need you,
Thomas A. Jackson
'We must be the change we wish to see in the world.' - Mahatma Gandhi
Tonight, Shaun Meredith and myself went to see the movie 'Traffic'. I felt lonely and I needed some time out of the house. That, and Shaun is a good friend, and any time spent with him is a pleasure. The movie Traffic inspired some thoughts in my mind, and I just couldn't get them out of my head without writing them down. So I thought I would share them with you all in the course of this letter. The reason I felt lonely was because I had been sitting at home all day with no one to talk to but my parents, with whom I do not share a comfortable conduit of communication. I was without the woman I love. Yes, you read that right. I've found myself flat on my nose again; I've fallen in love. The lucky, or unlucky lady, you make the call, is Sarah Eiben. I've spent much time with her recently, must to our parent's disdain, and she has grown very close to my heart. So rather than sit home wallowing in my own loneliness, I decided to take the initiative and go out to a movie with my buddy Shaun. So after watching Traffic, I come to you all with open arms, nothing to hide beneath the following inspired ranting and raving. It is so easy to pat ourselves on the back by saying, I went to class today, good for me, or, I have friends who like to share my company. Our society has constantly spewed at us, messages that inspire contentment. Society likes to promote its own perceived wonderfulness, strength, civilization, responsibility, and determination. But such promotion and contentment is weak. It takes strength to point out our own flaws and work on them. Such strength is very hard see as evident in today's society. Some of us go about thinking that we are so strong and able to capture our dreams. Some of us try and teach others that they are strong and have extraordinary potential. This uplifting message is one that keeps us all alive, swimming through the ocean of distress that as much as we hate to admit it, is our daily life. It is an excellent message that if sent by more people, more often, to those who want to listen as well as to those who do not want to listen, will conquer all that is negative. It will. It has to. But turning a blind eye to the negativity that is there, the anchor that weighs down our souls is like smoking. It is like ignoring the problem by focusing on sociological 'nicotine' that we think makes things better. All the while it is eating us away from the inside, and not even helping the problem with its 'good' side. The problem does not go away; it is still there when the 'nicotine' wears off. The problem being the depressing feeling of almost futility that comes with trying to seize your dreams, help society, people, yourself, those you care about, the world. That problem of futility is still there when we awaken from our slumbers of pretending it doesn't exist. It does exist and as all of us have discovered, it is bloody annoying. Whenever we find ourselves disconcerted, unsatisfied, frustrated with something; whether it is world, the people we love, and ourselves, or anything, we feel angry. We feel enraged. This anger often seems unfocused and that makes us almost sad and depressed, which in turn leaves us angrier. I ask myself what it is that drives me into this rage I feel from time to time. It is my own brain's response to my inner queries and contemplations that usually is embodied in these gigantic letters to all you. It may seem to some of you that I am speaking to you directly, to others it may seem that I am howling to the moon. Both of these instances are intentional and at the same time unintentional. Most of the time it seems that what is prompting my own inner rage is the ignorance that I see in myself, or other people. The most recent occurrence of which happened while I was trying to figure out my own feelings for various people in my life. I can see the sorrow in people, because I have it in myself. This sorrow is something I try to beat daily: sometimes I win. Other times I am conquered. This sorrow that I see, intrigues me. It makes me want to help those who are sorrowful, to guide them towards relief. In very many people, I have seen the sorrow that comes with not being valued. There are people who think they are not special, beautiful, wonderful, precious people. These people need to believe this so desperately. Sometimes they are aware of this need, other times they are not. In these other times, they are like me with my own sorrows, so conquered and depressed that it is as if the sky turned black and the brightness of the sun was completely blotted out. This sorrow that they feel is rarely just placed onto their hearts by themselves. It's not like they wake up one morning and think, 'I want to be sad today'. No one wants to be sad. Sometimes we want to be humble and supplicant, but rarely sad. Usually someone or something places the sorrow upon them. This sorrow is rarely generated initially onto them. Usually frustration is generated onto oneself, which turns eventually into sorrow. In most cases, it is our society that we like to think of as so bright, wonderful, and uplifting that generates this sorrow that plagues us all.
There are people whom I see, whom I know, whom I admire, and whom I love. Some of these people know they are loved and that they are wonderful people. However, we all know that there are people out there that think they are nothing. We know people who think they are not beautiful, gifted, precious, special, or important. We all like to think that they are to blame for this mindset that they are drowning in. At the same time, we know people who think are beautiful, talented, strong, precious, fragile, and magnificent creatures. We know that because we are on the same planet as these wonderful people we are so much more the better, and that any opportunity to interact with them throughout the course of our day is a blessing in every sense of the word. This is not to say that we all adore the same people, granted one or two of us do, but not all of us find the same person beautiful. For example, I find Sarah McLachan to be an extraordinary beautiful and radiant woman; both physically and spiritually. Although it is pleasing and exciting to behold in our eyes, minds, and hearts, that which is beautiful to us. We must admit that by doing so, we are in some way or another ignoring the problem that there are people who do not think well of themselves. It is easier to ignore problems, especially when they are problems that do not directly affect our daily lives and us. It is also easier to place the blame on problems that may wander through our minds onto someone else, and continue to go about our lives as if such problems did not exist. Just because it is easier does not make it better. The road is long, but it is so much more satisfying if along the way we conquer our own personal demons and help conquer the demons that torture those we care for. The practice of ignoring our problems and the problems of those we love is wrong. It is weak in the respect that we only want to tackle problems we feel we are more than likely to succeed with, and it is selfish in the respect that we ignore the problems of others that we are socially obligated to help with. We are to blame for the prevailing social mindset of low self worth and depression whether specific instances thereof are caused directly by us or not. We all want the best for ourselves. As much as we like to think we are all so strong and independent, we need other people. That's why we want to find a partner in life, someone to share burdens with. Because of this desire for companionship, as well as our desire of excellence in ourselves, we knowingly or unknowingly hurt others. I'm going to use many examples in this letter, rant, whatever; that come from a male standpoint because is with which I am most familiar. This reflects no intentional sexism on my part and I apologize if this standpoint of my writing offends anyone. That being said, the way I see the hurt that we put upon others in my own life, goes about something like this. For like of a better example name, Jim, wants to have a girlfriend. One day Jim wants to get married, have kids, and be happy. Jim refuses to accept second best in himself. Jim sees women in his life, which other men would 'rate' as 6's and 7's. These are beautiful women, who aren't supermodels, but they are very exceptional individuals. Jim, wanting the best for himself, tells these women somewhere along the path of his relationship with them that they are not his type. These women hear 'you're not my type' as 'you're not good enough'. So they apply that message they receive to qualities that they see in themselves as different from the qualities that are promoted in our society by television, books, movies, music, art, and community values. And because they see this difference between them and an incredibly skewed, partial, favored value system. They hate themselves. They think they are less, weak, and ugly. They get depressed, sorrowed, and angry with life and themselves. They change. Some try to become aesthetically different through plastic surgery, piercing, tattoos, colorings, make-up, or whatever. But many change emotionally and mentally. Some women turn to anything that will tell them is beautiful, even if whoever is sending that message wants to use them. There are men out there who tell women they are beautiful just so they can have 'property'. Someone to drag around and 'claim'. Someone to have sex with, and use to make themselves feel more successful and powerful. Some women turn into prideful angry women who are so convinced in their own beauty that they become angry and stubborn and consequently are so embodied in their own pride they turn into women who consider themselves better than everyone else. They force this message of negativity to cascade through social relationship trees onto even more people. Some women stay in their own depression. They go through life refusing compliments, praise, or even recognition. They have been deprived of positive feedback for so long, that they almost believe that negative feedback is the only true kind that exists. These are a few examples that I see in our society, I'm sure there are others that I have not perceived yet, but you get the general idea. Anyways, I have come to the conclusion that after Jim keeps intentionally or otherwise forcing women to change into different saddened people, he finds that other men are doing this too, and that consequently there is little to no chance of him ever finding that perfect someone. His whole life, in pursuit of the perfect one, he has actually been building up a wall between him and her. Whenever we want something, we go for it. I mean whenever we really and truly desire a goal. I mean, we'd all like a million dollars, but we don't all set up schemes to by the exact number of lottery tickets to cover all numerical possibilities in order to win a lottery high enough to pay off the cost of the exact number of tickets and still gain a justifiable profit. It takes effort to achieve goals. We are rarely willing to apply the effort unless we really care about the task we wish to accomplish. In order to truly accomplish a goal, we need to apply effort in our lives so we can put forth the time, and dedication in order to gain what we desire. But we also need to dedicate the time we put forth to consider, why we desire such things as well as all respective consequences our actions may have in the course of our pursuit of our desires. I think this consideration of our consequences is a big part of why society is filled with people we see as hurtful. Not all people can be truly hurtful in their heart. There are those who are sure they are better than others and put down everyone in order to subconsciously secure their superiority. But I think there are also those people who are simply striving for their goals as best they know how, but they are not aware that in their journey they are stepping on other people and their respective journeys. We like to make excuses. We like to force blame for our own shortcomings onto something or someone else. However, we already know in our hearts that such excuses are irresponsible as well as immature in nature. However there are such things are justifiable reasons. There is a fine individually perceivable definition of justifiable, but it is there within all of us. An example of a debatable justifiable reason is that of blaming ones shortcomings onto their environment. In some cases, we can view this as an excuse. We've all heard, or even said the ever popular, 'everyone else was skipping class, and so I did too'. I have also already addressed the reason of ones social environmental surroundings being responsible for shortcomings. However, something that has occurred to me, which is something that I think need to occur to other people is the reason of ones social upbringing. The reason I say that this needs to occur to other people as well, is because of how it may trigger something in their minds, to inspirethem to realize how this has affected them, or how in the future they might fall into the trap of letting this effect others. I know that was very vague, so let me explain. We all know that being a parent is a job. You know this if you have kids or not. However, we also know there are people who have normal jobs in life that they are not happy with. I see this in some teachers I know quite often. These are people who were once so passionate about teaching, who dove into the field of education ready to change the lives of anyone who would let them. Over the years, their passion has dwindled. More recently, I have noticed that such an occurrence happens with parents. These are people who once wanted so passionately to bring a life into the world. To share the happiness and beauty of life, with someone who they could guide through the stumbling blocks included in the journey; someone whom they could give the gift of life, as well as the gift of the enjoyment of life, and gain personal happiness through the giving thereof. However, I have seen parents that simply stop having the zeal in them to continue giving the gift of life to their children. In some cases, this is because they themselves are reaching ages of retirement, and are getting older. In some cases, this is because they have eight million children and for some reason find the process boring. But in most cases, it is because they have discovered contentment somewhere along the way, and have let the contentment evolve into a routine boredom. They got used to waking up each morning, fixing the breakfast, then watching their children depart on their own routines. Or they encountered too many obstacles in their own lives, and stopped asking their children, how they were feeling, how their day was, or what they enjoyed doing. Whenever we are content with our own mediocrity, we get bored with our lives. Our boredom not only affects our own psyche, but it affects the personalities of those we are near and care about. As you all undoubtedly know, I love music. I love listening to different aspects of different kinds of music. It is the variety that I love. I love being able to listen to a new choral piece and hear the interesting bass part and how it relates to overall rhythmic and chord progressions found in the piece. I love being able to sing a bass part I find challenging and interesting, while at the same time listening to how it interacts with the other parts at different interesting portions of the piece. I love being able to listen to the alto part, and how it relates to the tenor and the soprano. It is the interaction and the variety that I love so much about music. There are endless possibilities of things to listen to and learn from. This interaction and variety is what makes music so dynamically wonderful for me, and it is what needs to make life so dynamically wonderful for people everywhere. Whenever you are in love with someone, say it is because they have a wonderful smile, you know you cannot be content to sit all day and look at their wonderful smile. It is enjoyable for a period of time, but you they get tired of smiling after a while. Also, you know you want to know what is that makes them smile and what makes them happy. You are also curious to know if what makes them happy also makes you happy. You want to learn more. The process of love is a fine wonderful mixture between learning, development, contentment, and sharing. The process of life should be the same. Parents should be able to learn from their children; from the mistakes they make, and from the new things they learn and perceive. They should be able to learn from their spouses whom they love, because the process of love never dies. They should know how to let their learning become a positive tool in their lives, so they can develop the parenting skills further to help their children as well as their spouses. They should not always want more out of their children or their spouse. Development encourages wanting more, but it does not demand it. One must look to the past to continue to the future. But more importantly, one must look at the present as well. You can learn very much from looking at how wonderful certain things are now, and how horrible certain things are as well. But something I think that needs to happen most of all, is appreciation. You must be content and appreciate the accomplishments you have made. You must be proud of the accomplishments you have made, not haughty because of them. You must also appreciate the accomplishments, and the presence, as well as presents offered by your children and your spouse. Having a spouse and child in ones life is a great thing; it is also a gift. You must be proud of your spouse and your child, and let them know that. You must let the people you care about know that you care about them, that you are proud of them, and that you love them. That positive reinforcement that you get makes you stronger, and you must let your positive reinforcement make others stronger as well. You must share your heart, and all aspects there of. I do not believe there is truly such a thing as weak intimacy, and I don't think anyone else should either. All these aspects of learning, developing, sharing, appreciation, and caring that should be incorporated into marriage and parenting, should also be incorporated into any other job. Stay passionate about what you love. All of us love life for different reasons. Consequently, we should all stay passionate about life and our love for it. So often we like to compare ourselves to what we perceive as normal. Normalcy is simply the skewed perceptions of perfection viewed by all people. These skewed perceptions are all forced into the embodiment of one mythical figure, to whom everyone in society subconsciously compared everyone else and holds them all accountable. This comparison needs to stop. Everyone is special. Everyone is different. Everyone needs to love him or herself, and at the very least respect everyone else. That is all there is too it. Finally, everybody needs somebody to love.
I need you,
Thomas A. Jackson
'We must be the change we wish to see in the world.' - Mahatma Gandhi