Earth Day ad

Three days ago ( April 22 ) was Earth Day. I didn’t have the opportunity to talk much about it here, which is unfortunate. Earth Day has its use, even though I think it misses the whole point. Earth will most probably never die until the very end. Earth isn’t in danger yet. Earth saw it all. Earth has many scars to prove it. Earth received its share of cataclysms, but it has an extremely tough skin and humanity will die way before it does. It is us, the living beings who are guests to this planet. We, and the other living organisms inhabiting Earth, are the ones who are in danger. She removed dinosaurs from her surface and she can do the same to us anytime.

But still, I think that intentions count a lot, and I welcome almost any kind of ecological initiative, even this one. Here are two nice little ads that they made in the province of Quebec, Canada. I thought I could share it with you.

For those who do not understand french, it says: “Happy Birthday, Poor Planet”.

Boiling water

On this planet there are so many of us who are suffering, so many of us who need help, so many of us who are alone.

I feel so helpless sometimes, so powerless. I wish I was more than human. I wish I could heal all the wounds. I wish I could carry all those who are too weak to walk. I wish I could do so much more than what I do now.

Why is it, that all the stories involving heavenly and almighty beings have occurred a long time ago in the past? There are so many more of us now, so many of us who are desperate, so many who need sheltering, so many who need a hand. We need some magic in this world, but this world is so harsh and hostile that it reduces our imagination. Imagination is at its greatest when you are still naive. Who can claim their naive side is still intact in today’s world?

And if there is indeed a conscious god, somewhere… Is it testing us? Is this a trial, an experiment? If so, then shame on it. Because it is almighty and eternal. It does not know how it is to be weak and mortal. It cannot comprehend the suffering that we endure. And yet it watches us. It watches the destruction it has caused. Because yes, it is responsible for it. It created us. And if it is as almighty as people say, it could predict that we would come down to this. It knew we would hurt each other and hurt ourselves. It knew there would be thieves, rapists and murderers all over the planet. If it created everything, then it created wars. Some claim it made us equals, but there are people who live in harsher conditions than others. No, we are not equals. There is no equality in our world and we all know it.

Wake up. We have to change our ways. We have to reinvent ourselves. We have to help each other. We are connected. We are all one, if we want to. We have to ally. We have to congregate. We need to trust each other. We need to be who we are destined to be. We are the God. The God of the strong. The God of equality. We have the power inside us. It is sleeping. I feel it is about to wake up. I feel like we are all under pressure and that something is about to pop out of this. We’re like water boiling in a teapot. Like an air bubble underwater. Something is going to happen. Something has to happen.

But what will happen? What will trigger it? When will it happen? I wish I could know. I wish I could know.

Never surrender

Never surrender to those who harm you.

Never surrender to those who hate you.

Never surrender to those you fear.

Never surrender to the unknown.

Never give up on your dreams, your ideals, your beliefs.

Never let others change the path that has been made for you.

Do not allow them to use it, it is yours.

Never surrender to those who show you what’s real or not.

Never surrender to anyone, even if you are certain that they are better than you.

But,

Surrender to the one you love. At all cost.

We are what we were

There’s a lot of things in this world. Things we see every day. Things that have an incredible impact on our daily lives.

Television and computers.

Sports.

Politicians.

Electricity.

Movies.

Computers.

Cars.

Money.

But these things weren’t there at the beginning. What was there?

Friendship.

Love.

Hate.

Sadness.

Fear.

We must not forget our roots. We must remain humans. We are what we were, centuries ago.

Lack of balance

Today we discussed with our patient. We once again came back to his favorite subject, which is nature. He explained his love for nature in a deeper manner.

” When I am within nature, I am both lost and found. I am confused and, yet, I know exactly what to do and when to do it. Sometimes I feel like I own this forest, its trees and its animals because I am the smartest living being and that my species controls this planet… But a second later I believe that nature owns me and that I am part of it and that it is tolerating the humans until now.

  

I saw entire forests being cut down. I saw empty, desecrated mountains. I saw the raping of nature. I don’t know if it’s necessary… I always thought that some being made the trees just for us. When I think about the many properties of trees, I can’t but wonder if something put them there so we could evolve with their help. The trees are everywhere. You can burn them to cook food or to escape from the cold. You can use them as a construction material… And the leaves of the trees give us this healthy oxygen. The trees are practically everywhere, as if this being wanted to make sure we would always have them to build anew.

 

I encountered many wild animals during my life. I’ve seen things others will never see, which is a shame. Our ancestors used to connect with these animals. We would hunt them and feed on them, and sometimes they would hunt and feed on us. But nowadays, most of humanity lives isolated from these animals. Now the animals are lost, because we let them behind. We took their trees, so they cannot hide anymore. Sometimes the predators cannot find the animals they used to prey upon because of this.

 

My grandfather’s friend, an old indian, once told me about one of his many adventures in the wilderness in the beginning of the 20th century. He remembered encountering a wolf at the peak of its life. The wolf was strong, tall and massive. The indian, who was only 8 years of age, defied it by standing straight with his arms wide open. His life was in danger, for the lone wolf was strong enough to kill him. The wolf stood on its four legs for a minute, then sat. After a long moment of silence, the wolf turned its back on the boy and left.

 

I’ve never experienced such a thing. Nowadays, the wolves are very rarely seen. They are weak and pitiful. Their fur is wet, dirty and lacks vitality. They hunt mice or other little critters because the men hunt the moose and deers down. These large animals used to be able to live long enough to be sick and weaker, but not anymore. Before this, the wolves would hunt the weakest… Men do not give them the time. The men even hunt the babies now because they fear they will not be able to encounter another moose or deer during their hunting trip. The men also hunt the strongest, most healthy animals. This results in the weaker ones surviving and reproducing, making other generations of even weaker animals. I do not like what I see in the future when I think about this.

 

I don’t know when we lost our way. In fact, I don’t even know if we lost it. Maybe it’s part of this evolution process. Maybe these animals are destined to die out one day or another. Maybe. But when I encounter an animal, I don’t feel like we respect them. They are naive. They do not know anything. Some of them trust us and we deceive them. “

I saw you

I saw you. I wanted you to see me, so I decided to enter your line of sight. We exchanged a smile,  but you didn’t come towards me. I knew at that time that it was truly over between us, but I still went and talked to you. Your voice was different. You grew older than me. You were still as beautiful as you were when we were together, but you weren’t laughing and your smile was fake. We talked about the present and the future, but I wanted to talk about the past. I wanted to come back to those years where we had been together. I wanted to come back to us, but you wouldn’t. I didn’t dare to ask where you were living or if you had someone in your life. 

 There was this barrier between us. We didn’t have such a thing back then. What happened?

You told me about your job, I told you about mine. You had to go. I wanted to go with you. We went on separate sides. I looked back as you walked away. You didn’t turn around to wave at me. You went on your way. Your life was full.

And mine was empty.

Nightly Walk #3

Tonight I walked in front of this old school I used to go to many years ago. It’s still the same but with minor differences. The swing sets are gone. Some bricks are mildly undone.

I wasn’t the cool guy at school. I was the silent type. I was shy. During recess, I had some funny jokes to tell, and I was sure that they were funny, but I wouldn’t dare to tell them. At some point some cool guy would walk in and say something funny. I remember I wanted to be like them. I didn’t want to be bullied. I wanted to laugh and yell and act like a little man.

I remember this very cute and cool girl at school. I was so much in love with her. I think she was too. But there was this thing. This limit. She had cool friends and I didn’t. Sometimes she would reach to me. Sometimes she would come to me and talk to me but every time she would do this, some cool friend of her’s would jump in ” Hey, why are you hanging out with this weirdo? ” and she would leave with that person.

So I ended up watching her evolve as a young woman through the years. During high school she stopped coming towards me. We now were in separate classes. Sometimes I would sit in the cafeteria and watch her. Her boyfriends would never treat her right. I wanted to beat the hell out of them and save her. I knew I was able to treat her right. But I never had the strength. I didn’t have it in my arms, I didn’t have it in my heart and I didn’t have it in my soul.

Then I became very sick. I stopped going to school. I stopped going everywhere. I stayed at home. I read. I wrote. I listened. I watched. I began to think. By myself. I began to talk. I became stronger. Maybe not in my arms, but in my heart and soul. And that’s 2 out of 3.

As the years flew by, she went away like the others. I stayed here in my little hometown. I was alone, but I was also with myself. I found myself through these difficult years. I built myself. And now, here I am.

And there she is.

Senses

When you talk about something, I want to add more to it and I want to open a path towards your next reply. I want our conversations to be never ending. I want you to talk loudly without fear. I want you to express yourself the way you want to. I need you to trust me and to tell me everything that crosses your mind. I want you to sing. I want to sing with you. Every word you say is important to me.

 

When you see something, I want to see it too. I want you to see me the way I am. I want you to see yourself as the person I desire. I want to look in the same direction as you do. When you look at yourself in the mirror, I want you to see me behind your reflection.

 

I need your odor in my bed. I want to smell your hair when you come from outside. I want to smell your skin when you undress. I need to touch you. I want you to feel at ease with it. I want you to feel fulfilled through it. I need your arms around me, even when I don’t want it at times. I need to throw my arms around you as well, even if you don’t want it at times. I want our nightly embrace to be eternal.

 

I love you.

To be a man

To be a man is not about overpowering others, it’s about using your powers in order to help them.

 To be a man is not to attack but to defend.

To be a man is to control your fears. Never put fear into the hearts of others.

To be a man is to teach. To be a man is to learn even when you are used to teaching.

To be a man is to know where and when to go.

To be a man is to accept truth.

 To be a man is to acknowledge failure and defeat.

To be a man is to face death and illness with courage.

To be a man is to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of others.

To be a man is to inspire loyalty.

To be a man is to respect all that is; living and not living.

To be a man is to care for those you love.

To be a man is to think before commiting an act.

To be a man is to forget about the pointless mockeries.

To be a man is to cry without remorse.

To be a man is to ensure prosperity.

To be a man is to teach your sons how to be a man.

 

 

To me, these are the requirements for those who want to be men.

Where were you, father, when I learned these things all by myself?

Nightly Walk #2

I chose to walk very late tonight. I wanted to be alone. This time, the lamp post chose to light up as I went underneath it. A woman had problems keeping her dog from barking. I think the dog was barking towards me, but I couldn’t see it clearly in the darkness. A very bright star and some feeble clouds were the only things I could see through this mess. People were arguing in a bar. I saw a very small truck of Japanese origin which seemed so insignificant compared to the huge vehicles we have here. I liked that truck a lot. An old abandoned terrain has now been sold and a small group of businessmen have started to announce themselves. I think I saw an old friend working at the video store. I went walking by an old graveyard and the leaves all around made it even more beautiful that it usually is. The few cars who would use the nearby street were briefly lighting up the closest graves. Many people who died during World War 2 were now there. White graves everywhere. All of them, so similar, so thin, so small, so sad. I thought about making some photography next weekend. I thought of my brother who is growing up as a teenager now. I thought about having a girlfriend. I think I am ready to fall in love.

The abandonned city

It’s an abandonned city now. It wasn’t like that not so long ago. It had its charm back then. Children would play in the park. Neighbors would say hi to each other before going to work. People would shake hands and talk about the weather. People would create. People would share. People would give.

It’s an abandonned city now. Shadows took over. They roam and lurk from one street to another. Everyday it’s the same. They don’t bother to talk, no one would hear. Many of them go underneath the Earth because the sun became their enemy. They are always alone, even if they are numerous. These shadows cannot see each other. They flow from one room to another, executing a tired routine.

It’s an abandonned city now. Metal and concrete took over. Everywhere, there is a strong buzzing noise. Everywhere, there is smoke coming out of the ground. Sometimes the polluted water spills out of the sewers. Earth’s puke. The trees are dry and dark. A constant layer of grey surrounds the place.

It’s an abandonned city now. Fear and death took over. The only place where there is life and security, is when they dream. When they dream, they become lights again and they shine everywhere they go. Hope, love and peace surrounds them. But they always wake up. They always wake up.

Limits

It was garbage day. She went out and put the two containers, one for recycling, the other one for trash, at the edge of the sidewalk. It was early in the morning.

In the afternoon, an old man came in the neighborhood and started looking in the recycling containers. She noticed it. She didn’t know what to do. She looked at the old homeless man with a strong feeling of uncertainty. He would collect various things, but mostly the empty cans she left in there. He would put them in a bag. He was very cautious not to damage anything. She then felt compassion and pity. She had more empty cans in the house. She was asking herself she should go out and give them to him. She stayed like that, watching through the window, hiding through the curtains. Hiding and ashamed because she didn’t know what to do.

The old man would often look around him. He feared residents would see him. He found an old broken umbrella and managed to repair it. He took everything he needed. He carefully replaced everything in the container and closed it before leaving. She wanted to help, but she was afraid. She wanted to be afraid of him, but she knew he was defenseless. She didn’t want to admit it. In truth, she was afraid someone would see  her. Afraid of what the others would think. Afraid of breaking these limits.

She went to have a shower. She was hoping he wouldn’t come back. She didn’t want to face this dilemma again. Her thoughts then came back to her job. She had to be at the department store in 30 minutes. Her car needed some gas. She had to shop for groceries.

Memories

Some guy nicknamed Joe Malone. Rita Hayworth. The desire to smell like cigarettes and smoke them. A snack bar, all white, red and brown. A woman behind the counter who would constantly reject my proposals ( and the proposals of the other guys ) by making me laugh with her tact and impeccable sense of humor. A post office worker who would always be drunk and disorderly. The love for vinyl disks. Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. A shoe factory. Machines and motors. Pride in the American flag. Bubble gum. Baseball. Julie Andrews. Ice cream. Arkansas and Ohio. A german shepherd. Taking good care of cows. Oil lamps. Blonde women. Fights with jealous people. An old wooden enclosure. The hate towards plastic objects. The desire to drink whiskey. Having a son. Losing a huge sum of money. Coca Cola bottles made out of glass. Typewriters. Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Hanging out in outdoor cinemas. Collecting marbles. Respecting my elders. Doubt towards progress. Peanuts, pop-corn and cotton candy. “Beat Generation” writers. Fishing. Wooden surfaces. Pastel colors.

 

This all comes out of nowhere in my life, both through dreams and in my waking hours, with a strong feeling of nostalgia.

Like foreign photographs in my private album.

Yet, I feel this is part of me. I feel I was part of this.

Nightly Walk #1

The weather is getting colder as the summer is truly going away. A fresh scent of renewal is now in the air. As I passed underneath a lamp post, the light flickered and went off. I always see this, for some odd reason, as a good omen. At the street corner, two cars didn’t know who should go first. They seemed so uptight and nervous. I don’t understand it anymore. I went to the center of the city, where most lights are, where life is flowing. People would still be doing the same things. Most of them wouldn’t talk, they would simply do what they usually do. Two men were adding gas to their respective cars. I encountered two very quick walking men who were looking on the ground. Both of them seemed to be in a hurry. I decided to go to one of my friend’s house but he wasn’t there. I went in an empty street and walked in the middle of it. I sometimes looked back and walked backwards. I was the king of that street. I was alive. I was changing and I was finally realizing it. I smiled and went back home with a strong feeling of self awareness and optimism. I encoutered a woman walking her dog. I smiled as my eyes went travelling from the tiny dog to her beautiful face. That night, everything was beautiful. She smiled back.

” Good evening! “

I said it in such a spontaneous manner that I surprised myself.

” Good evening to you too! “

And we went on separate ways.

So simple. This is the power I have now. We all have it, but this world made us forget about it. I remember it now.

So annoying

You noticed me at school. You started writing messages in my school agenda. I didn’t like it. You were disturbing me as I was taking some notes. In between two hours of class, you would come to me. You kept talking and talking and I wouldn’t listen. You kept accompanying me as school was over. I wanted to be alone. When you would not be near me, you would be with your friends, laughing and talking, looking at me. Secrets. Secrets about me, probably. I didn’t like it at all. You were so annoying.

You called me at home. I never found how you got my number, and that made me angry. You kept on calling and calling. You never gave up. I ended up saying harsh things about you but you would turn them into jokes and come back again. I started smiling. You were so annoying.

I would always try and be fast enough not to be followed, but you kept on following me. Persistence. I began to tolerate your presence. I would listen and reply. I would come up with stuff. We would talk often on my way home. When I would arrive at destination, you wouldn’t even say goodbye. It wasn’t necessary, you knew you would come back. You would go back home. You didn’t even stay nearby.

At some point you wouldn’t walk with me anymore. I would stay at school, trying to find you. I couldn’t see you anymore. You were in class, but now you didn’t write anything in my agenda. You didn’t talk to me. You talked to another guy now. He wasn’t better than me. I was stronger and faster in sports. I was better at school. I had more friends than he ever had. But he appreciated your company and he loved you. I loved you too, but I just didn’t want to admit it. After all, you were so annoying.

At the harbour

He met her about three years ago. Some people you meet, they seem so exciting. The first time they met, they talked for hours and hours. One thing comes after the other at the speed of light. You can’t think straight, you talk about everything. Childhood, work, music, love life. In under six hours, they knew more about each other than some of their best friends. When they left each other at night, they didn’t dare to say anything else than “goodbye”, even though they felt like something more could have been said.

It’s hard to know if this kind of discovery is related to love at first. Once you leave that certain person, you can’t wait for the next time you meet and talk again. As he was alone, he thought about their long, uplifting and memorable conversation. He tried to see more through what she actually said. He thought about the next time they would meet near the harbour and what he would wear, what he would talk about. He tried to find the best topics in order to unravel her personality. He tried to find the best topics to see if she, too, was feeling this same way. It’s funny. He didn’t even know how he felt.

They met again and again at the harbour. After talking about everything they could talk about, silence brought the two of them into thinking that, maybe, just maybe, they were in love. He was looking at her hands, hoping that she would let one of them go his way so he could hold it. She didn’t. She was looking at his eyes, hoping that he would look back at her. He didn’t. They said goodbye as usual and left each other without admitting that something was blooming at the center of their chest. As they went on separate ways, whatever was blooming seemed to be stuck in their throat, and nothing they could drink would make it go away. They slept quietly in their bed, occupying half of it, thinking about what could have been.

Both of them came back the next day. The conversation seemed bitter. It wasn’t the same anymore. He said something harsh, she replied in a harsher way. They never met again for 3 years.

Until now.

Remorse is sometimes love’s best friend.

See through it

Morning

 

Three children in the park are laughing near the three blue, green and red swing sets. A man is raking leaves in front of his house while another is working on his car’s motor. His garage door is open. A thin smoke is coming out of his backyard and a smell of burning leaves crosses the street. I can hear the distinct sound of a school bus. The sky is pale and the sun is refreshing and warm as I sit down. A teenage couple is silently walking on the sidewalk. They are holding hands. A dog is howling because his master left home for work. Another dog barks back at it. The wind shortly rises up, buries the other sounds for a moment, and leaves fall from the trees in a swirling dance. Those that were already on the ground lift up in the air and come back down.

The park bench I am sitting on needs a new coat of paint. A cat living nearby comes underneath it and rubs its sides on my leg but is startled by a passing car and runs away. The grass underneath the trees is still frozen by the night’s cold temperature. A black squirrel is chasing a rival without making any sounds.

 

Afternoon

 

The cat is on my lap now. I saw him coming in and out of an old woman’s house. A mother is carrying her baby in a dark colored stroller. An old man is riding a bicycle that has some groceries in its front basket. The sound of an ambulance siren comes from the distance, nearer, nearer and then goes away. Men are laughing and talking at the door of a restaurant. The sky is cloudier and the sun makes brief appearances through them. I can now hear children coming out of the school.

 

Evening

 

The cat went inside, back home. Echoing, ghostly sounds of cars on the highway are now reaching the city. The sky is red, pink, purple, blue, all at the same time. Footsteps of a man walking by quickly. People who bought fireworks early in the summer are lighting up the remaining ones they have left. The church bell is rang for the last time today.

 

There is beauty in this world.

You still make me laugh

You still make me laugh. You still make me want to outdo myself. You still make me cherish what you cherish. I want to please you. I want you to be happy, seeing that I am.

I remember when we were at the park the other day. You wore additional clothes because you felt so cold and we hugged often so we could keep warm. You were laughing and you made me laugh. You still do. There were crows, the cries of a faraway train at the edge of the town and the wind moving the dead leaves around, spreading this typical, yet refreshing smell. Squirrels would come near our feet. We kissed.

I need you all the time. I need you now. I cannot explain it. I remember, when I was a kid, at the edge of the ocean. I was sitting down and the waves would come and come again, rushing to my body. Their strength penetrated my chest. This is how I still feel about you.

I remember when we first kissed. It was early November and it was snowing for the very first time. The snowflakes were large and they were falling very slowly. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. It lasted forever. The few spotlights would make the snowflakes shine. Sometimes a swift breeze would make them swerve. Your hair was full of it and somehow I had the idea to tell you that it needed to get rid of all that snow. It was a lie. My hand slowly descended from your hair and when to your cheek. Silence. We kissed as snow would turn us to white. Purity. Slow motion. Eternity.

I want you near me. I need your presence. I need your smell. I want to be with you. I want to hold you. I need you to tell me what I did right and what I did wrong so far. I still need you to change me. I want to change for you.

I remember when we had our first fight. We were mad with anger. I went outside and walked for miles in the mud and came back under the rain in that cold night of May. I was stinking like a wounded dog so I went for a shower and left the house. We didn’t see each other for over a week and then, out of nowhere, came this will. You came to me and I came to you. We made love.

I want you to remain. I want to lay my head on your naked chest. I want to hear your heart beating.

I remember when you seemed to be sleeping that day. The sun’s rays were caressing your golden hair. You were beautiful. The smell of nearby lilacs flew into the room. Birds were singing. Our cat was sleeping at the edge of the bed. I swear, you were gone, but you were still alive. I felt your strength in my heart. I heard your laugher. You still make me laugh. You still do.

We can walk

We can walk.

 

We can talk and listen.

We can understand things only we can understand.

We can experience feelings: love, hate, fear, passiveness.

We can dream and have nightmares.

We can create objects. We can create images and make them move. We can make sounds and through sounds we can make music.

We can build vast monuments.

We can plant trees and we can breed animals.

We can swim. We can dance. We can jump. We can run.

We can construct thinking machines.

We can shape the Earth.

We can breathe.

We can go beneath the ocean.

We can fly.

We can travel through space.

 

We can walk.

Thoughts on Divinities

 These are thoughts on gods and deities from various patients. Depending on their beliefs, the descriptions given are both different and alike.

 

” I believe in a God that is beyond good and evil. I believe in a God who is neither black or white. I believe in a God that is grey. My God is the balance of the world. He holds one side with one hand while the other side is held by another hand. Yet, he is both within himself. He created centers for the balances of life in order to retain order: The Sun holds all the system’s planets within its grasp. The Water holds the fishes. The Air holds the birds. The Earth holds us. If the center of balance is diminished, the balance is lost and therefore the elements within the balance are bound to fall. This is why we must not diminish the Water’s power from the fish, or else there will be no fish to feed our children. We must not diminish the Air’s power or else the flies will be no more and the birds will die. We must not diminish the Earth or else its entrails will open up and devour us. Today, we use the Water for our own good, not thinking about the future. The Air is being corrupted by pollution. The Earth is being cut open by explosives, its forests destroyed and its lands covered with roads. Today I think of these things and my heart is beating very fast for I fear we are about to break the balance of life. We are trying to escape Earth by flying away in rocket ships but what we should escape from should be ourselves and the way that we are currently living, not the Earth. ”

 

” To me, my god is not all powerful. He is but a man, or a woman. He is a child or an elderly. He is a human being or an animal, or even an insect. He is lifeless, yet full of life. My god is not eternal, because he has never been born and thus death is impossible to him. Sometimes I see my god through the sun’s rays when I swim underneath the water’s surface. I also see him when the wind blows on grasslands. I can see my god when my wife smiles or when my children laugh. My god is seen in all that is beautiful. “

Poverty

In all continents, countries, states and provinces, cities, towns and villages, there are different classes of people. Some families are extremely wealthy, while others are barely able to find food. It appears to many that money is to blame, but the problem was already there before the concept of money was invented by mankind. Some men would have numerous horses or sheep, while the neighbors had just enough livestock to survive. Even when mankind discovered the attributes of fire, it is easy to speculate that some tribes had more food than the others. With this being said, it now seems obvious that money is wrongfully accused.

But what creates poverty? If the question could be answered, it is very possible that poverty would cease to exist at this instance. Some believe that it is caused by the growing human population on Earth. Some speculate that it could be caused by the fact that humans congregate in groups in order to survive and that some are left behind in the process. Some even say that it is a necessary evil, that it is needed for humans to develop a better consciousness, an awareness of themselves. One thing is for certain, poverty is limited to human beings. Animals who suffer from a lack of ressources are never considered to be poor in the same way humans do. It is a notion created by the human mind.

When a person is poor, it will often think differently and have thoughts that never crosses the mind of a rich person. A poor person chooses its priorities differently from a rich one. A poor person could search for a hard working friend while the rich one searches for a popular one. You will often notice that rich people rarely laugh and smile in the same way poor people do. They also cry for different reasons as well.

Like thunder in your chest

When the trees swing under heavy wind.

When I jump into the water.

When he hit that homer.

When I start my car’s engine.

When a lion roars.

When you let go a spontaneous laugh.

When we kiss in silence.

When we make love.

When we argue.

When the moon reflects on the pool.

When a wolf chases a deer.

When I climb the top of a mountain and look back.

When I see an athlete beating a world record.

When someone is in a fight.

When a fire tears an old building down.

When the school bell rings and all the kids rush to the exit.

When thousands of people reunite and sing the same song in a concert in unison.

When you bathe in the river.

When I hear a strong, charismatic voice.

When I feel love, joy, fear and pain.

When her child walks for the first time.

When you believe in something.

When you feel something.

Like thunder in your chest.

Wisdom

To some, being wise signifies being serious. To others, the wise person is the one who thinks before acting. Many believe that wisdom is but a form of knowledge. The common conception of a wise person is mostly associated with old people. The logic behind this is that old people lived longer, therefore they have learned more than the younger people and this experience leads them to analyse situations differently. However, there are exceptions. Some old people can be stubborn and act in an intolerable manner, while children can act very wisely even with their young age. This leads some people to believe that wisdom, contrary to knowledge, can be attributed to genetic inheritance or, for some religions, to other existences spent on the Earth through past generations. What is often said is that a wise person is a kind one, while an unwise one is not. Perhaps is wisdom linked to the soul?

 

” The patient would often refer to an old man in his town who was the center of attraction back when he was young. The old man was skilled at story telling and even made a living out of it. During his later years he would stay at home, sitting on an almost undone wooden chair, and people would come to him for advice on how to live a better life. The patient went to see him. He was nearly 18 years old and he was considering leaving the town for studies. After talking about the whys and hows, the old man delivered some tips on living a fulfilled life. ” Live every single day as if it was the last. Be who you want to be. Once you are married, give your wife weekly gifts until the day you die. Never forget or underestimate things that are important to her. Cherish your children. Show them how to live in the right way but, most importantly, how to live in a wrong way so they can know when they step away from the good path. “. When the discussion was over, the patient left, but looked back at the old man. ” How did you come to be so wise? “. The old man replied ” I have never been wise. What I have told you and the others over the past few years are the things I have never done and regretted as time went on. “

Immunity

It is often said that when a human being is sick or suffers from an illness, it is because the being is weak. However, the ones who are sick during a long period of time develop higher senses of self awareness. They care for themselves more than those who are occasionally sick. Some of them become wiser and appreciate life with more passion.

 

” One of our patients has never been sick in his entire life. After some analysis, the patient proved to be perfectly normal with no apparent signs of invincibility. His immune system was not different from the others, yet he still never caught a single sickness, illness or disease. When asked about the origins of this phenomenon, the patient tells us that he has never been sick because he never allowed bad or evil thoughts within his mind, body and soul. At one instance, he was walking outside while rain was falling heavily on him. ” Why do you stay under the rain? Come in our house before you catch a cold! ” one man said. But the patient laughed and replied ” If you let your mind believe that you need to shelter yourself from the cold, then the cold will make you sick. I can walk under the rain because I enjoy rain and its attributes.”

Believe in absurdity

For many years, my nickname had been Credo Quia Absurdum ( I use it from time to time although not as often ) which means ” I believe it because it is absurd “. From this affirmation, I have been able to expand my mind in different ways. Absurdity has always been a source of inspiration in my life. Reacting and interacting with people in most different, unique ( and thus, sociologically bizarre ) ways leads to most positive results in most cases.

 

I first learned to behave like this at seventeen years old. My mother was driving to the supermarket while I was on the passenger seat. She had to buy bread and milk only, so I stayed in the car, waiting. At some point I realized that many people in the parking lot were looking at someone at the distance. It was a man, a simple, lone man, roller skating and whistling. I soon figured out that he was rollerskating to nowhere, making 8′s on the edge of the parking lot’s surface. He must have been in his 30s although it was difficult to say. He was certainly an adult and his gracious movements weren’t indicating in any way that he was mentally handicaped which led me to believe that he was simply in a state of sheer happiness. He wasn’t even whistling a song – it was merely a series of repeating notes that didn’t seems to hold any importance. This spontaneous act of abnormal simplicity amazed me. Was he in love? Was he free from some burden? Maybe he won some money or something? Or perhaps he didn’t need any reason to be that happy?

 

After questionning the man’s behavior, I soon found out that I was part of those who were watching the whistling man. I subsequently concentrated my thoughts on the bystanders. What were they thinking? Were they thinking the same thing as me? At some point in my analysis I saw in their facial expressions something that was highly similar to disdain and cynism which led me to believe that many of them were actually saying to themselves ” This man is obviously crazy. “. Others were smiling, yet they seemed puzzled. Suddenly, my mother opened the car’s door and drove away, removing me from my thoughts. I looked back towards the whistling man and he had vanished.

As if he had been a vision.

 

” I saw something pretty out of the ordinary. “

” What was it? “

” There was a whistling man and he was roller skating on the parking lot near the road.. He wasn’t heading for a particular direction, just whistling and skating, but at least ten people watched him and I’m asking myself why this simple man was so important that we would all take some time watching him. “

” I guess it’s because this kind of behavior is not normal in our society. “

 

My mother was right. This man, as simple as he might have looked, was doing something that wasn’t, in a way, tolerated. He, however, seemed to be perfectly sane and healthy and wasn’t doing anything shocking or disturbing, yet he caught the attention of many.

 

Through the years I have come to realize that this man inspired me more than any parental figure, friend, teacher, idol or mentor ever did. He changed my life. After some time, I became, in part, that man. Acting in different ways allowed me to meet people, make friends and unravel the personality of others.