Love In the Guise of Friendship
Talk not of love, it gives me pain,
For love has been my foe;
He bound me in an iron chain,
And plung'd me deep in woe.
But friendship's pure and lasting joys,
My heart was form'd to prove;
There, welcome win and wear the prize,
But never talk of love.
Your friendship much can make me blest,
O why that bliss destroy?
Why urge the only, one request
You know I will deny?
Your thought, if Love must harbour there,
Conceal it in that thought;
Nor cause me from my bosom tear
The very friend I sought.
Tragic Fragment
All devil as I am-a damned wretch,
A hardened, stubborn, unrepenting villain,
Still my heart melts at human wretchedness;
And with sincere but unavailing sighs
I view the helpless children of distress:
With tears indignant I behold the oppressor
Rejoicing in the honest man's destruction,
Whose unsubmitting heart was all his crime. -
Ev'n you, ye hapless crew! I pity you;
Ye, whom the seeming good think sin to pity;
Ye poor, despised, abandoned vagabonds,
Whom Vice, as usual, has turn'd o'er to ruin.
Oh! but for friends and interposing Heaven,
I had been driven forth like you forlorn,
The most detested, worthless wretch among you!
O injured God! Thy goodness has endow'd me
With talents passing most of my compeers,
Which I in just proportion have abused-
As far surpassing other common villains
As Thou in natural parts has given me more.
23 January 2011
10 January 2011
20 December 2010
A Little Running Ditty
They say that running's good for you
So do it every day
It makes the sun shine in your heart
It pushes clouds away!
The more you run, the more you'll smile
`til people stop and stare.
They'll ask you what the magic is...
Perhaps the clothes you wear?
Even when your legs are sore,
When you can barely move...
Get out of bed, you sleepy head,
And find your running groove.
Ignore the doctors when they say
To listen to your body...
For if you do, it screams and yells,
And says "take up karate!"
Achilles Tendons, they will whine,
And Plantar says "Don't go!"
Hips and knees will plead with you
They're not your friend but foe!
Unless they're black or falling off,
Nails are rather dumb!
Who needs nails? They are a waste
of precious calcium.
Just tune it out, the whole damn thing
From toe to empty head.
For if you listen, you'll be found
Alone and sad in bed.
Your ass will fill with fatty cells,
Your belly it will swell,
Your lungs will shrink,
You'll lose your dink
Your feet will really smell!
So run, run, run, You Dicks and Janes,
Put on those shorts and shoes!
At Seven Miles you'll find those smiles
Have pushed away the Blues!
So do it every day
It makes the sun shine in your heart
It pushes clouds away!
The more you run, the more you'll smile
`til people stop and stare.
They'll ask you what the magic is...
Perhaps the clothes you wear?
Even when your legs are sore,
When you can barely move...
Get out of bed, you sleepy head,
And find your running groove.
Ignore the doctors when they say
To listen to your body...
For if you do, it screams and yells,
And says "take up karate!"
Achilles Tendons, they will whine,
And Plantar says "Don't go!"
Hips and knees will plead with you
They're not your friend but foe!
Unless they're black or falling off,
Nails are rather dumb!
Who needs nails? They are a waste
of precious calcium.
Just tune it out, the whole damn thing
From toe to empty head.
For if you listen, you'll be found
Alone and sad in bed.
Your ass will fill with fatty cells,
Your belly it will swell,
Your lungs will shrink,
You'll lose your dink
Your feet will really smell!
So run, run, run, You Dicks and Janes,
Put on those shorts and shoes!
At Seven Miles you'll find those smiles
Have pushed away the Blues!
08 December 2010
Ah, Memories
This will be remembered at one of the pinnacles in Vancouver's history! What an amazing time it was; it's very hard to believe it was almost a year ago already.
12 November 2010
08 July 2010
01 July 2010
24 June 2010
On the Moral Depravity of Capitalism in 20 Tweets
I've thought a lot about it & have concluded that market capitalism is actually conducive to evil. It's not just a talking point.
Here's why.
1. The system requires winners AND losers. It is- by design- zero sum. This creates two serious moral problems.
2. The 1st moral dilemma of capitalism is that it demands that its adherents not only have stake in their own wins, but in your losses.
3. That is the seedy underbelly of competition. Winning at any cost. Depriving my opponent of whatever I must, even dignity or life.
4. The other moral dilemma of capitalism creates & perpetuates what is basically a form of mental illness in people with consciences.
5. No person of conscience can enjoy the spoils of wealth/capitalism without some guilt.
6. But that same person also realizes it is impossible to see that everyone shares in the wealth of the system. There MUST be losers.
7. So the natural instinct in a painful situation that seems impossible to change is to go into denial.
8. We disconnect from the humanity of other people. We withdraw into our own small worlds and justify it as fair or right.
9. And we console ourselves by saying if others were as righteous as us, they would have what we do. They must deserve suffering!
10. This entire endeavor puts our souls in peril.
11. Capitalism has serious potential to do damage to our capacity for empathy and compassion. It's a dehumanizing system.
12. I believe our addiction to the system of capitalism requires us to imagine it can bring us happiness.
13. What is the point of desiring excessive wealth, if not that we think it generates happiness?
14. But because of dynamic already described, with each increment of happiness bought, another piece of one's humanity is sacrificed.
15. In other words, it is impossible for a person of moral conscience to become happier through the accumulation of wealth.
16. So this means 1 of 2 things. Either we're a civilization lacking in conscience or we're a civilization lacking in true happiness.
17. What's especially ironic is that the language of capitalism is conflated with the language of liberty and empowerment.
18. But capitalism is actually a very oppressive system. Either you're denied dignity and liberty by being a "loser" in the system...
19. Or you're asked to deny your own human instincts of compassion and empathy for other people by being a "winner" in the system.
20. Either way, by participating in the system, you've given up some of self-sovereignty.
Series first tweeted by Cynthia Boaz on June 21, 2010.
The Huffington Post
Follow Cynthia Boaz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cynthiaboaz
This is Cynthia's critique. Here are some other thoughts and comments by others:
- For me, it's important that you do come up with an alternative, Doc, as it would help me to understand exactly what you mean by the immorality of capitalism because I don't see that capitalism is, in itself, immoral. I think it's like a lot of other systems; it can be practiced morally or immorally.
- Competition is also not, in itself, immoral. Every time you play a game with someone there is competition to win and there is a winner and a loser. As long as everyone plays fair, that's not only immoral but is the essence of playing a game.
- Competition in capitalism is a good thing as long as it's fair competition. Fair competition in capitalism induces capitalists to provide the best possible product or service at the lowest possible price so that the consumer will purchase from them. I don't see anything inherently immoral about that.
- One of the first hurdles we come up against in addressing an inequitable system is facing up to our privilege. It's a fundamental difference between progressives and conservatives. No one likes to be reminded of their privilege — whether it’s white privilege, heterosexual privilege, male privilege, or class privilege — because acknowledging that privilege commutes responsibility for that privilege, and the day-by-day, moment-to-moment decision to perpetuate that privilege or know — while knowing the consequences it imposes on others.
- Whether we asked for our privilege or not — acknowledging it, if we don’t want to be responsible for perpetuating it and the injustice it perpetuates, means changing how we are in the world, day-by-day and moment-to-moment.
- If you can rationalize your privilege, and rationalize related inequities on the flip-side, then you don’t have to change how you are in the world; because all is right with the world, no matter how bad it is for somebody else.
- In fact, your privilege — whether it stems from your race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, etc. — doesn’t even exist. The whole world is suddenly a meritocracy. What you have, you deserve, basically because you have it. And the “have-nots”? Well, if they deserved it, they’d have it.
- Power is conducive to evil. It's not a capitalism-only thing. - I don't think it's necessary (nor considered requisite fairness) for you to devise an alternative, with your alternative being dumping yourself into the GOP or Tea Party. I think critiquing a system for it's own sake is worthy and important, and helps people understand what they are participating in. The analysis is necessary before any consideration can be given to an alternative, and that alternative is certainly not your responsibility (it's ALL of our responsibilities). Frankly, I feel that when the response to this piece is solely to challenge you to state your alternative, that is a clear sign of a person who is not willing to face or consider what you've unveiled. It's a deflection. I think it's a great piece, and I can relate to the growing despondency over our capitalist system I detect in it.
...
Interesting thoughts...
Here's why.
1. The system requires winners AND losers. It is- by design- zero sum. This creates two serious moral problems.
2. The 1st moral dilemma of capitalism is that it demands that its adherents not only have stake in their own wins, but in your losses.
3. That is the seedy underbelly of competition. Winning at any cost. Depriving my opponent of whatever I must, even dignity or life.
4. The other moral dilemma of capitalism creates & perpetuates what is basically a form of mental illness in people with consciences.
5. No person of conscience can enjoy the spoils of wealth/capitalism without some guilt.
6. But that same person also realizes it is impossible to see that everyone shares in the wealth of the system. There MUST be losers.
7. So the natural instinct in a painful situation that seems impossible to change is to go into denial.
8. We disconnect from the humanity of other people. We withdraw into our own small worlds and justify it as fair or right.
9. And we console ourselves by saying if others were as righteous as us, they would have what we do. They must deserve suffering!
10. This entire endeavor puts our souls in peril.
11. Capitalism has serious potential to do damage to our capacity for empathy and compassion. It's a dehumanizing system.
12. I believe our addiction to the system of capitalism requires us to imagine it can bring us happiness.
13. What is the point of desiring excessive wealth, if not that we think it generates happiness?
14. But because of dynamic already described, with each increment of happiness bought, another piece of one's humanity is sacrificed.
15. In other words, it is impossible for a person of moral conscience to become happier through the accumulation of wealth.
16. So this means 1 of 2 things. Either we're a civilization lacking in conscience or we're a civilization lacking in true happiness.
17. What's especially ironic is that the language of capitalism is conflated with the language of liberty and empowerment.
18. But capitalism is actually a very oppressive system. Either you're denied dignity and liberty by being a "loser" in the system...
19. Or you're asked to deny your own human instincts of compassion and empathy for other people by being a "winner" in the system.
20. Either way, by participating in the system, you've given up some of self-sovereignty.
Series first tweeted by Cynthia Boaz on June 21, 2010.
The Huffington Post
Follow Cynthia Boaz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cynthiaboaz
This is Cynthia's critique. Here are some other thoughts and comments by others:
- For me, it's important that you do come up with an alternative, Doc, as it would help me to understand exactly what you mean by the immorality of capitalism because I don't see that capitalism is, in itself, immoral. I think it's like a lot of other systems; it can be practiced morally or immorally.
- Competition is also not, in itself, immoral. Every time you play a game with someone there is competition to win and there is a winner and a loser. As long as everyone plays fair, that's not only immoral but is the essence of playing a game.
- Competition in capitalism is a good thing as long as it's fair competition. Fair competition in capitalism induces capitalists to provide the best possible product or service at the lowest possible price so that the consumer will purchase from them. I don't see anything inherently immoral about that.
- One of the first hurdles we come up against in addressing an inequitable system is facing up to our privilege. It's a fundamental difference between progressives and conservatives. No one likes to be reminded of their privilege — whether it’s white privilege, heterosexual privilege, male privilege, or class privilege — because acknowledging that privilege commutes responsibility for that privilege, and the day-by-day, moment-to-moment decision to perpetuate that privilege or know — while knowing the consequences it imposes on others.
- Whether we asked for our privilege or not — acknowledging it, if we don’t want to be responsible for perpetuating it and the injustice it perpetuates, means changing how we are in the world, day-by-day and moment-to-moment.
- If you can rationalize your privilege, and rationalize related inequities on the flip-side, then you don’t have to change how you are in the world; because all is right with the world, no matter how bad it is for somebody else.
- In fact, your privilege — whether it stems from your race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, etc. — doesn’t even exist. The whole world is suddenly a meritocracy. What you have, you deserve, basically because you have it. And the “have-nots”? Well, if they deserved it, they’d have it.
- Power is conducive to evil. It's not a capitalism-only thing. - I don't think it's necessary (nor considered requisite fairness) for you to devise an alternative, with your alternative being dumping yourself into the GOP or Tea Party. I think critiquing a system for it's own sake is worthy and important, and helps people understand what they are participating in. The analysis is necessary before any consideration can be given to an alternative, and that alternative is certainly not your responsibility (it's ALL of our responsibilities). Frankly, I feel that when the response to this piece is solely to challenge you to state your alternative, that is a clear sign of a person who is not willing to face or consider what you've unveiled. It's a deflection. I think it's a great piece, and I can relate to the growing despondency over our capitalist system I detect in it.
...
Interesting thoughts...
Gong Show Rant
Harper figured that having the G20 meeting in downtown Toronto would showcase Canada's financial prowess, even though all the bankers and investors are taking the next couple of days off because Bay Street is now a militarized zone and they fear for their lives from the yet-to-appear throngs of insane, violent protestors. I hope that they do show up and deaths occur...if only to justify the (holy shit!) billion dollar price tag. Harper is a fucking idiot....what the hell were he and his strategists thinking? Not about much other than themselves, once again, apparently.
And it's all happening in this shithole of a city. I've been here two weeks too long already. I keep giving southern Ontario extra chances to change my mind on what a crappy place it is, but this trip is another FAIL. Gotta get somewhere? Well, just hop in a fucking car and sit in some fucking traffic in this ugly city. The people are all self-absorbed, stressed, rude, and high-strung. Anyone I know here who is decent is not from here. Everyone else will have a 'conversation' with you, but the entire chat is truly spent enduring Ontarians talk about themselves, their awesome lives living in a shithole, and how the rest of Canada including where you are from is worth ridicule since it isn't here. Really? Is it possible you people can talk more about yourselves, please? My ears aren't bleeding enough yet.
I got the old, "You're from Manitoba? Oh I'm so sorry." bullshit line more than once here, or "You're from the West Coast, oh I couldn't live there; it rains all the time". Yeah, shut up you Ontario asshole. It's all a joke to you and the universe that revolves around your ego, isn't it? Screw you!
I've been trying to get people to look me in the eye as they pass by, no luck yet. And don't get me started on this disgusting humidity, still more tornadoes, and even an earthquake to top things off. I'm counting the minutes until I get out of here.
I remember now why I always go to Montreal and not Toronto when I end up in the East. It's because people are actually real there and they honestly care about other people. And they don't incessantly talk just about themselves all the time. It's obvious the Ontario factor rots everyone's brains here, including the politicians.
Once again, I reiterate the solution to the spiralling G8/G20 expense 'crisis', why doesn't the cabal of greedy old white men just collectively buy an island nation in the middle of the Pacific and have their meetings there whenever they feel they're warranted? They can build their Dr. Evil lair there and blow smoke up each other's asses as much as they want, out of the public eye, away from protestors, and with as much security as they feel their inflated egos need. Leave the rest of us alone like you do the other 363 days a year, you fucks.
16 June 2010
BU2B (Brought Up To Believe) - Rush
(written by Neil Peart)
I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It’s not ours to understand
The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil take the rest
All is for the best
Believe in what we’re told
Blind men in the market
Buying what we’re sold
Believe in what we’re told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death
In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven’s justice will prevail
The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we’re winning
Is the same as what we’ve lost
Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
I was brought up to believe
I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It’s not ours to understand
The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil take the rest
All is for the best
Believe in what we’re told
Blind men in the market
Buying what we’re sold
Believe in what we’re told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death
In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven’s justice will prevail
The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we’re winning
Is the same as what we’ve lost
Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
I was brought up to believe
10 May 2010
Vancouver Sun Run May 9, 2010
08 May 2010
Dear Mom
Dear Mom,
What I meant to say was...how can we possibly express our profound gratitude to the person who was the first to hold us, the first to feed us, and the first to make us feel loved?
From a distance we watch you move about, doing the mundane tasks that to everyone else seem so routine. But for us, the tasks you lovingly completed year after year built and reinforced the foundation, the structure that made our world a safe and comfortable place to grow.
All that we are and all that we have can be traced back to you. Whatever accomplishments we have made along the way would not have occurred without you first believing in us. And you, you were the person who always believed in us.
Now with our family, we are amazed at the number of times we hear your words flow form our mouths. This ventriloquistic phenomenon was at first most irritating, but now warms us as we have come to understand that there is a part of you that will live on in us forever.
When time parts us, we pray that you will reach across from the other side to again touch our face and whisper into our ears.
For your warms and gentle presence in our lives...for this, we will always be most thankful.
Yes, Mother, you inspire us!
This is a letter I got a copy of from Murad that I wanted to pass on to my mother and all the mothers out there. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you very much.
What I meant to say was...how can we possibly express our profound gratitude to the person who was the first to hold us, the first to feed us, and the first to make us feel loved?
From a distance we watch you move about, doing the mundane tasks that to everyone else seem so routine. But for us, the tasks you lovingly completed year after year built and reinforced the foundation, the structure that made our world a safe and comfortable place to grow.
All that we are and all that we have can be traced back to you. Whatever accomplishments we have made along the way would not have occurred without you first believing in us. And you, you were the person who always believed in us.
Now with our family, we are amazed at the number of times we hear your words flow form our mouths. This ventriloquistic phenomenon was at first most irritating, but now warms us as we have come to understand that there is a part of you that will live on in us forever.
When time parts us, we pray that you will reach across from the other side to again touch our face and whisper into our ears.
For your warms and gentle presence in our lives...for this, we will always be most thankful.
Yes, Mother, you inspire us!
This is a letter I got a copy of from Murad that I wanted to pass on to my mother and all the mothers out there. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you very much.
20 April 2010
To Those I Love
I found more of Murad's papers I had today in piles of stuff I'm going through now that it's tax time. There are two poems here, one to Mothers that I'll post in May and the other to those who've died that I've posted below. I had borrowed them from Murad to copy; it seems so ironic that they gave him strength several years ago when his mother died and they've surfaced in my possession now. Ugh -- All these people we've already lost this year, it's such a challenge to cope with their disappearance from our lives. I look forward to seeing them all again soon.
To Those I Love and Those Who Loved Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go
I have so many things to see and do.
You must not tie yourself to me with tears;
Be happy that we had these precious years.
I gave to you my love, you can only guess,
How much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you each have shown,
But now it's time I travelled on alone.
So grieve a while for me if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It's only for a while that we must part,
So bless the memories within your heart.
I won't be far away, for life goes on;
So if you need me, call and I will come,
Though you can't see me or touch me, I'll be near,
And if you listen with your heart, you will hear
All of my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you must come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and say welcome home.
To Those I Love and Those Who Loved Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go
I have so many things to see and do.
You must not tie yourself to me with tears;
Be happy that we had these precious years.
I gave to you my love, you can only guess,
How much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you each have shown,
But now it's time I travelled on alone.
So grieve a while for me if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It's only for a while that we must part,
So bless the memories within your heart.
I won't be far away, for life goes on;
So if you need me, call and I will come,
Though you can't see me or touch me, I'll be near,
And if you listen with your heart, you will hear
All of my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you must come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and say welcome home.
08 April 2010
Death is nothing at all
Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral
26 March 2010
Just Say No to Socialism
A day in the life of a Tea Partier/Teabagger:
These people are uninformed and dangerous.
-stolen from the web somewhere...
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory. I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to send via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department.
I then log on to the internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
These people are uninformed and dangerous.
-stolen from the web somewhere...
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