DeeEl's Mo Chroí Scríofa

After I Am Gone

I have a lot to get done in the next two weeks so this will probably be the last words I post here within Blogtopia.  Some have said they read my Meniere’s Blog regularly.  Either they missed my Letter Of Resignation, or they just didn’t care.  Since I am an advocate of giving people the benefit of the doubt, I will believe that they just lied to me in saying they read it regularly.

I spent last night in and out of sleep.  When I was out of sleep I was thinking about everything that still has to be done.  I woke up thinking about this post.

There are those who will wonder why I didn’t come to them with all of this.  Well, how could I bring you my tears when you didn’t want to share in my laughter?  In my life I have had one thing in my heart that I have striven to bring forth to the world in my meager words and that is peace through understanding and acceptance.  The world has not listened.  My heart is not to be heard.  The world is not ready to hear what is in my heart, for it would rather hold onto its anger and hatred.

Perhaps in my next life, the world will be ready to hear what is in my heart.  I believe that the intent of the heart follows you into your next life, so perhaps I have been trying to get the world to hear my heart for generations.  Not this life, but hopefully the next.  If you desire to me honor after I am gone, then remember the message of my heart and learn to accept others no matter the differences and understand that everyone is a human being above all else.

True peace will come when people move beyond the fears of what is different and accept everyone as individual human beings without the anger and hatred that continues to bind this world through ignorance.

Reading vs Writing

Benjamin Franklin once said; “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”  When I first made it known I was heading toward freelance writing as a career, I was told to first learn how to read.  This was not said in the literal meaning of the word ‘learn’.  I was an avid reader as a child and adolescent.  I wanted to read.  When you are shy, reading can be your favorite pass time.  As a freelance writer, or a writer in general for that matter, you read – a lot.  Research means reading.  Luckily, I choose to write about things I love, like history.

I was scanning my Facebook this morning and my writer friend Adele had posted that she was awakened this morning by the delivery of Adam O’Riordan’s collection In the Flesh she had recently order.  Excited about receiving it, she set about reading straight away.  I have known people who read much like a chain-smoker smokes.  They are already picking up their next book in hand before they finish the last sentence of their current book.  I have never been one of those.

Before I go any further I would like to address one issue, writers who read and those who don’t.  I have known some great story tellers, but if you ask them to write the story in order to publish it, it is no where near as exciting as the story they tell.  This is similar to ‘writers’ who do not read.  It amazes me that there are those who desire to be writers but yet they don’t make it a habit to read.  In school they read the minimal amount to pass their classes.  A person would not climb a mountain without proper training and preparation.  So why do people think they can become a best-selling author if they haven’t prepared?  This excludes politicians and celebrities, they hire ghostwriters (Sarah Palin included).  Reading is training for a writer.

All great writers are habitual readers, but not every reader can write.  So which is the better choice, being a reader or a writer?  In my opinion the better choice is to be a reader.  *Waits for the phone to start ringing and the e-mails and IMs to begin following the vacuum-like suction from the gasps*  Reading brings about knowledge.  Knowledge creates informed individuals.  A few months ago there was a frenzy in the United States regarding the passing of President Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill.  Due to my illness acting up at the time, I was unable to write a post regarding that.  It seemed to me that so many people were voicing their opinions (which is supposed to be one of our constitutional rights) and yet they were uninformed of what this bill actually contained.  I actually went as far to say that those who voted on this bill had not even read it.  Yes, I have read the bill.  In fact I was in the process of re-reading it when it was passed to prepare for my blog post when my illness stepped in and halted the process.

In 1966, RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) was founded to motivate children to read.  Here in the area where I live, Dolly Parton began a program called Imagination Library which now reaches around the world.  In conjunction with that, the state of Tennessee has a program called Books From Birth.  Every baby born is given a book and then receives a new book on their birthday every year till age five.  Each of these programs and many, many more around the world are striving to improve and in some cases enact the habit of reading in children.

When I used to take care of children and would be there for their bedtime, reading was a habit.  I would have the children take their baths and prepare for bed and then meet me on the living room couch.  I would have one of their books or my complete works of Hans Christian Anderson and while they relaxed, I would read to them.  Reading to children will open their minds (imaginations) and pave the way to make them habitual readers.  There is one other side-effect to the practice of reading to children, it creates a bond like no other between the child and the reader (parent).

Read to your children.  Read for yourself.  I am not talking about reading the newspaper or what ever you may need to read for work.  Pick up a book or even a magazine and read for pleasure.  Lose yourself in your own imagination opened up within the pages of a well written book.  The rewards are immeasurable.  As for writing, those who write, write on!  Everyone else – READ!

We Are The World Misses It ~~ By A World

When “We Are The World” first came out in March 1985, I remember thinking that it was nice of them to put this together to raise money for African  Famine Relief.  Now twenty-five years later they have remade the song to benefit the earthquake stricken Haiti.  I still think it is a nice song and it is also nice to consider raising money to help others.  However, I do believe that they are missing the big picture and missed it 25 years ago as well.

I was watching the news when they aired a piece about the remake of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s infamous song.  It struck me as odd when they began mentioning the people who would be  participating in this recording.  I went on a mission to learn more and found pretty much the same people had been involved in the original recording.  This group is made up mostly of North American musicians, singers and actors; a handful of English performers and a sprinkling of Latin artists.  I can understand these people wanting to be involved to lay claim that it is Michael Jackson’s project and is a good will song.  What I can’t understand is how they can, in good conscience, perform a song which talks about bringing the world together and not include the rest of the world.

Where are the Haitian’s, Russian’s, Romanian’s, Iraqi’s?  Why are the German’s, Afghan’s, Chinese not involved?  How can you have a song about the people of the world being one and not include a group from all nations of the world?  I haven’t figured out why they allotted a month to complete the original project (which they barely made the deadline for) and this time far less time adding even more undue pressure.

For those who are doing this project and want to do it properly I suggest you step back and add more time to your self-imposed deadline.  Get a clue by actually reading and comprehending the lyrics you are performing.  Get a nice sized grouping of entertainers in ALL nations of the world.  Let them perform the song not only in English, but their native tongue as well.  Taking the time to do this right and being ALL inclusive will provide a much more accurate fulfillment of the words being sung.

If it is FOR the world and ABOUT the world, then it should be delivered BY the world

Learning The Heart

I started writing more than 30 years ago when I was in the 7th grade in junior high.  I wrote a blog post a while back about how I got my start writing and being able to communicate my heart to others through poetry.  I had been writing for nearly five years when I graduated from high school.  Each year at the time of graduations our congregation would honor the graduates during a service and then present them with a gift, usually a book to offer guidance as they set out on a new and wonderful adventure.  On June 5, 1983 I was one of six in the congregation graduating.  We were presented a book of poetry and verse.  I was told that when they were deciding what to present, I was the one who came to mind.  They chose that particular book because I have a way of “reading between the lines”.  I was a stupid 17 year old kid and, while I felt honored, I didn’t have the slightest idea what was meant by these words.

It wasn’t till more than twenty years later that I would be able to really feel the honor that was bestowed that day.  I had heard the term reading between the lines before, but I don’t think I actually understood it to its fullest meaning.  I have never set out to be special or try to do things that are different from everyone else.   I think it is just that I see things from my hearts point of view and thus find different meanings in the way things are spoken and written.  After my book was released, I had a friend come to my house and ask me to sign a few copies so she and her mama could give them as gifts.  I sat looking at her and the books pondering what to write.  They wanted me to address them to certain people, write something and then sign the book.  I didn’t want to be like everyone else.  I have received autographed books and had a few signed personally as well.  I either get just a signature or “Best wishes” and a signature.  Then my mind went back to the person who told me I have a way of reading between the lines.  I had my autograph.

It made sense to me to do it this way.  There is so much to be learned when you go outside the box or in this case read between the lines.  So often we go through the motions of everything we do.  Our lives are so routine that we can drive our cars from point A to point B and sometimes wonder what happened in between.  We read the paper (or the on-line news) and it is all the same unless something really juts out and is different.  Try taking a breath and look at things from a different point of view.  Go outside the box, read between the lines and there you will find pleasure.

FIND PLEASURE BETWEEN THE LINES!!

We ARE At War!!!

A year ago I came to learn of a song.  It isn’t a new song by any means.  The song “War Is Over” was written by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, in 1971.  With the US in the midst of the Vietnam War, John Lennon was very vocal in his anti-war beliefs.  At a time of war it is usually construed that Anti-war is the same as Pro-peace.  Pro-peace is so much, much more than just being against war and violence.  Some say that true peace can only come from Yeshua.  Others believe good Karma and meditation are the path to real peace.  All of this is good and so many other things as well.

I came to know this Lennon song after losing my hearing.  I knew I liked the music but didn’t know what the words were saying.  I did know it was played in the course of a Christmas segment of some sort.  I had a conversation with a friend who loves music and is a wonderful DJ in Second Life™.  I told him some of the words and finally he said it sounded like I was talking about John Lennon’s Happy Xmas.  I promptly went to Google and found myself listening to the song streaming on YouTube with the lyrics showing on the screen.  I listened and read for about 3 hours.  Yes, the same song for three short hours.  I cried so hard as my heart listened to the words as I read them.

War Is Over speaks of reaching out to others; other races, cultures, ages.  As humans we pride ourselves in 20/20 vision.  Perhaps if the entire world population were blind and deaf we would stand a better chance for peace.  We learn to disapprove and even hate those who are different from us.  We are so intent on revising and editing each other to chisel out a world-wide society that is identical to us.  We are alike.  Every human-being all over the world.  We all have bones and blood beneath the skin and hair that holds us together.  We all have hearts that beat and pump the blood through our veins.  We breath air into our lungs.

Where we differ is in our appearances, our beliefs, the way we think.  Yes, some of the ideas we hold are in error (i.e.: thinking ourselves better than everyone else), but not all of them.  It should be out differences that bring us closer together and give us the opportunity to learn from each other.  Perhaps I don’t like to eat pig, does this make those who do evil for doing so?  My skin is pale and I have green eyes.  Does this mean that a person with olive complexion and dark eyes can’t be a good person or my friend?

There is a war that we are all involved in.  It doesn’t matter our age, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.  WE ARE ALL AT WAR.  The war is for peace.  I will post later regarding fighting.  But when we say we are a peaceful people, we should live it.  Thanks to the wonderful world of Second Life™, I have made friends with people all over the world.  They are of different races, cultures, religions and even sexual orientations.  We met on a different plain and got to know each other and accept each other as human-beings without adding prejudice and bias.  On this last day of  Chanukah, I hope those who celebrate it each received a set of blinders.  I hope those who keep Xmas will also receive some and then for Kwanzaa the same.  Put on your blinders and use ear plugs to fight this war.  Use your heart to get to know other people who are not like you in the way you think and believe.  No one says you have to change your ways and believe as they do.  Education, understanding and acceptance will be our weapons.

Listen and watch John Lennon and do so with your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNRHrKyaX4

Only From My Heart

Since I was 13 years old and sitting in my Seventh grade English class learning the art of poetry, I have been writing it. I was painfully shy in junior high and found it difficult to say what I wanted to say. When Mr. Leggore led us through the poetry course I found the way to express my heart. Since then I have written what is in my heart. Whether it be poetry, song, essay, short story, article or novel; my heart (and the tornadoes that control my pen) dictates what goes on the empty page.

I quit writing in July of this year. Too many things were happening and I couldn’t keep with it all. Being without a job and not being able to find anything in the writing field. My health and dealing with the residual effects of Meniere’s Disease. People being more critical of my work than requested (i.e.: telling me my book is technically not published due to the publisher). Just too many things pressing on me that I quit. However, John Lennon would not allow it to remain so. I was having sleepless nights and nights of tossing and turning due to dreams that occupied my sleep and waking hours. Then the end of July I read a quote by John Lennon and he related about song writing and I equated it to my writing. He said it’s not a song til it invades even your sleeping dreams and keeps you awake. Then you know it has a life.

Well, Mr. Lennon was actually briefer in his quote, but that is what I got from it and started paying attention to what was going on. I told my friends about this and they wagged their fingers at me and said “Told you so!!” I am meant to write. It fills my being from my heart and soul outward. It encompasses me. Writing is the breath in my lungs, the blood in my veins ~ Writing IS who I am.