Don't Let the Language Die

It has been said by many that life is too short, but at what point is life just long enough or even too long? Life is too short to not live.....

That line was written several months ago, but it was as far as I could get, I guess I said all I had to say. Not everything has to be drawn out with a lot of fluff, I tried to avoid it in college, and I avoid it now. Life is too short to sugar coat and add a bunch of fluff.

Language is a powerful thing, it is even more powerful in those who treat it as such. Never squander language, command language to say what you want not only by the literal meaning, but by the figurative and emotional. Command of the english language is slipping away in favor of text speak, spell check, and laziness. I challenge all who read this to not let the art and the science to just die in favor of something easier and faster. Work to improve your vocabulary, not to impress your friends at dinner parties or to seem like a pompous ass, but to show that you value yourself as a civilized member of the world.

Anyway, that's my soapbox moment.

Create For Yourself

I started wandering through my computer and find this line written on a document I was writing, according to the document title, it was for a book:

"...Have an intense passion for what you create; an intense ambition to meet the challenges of your creations; an intense enthusiasm to create... and soon the inspiration will overfill your cup."

I haven't written in awhile, blog post, poetry, or just write to write. I enjoyed just putting words on a page and rearranging, erasing, and rewording until the eraser was almost gone and my hand grey from all the lead (yes I'm old school and love a good notebook). Even photography, I haven't really gone of and really done a photo hunt; the kind where it's me, the camera, and my music. My favorite day was walking from Water Tower Place in Chicago all the way home to 35th and Morgan just taking pictures, or walking around Columbia, SC. Writing, taking pictures, just being with myself allows me to think about me for a little while. Even when I live by the idea of taking care of others before myself.  That intense passion, ambition, and enthusiasm was no longer there, but by my own hand I let it go.

If you enjoy a hobby, even if you think you're bad at it, make time for it. Don't let the hustle of life take away the things that help you think through problems, analyze life, and just allow you to exist in your own way. I am guilty of not following this advice, I am guilty of letting the couch and tv suck me in, but this could quite possibly be the turn around.

Find that passion for things you once did and with it ambition, enthusiasm, and maybe even a little extra dedication will follow. 

Deployment

It's been quiet over here for awhile.... No particular reason why, just nothing to really write about.

I find myself writing this just over a month into a deployment to Afghanistan. The thing about a deployment is you are confined. Confined to the gates of your FOB (Forward Operating Base), you can't leave and travel. You are confined physically and mentally. You're get away is the plywood dorm room you have where the walls don't even go to the ceiling. The days bleed together because there are no weekends, no days off. You are in a country that has people who would rather kill an American than listen to them, and it sits in the back of your mind.

A deployment allows for you to really look at yourself, really think about what you want, how you want it, where you want it, and why. From the physical to metaphysical, everything is up for grabs; because where are you going to go? There is no avoiding your brain pulling you in and making you think about your life and where it's headed. But then, check back in to the fact that you're in a combat zone. There is nothing normal about willingly going somewhere that your statistics of death increase. Yet, many of us do it.

I haven't pieced it all together yet, but as this deployment continues I am sure I will

Can't Fix Everything

Yep, this corner has been quiet for a little while, the writing side of my life took a backseat for a bit.

It's great how people try to help others, but there comes a point where you've done all you can. Either the person doesn't want, need, or is willing to accept the help you are offering. Even if none of that is true, you may have done all you can.

Some people have their own issues to deal with, but don't because it's easier to focus on anyone and everyone else. They will put all of their effort into helping or advising someone who seems like they have bigger problems then they do. My question- how does that help either of you?

Something I've learned, and in a lot of cases still learning, is that until you help yourself, you shouldn't be trying to help others. Think about when you're on a plane and the mask drops down for oxygen. What do they tell you to do? That's right, put your mask on first! (funnily enough, this is the exact example given to me when I needed to learn this).

Another side to this, if you are trying to help, and you've done all you can. At some point the other person has to help themselves, but right now they are relying on you instead of trying to improve their situation.

Everyone has demons, try and face yours first!

A Hard Lesson

Ever get feeling that if you make a decision about your life, people's view of you will change? Like you'll disappoint them? I seem to have this experience a lot....

As you go through life, you have all these people who help you reach your potential, who help you find who you are and who you want to be, and the list goes on. When you succeed, you know they are proud of you. It's at that you realize you don't want to disappoint them. It's almost like how you do is a reflection on them. The decisions you make will be judged by them.

Learning this one is hard, but give it a shot..... What you do, is only a reflection of you. Sounds crazy right? The idea that you're the maestro of your life, that can't be right.... If you allowed every person who entered and exited your life to tell you how to live it, would you be happy? Would you be doing what you wanted or what everyone else wanted you to do? Those who enter your life, and are meant to stay, shouldn't be directing you, but supporting you, giving advice and guidance, but letting you decide.

It's hard to imagine what that looks like, and when you experience it, you're not sure how to react. It's only when you learn that hard lesson that you realize you control your life and that while you've had a lot of help, you're the one that is going to make the decisions in your life.

You don't know if it's the right or wrong decision, and it really doesn't matter, because even if its the wrong one, there will be a way to make it the right one.

So yea, it's a hard lesson, one many are learning, including myself, as long as you are willing to learn it, the rest will fall into place.

A New Chapter

There are many cliches about life, especially when change is about to happen. One that gets me, "This is a new chapter in your life". For one thing, it is probably the most accurate, our lives are like books, and each section is broken down, childhood, teenager, young adult, adult, old age. And it has benchmarks like graduating high school or college, getting a promotion, joining the military, retiring. The list goes on. A lot of the scenes from the previous chapter will follow, they teach what to or not to do. They give insight and are good to regurgitate or relive with friends. These "chapters" are your life, you can't help but hold on to them.

However, like any book, there is always non-essential information that doesn't need to follow into the next chapter. It's not required to move the story along, and really it just holds it back. Those are the people, places, things, and moments that we realize should not continue, like a short story inside of a novel....at some point that crap has got to end.

As the authors and editors of our books and chapters, it's up to us to decide what is necessary for the next chapter and what is not; and the parts that are not necessary can stay as part of the story, because maybe it was essential in this chapter, but they need not be a part of the next one.

When you see the end of your current chapter appearing, do some editing....your story will be better off.

My Soapbox Moment

Knives don't get off the counter and stab people
Guns don't pull their own triggers
Dogs don't bite unless they are threatened or trained or abused
Objects don't do stupid crap, people do stupid crap.

It isn't a question of gun control, or safety in schools. Random people are not waking up in the morning and thinking that shooting up a school is a great idea to start their Friday morning.

Until the country realizes that this a matter of the person committing the crime and not the object, nothing is going to be accomplished.