#inspiration
HOW DO WWE LAUGH AND DANCE AND SING
How do we find time to laugh, to dance, to sing in times as uncertain as these?
When so many men, women and children in the world live under a sword of Damocles.
For me it goes back to when I was teaching Autistic students…who, for reasons still unknown,
every day faced cruel, unfair, unwanted and relentless challenges of their own.
I knew I could not cure my students…could not help them…their Autism to subdue
even though that is exactly what I hoped and prayed I’d do.
I knew I could not change my students’ fortunes in an instant…overnight…
I knew the best thing I could do…would be to join them in their fight.
When it came to my students and their families…I wanted it to be known
that we would cry and laugh, sing and dance, win and lose…together
that they were not alone.
So when it came time for us to part…when their time with me was done
we would have helped each other find a little balance…a little joy, a little laughter, a little fun.
Isn’t that the way life should be…through all this confusion, sadness and doubt?
Weren’t we put upon this Earth to help each other out?
I know I cannot cure the ills of the world…
to help everyone their monsters to subdue
even though I hope and pray…that’s exactly what I’ll do.
I know I cannot change their fortunes in an instant…overnight
I know the best thing I can do…is to join them in their fight.
Even though I’m no longer a teacher…I still would like it to be known
that I will cry and laugh, sing, dance and win and lose with anyone who needs it…
to show them they are not alone.
With the hope that at the end of every day…with the setting of the sun
we've helped each other find a little balance…a little joy, a little laughter, a little fun.
HOW FAR WILL ONE VOICE GO
When it comes to spreading love throughout the world
I like to think I’ve made that choice…
but I often wonder if I’m succeeding
after all…I’m just one voice.
But then I remind myself how an oak tree begins as one acorn
at first a little small and underrated…
but from that one acorn a tree is born
add more acorns and a forest is created.
A tiny seed is planted…
safe and secure in it’s underground room.
but from that one seed a flower grows
add more seeds and a whole garden begins bloom.
Every acorn contributes to the creation of a forest.
From each seed a flower then a garden is grown.
The tallest pyramids all began …with the laying of one stone.
So when I think I’m only one small voice…
perhaps I need a change of attitude…
because my one voice…when joined by others becomes a multitude.
So with my one voice I will do my best to spread love
because I never know
once my voice is joined by other voices…
how far that love will go.
WHAT DO YOU DESIRE
A question for everyone to think about…all peoples from coast to coast:
When it comes to the life you’re living…what do you desire most?
If your answer is money…all the money you can earn…
and never doing anything without getting something in return.
If this is what you desire…if this is your key to happiness…THEN
the mission of this poem is to make you think again.
To think about helping others…helping them to live, to laugh, to learn…
making no assumptions about them and asking for nothing in return.
When you see someone struggling and say, “Let me help you;!”
When you hold open a door…
When you feed a hungry person or animal…
When you give time and money to the poor.
You won’t get any richer…you won’t find fortune or fame…
and there’s a good chance those you help will never know your name.
So what do you get when you help another being…
and, perhaps, your own pleasure you forgo?
More than you will ever see…and more than you will ever know.
You understand in that moment you’ve made the world
a little more beautiful than it was a moment before…
And as you witness another’s joy…and feel their love
you’ll want so see and feel that more and more.
When you stop to help someone without ever asking why…
you have just experienced something all the money in the world could never buy.
So I return to my original question…and once again inquire…
When it comes to the life you’re living…what more could you desire?
IT MIGHT
If you think helping another person won’t change the world…
Then I suggest you finish reading this rhyme…
Because one of the best ways to change the world is
one person at a time.
ONE FLOWER IN THE SAND
On a walk along the beach…after we’d been walking for a while
we came upon a flower growing in the sand…and immediately we smiled.
And this one flower got me thinking:
We are living in a world where increasingly we see
some people do not act without first asking themselves…What’s in it for me?
While at the same time…in the same world we see
other people, like this flower, making others smile
never thinking to ask…What’s in it for me?
Look around, despite the news, there is in humanity a definite trend
to help a stranger, help a neighbor, help an animal…help a friend.
You’ll see people encouraging someone they never met before…
complimenting, congratulating, lending a hand…holding a door.
Writing a note, giving a gift…letting another person know…
it’s them they’re thinking of.
helping someone in need…sewing seeds of love.
When we bring someone joy…we fee it in our core….
how we’ve helped to make the world a little more beautiful
than it was a moment before.
And we begin to think in beautiful…because we understand…
all it takes to make the world more beautiful…
is one flower in the sand.
ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE
May we be blessed every day…
as through through the trials and tribulations of this world we traverse….
to understand peace will only come to us
when we are all one with the universe
DO WHAT WE KNOW IS RIGHT
\May we be blessed in this life each day we’re notching…
to do what we know is right
even…when we think no one is watching
DAILY GRATITUDE WHO WE REALLY ARE
Today I’m grateful for kindness
As I grow a little older…each day more and more I find.
the people I admire most in life…
are those who are gentle, generous and kind.
SHELTER FROMTHE STORM
Today I’m channeling on of my favorite Bob Dylan songs to help me with my poem.
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
A storm has raged across this country since its inception…
swirling clouds of greed and prejudice and hate.
And as long as this storm continues…our country never will be great!
To those who have been and still feel oppressed, hopeless and forlorn…
I offer up my house to give you shelter from the storm.
To the indigenous people whose initial kindness
we repaid with savagery and scorn…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
To anyone whose skin color we make feel like a crown of thorns…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
To all of you who know what gender you truly are
inside the body to which you were born…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
To those who choose to pray and love Gods of all different forms…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
To those who choose to love each other
whose love is met with ridicule and scorn…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
And to all of you with a disability…know this…
we all deviate a little from the norm…
Come in, I say, I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
Even though this storm has been raging for 240 years or more…
today it seems much stronger and more destructive than before.
So now more than ever we need more people
To offer a place to keep each other protected, safe and warm….
Now more than ever we need more people to say…
Come in my friends and I will give you…shelter from the storm.