Veterans Day

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead. Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Field.

- In Flanders Field, John McCrae 1915

This poem was written in World War I by a Canadian solider serving for United Kingdom. Sophomore year in high school we had to choose a theme and find poems related to that theme. The theme I chose was war, and naturally I came across this poem. I've never been able to get it out of my head, and I hope I never do. It is so poignant. So beautiful. So well-written. And so simple.

Peace.

Thank you, veterans, for serving your countries, for fighting valiantly and giving your youth, your talents, your lives, your all. It's a job I could never do, and I give you all of the credit in the world for fighting old men's battles for them. God bless everyone who serves, no matter what side you are on. And one day, when old men no longer run the world, when we aren't plagued with old thoughts, old deeds, old wrongs and old rights, we can live in peace, and we can all lay down our weapons, and there won't be any more fighting. Until then, though, I'm praying for everyone who takes up the quarrel, with any foe, and hoping peace comes sooner rather than later.

Everyone Jump Upon the Peace Train

Now just tell me this song doesn't bring a smile to your heart :)

God bless all you who crave the Peace Train, who ride the Peace Train, who conduct the Peace Train into tomorrow.

And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true :) God bless you Yusuf Islam, may every last person on this Earth hear the call of peace.

Happy October!

You Can Hear the Whistle Blow a Hundred Miles

Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary has died at the age of 72.

It's a very sad day for folk music, for the generation of peace loving individuals who sprouted out of the 1960's, and for people like me who were raised with the tenants of peace and love and grew up listening to artists like Mary Travers.

She was not only radiantly beautiful, but she was kind, and courageous, and she had a damn good voice.

If I Had a Hammer

I'll always remember listening to her on tape, riding my bike around the neighbourhood, or watching Peter, Paul and Mary on the television and feeling completely connected to the lyrics they sang.

The saddest part of the death of such an icon for the peace movement is that there seems to be no one taking up the torch for the cause. I have no power, or fame, or money or really very much talent, or else I would have taken up the cause long ago. People with power, with sway, with the funds to do wonderful things and the talent to command people to listen just simply are not using those gifts for the right purposes. I hope someone comes along, sooner rather than later, who will remind us that justice, freedom and love are the three greatest gifts. I also hope that before any more wars start, that we might be reminded of where all the flowers have gone.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Calling All Angels

This was quite possibly the laziest weekend of my life, or at least my incredibly chaotic life as of late. Hillary (my girlfriend) and I played house all weekend (she made me cinnebuns in bed), went to the macaroni grill on Friday where we proceeded to eat none of our food (even though we hadn't eaten all day and we had both had exams) and near fall asleep at the table to the point where our waiter (Marc was a cool dude) was concerned about us, and tonight we went to Fridays and ate the first meal since Thursday. It was a good weekend, Hillary and I get along very well and we have a lot of fun. I've never been able to laugh and be silly with someone I was dating before, maybe it's the mark of an adult relationship, or maybe Hillary and I just have something special.

I told her I have never been in love, and I don't know what love feels like. The deepest love I've ever felt is the love I have for my niece and nephew. When I held my niece for the first time in the hours after she was born, I looked God in the face, and He smiled back. That's the realest love I've ever felt in my life. I'm very clueless about romantic love. All I know is that when I look in Hillary's eyes, the rest of the world melts away and it's just us, and complete happiness. I don't know if love is complete happiness, I don't know if love is aching when you know you won't see her for an extended period of time, I don't know if love is taking her hand and running through freezing parking lots laughing, singing David Bowie and Cher until 4 am, watching stupid movies, but not caring, because we're together. I don't know if it's love, but I like it.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Brigham with my sister and my nephew for her ultrasound. I'm so excited that words can't even express my sheer joy. I've never been to an ultrasound before, and I'm probably going to weep. I love these kids so much that it hurts.

Wish me luck, that I don't weep too much and make a fool of myself.

God Bless America!

Woohoo it's the fourth of July in the wonderful world of America. Pass the sparklers and the hot dogs and let's celebrate some freedom from tyranny.

Well, in the perfect world, in the perfect neighbourhood, in the perfect backyard, in the perfect family, that is exactly how it would go down.

Actually it goes a little something like this.

The colonies refused British rule for one reason and one reason only: it wasn't in their best interest financially. To be honest, it wasn't in their best interest financially to all become one country. The state system has worked out surprisingly well (one might argue until the recent past when states were no longer known by their name, capitol and state bird but by the "red state blue state" phenomenon) and will in all likelihood work out for years to come. The only time I ever heard talk of revolution was in a study hall in high school from someone who saw the hammer and sickle I had drawn on my notebook. Ah to be a young socialist. I'm still a young socialist, but I'm practical and peaceful enough to know that toting guns and filling peoples' heads with the ideas of men who lived 100, even 200 years ago is simply asking for trouble. I own and read the manifesto, in fact it's one of my favourite pieces of literature, but it could use some updating.

So, the 13 colonies became 1 brand spanking new country. If problems could be converted to gasoline we would still be running on the 'problems' of our fore fathers. But we made it, and we're here now, after a long and tumoltuous journey through time. We're still a very young country, and we have very much to learn (as does the rest of the world).

Call me a typical American but I think we're the best country in the world, with the best people in the world. I love this country with all my heart. If someone disrespects this country and these amazing people I'd be the first to correct their mistake. And I'm proud to be an American.

In this country.

When I travel abroad I tell people I'm from Canada. I learned that the hard way. People are not at all friendly to Americans. So, when I'm visiting Ireland I am from St. John's, Newfoundland Canada. I think the winters are horrendous but I do enjoy the fresh cod in the spring mm mm mm. The regatta sailing ferstival is simply the best on the East Coast eh?

They'd never know I was born and raised in Connecticut, in the United States, nowhere near the water and nowhere near Canada.

But I do love this country. I hate the way it is treated and the way our people are talked about, like we're monsters. There are monsters everywhere in this world, it's not unique to Americans. We didn't all elect George Bush, and I can guarentee that 95% of us are completely sorry for every remark that leaves his big fat mouth.

As an American I apologize for our dumbass leader. As an American I say, God bless America, the country where anything was possibly for my ancestors. You welcomed them in when their homelands had nothing left to offer. I am eternally grateful to this great country, and all it has to offer. God bless America indeed, and may all Her people live in peace and harmony with the rest of the world in the VERY near future.

If I had a Hammer

There are some things in life that simply do not make sense. For example, hate, it just doesn't make any sense. If you go along with the mentality that God (yes I believe that there is a God, yes I am a Christian, yes I disagree with all of the radical Christian ideologies) created everything, why would God create hate? The fundamentalists would tell you that God didn't create Gays, or Jews, or Muslims, or Mexicans, or any group that doesn't fit into their view of the perfect Christian world. I believe that God created everything equally, every flower, every baby, every thought. It is as difficult for me to rationalise hate as it is for the fundamentalists to rationalise alternative viewpoints.

I had a discussion with a friend of mine the other night about hate. My opinion is that hate is the manifestation of misplaced fear. The Communists feared a popular uprising against the party, so they propogated hate of capitalism. The Nazis feared everyone and everything that went against what they stood for, so the spread the hate of everyone who wasn't a blonde haired, blue eyed, Protestant of Nordic ancestry. George Bush and his cronies feared being caught in a web of lies they invented when they knew they couldn't protect the people to the uptmost, so they propogated hate of muslims, not just muslim extremeists, but anyone from the middle east. It's always someone else's fault. Why can't we, as a society, as a culture, as a human race admit that we have been led astray, that we are mistook, and it is all our fault. But we will do everything in our power to fix it.

That's the clincher, we won't do everything in our power to fix it because, well, we're lazy. It's so much easier to blame someone else and have them have to pick up the pieces.
Uncertainty breeds fear, and fear breeds hate. The fact of the matter is, uncertainty is an integral part of life. Nothing is certain. You may go to take a shower today, lather your hair, drop some suds, and slip and fall and never get back up. Or it may be the most uneventful shower of your life. God only knows.

So stop breeding hate, stop caring about uncertainty, more importantly stop fearing it. There are two things which are certain in life, and no they are not "death and taxes." Life, in any capacity and eventual sunshine are the only certain things in life. Life and sunshine, though fleeting, will happen.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hiMve1ggjnI&feature=related