Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Noisy Thoughts & Empty Words
It has been over five months since I was here. Having spent some time with my elderly father who could be the mirror of my future, I seemed to have lost my way, troubled by the reality of an aged life when words no longer seem to matter, when the body awakens to awkward mobility and the mind to forgetfulness. So what is the point in putting down thoughts when they ultimately represent nothing but the compulsion of the still-capable intellect to act even though its product is as empty as the unclaimed cyberspace?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Letter To A Friend (Redacted )
Dear Daen,
After returning from lunch I called up ____, ____ and ____ telling them how beautiful your drawings were and how happy I was, and I am still thrilled.
You are truly a gem, like no other I've seen, and I will say that again and again and hope you won't get tired of hearing it. This is actually the first time I have experienced your genius and it is miraculous!
I described to ____ your condition (a name I cannot remember) and she wishes you well. I told her that I could not see anything externally and that you are doing extraordinarily well under the circumstances.
Your deep humility and your resolve to continue to share your gift with others and to support your staff in light of your condition have become a beacon of light and an inspiration in my life. I have happily received from you serious and challenging lessons to be learned. They are not going to be easy but I don't want to fail myself and I don't want to fail you.
Today, you have permitted me to catch a glimpse of these other-worldly places you have been. In the time to come, please remember me, look for me and bring me along. I need a lot more help than just the project at hand.
Thank you for your kindness and love, Al [1], [2]
[1] Related "tweet": Al in SF @Al_in_SF
Lunch@PiccinoCafe w/ Daen - a gem with the humility of a grain of sand, a divinely inspired genius, a suffering angel & God's special child.
[2] In the shadow of Daen I stand in reverence and in humility.
After returning from lunch I called up ____, ____ and ____ telling them how beautiful your drawings were and how happy I was, and I am still thrilled.
You are truly a gem, like no other I've seen, and I will say that again and again and hope you won't get tired of hearing it. This is actually the first time I have experienced your genius and it is miraculous!
I described to ____ your condition (a name I cannot remember) and she wishes you well. I told her that I could not see anything externally and that you are doing extraordinarily well under the circumstances.
Your deep humility and your resolve to continue to share your gift with others and to support your staff in light of your condition have become a beacon of light and an inspiration in my life. I have happily received from you serious and challenging lessons to be learned. They are not going to be easy but I don't want to fail myself and I don't want to fail you.
Today, you have permitted me to catch a glimpse of these other-worldly places you have been. In the time to come, please remember me, look for me and bring me along. I need a lot more help than just the project at hand.
Thank you for your kindness and love, Al [1], [2]
[1] Related "tweet": Al in SF @Al_in_SF
Lunch@PiccinoCafe w/ Daen - a gem with the humility of a grain of sand, a divinely inspired genius, a suffering angel & God's special child.
[2] In the shadow of Daen I stand in reverence and in humility.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Selected Tweets On Disappointment
A prayer is seldom answered in the time or the way one expects it to be, but when it is answered, inner peace will prevail.
24m Al in SF Al in SF @Al_in_SF
Faith transforms disappointments and despondence into courage to reach out and to reconnect the dots in new, fun, creative & rewarding ways.
44m Al in SF Al in SF @Al_in_SF
When what has really been worked at & hoped for does not pan out, that is God intervening and directing me away from further foolishness.
24m Al in SF Al in SF @Al_in_SF
Faith transforms disappointments and despondence into courage to reach out and to reconnect the dots in new, fun, creative & rewarding ways.
44m Al in SF Al in SF @Al_in_SF
When what has really been worked at & hoped for does not pan out, that is God intervening and directing me away from further foolishness.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Life’s Puzzling Questions
During a moment of quiet my mind returned to matters more intangible and elusive from those more grounded in business and politics. It is in this metaphysical realm that a degree of equilibrium between consternation and clarity exists.
The basic question is not as dramatic as Shakespeare's “to be or not to be,” or to live or die. It is to be or to do.
The answer can either be (a) or (b) but does one necessarily have to precede the other? No, in the case of a trust fund baby who is able to grow up and live a pampered life without having to be productive. So the question is a real choice for the “spoon-fed” adult in the “Garden of Eden” in his prime having health, wealth and youth simultaneously. With these concurrent gifts, should he simply be or should he do something? Is it (a) or is it (b)?
Or, is it (c), neither, for this is not a dilemma for his free will, his parents or the wise but for time, fate or chance to mold its outcome? Can an answer be gleaned from the life of a saint and contrasting it with that of a sinner?
In the case of Francis of Assisi, son of a wealthy merchant, he simply lived, and lived simply. God spoke to him. He remained a humble and holy servant till death.
In the case of GW Bush, born to a wealthy and politically powerful family, he took life by its horns, and rode it as if it were a bucking rodeo bull. Allegedly God spoke to him. He is the current titleholder of Worst U.S. president, an unenviable recognition given to him by 60% of historians in 2009. See http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
An answer may not be as obvious as one would like and may come as late as the moment of death, and maybe different for different people so that either (a), (b) or (c) could be correct as well as wrong. It would be correct if joy or peace arrives with impending death but wrong if fear or emptiness looms at death's imminence.
The basic question is not as dramatic as Shakespeare's “to be or not to be,” or to live or die. It is to be or to do.
The answer can either be (a) or (b) but does one necessarily have to precede the other? No, in the case of a trust fund baby who is able to grow up and live a pampered life without having to be productive. So the question is a real choice for the “spoon-fed” adult in the “Garden of Eden” in his prime having health, wealth and youth simultaneously. With these concurrent gifts, should he simply be or should he do something? Is it (a) or is it (b)?
Or, is it (c), neither, for this is not a dilemma for his free will, his parents or the wise but for time, fate or chance to mold its outcome? Can an answer be gleaned from the life of a saint and contrasting it with that of a sinner?
In the case of Francis of Assisi, son of a wealthy merchant, he simply lived, and lived simply. God spoke to him. He remained a humble and holy servant till death.
In the case of GW Bush, born to a wealthy and politically powerful family, he took life by its horns, and rode it as if it were a bucking rodeo bull. Allegedly God spoke to him. He is the current titleholder of Worst U.S. president, an unenviable recognition given to him by 60% of historians in 2009. See http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
An answer may not be as obvious as one would like and may come as late as the moment of death, and maybe different for different people so that either (a), (b) or (c) could be correct as well as wrong. It would be correct if joy or peace arrives with impending death but wrong if fear or emptiness looms at death's imminence.
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