Life is Everything

Endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings. The life that is lived "in transition" IS life. No one arrives. There are no destinations. Conclusion is delusion, as the mind must remain open to all things and be focused on what is often overlooked as "the getting ready". You're already there; BE there. Look around. Look with an open heart and be grateful that you were born into a body and brain that can, in its own exceptional way, experience nature with all its love and mystery. Using as many senses as you possess, smell, taste, touch, see, and hear yourself and all the wonderful things that spawned your existence. Start with water, plants, food, gravity, dirt, air, and the great emotions that anticipate yet another day of life. Remain firmly and reverently aware that it will all end and change into something else someday, but also that this is only the start. Avoid distractions. Want what you already have. Life, in and of itself, is everything.

The Real America

America has always been, and always will be, represented and populated by more than one group or race of people. Since our inception, we have been a kind of "every-country" to the rest of the world. Our "melting pot" type culture fuels our democracy, keeping us from dipping down into the"third world" status. Some of our earliest founders, like Thomas Jefferson, loved other cultures, traveled the world, and wanted what was good from around the world to become a real part of their dream for America. Our diversity is our strength; E Pluribus Unum - "out of many, one".

Look around and be grateful, rather than resentful of our differences. America has always been about many types of people. It took ALL kinds of people and cultures to build our country, and it will take all kinds of people and cultures to move us into the future. We can look forward with pride, because of our rich history, art, and technology; always remembering that our freedom and diversity has made us the envy of the world on so many levels. We should be proud of the mixed fabric of our contingency, never afraid of it, letting liberty and justice actually be for all. If we don't, we could start witnessing the slow death of what made us who we really are as a country. Has our decline already started? We can always do better, and must, so that our children can live in a great country in the future that will remain a true leader in the world, a light, an example, the real America - Jeff Mosier