STARTING AGAIN
Inspired by anonynous (your spelling not mine)
It took me my whole life, so far
to understand that your grades and marks meant nothing
that I could be simple and brilliant in a single breath
and even though I never graced your hallowed classrooms
my insistence you could never forget
and long days and fears and tears have passed
since I listened to your insipid voice
but now
as I soar
and ignore
your authority
I laugh
as I never could before.
Reader Comments
EXACTLY. Stand up. Fly. Feel fear to ignore, and to explore. No more being overtaken by tears and falling down crying. Not today.
GET UP, STAND UP. And don’t ever forget to laugh. None of us does enough of that.
That’s beautiful… and powerful… a rare combination.
Well, Diva, I’m not perfect like you — LOL!
Anyway, so much for my attempt at constructive criticism — I’ll just leave you to your chanting and ranting from here on out.
I did want to point out, though, that there is a difference between people who want to change the world (but don’t understand how to extend their message to a wider audience), and people who want to change the world and also make an effort to position their message so as to make it acceptable for those who would otherwise reject it.
People in the former category (like you, Diva) polarize the debate, upset or offend those with different views (leading to nasty comment postings, etc.), and ultimately, fail to make a difference.
People in the latter category (Bill Clinton is a great example), OTOH, can build broad coalitions among people who would normally be opposed to their ideas because they study and understand their opponents’ motivations; these are the people who ultimately drive change and make a difference.
As I said earlier, I do appreciate what you are trying to do, it’s just that I’d like to see you become more like the latter sort of person.
As Forrest Gump would say: and that’s all I have to say about that.
Hi anonymous, glad to see you have a sense of humour! No, I’m not perfect and that is part of the reason why I responded to your comment the way I did. It has taken a long time to get to the point where I can write fairly freely and put my two pence worth out in the world so I did not take kindly to you telling me how I should do that. My “chantings and ranting” are precious to me because they are MY voice out there in the universe rather than anyone else’s. I do not mind that people disagree with what I say but I do take offense when you tell me HOW I should say them.
I admit I find it hard to understand the motivations of a racist or a misogynist. (They are the ones who write nasty comments) I find it difficult to deal with the fact that they will spend no time trying to understand me. No, it’s always the other way round. Why is that?
Making a difference? Probably not, not in any big way but I like the tiny community here. I like my blog friends and what they have to say. I have found so many interesting intelligent people via this activity that I would never had had the chance to communicate with.
The world doesn’t need any more Bill Clintons. As President, he gave us a despicable Republican welfare “reform” bill and signed bigoted legislation misnomered the “Defense of Marriage Act.” This from a serial adulterer. He could have signed an executive order allowing gay and lesbian Americans to serve in the military. He caved. he could have appointed the single most qualified person in America for the job - Prof. Lani Guinier - to be Asst. Attorney General for Civil Rights. He let ONE column by a known bigot on the Wall Street Journal editorial page dissaude him. IOW, he caved.
I could go on and on. I won’t. Clinton, like Jimmy Carter, will end up being a better EX-President than he was a real president. He had no guiding core priniciples when he was in office, other than to do whatever was to his best political advantage at that moment.
I’d rather Diva stick to her guns. If that makes folks mad, too bad.
PS: I’m a life-long liberal (Roosevelt/Wellstone) Democrat. Just for the sake of full disclosure.
And I won’t be voting for Hilary, either.
When exactly did Devious polarise a debate? Taking a stand against an obvious injustice is hardly taking an extreme position. While I agree that pitching your message to the widest possible audience is a grand idea there has to be a limit. Otherwise what is the point ?
BTW I don’t think Devious has decided to run for office as of yet.