Tagged: philosophy

Shattering the Mirror

Nicole Marie

Nicole Marie

If you missed Nicole Marie’s post on Tuesday, I’d recommend going back and giving it a read.  It was a highly personal, and very powerful piece of poetry that was well-deserving of the attention that it received.    

Of Me speaks about negative self perception of body image from a young woman’s perspective.  It carries a universal theme, and it’s a demon that a lot of people have either dealt with in the past, or are still currently battling.

I’ve read a lot of heavy-topic articles around the web, but this was the first time I ever read something that actually moved me to tears.

It was the closing stanza that really poked me:

I am, she says, a well-wrapped box of weeds and good intentions, worn at the seams – no card attached.  But she will never learn the weight of her own gravity; she will never see the blue of the sky, if she never raises her eyes to it.

A dude by the name of Rich then followed up with a thoughtful interpretation of those two lines:

It speaks to me because most of us view weeds as bad. but dandelions are beautiful weeds.  There are many colorful weeds along highways. and what of the weed itself?  It’s just following nature, growing, absorbing water and CO2 like a rose or a holly or mums.  So it’s got the same good intentions as those other, more appreciated plants, and it cleans the air for humans, just like the more beautiful flowers.  It isn’t always as pretty, but it does the same things for the balance of nature.  Good intentions.

The insight that Rich provided is reflective of my own life philosophy.

I think any attempt to bully someone into accepting some version of “ideal” is actually an attempt to mask an insecurity or fear of the aggressor.  And by consequence, all it does is create an insecurity in an otherwise secure person.  In other words, nobody is born into this world with a negative self-perception; it’s a learned behavior.  

That critical voice in your head is not your own.  Figure out who’s voice it is and toss it.

Realize that you’re an asset as you are; use your own greatest strengths, and maintain your free-spiritedness and free-thinking mindset.  Allow the pockets of peace to grow and expand until they completely fill you.  We all have something unique and important to contribute.  

Keep admiring your authenticity, and become the eye of the beholder.  If you can maintain that mindset, you might not ever have to look into another mirror again.  It was a courageous piece that you wrote, Nicole Marie.

Chin square to the ground at all times.  Salute.        

 \m/

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Tomorrow is the last day to submit your Movember Mustaches before the contest ends.  Click here to visit the contest post.  I’ll be announcing the winners here on Saturday Morning, and I might even break down and do a VIDEO drawing.  Yes! \m/  In the meantime, please donate a couple of bucks to the Movember Cause if you can.  Even a small donation would be greatly appreciated.    

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Making Constructive Use of Political Yard Signs

Now that election season is over we can finally yank all those stupid political yard signs.  Sigh of relief.  But, being the earth-humping, new age hippie that I am, I’m concerned by the tremendous amount of potential waste being generated here.  The optimist inside me assumes that someone has a plan to collect and recycle them, rather than toss them on top of a landfill pile.  I won’t hold my breath…

Just in case the decision makers aren’t as forward thinking as I’m assuming they are, I’ve constructed a short list of recycling plans that should be considered by your community.

Here’s a few ways we could Make Constructive use of Political Yard Signs:

“Coming in second place has never felt so good!”

Build a Retirement Community for Ex-Presidential Hopefuls

Ex-presidential hopefuls deserve to retire comfortably too.  I think it would be a nice gesture to have them put up in an apartment community constructed entirely out of yard signs.  Sounds green to me?  Let’s see how much you love your planet — seeing that you’ve all had enthusiastic eco-plans built into your campaigns.  Oh, and no frivolous misuse of tax dollars allowed.  We’ll provide whatever amenities you’d like, ex-hopefuls, so long as it can be constructed out of yard signs.  A swimming pool you say?  Maybe we can figure something out using the plastic ones.  Enjoy your golden years Al Gore, but keep your hands off the in-home nurses.

Build a Bitchin’ Croquet Course

My vote goes to a Croquet course.  A very, very big one.  I’m thinking we might need to zone a piece of land the size of Connecticut to really make this happen.  Create more jobs?  Done and done!  We can even have the course run through the retirement community.  I’m sure Mitt is a real knocker at it already.

Here’s a picture of the proposed Olympic training course. Its just a rough design for now…

Olympic Hurdler Training Facility

Bring home the gold young U.S. Olympians, but stop wasting money on all of that high-tech training equipment.   Am I the only one that saw Rocky?  The Italian Stallion kept it modest.  Punch a rack of beef, screw the heavy bag.  Political yard signs would make great hurdles for our Olympic track and field hopefuls.  Chop, chop, chop, Romney!  Chop, chop, chop, Obama!  Chop, chop, chop, Gary Johnson!  Sounds kind of fun, doesn’t it?   Equestrian facilities should also be considered for sign shipments.

Feed them to Goats

Are goats a naturally occurring animal?  I’m starting to wonder if they were produced by a lab technician somewhere in the remote Nevada desert.  Goats will eat anything short of rocket fuel.  Why pass on millions of pounds of potential livestock feed?  I say shred all of the signs and ship them off to goat farms.  We eat steroid-injected beef supposedly, why not bullshit-injected goat?

Nudist Colony Fencing

I think a large shipment of signs should be distributed to nudist colonies for privacy reinforcement measures.  Not for the sake of the colonists of course, but for the sake of everyone else passing by.  It seems like all of the people that I don’t want to see walking around in the buff are the folks that love showing off their sag and jigglies the most.  Please, embrace clothing!  Hearing the term “birthday suit” brings a hot burp to the top of my neck.

Hmm. Looks kind calm out this afternoon…

Wind Energy Overhaul

Here’s another idea that I’m surprised no one else has considered yet.  Experts are always spatting back and forth about how to create more green energy jobs, but the enormous cost and infrastructure required always seems to settle the debate prematurely.  Why don’t we just pass out a couple million yard signs to jobless folks and have them fan the turbines?  With that much man power, those propellers would be spinning like a ceiling fan.  Low cost, high efficiency.  I think we might be on to something…

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Let’s all raise our glasses together and toast to the end of the campaign trail.  Cheers!  And remember, there’s no problem that can’t be solved without a little bit of ingenuity…

I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas!

-Happy Blogging!

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