A day of gratitude.

Winslow Homer's work created this master piece that reminds us that there's so much more to this holiday than gluttony. Much deeper gratitude, much more earnest emotion is associated with it.

And it is only a glimpse of two parts of a bigger continuum. There are people worse at both ends.

There are people ridden with grief over much more harshness. Loss of loved one, loss of self, loss of memory, limbs. Lack of roof and warmth and safety.

And then, on the other side there are those who have same issues but with different problem. There are those who suffer from lack of interest, lack of heart, lack of ability or desire, lack of ability to enjoy what they have (even excess of it). Any amount of food is no good of you can't eat or digest.

So, a deep gratitude for what we have and deeper resolve to give those who have nothing – a day seems not enough for this but it is a start.

Let it be about schema not rigidity

Ever imagine, where did the shapes come from? Some shapes are obviously the result of what we saw around us...sun and moon. Circle-like. Sea-level was perhaps a straight line like.

Now, we know more...Pine cones were funnel-like. Beehives are hexagonal. Snowflakes are star shaped. Crystals are cubical.

But, square, rectangle and triangle are hard to find. As much as we can describe, use and calculate them today; it is amazing to think that someone came up with these shapes. Not only that, their use, characters, measure, definitions and sub-segments (isosceles, equilateral).

Imagine how it must have been for people to have no concept of shapes. They could describe things they saw by having to give examples of similar shaped objects. I think your face looks like 'that bright thing up there at dark' would have been a very normal conversation. Absence of color, shape and name of moon or time of the day.

And then we made it all up. Ha!

We gave names to things, we assigned shapes to describe better. Thing started to have no 'sides', 3 sides, four and five and six...

And we managed to organize it into something that can be taught and passed on. Pretty amazing.

Now only if we can understand that shapes were to understand things better, not to keep minds from thinking outside the 'squares' (defined/labeled relationships) and 'circles' (life and death) and 'lines' (time).

This tummy of mine...

I got thinking about how the world would work if we didn't have to deal with...empty stomach to feed. More precisely, will the world work at all?

Granted, as humans we are innately curious and creative and we evolve to learn. Very human traits. But, isn't it all connected to a hungry stomach? Or is there an element of hungry mind that exists independent of our belly?

Will any business, any innovation exist? Will we all become kinder or tolerant? Will vanity or style or money become our new measure of life? Would food industry not exist or become more creative? Would we still eat chocolate?

Hard to say except that we will not let chocolate go, ever. If the bottom and biggest base of Maslow's hierarchy (Maslow's need triangle) didn't exist then other than some random feelings and issues of mortality...what would motivate us? Would we still want to exchange thoughts, things, feelings? Perhaps.

The visceral need to eat is unconsciously so powerful that it drives the world...and not only humans...but every living being on this plant. I guess the absence of hunger wouldn't prevent us from aspiring for delectable food and gluttony but the reasons would be different. Or perhaps, the taste buds exist so that we can extract pleasure out of having to feed ourselves. The taste buds wouldn't evolve if we didn't need'em. The purpose around everything we do, engage in, believe, spend time doing would be different. Drastically different.

Consider the life of a pupa. It's sole purpose is to morph the larva to insect. It has no stomach and no excretion system (also no reproductive system). Imagine its role...without the need to eat...a pupa is only a stage.

Christmas knocks early on doors...

It seems like christmas sneaks up every year by a few days. It certainly ain't waiting for Thanks giving this year!

The black friday has turned into black month. Christmas has already taken over retail stores, radio channels and coffee flavors. Thanks giving is a good week away but you can already get ready for Christmas while you are cooking for thanks giving.

Santa is already up in store aisles, ornaments already on sale, gifts already on shelves, baits already in place for shoppers. You could easily just skip one holiday in the anticipation on the next one.

It seems that people would already be shopped out and exhausted by the time the real 'Friday after thanks giving' arrives. Would there be a loud silence on streets coming Friday? The only people in business would be the ones selling gift wrapping stuff and trees.

As it is I always wondered if people had a night out to deck up malls on the thanks giving night. And you have to wonder, coz' if you were to go into malls after thanks giving (as in right after)...everything is ready for christmas. Songs, ornaments, choirs, trees, fake snow...its all there right after 2 mins of thanks giving being over. It is almost as if we feed ourself to prepare for what is about to happen on Friday – start prep work for Christmas.

Fall is late and mild, days are short and christmas is here in spirit (shopping spirit!). Lets make the most of it. After all, joy season could never be too long...eggnog could never be too much...retail deals can never be too sweet.

No pot for us!

Californians defeated the proposition to legalize marijuana. So, no pot for you unless you are in blinding pain.

Or unless you can rig the system and get fake prescription!

There will always be a part of society which will find its way to anything that is addictive. Anything – medicine, cannabis, alcohol, cocaine...anything!

If the purpose of ban was to keep some barrier in place so that people have to jump some hoops thus preventing the mass population to be high...well, the purpose has failed....oh about forever back. Marijuana is rampant in high-school and colleges. The gangs are fully functional and weed is not that difficult to get if someone's looking.

In a way, the legalization could have imposed alcohol like limitations on who buys it and who sells it. it might have put some gangs out of business. Cops and courts could have had more time to look into pertinent issues. Patients could have had an easier time with getting rid of some serious and chronic pain issues. And oh yes, we could have used that tax money to build some school infrastructure.

Do some of us really think that banning something solves the issue? No, all it does is lets it fester under covers. Do we really think that we are all so gullible that if we had a choice to buy marijuana, it would make us all run to stores, buy it and be high?

We are not that fragile and we are not that stupid. We don't need to keep minding everyone's business with the fear that everyone will suddenly turn into an addict. If we want to do that, it is a can of endless worms – phones, TV, texting, internet, facebook?

How about the good old reverse psychology, open the stash and the candy will loose its lure!

Taboo

Taboo is proof that we are very judgmental as a specie and always want to adhere to some norm, fit into some 'normal'. A tiny slip, a major deviation and we label it as taboo. Something unknown, something to fear, something not 'normal'. And how is any one person superior than any other to call on someone's normality?

IMO taboo knocks on our sub-conscious coz' we aren't humans if it were not for our infallible curiosity. What if we tried it? Could we pull off trying it? Isn't it what we all think secretly when we see something that is taboo (or is it just me:))?

Taboo is someone's life, someone's way even if it seems alien. Something unknown = something we fear = something we don't understand = something not normal? I bet their equation, when they look at us works the same way!

In my mind, lack of compassion is the birth of taboo. What if situations were reversed? Whatever happened to treat everyone like you want to be treated!?

I understand that as humans we are flawed and so taboo will exist. What I wish, however, is that a bit more compassion bleeds into our perspective when we see and hear what we are not use to. The equation changes to something unheard/unseen = something I don't understand = something different = But, something that is and that is reason enough for it to be normal.

COEXIST

The dictionary defines religion as a set of beliefs, at best - a system to organize our beliefs. A religion after all is only a the language of faith so we can easily and systematically pass it on.

Here's my conjecture on how it came about:

Time: Very early beginning of human race

The earth, the life, the nature is so perfect, the space so infinite, the universe so vast that our tiny human brian cannot keep up with it. Days and nights, tides and seasons immaculate and nature tightly knit with life. The balance, the delicacy, the abundance...too much perfection.

And none of it in our control.

There is the fear of unknown and a need for belief that someone who is more than human has some control over it all. Humans feel helpless, like an observer. We then, perhaps, turn our hope into belief in something, someone...a God (Dictionary: creator and ruler of universe, controller of nature and fortune).

But, what do we do then? Do we each have our own God and our own way to reach out and please her?

Well, no...we did what humans do well, we discussed and we pitched ideas and the ones that stuck became structured, refined system called a religion. When someone had a better idea and better marketing to sell the idea, many religions came into existence.

Does it matter which came first? No. Does it matter which is better? That's subjective and hence we should all freedom to choose.

How foolish then that we fight over semantics of a system? That is all there is to differences in religion. Sure, there are customs and to-do things but the ultimate goal is the same.

It is a system that was suppose to unite us in our shared fear and shared need to believe. And it is one thing that separates us more than anything else...it the world today.

Which religion? Any religion at all? It doesn't matter. We created a system and we ought to tweak it when needed. We have fought over the system so much and for so long that the main reason why we created it is long forgotten.

Sure we can't control the sunset...but we can all enjoy it for free. And rave of its beauty.

What we can control is our behavior, our blind rage and hate towards fellow human being. And the one thing we can control is the thing that has spun so out of control.

If I could turn back time...

I'd go to adolescence
that blend of, that uncomfortable straddle of mature horizon and setting innocence

that time when you think that a heartache is end of the world
when a hurt feeling is your world

that time when life is simpler and sweeter
and small problems are the only problems, so they seem big problems

that time...when you are so innocent
that you cannot fathom that people can be cruel and life unfair
that it doesn't occur to you that choices can be limiting

that time...when you are mature enough
to become fearful and inhibited
to become aware and vulnerable

to be able to live that irony
to be able to live that high of youth
to be able to live and not realize that you are so alive

that time when you are not quite responsible for your own self
and you don't realize how much weight that bears
to be able to live that eagerness to grow up
without the burden of grown up years

perhaps I wouldn't turn time at all
coz' life does move on one-way lane
when it is ashes and dust for all
to go through it all one more time...seems bane

Time?

Time – as we know it, is our measure of past, present and possible future of our life. Our collective lives.

It is our map to make sense of existence, our compass to navigate through our lifetime.

It really doesn't mean anything. The days, the seasons remain relatively same in one's lifetime. The evolution, the minor tweaks in nature remain relatively slow. Things are either set in pattern or too slow to categorize in patterns. So, it is just a self-made concept, a tool really to count.

When did earth form? When did humans arrive? How old am I? How many years will sun last? What is our average lifetime? Time was the only way to answer such random, unrelated questions and make some/any sense out of them.

If I were to define time as:
Sunrise to sunset = 1 day
Sunset to sunrise = 1 day
10 such cycles = 20 days = 1 year
I will be much (MUCH) older than I am in current nomenclature

However, if I defined time as:
7 days (normal days) = 1 day
I would suddenly be transported to my childhood (SWEET!)

It is just that we stuck with one idea of time and ran with it. Also, we became too many (too many people) to have different systems. Globalization would take a giant step back if we had no consistent 'time' lexicon.

But, it is just a tool. There's no “time” running out. Things birth, they die. 'Time' doesn't stop... only means that nothing changes relative to our short lifetime. We can, if we want, think of our time as an infinite days and nights and months and years. No one can argue against it.

color pellet

the spin, the cycle, the magic of it all
the ebb, the flow,
the spring and the fall

it feels so soon and yet a year has passed
the cadence similar if not the same
time...ticks and tocks away
yet seasons go by the same name

the sun slants, and air cools
and the lungs breathe air heavy and wet
I never knew purple goes with orange
until I saw a perfect fall sun ready to set

nature it feels is eager to exhaust its color pellet
to show it off, to show it all
the strokes of yellow and orange and rubicund
paint the irony, the most colorful and yet it is fall...