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A commentary examining the velocity of our lives.
Two days after the new year has commenced, and I am still wondering what the heck happened to 2003. Thankfully, it went by at record speed, and I am relieved it did so. We need a break!
Never, have I seen a year so full of challenges and despair yet still find overriding hope that not only will transfer to the new year but expand this year to be one made of dreams instead of heartbreak. So, yes, I refuse to live in Heartbreak Hotel and have moved on to a better domicile! Let us call this one Friendship Inn and dedicate this year to one of improving friendships and life.
This year I pledge to be a better friend, better spouse and better parent, grandparent, and yes great grandparent (love you Paxton). How will I achieve this? The answer is rather simple—I will listen. I will listen better than I have ever listened before. I will listen to the words that said to me, I will fully acknowledge, understand, and appreciate what is being communicated. I do not see this as a resolution as just a better way to conduct my life. By truly listening and not keep trying to get my point across I will know whether a friend is hurting or happy. I will know what they want from life and what I can do to help them. This is what I want from life. This is what I can give to life.
The following poem dubbed Velocity explores life and professes my concept of friendship:
VELOCITY
I. The velocity of a bullet can be computed in deference to distance traveled also known as space and then divided by time.
The velocity of being on the receiving end of said bullet can be figured but once received it is hardly worth the calculated effort.
Furthermore, the argument that my bullet is faster than your bullet hardly matters if you are the one being shot.
II. The velocity of a rainbow includes color as well as the pot of gold supposedly at the end of it and excellent depth perception.
Whereas a bullet has an intended target unless shot accidentally, a rainbow always appears to be an accident of nature. This is usually never repeated except once when driving from Palm Springs 3 (three) rainbows magically sprouted simultaneously from the sky.
Awestruck, we (as a race) like to be hit by rainbows. They do not hurt or puncture and always make you feel lucky or blessed. Additionally, there is nothing frustrating about rainbows and they are not known to kill.
III. The velocity of friendship can easily and readily be worked out without disturbing factors of weather or acts of god.
The speed of friendship is simply determined by acts of profundity mixed with consistency and divided by reliability plus most importantly the willingness to take said bullet whatever its velocity for said friend.
The next piece is about self-realization:
THE FRIEND
My childhood was nothing to talk about filled with clouds of introspection and faulty wishes without backbone I felt small and insignificant.
I wanted to be tall standing up for myself not stand out in the crowd find me through the noise.
There were dreams I forgot to dream and relevances I found irrelevant I needed to detach my roots from the soil of my birth.
O Joy O Joy – Life consumes time and the friend I alway sought stared back at me from the mirror.
The final piece in this issue is about friends passing:
Cries filled with mourning lament shame guilt innocence – Life gone awry.
A heart stops beating and now must live in our own – A death between friends.
This sudden thrusting of fear and loss no way to make up for presence lacking – Where does hope glimmer?
A spiritual heart never flags never stops beating corporal to ethereal it is a rising not a falling. – A rising not a falling. – And though your friend’s heart is still it yet beats in your own.
Video and Song
And to top things off here is one of the best songs ever about friendship — Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend. James Taylor made it a hit back in the day. But I like this version just Carole, her piano and her song!
Double Header
Let’s make it a double header with another of my favorite songs of all time—Stand By Me covered by the Playing For Change Around The World! I just love this song and this version although of course Ben E. King does a more than admirable job!
Lawrence George Jaffe
Lawrence George Jaffe is an internationally known and an award-winning writer, author, and poet. For his entire professional career, Jaffe has been using his art to promote human rights. He was the poet-in-residence at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, a featured poet in Chrysler’s Spirit in the Words poetry program, co-founder of Poets for Peace (now Poets without Borders) and helped spearhead the United Nations Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry project which incorporated hundreds of readings in hundreds of cities globally using the aesthetic power of poetry to bring understanding to the world.
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