I want to share this with you;
As you open your own eyes and begin to see the world around you in a way that you have never seen before, what do you do? I have always believed in this simple thought, if people were afforded the opportunity to truly "See", even if it were only for a moment, then in time they would leap at the chance to open their own eyes (minds eye). So believing this, I made myself a promise a very long time ago, or, should I say early on in my life, I don't want to sound old. Anyway, I promised myself that I would never walk by anyone without extending an invitation of kindness with a smile. I would smile and say hello, (simple but true) this may sound lame or stupid but I thought starting with simple courtesy would be something. When you don't know where to start, then you start with the simple and go from there at least that was the idea behind "Hello".
In the beginning of my journey I had a difficult time communicating this invitation. Mostly, the smile and hello was not working or I just did not know how to communicate at all. Then I could not understand why they could not see all the wonder of the world that was right in front of them, forget my stupid hello. The beauty that surrounds us always amazes me. I have to be totally honest; this made me wonder most of all. We are surrounded by wonder and people are so unhappy, including me on occasion.
I hate feeling unhappy or miserable about my life, so each day I wake up and say to myself, "new day, new footsteps for me to take in the world today, maybe I will skip out my front door or walk, maybe run, doesn't matter how I do it this morning, I am going to do it happily because, I want to, I want to do it for myself in preparation for all the people that I may meet today."
It has taken many years for me to understand, worst of all, it has taken me years to accept that some people, seems like a lot of people just do not want to see anything, regardless, if their eyes are in their mind or in their eye ball sockets, or in their head. They seem to want to remain blind to everything, have we become an apathetic society?
I used to believe, or better put, you could say, "I used to think", maybe people do not want to "see" anything, even the things that seem to be blaring them in the face. Could it be that choosing apathy over sight was due to all the pain that it would cause in their own heart and soul? I have to say to you, I am not sure that is it. My reasoning lies in this thought, wouldn't you have to first look at the problem to remember the pain, not simply not look or never look or decide to never "See". It is almost as if people have lost the eyes to see or do not have any eyes at all, no eyes to open or close, regardless of where they may be located, in their mind or eye sockets. How has this happened? Why has this happened? More importantly, how can you heal your own sight if your eyes are gone, replaced with apathy or worse, is now a simple void in yourself.
What is a void anyway? A void to me means an empty space but when I looked it up in the 1959 Webster New Dictionary this is the definition;
1) n. an empty space, a vacuum.
adj. empty, vacant, unoccupied; without effect.
vt. to make empty or vacant, eject; to make ineffective of invalid, annul.
Take a second or take a moment and ask yourself, "What does a void mean to you?" Are you seeing trouble in our world, do you ask yourself;
"What is happening?"
"Why does it feel like something is missing in our society?"
"What is missing?"
I took a look into my own Soul; I see the design of my own Heart. I can see an illustration of my own Life; it is a map of sorts, full of mountains, valleys, rivers and roads. All sorts of roads, there are freeways buzzing with thoughts that are racing through my mind. As I look more closely at myself, I begin to see the imperfections, as well as, the well worn paths; they seem to be the byways that run across, over, under and through this strange freeway system in my mind. Upon closer inspection of this different world inside of my mind, there are places alive with waterfalls, flowers, trees and pastures, green with new grass and then other places are the driest of Deserts. I can feel the hot air inside and the sun seems to beating me down, it is stifling, it is so incredibly arid. These are definitely the places I do not like to visit in my mind or think about, yet it seems that I am drawn to these places, why? Almost as if we enjoy being miserable in our day to day lives as oppose to choosing to being in all the beautiful parts of ourselves.
I believe that the reason we are drawn to such desolation in ourselves is simple, we need to find a reason for the lack of rain or "comfort" in that spot. I look at these spots and ask myself,
"Was this a time in my life when I was lost and lonely?"
"Did I settle for the discomfort of the situation because it seemed to be company for my misery?"
Here is the answer I wrote for myself; I would like to share it with you;
The past is our lesson.
The present our teacher.
The future, an adventure, not yet had.
Learn by our lessons.
Receive the education.
Change the future.
Happiness lies in our hearts,
explore the depths,
shine a light into our cave,
and
know that Hope springs from the hands that sew our tomorrows!!
I am writing this for all the words that I never spoke to the people I passed in my life. I have a thought that would go with each one. Though care, nor love ever ruled in my life, my care and love has always been present. Sometimes, we, or I, cannot share our deepest emotional strife, but in each stare, when I missed the opportunity to be kind to another being, I write this for you. In each moment we are here together with one another, walking together side by side, realizing that in one stare lies so much of ourselves that is communicated to each other. Words are so simple, thoughts so complex, the journey that I have been on, has been a means to an end. I have learned and am still learning, "that finding the end has been the means for me to begin my journey."
Karen Anastasia Placek
K.A.P.
Written on blog 2/17/2008
Edited 3/21/2011
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