Aguacero These downpours of my Cuban childhood when my father loved to smoke a cigarette on the patio of the house in Havana and watch as the sheets of rain bent against the tin roofs of the shacks in the neighbor's yard, the way drops hung from the wire mesh of the chicken coops and fell one by one on the dirt, dampening, darkening as they fell, and he would remove his shirt after a long day's work feeding the zoo animals and he would sit on his makeshift hammock, lean back, blow smoke up at the rafters, and he listened to all that rain as it fell on everything. He imagined it was raining all over the island, his island, and the sound of it drumming on the plantain fronds rose all around him like the clamor of thousands of cattle birds scattershot into the heavens, and when he closed his eyes he dreamt of a man, his hands buried deep into fertile earth, seeding a son, a wife, in new life from which so much hardship sprouted in this life, in the next, exile a possibility dripping from his fingertips â then the song of bullfrogs calling home the night. Virgil Suarez...
great poem. Its also a powerfull argument for the pleasure of smoking I don't smoke cigs anymore, but I wish I could get some cuban cigars.
Desperately wanting something is not very likely to bring it about. Your sense of want and your desperation serve mainly to perpetuate an attitude of lack and limitation. Rather than putting your energy into wanting something, put your energy into creating it. Instead of following a desperate kind of ambition, live with a confident kind of acceptance. Know that no matter what happens, there is a way for you to move positively forward. The biggest obstacle standing in the way of anything is often your idea that it cannot be. Think as if, act as if what you seek is already taking shape, and it will be. Open yourself to the magnificent abundance in which you're immersed, and let go of all thoughts of lack and limitation. Move beyond that painful, ineffective, desperate kind of ambition. Step forward with confidence and assurance to bring about the reality of whatever you seek. -- Ralph Marston
I cannot believe we all survived..... Well you are over forty if you get this. You lived as a child in the 50s and 60s or before. Looking back,it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have................. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint, and no padded crib protectors to keep us from sticking our heads through the slats. We could sleep on our backs, our sides, or our stomachs. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!) We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps of wood and old wheels or roller skates and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. No pagers. Unthinkable! We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. And sometimes make up and become best friends. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter,and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight.... .....we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this? We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at all, 699 channels on cable, video tape and DVD movies, surround sound, personal cellular phones, Personal Computers, internet chat rooms, ........... we had real live friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it? We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Bad behavior at home, at school, or in public was rewarded with corporal punishment, such as a smack or a paddling. We walked to school or at the very least to the bus stop without our parents taking us because it rained or snowed. We had people who didn't like us because of our religion, color, ethnic origin, where we lived, who we hung out with, and so forth. We survived. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. God, Family, and friends were the most important things in our lives. And you're one of them. something I got emailed to me...enjoy