Why Not Dance?

If we’re kept within a prison

there’s no lock can make us stay.

Lest our hapless, weary posture

simply let’s us waste away.

And if songs are sung around us

in the Winter or the Spring

But our voice is deathly silent

It’s not the fault of quieting.

When the wren darts to the sill plate

of the window we look out

And the song bursts from his small heart

lauding life and love, no doubt.

Dare we not release the handcuffs

which lock us down each day

And find somewhere within us

Something good or kind to say?

Reach out farther, oh my brother,

give your heart and mind a chance

Lift your spirit and your heels

It is your life, so why not dance?

Herb Ratliff, January 4, 2013, All Rights Reserved

Teach Your Children

In the morning, before the sunrise

When my eyes are still at rest

I see visions of the changes and

confusion masked as winning or success.

It’s as if I have been scouting

for the danger on the road that lies ahead

To foreworn those I have mentored

to prevent unwanted dread.

But my voice goes mute, I’m silenced

by some wicked, heartless sprite

So that all that I have garnered

has no substance, weight or light.

In the struggle they encounter

I have eyes and memories wise

That I scream from silenced heartbreak

but my voice is compromised.

It’s not wisdom that can aid them

When the sword is coming down

It’s the life that I have lived out

that’s the one they’ve copied down.

So the wisdom in my satchel

which I carry and would share

has no value to my warriors

who’ve become the life I’ve bared.

But by grace and fortunes blessing

many changes have been made

And the children I have tutored

Learned the value of a trade.

So the things they valued were protected

and the scary stuff they left alone

What is here is what they live for

sweet their minds and sweet their tone.

Herb Ratliff, January 3, 2013, All Rights Reserved

It's in Your Brain

One of the reasons you are sensitive to change and the health and welfare of friends and relatives is the same reason you are not a serial killer or CEO. If we watched your amygdala through an MRI machine we could see a virtual fireworks display when your decision process went from impersonal to personal. In a psychopath or CEO you would see darkness. They are driven by objective alone, how they achieve it is incidental. Is this oversimplified, to be sure. I mention this primarily because of the pangs we suffer sometimes because of our hardwired behavior.

In the newness of this doorway to 2013 remember that only part of you is malleable. We are not all executive material any more than we are all psychopaths. Fortunately we are all very different, very human examples of the possibilities of life as a human being. So do not be too quick to compare your insides with other people’s outsides. It’s a losing proposition, you can’t win. And most of the time you will be incorrect in your observations anyway.

If you are looking for ways to improve yourself, select things that you can control. For most of us weight can be controlled and exercise.  Improving our mind with more and better reading is ours to manage. Giving freely and often to those around us and in need is a choice unless you are among those who find emotion to be entropy. Politicians are often gifted with that characteristic. It isn't that they don’t care what happens. They just don’t care what happens to you.

Happy New Year!

Herb Ratliff, January 2, 2013, All Rights Reserved