War! and Great Speeches.. does anyone really listen?

Greetings this blessed Sunday Morning
Overnight - for many - the world has changed.. and in view of that change - I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about speeches.
I watched David Cameron last night talk about British Forces "being in action over Libya" and how "they've come together as a coalition to enforce the will of the UN - and to protect the Libyan people!" great ... Rwanda anyone??

Good to see the UN have their teeth back.. at last

Anyway.. that aside - our PM did a great job in justifying taking action - almost taking away - in a sense - the true reality of what that means...of what war means for hundreds - no thousands of innocents in Libya..

A bitter pill is easily swallowed if administered just right... and in this case Cameron did (in my view) get his words just right...
"It is necessary"
"It is legal.. aka I'm not Blair!"
"and it is right"
Who can argue with that...

Great speeches can impact on the world - move people in a way that very little else can .. remember Barack Obamas victory speech?
When young and old across the world gathered in front of the TV to watch this wonderful spectacle take place in a land where the history of African Americans is littered with the blood of many great activists whose only real desire was equality fairness - and for people ( who looked like me) to be treated like - well... people - and not animals...

Remember..
"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord...
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics"

Yes - great speeches can offer hope to the hopeful - of rectifying a bad or intolerable situation - the possibilities of a better life - a better future.

Again ...Barack Obamas Inaugural Address..
"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it"

Who can forget the beautiful closing statement of his victory speech....
"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can"

Yes we can..
Yet still - we fight
Yes we can
Yet still - we appear incapable of peace
Yes we can
Yet still - we don't

Nothing for me sums up this current situation across the world better than a speech written over 47 years ago..
It speaks much of the ways things will continue to be unless we change.
It speaks of the ills of human nature
It could have been written yesterday
It was actually written by Haile Selassie - and set to music by Bob Marley
I stumbled across these words on the back of an album cover when I was very young - and nothing I've witnessed or heard since then has ever disproved them
Some of you may be of an age where you can remember the speech being delivered.. I wonder if it had an impact on you at the time..

However - as far removed from the echelons of power and decision making as I may be -I believe my words to be of no less importance when I say that I believe... more strongly than ever - that there must be a change
As people... we need to change...
We can make it right..

Yes we can..x

Cute

So you think I’m cute
You can never be mad at me
Never lose your patience
Or raise your voice to me
Without you feeling
Absolutely
Guilty
Afterwards
You’ll try to make amends

So you find my ways endearing
Can never imagine life
without me talking in your ear
About anything and nothing
Everything and something
Even when you’re busy
The most important thing to you
Is that you’re there
For me
As I am here for you

So you never want to change me
Happy to watch me grow
As you’re beside me
You are stronger
I am stronger
So we’re equal
You can be my guide
As you're insightful
Even if I can be ‘kinda’ fickle
At times
It’s not a huge percentage
And nothing can ever dent it
Your love for me
Because
You think I’m cute

Is it possible to care too much??

It's important not to take someone for granted as they wont always be there. I'm really looking forward to linking up with one of my favourite people today.. Even though I'm feeling a bit under the weather..

There are some people who just naturally bring out the best in you - make you feel comfortble and at ease.. and there are others who don't.
But even those who don't - it's still cool because they bring out another side of your persona - enabling you to become a more balanced person.
Sometimes you gotta fuss - sometimes you gotta fight - as it makes you appreciate love and kindness even more..
There are times however - when I wonder if it's possible to be too nice - too caring..too sharing!.. and the jurys still out on that one for me - other than to say.. If you're caring and sharing with a person - or with people who treat you in the same manner - as in they're equally as open and as giving as you are then it's fine...great! - but if you give your all to a person or people who do not do the same in return you are quite likely to feel taken for granted - and to be honest- rightly so! - as the likelihood is ... you probably are being...sorry
They must express an equal bond in some way - after all - if not - how can you ever trust their intention - motive?
No - love n hate are not easy bedfellows in my book ( ok - a bit extreame I know) but I do believe in like for like..
After all - the saying 'show me your company and I'll show you who you are!' is very apt - as like does tend to attract like..
It's the law of attraction at work - maybe

There are those I'd be very wary to develop an attachment to based purely on their attachments elsewhere - why - becasue it says something about who they are.. and you ask yourself - is this who I am?? really?? This is rare however as I 'kinda' like most people, and again - that may - as with most things change over time but right now - that's just how it is
I think I feel that way more so because of the way I've seen others treated by those who they thought liked or even loved them - thought they were friends with - only to discover - they were wrong - very wrong. Broken hearts - broken dreams - broken trust - broken friendships can be put back together - but never in quite the same way
So - be careful about who or what you give your all too..share your all with - as the recipients should be deserving - your emotional or 'sociological' equal

Yes the jurys out still - but I'm coming really close to making my mind up on this

NB...I find that whenever I'm tierd or under the weather - my mood is one of reflection
Creative peope have a predilection for sorrow - 'anchored' by times of incomprehensible inner happiness -don't 'cha knowx

Thoughts become things?

I cancelled an appointment today just to have some ‘me’ time
Felt I needed to take stock of everything, read awhile – and just breathe awhile
Thought about the things I’d done well over the week, and the things I could have inevitable done better
Then I thought - who cares?
Yet I care! - About everything – and nothing in almost equal measure – is that odd?
Everything matters to me – yet nothing matters
I guess the trick is working out when to care – and for what - and when to let it go!
Yet do we really ever have the power make that decision - or is it out of our hands?
How much control do we have over our feelings and emotions?
Are they like taps you can turn on and off?

Maybe...

Maybe everything we want - we get – including joy and sorrow
It’s said that everything we see – we touch - began with a simple thought – and thoughts become things
So whatever we want, be it to feel or not to feel, to move ahead or remain static – can become our reality.

Yet if that is so – why then are there so many unhappy people in the world?
Many live another’s reality – a road not carved by them – but for them - by someone else, whether in the developing world or right here in the UK
How many of us actually do what we want to do? –
Can we ever be happy living the expectations of someone else
Conforming to the idea of conformity – instead of truly being free
Surrendering to oppression

There are times when the reality of another can bring much strength and beauty to our lives - can fuel our own motivations - refocus our aspirations and offer us hope

As such, I sourced two poems for you to enjoy
One you may know more than the other
But like songs poems can touch a special place in our hearts
Make us laugh – cry or simply reflect
Can get us fired up or help us to relax
So... I hope you enjoy these

I think us ladies can take a lot from the second poem – despite the final line
I view it as – mankind - humanity

Poem 1

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And look down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Poem 2

If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Peacex