Sea Fever

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tideIs a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield, Poet Laureate of England (1930-67).

“My husband was kidnapped over three years ago, and in this period I have not known anything about his whereabouts and how he is keeping (…) Recently I have found out that he has been transferred to Guantánamo. I am very happy that he’s alive, but it’s a shock because I’ve heard a lot about what happens there.”

Courtesy of http://www.amnesty.org/

Click on the link to read more about Guantanamo Bay detainees, torture, children at Guantanamo, & how you can help.

Putin blasts U.S. for ‘very dangerous’ foreign policies

-Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of making the world a more dangerous place by trying to impose its will through an “almost uncontained, hyper use of force.”-(CBC News)

-”One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is very dangerous. Nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law,” Putin told the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy.-(CBC News)

-”It is a world of one master, one sovereign.… It has nothing to do with democracy,” he told the gathering of senior security officials from around the world-(CBC News)

You may not like that he said it, but its true. Democracy is a word the US likes to throw around when it suits their needs.

But if it was an ideal they honestly lived by how could they explain their support of dictators throughout Europe, Asia & Latin America?

Wasn’t it just last year that the US refused to recognize Hezbollah as an official government? Even though they were democratically elected by its citizens.

Didn’t they also just last year attempt to interfere with the democratic elections of Nicaragua, a country still struggling to recover from a US funded civil war that completely devastated their government, economy & culture. Threatening sanctions, embargoes & even violence if the citizens elected a leader who was not in favor with the white house?

Democracy? That is a concept that is only supported by the US if the outcome is Pro-American & above all, profitable.

I for one applaud Putin for standing up & speaking out. The US has gone virtually unchallenged in it’s tyrannical holy war. And if you do happen to have an opinion opposing the war you are labeled Pro- Terror & Anti- Troops. This war that is not even supported by the majority of American citizens has gone on far too long.

More international leaders need to heed his example. They need to make America realize that, contrary to their own PR, they do not own the world.

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one direction & not in another, unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present & future mingle & pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.”

I love this quote. I read it whenever I am disappointed with my progress through life. It reminds me that I don’t have to be perfect. That mistakes & misjudgements are inevitable. It is the human condition to strive & to fail. On the days when I beat myself up for not having all the answers, I remember that I’m not suppose to. I remember that it is in the asking that we grow.

Spirits dwell here.

I can feel them in the chill of the evening. I see them in the morning fog that thoughtlessly rolls across the bay. They live on the rugged cliff line & in the dampness of the breeze. They often remind me of someone I knew once, perhaps in another life.

No one ever leaves here…not even in death. Because heaven may be beautiful but will it have a seaview? Will there be music in the sunset? Will the waves ebb & crash on the shoreline? You see, there’s no flow here, nothing so fluid or poetic. Ebb & crash! I bet it flows in heaven, how boring.

Hold fast to dreams,

for if dreams die,

life is a broken-winged bird,

that cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams,

for if dreams go,

life is a barren field,

frozen with snow.

-Langston Hughes

“…there is only one way to strive for decency, reason, responsibility, sincerity, civility and tolerance, and that is decently, reasonably, responsibly, sincerely, civilly and tolerantly.”
-Vaclav Havel

Personally, I think they’re both beautiful.

What is it about change that scares us to our core? We’ve been changing since the day we were born and with every breath since. You’d think we’d be use to it. Yet still we resist, with every fibre of our being. We avoid, make excuses, pull the covers over our head & say we’ll deal with it tomorrow. And we never do, at least I don’t. Then something happens & we are forced to stop & rethink everything. I’m not talking about changing our hair style or our job, I mean real change. Sometimes the universe moves & we are forced to change the way we think. Change how we live our lives & the choices we make every day. A change of scenery or wardrobe can feel liberating, they can inflat your sails & send you on your way. But a change at our core can be utterly terrifying. And at times, completely necessary.