paris in august...

Paris so beautiful… so calm...August is the time to wander out of the way arrondissements and eat al fresco in the Bois de Boulogne.. the simple pique nique we all dream about.. baguette, saussicon, cheese and a bocal of vin rouge or freshly chilled Evian..the peaches are sublime this time of year, or a melon and jambon de Parme..or take in an outdoor guinguette, along the Marne River on the outskirts of the city...old time dancing with the locals or sunbathing along les plages of the Seine. I have spent times twice during the month of August in Paris and love it..

It is in fact true that Parisians flee the city in August to go on vacation and the city does seem somewhat dead during that month, but it is truly very pleasurable to have the city to oneself. Parisians are not “Lucky Devils” to get three weeks paid holiday. They are citizens in a country that values its citizens. As opposed to the situation in which we find our selves; consumers in a society that has nothing but contempt for its workforce. Americans could have the same situation for themselves if they truly desired it. If we respected ourselves and our fellow citizens more then we groveled at the feats of the capitalistic market. The bitter irony is that our wealthy only have to worry about the problems inherent in taking a vacation to a place where the working class will be on vacation.

The fact the French think enough of their workers to give them a month off should give Americans some food for thought. Here in the USA most workers are lucky if they have one week with pay off and often that is begrudged in this workaholic society of ours. Vive la France!!! I’ll take Paris anytime…even in the grey days of winter or the dog days of August when many of its citizens are on “holiday”. We should be so lucky!

a GED in people skills...

We all have loves that come and go throughout our lives- some are exclusively platonic, others are romantic, others a bit mixed and ambiguous like many things in life. But I have always had a policy of giving respect and deference to those that I have been romantically involved with in my life. I have been called all types of things, been insulted in different languages and have always maintained an open line of communication with them whenever they needed to speak. However, after 27 years I am starting to reconsider this policy.

I am spiritual person...

This differs from a religious person in terms of an adherence to a particular static doctrine, any "good book" or "great scripture" that deems itself all-knowing and resistant (and impossible) to allow the co-existence of competing ideologies. Fine, the Rapture may be upon us but keep it to yourself and have a safe trip when Jesus comes and gets you, i'll be fine with the fire and brimstone he unleashes on the Earth afterward, please just saves yourself...quietly. I don't believe in religion but I pray and say thanks every night and ask the universe for another day, another 86,400 seconds to actualize my inherent gifts. I believe in eternal truths that transcend doctrine, and cosmic laws that are indifferent to family lineage or bank statements. That's just me.

I believe we are all in control of your own destinies to a certain extent but what we do control absolutely, without any doubt, our the reactions to events in our lives that are beyond our control. I have never understood people who walk around with permanent black clouds above them, shooting tornadoes out around them destroying the positive energy of people who dare to stand too close. But no matter, I always tell people to take heed to the greatness inherent within them, even when I have to make it up. It make work for a small period of time but then they fall into the same trap of negativity, surrounding themselves with negative people and less-than-ideal situations. And the cycle then begins again. It almost seems that some people are naturally attracted to dysfunction and drama.

We do not control when we are born, we have no choice to join this little thing called life, neither the time nor location is completely up to us. However, the choice to continue to live is completely arbitrary and maybe this little called life is not for you. Or perhaps, and a more acceptable solution, would be to change your immediate surroundings, find your comfort zone and keep in mind that it may be found a few feet from you currently or halfway around the world but your soul will never be placated if you do not allow happiness to be carried within. You are not obligated to live. To continue. To persevere. If your only purpose is to act as a roadblock to the dreams of many, I propose you remove yourself from the picture...permanently. It takes courage to live and not everyone has what it takes. Perhaps living just isn't for you...

"If your here and now makes you unhappy you have 3 options: remove yourself from the situation,change it or accept it."

~Tolle

paris, stylistically...

Ran into this girl is Paris, 14th arrondissment...Merci Beaucoup Beyza for the photo op...

to all verbal assassins and che guevara jr's in nyc...

In 1834 the Houses of Parliament in Great Britain caught fire and burnt to the ground. The cause of the fire was wooden tally sticks used by the Exchequer for the collection of taxes from local farmers by local sheriffs. It was an accident, but Charles Dickens, speaking at a conference on governmental reform, told how counting devices destroyed "the halls of government". In 1849 the House of Parliament in Canada was burnt down by a group of angry Canadian citizens. They destroyed everything...

What is my point, you ask? Well my point is this: if you don't like your government -- change it. I mean, really change it. Don't just say you're going to change it -- actually change it. During the 1960s and 1970s, people took to the streets in violent mass demonstrations. People not only changed laws and government, they changed the culture and the social order -- forever -- and I might add, for the better. The call was "Power to the People!" As a result, in the last three or four decades unacceptable laws, rules and practices that were once taken for granted, are no longer acceptable. These things were changed in a major way, not by the government but by the people.

In his famous Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln referred to "government of the people, by the people, for the people." This concept can be applied to any democratic country where the government representatives are elected. Some of the greatest changes in laws and government have taken place through civil disobedience, or nonviolent resistance. Civil disobedience is one of the many ways people have rebelled against unfair laws. It has been used in many well-documented nonviolent resistance movements in India (Gandhi's campaigns for independence from the British Empire), in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution and in East Germany to oust their communist dictatorships, in South Africa in the fight against apartheid, in the American Civil Rights Movement, in the Singing Revolution to bring independence to the Baltic countries from the Soviet Union, and recently in the 2004 Orange Revolution and 2005 Rose Revolution, among other various movements worldwide...

I am not a student of political science, so to those folks out there who understand this more than I do, the premise of my blog will seem very naïve, which in fact it is. However, lately I have been hearing so many people whining complaining about their governments. Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay called "Resistance to Civil Government" in which he said people do not have to support a government with which they do not agree. People have the right to protest anything with which they disagree. In other words, if you don't like something your government is doing -- or not doing -- get off your butts and change it. Stop being complacent. The power is in your hands; you are the government...