Justice For Trayvon Martin Speech

I will be part of the March for Justice for Trayvon Martin today. Below is my speech. I think it might send some love out there. I hope anyway. [♥] Thank you for taking time from your day to join … Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude List, A New Way to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving Day. I am struggling with celebrating a holiday that originally began with a massacre of 98% of the NATIVE American population. However my experience of this holiday is tradition and warm memories of family and a wonderfully … Continue reading →

Destiny’s Views

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This weekend as I was hiking through the magnificent wonders of Capital Reef National Park in southern Utah I felt as though I were walking through an endless art gallery of divine contradictions in beauty…changing always with the seasons and the light of the day. Challenging my senses and inspiring me to see that life finds a way….even in the bitter cold of the darkest night and unforgiving heat of the desert summer.

While the desert is not lush and loud like the jungle, it is a feast of color and quiet contemplation.  Thousands of years ago covered in water filled with aquatic life, now dramatically changed to the complete opposite. It must have been just as breath taking to experience in the beginning when it was lush with water and life. I can’t help but wonder if those who saw it then would mourn the transition from shores of beauty to desert canyons.

As with everything in life, we could mourn the loss of the way it was in the beginning or celebrate the evolution of change nourished by mother nature over the years. It’s an example that by adjusting attitude and gratitude, destiny’s view’s are drastically altered.

I felt so blessed to be there in that moment, surrounded by the shocking colors of red rock cliffs and brilliant blue sky. Serenity resides there…..a cathedral of nature….my true church. No religion can own this wonder as theirs alone. It is a feast of blessings that swirl around every person who walks the trails. It speaks to all who appreciate it for what it is now.

It made me connect to the poem below when presented to me this afternoon:

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Invictus By William Earnest Henley

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

…Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate…..I am the captain of my soul.

Except for the poem Invictus by William Earnest Henley (no copyright infringement intended)  © Terry Jackson-Mitchell and http://www.bringbalancetomylife.wordpress.com, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Terry Jackson -Mitchell and http://www.bringbalancetomylife.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream Realized On My Cul De Sac

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…the chain reaction of evil hate, wars producing more wars-must be broken or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.           Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., The Strength to Love 1963

Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having your legs cut off and then being condemned for being a cripple. It means seeing your mother and father spiritually murdered by the slings and arrows of daily exploitation and then being hated for being an orphan.  -Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

 

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR’S DREAM UNFOLDS IN FRONT OF MY EYES

The day after Obama was voted as the next American president I sat in my car waiting for a friend. Two little girls were glowing with true joy, holding hands, playing & laughing on the cul de sac, one black & one white.

Dr King’s dream was achieved in so many ways. We still have so far to go. But at that moment I watched them play & I thought of the change in our country &, our people. I felt blessed to be alive to witness his dream come to life in front of my eyes as tears of appreciation dropped from my eyes.

Rest in peace Dr. King. Your dream is alive & evolving one person at a time, but at an increasing speed every day.

More quotes from Dr. King http://www.mlkonline.net/quotes.html

Click on “You Tube” to watch one of the most inspiring speeches ever spoken.

Heaven or Hell

After surviving the “dark night of the soul” it helps to know that there is hope and growth from the pain….ultimately allowing me to find that I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. I can cling to fear … Continue reading →

Death of a Phoenix

Several times throughout my life I have had the same question posed to me. Why did I turn out the way that I did? Why didn’t I end up a drug addict, in prison or on welfare? I certainly would … Continue reading →

Three Fold of Sacred Innocence

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In my lifetime there were two people who created an enormous amount of pain, abuse and trauma in my family. They were supposed to love and protect us but it didn’t work out that way. My maternal grandmother, E, was … Continue reading →

Today I am Grateful

The more you are grateful for the blessings in your life, the more you will have to be grateful for…..Zig Ziglar I am so grateful for the love I have in my life. I am truly blessed with every breath … Continue reading →

Little Ghosts

I am in the fog today. What is going on? I can’t seem to stop visiting the headstone of the past I want to move away from this …. ominous feeling But it’s like looking at a train wreck I … Continue reading →

The Space Between Memories

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What is the truth of my life and those in it? Our entwined experiences allow us different truths even when we are at the same place, same time. Our little demons gnawing on our hearts, reaching towards the future but … Continue reading →