A Convergence Of Sound

This morning, early, the dawn was alive with a convergence of sound, from the ground to the sky, and from every other discernable direction.  It began with a whisper before the light had even settled in upon the land, but soon came with its full strength, a resounding chorus, just as the sun began to peek inquisitively over the eastern ridge.    

A woodpecker knocking on a tree kept a heartbeat like a solitary drummer on a single block of wood.  The Meadowlark joined in with its flutelike whistles.  Mourning doves and their low, sad, whoo-oo, hoo, hoo, hoo.  Robins calling cheerily, cheerily, cheer-up, cheer-up.  Finch, and their canary-like warble.  Quail even, with a loud ca-ca-cow, or ca-caah-co, and their clucking whit-whit.  Wrens with that distinctive bubbling chatter; the Sparrows chimed in with whistles and trills, and their sweet, high tseep’s.  They all contributed to the surreal, and the profound.  The Bluebird’s soft warble, it’s phew, and somewhat harsher chuck.  The Blackbird’s kseeee or ksheek.  The Western Tanager’s pit-err-ick, pit-err-ick, like the soft, illusory sound of a lone percussive woodwind.

All these creatures, conspiring together in a magnanimous and harmonious effort to teach the world to sing, to lead the way in song, and we were fittingly hypnotized.  You might say we were mesmerized, not only by the effort, but by the very nature of the melodious composition itself.  A Mormon Tabernacle Choir of feathered friends, a congregate of winged songsters in an outdoor aviary perched on risers at least a thousand rows deep into the trees. 

It was the sound of pleasant smiles on a million euphoric faces.    

Two geese flew by just overhead honking like geese will do, as if stuck in early morning traffic on the way to get their coffee.

Coyotes off in the distance barked in arousing recognition of the exceptional aural presentation, rare as the sun is bright.  They hooted, howled, yipped, and yapped, like puppies on a new mowed lawn.

The sweet sound of nature was joined unapologetically by the mechanical grinding of one solitary logging truck off in the distance winding its way slowly down the mountain; it’s motor somehow complimenting the arrangement, rather than diminishing it, like the rumbling of a kettledrum behind the clarinets, flutes, and strings.  Harmonizing, blending, as it were, the sacred with the profane.

Rise

Rise from the ashes.
Rise from the past, from broken lives and shattered dreams.
Rise from the unfairness of life, and the bitter disappointment.
Rise up and live.

Rise from the impediment of negative thinking, and the obscurity of defeat.
Rise from the trap of your encompassing dilemma, from the belief that you have been predestined to fail. Rise from unhappiness, from sorrow, from misery, and grief. Rise from the winter of your discontent, from the gloom of your remembrance, from the darkness of your depression, and the shadow of despair.

Rise from your distress, from the pain of consciousness, and the crippling shade of regret. Rise from the burden of a troubled past, and from the obstructive grip of bitterness and anger. Rise from the disease of envy, and the desperation of greed.

Rise from indulgence, from bad habits, and addiction. Rise from pedestrian effort, from sickness to health, from despondency to hope, from can’t to can, from won’t to will. Rise from anguish, and from the desolation of your spiritual void. Rise from the confinement of circumstance, and the entanglement of deceit.

Rise from your weakness, from moral compromise, and ethical concession. Rise from the relativity of shifting beliefs. Rise from the superficial to the genuine, to the very heart of the matter, from the mundane to the sublime, and from skepticism to the fullness of faith.

Rise to accountability, to honesty, to integrity, and to passion. Rise, as spring rises out of winter, or water from the sea to the sky. Rise like the sun reaches to the heavens with the breaking of the day, or Christ from the grave, or as the grace of God lifts a man from the encumbrance of his own sorrow.

But rise, as we each have been enabled.

Give Us Our Independence

From the entitlement conditioning that makes men weak,
Give us our Independence.
From the media that clouds our ability to think,
Give us our Independence.
From the consumption that feeds our bourgeoning greed,
Give us our Independence.
From hypocritical standards of the cultural elite,
Give us our Independence.

From social engineering that demands our compliance,
Give us our Independence.
From a welfare state that seeks our reliance,
Give us our Independence.
From political collusion that shuns our defiance,
Give us our Independence.
From the bogus claims of environmental science,
Give us our Independence.

From building our nation on the proverbial sand,
Give us our Independence.
From enslavement to the International plan,
Give us our Independence.
From engineering our own economic collapse
Give us our Independence.
From the folly of vain intellectual traps,
Give us our Independence.

From elections that corporate bandits can buy
Give us our Independence.
From the intrusion of government in our private lives,
Give us our Independence.
From political correctness, and truth adorned lies
Give us our Independence.
From two-faced politicians and their weak alibis,
Give us our god damned Independence.


‘Give us’ is merely poetic license for the sake of the poem. There is nobody we should be asking for our Independence back from. They did not give it to us in the first place. And they are not our friends. They are puppet masters.

Although I’m talking about the U.S., I’m also talking to you, my readers in Eastern and Western Europe, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, India, Israel, and the rest of the Middle East; to take your own Independence in hand, as best you can, and in whatever way that you're able. Independence from corporate control, from opressive regimes, and from repressive religions.

Here, in the U.S., we must reclaim our Independence. We must do it ourselves, we must not relinquish any more of our freedom, and we must take back the freedoms we have already lost. We must do it individually, in our own lives, by the simple choices we make; and we must do it collectively with protests, boycotts, rejections of policies at the ballot box, and by refusing to be pushed around, spied on, taxed to the max, and herded like sheep in a field.

We must not be afraid of what our family, friends and neighbors may think. It is for them as well, even though they might not have the understanding to appreciate it until they wake up and realize that the government controls just about every aspect of their own lives.

Don’t confuse my admonition with the hypocrisy of the Occupy movement. I’m talking about fundamental individual life-change, something that each of us is capable of making. I’m talking about an awakening. I’m talking about looking at things differently, and participating in life differently than we do now. We have gone along to get along, and where has it gotten us?

Do not follow leaders who would not join with you. They do not respect you, and yet they demand respect from you. Respect must be earned. Respect those who respect you, and reject those who insult you.

Do this for yourselves, and for your children.