http://reallifesuperheroes.org/archives/3855
Read it. Because as much fun as it is to be a real life super villain this is often what it inspires. Now, I doubt the people of R.O.A.C.H. actually had anything to do with it, but if someone did then there is serious trouble brewing in our community.
It is at times like this when we need to remember one thing, though, and that is our clarity of mind. Escalation in anything is a dangerous path to walk, and when you start down that road it can end up destroying a person. If we, as a community, seek retribution and start antagonizing our villainous friends for something they probably have little connection to, then we become our own enemy. I look at the posts people have made from within our community, talking about anger, talking about revenge, and I can already see trouble brewing. Because the point of this attack is a response.
This is how escalation is played. One person baits another via an attack, in order to see how far they are willing to go to retaliate. If we retaliate and act out against our friends in R.O.A.C.H. then the person who has done this crime will have succeeded in doing what they wished to accomplish.
Whether a member of R.O.A.C.H. did this or not should not change how we treat them. The people I have talked to have no connection or knowledge of the event, and are good people who only want to make us better. We need them, and they need us. We are a community, and we should not use this as an excuse to further draw apart.
Gone are the times of petty arguing and anger. This is an attack against R.O.A.C.H. as much as it is against the RLSH, and we all will know that. For now is a time of understanding and solidarity in the face of some jackass who thought they could tear us apart.
We are people who help, anyway you look at it. Give into the desired escalation, and we destroy, not create. Let us rise up, solve this crime, and remember who we are.
Let us unite.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Comings and Goings
We are a very small community. There are many people who come to the various forums and sites and networking places claiming to be a part of this movement. In total, I would probably guess just under 1000 in the history of our little movement. At the most, though, our numbers can be placed around 400 active RLSH that have ever been in existence. The continued activity of these individuals is highly questionable in most cases, however, and so the actual number of RLSH in existence and consistently active with patrols, charity, activism and our various other good deeds is around 250 or so.
Let me again say that we are a very small community. But the point I am trying to make is not about the actual community, but the thousand or so less who claim to be a part of it.
You see them everyday in your digital world: the person that comes in, maybe stays for a little bit, then vanishes. There are many people that approach our community but go no further with attempting any sort of contact. And I find this sad, and on some level a personal issue I think we all need to address.
Apathy is our greatest foe. And it is a wily one to be sure. It is very hard to get people to do something so out of the norm as this, and even harder to keep them doing it. RLSH work can be a boring and thankless job. It is no different than anything else, but the psychological hype people create around it leads to certain expectations. People automatically assume that when they finally work up the courage to talk to the community that respect and admiration will automatically pour in for them merely because they are an RLSH. While I think we all are (ideally) welcoming, helpful and respectful of all new members to our community, I think most would agree that it takes a lot to earn a name and the respect that goes with that.
In this community, experience and contribution is everything, as our ultimate goal is to help. There are plenty of people who claim to do this, but few follow through with actually doing this. I have been guilty of this myself, and know that I deserve very little respect or acknowledgement of my existence because of this.
This is not a bad thing, however, it merely is. This community is about improvement and making an impact, and it takes a lot to make an impact on people who make it themselves.This is the fundamental reason why people can get over the threshold of the initial introduction but then fail to follow through: expectation. Because like it or not, many RLSH expect that in order for you to be a contributing member worthy of their respect and acknowledgement as a peer you must essentially prove yourself. It is easy for people to say something, but much harder for them to live it.
So we see people come and go almost daily, and definitely weekly in our online doings. Names come, and then fade. It is the ones who persist and stay that continue to draw our attention and garner our respect, even if they decline in actual work, mere presence then dictates a certain amount of respect.
It takes time to join a family like ours, and most people think that once they introduce or make contact that they will be accepted. This, unfortunately, is not the truth. While I would like it to be, I realize that RLSH work is not for everyone. And it is indeed sad to know that some are chased away by our expectations once they become known.
But this is not necessarily true of today. Our community is making great strides in acceptance, and more people than ever are taking up the call and staying. A different feel has come about, one which is more forgiving and understanding. And even though there will be ones who leave we can take solace in one fact: that they have been touched.
When you come onto something like the RLSH, your life changes. To know that there are actually people out there working to make lives better in such a strange way changes the way people think about life. They begin, I hope, to see what they can do in their own lives to improve things. This is, of course, an ideal situation, but still one which I believe does happen often.
Ideas are a very lasting action upon people, and ideas such as this have a great potential for such profound effects. If there is one expectation we must all have, is is that our wishes to make things better will take time. We all start out as the small voice stepping into a world with preconceived notions of spandex and bad guys, but with time that impression fades to be replaced by the truth: that we are people who want something better for all of us.
Whether you stay or go, rise to fame or fall into forgotten obscurity, take with you the knowledge that even though you may not be remembered for it, you can make a difference. And that is what really counts.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Behind the Mask: Through the Looking Glass
Going through the daily rounds of blog reading and site skimming, I stumbled across this gem of a blog which was written by someone who I think deserves more credit and respect than I and others may have first given him. My comment on Poop Knife's blog got me thinking (as most things do to a terrible degree) and in my current state of rabid inspiration I realized that I needed to take a look in the mirror and see where I was at.
Must a name mean something?
Mr. Jack is the mask, the suit, the persona I put on as a Real Life Superhero to allow me to go out and do the good I seek to do. But the lines between where that fantasy ends and the reality of my life begins is becoming more and more blurred.
Like many, I chose to start doing this because I wanted to make a change not only around me, but within me. There is a giant amount of wish fulfillment that comes along with putting on a mask and cape and calling yourself a Real Life Superhero. It is the childhood fantasy come true. It is a truly empowering experience, but once you get away from the simple pleasure and ego of it, I began to realize that this really was not a mask and show I was putting on, but a part of myself that I was uncovering.
Sometimes it takes putting on a mask to realize that you are really taking one off. The person I am when under the "guise" of Mr. Jack has slowly become merged with who I am outside of it. I find myself steadily posting the same content and links on other sites that I have on the RLSH forums. I talk about the issues I discuss with my family of this community with my friends and family in actuality. More and more my thoughts turn less towards how I can make Mr. Jack better and instead towards how Mr. Jack can be used to make me and those around me better.
This was always my intention, of course, but the reality of it is still surprising. It is one thing to tell someone what a sunrise looks like after a life spent underground. It is quite another to actually witness that in such a fashion. It is the same for this experience. The alter-ego is that part of that every RLSH seeks to get away from, at least, that is how it is for me. With things overlapping in such a way, that elimination may come in the form of a formation. And perhaps that is best. Real progress is about uncovering the truth and letting it shine. Perhaps in this case, the alter-ego is not something to be eliminated, but a mask that must be lifted. I realizing this simple fact, we may do more good for ourselves and others than we had ever dreamed.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone," it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
This is the dawn of me. My alter-ego is slowly fading and intertwining with my masked persona. In wearing the mask I have somehow enabled myself move towards that of what I wanted to see, and actually see it. Being a person who has come from such many meanings, I may finally have my simple true master.
Fantasy and reality fill our lives. It is our duty as humans, however, to separate them out and know how to use each one. Our role as RLSH is to bring a certain distortion to the lines in order to allow people to reconsider where they might actually be drawn. We disrupt the apathy and flow of normalcy in order to draw back the curtains on what actually is. This, I believe, is the duty of every person, and never the opposite.
As a famous man of fiction once said "Artists use lies to tell the truth." I believe my aching lies are finally becoming the truth I always sought. And in so doing, perhaps this art of mine has become the artist.
"I am real!" said Alice, and began to cry.
Must a name mean something?
Mr. Jack is the mask, the suit, the persona I put on as a Real Life Superhero to allow me to go out and do the good I seek to do. But the lines between where that fantasy ends and the reality of my life begins is becoming more and more blurred.
Like many, I chose to start doing this because I wanted to make a change not only around me, but within me. There is a giant amount of wish fulfillment that comes along with putting on a mask and cape and calling yourself a Real Life Superhero. It is the childhood fantasy come true. It is a truly empowering experience, but once you get away from the simple pleasure and ego of it, I began to realize that this really was not a mask and show I was putting on, but a part of myself that I was uncovering.
Sometimes it takes putting on a mask to realize that you are really taking one off. The person I am when under the "guise" of Mr. Jack has slowly become merged with who I am outside of it. I find myself steadily posting the same content and links on other sites that I have on the RLSH forums. I talk about the issues I discuss with my family of this community with my friends and family in actuality. More and more my thoughts turn less towards how I can make Mr. Jack better and instead towards how Mr. Jack can be used to make me and those around me better.
This was always my intention, of course, but the reality of it is still surprising. It is one thing to tell someone what a sunrise looks like after a life spent underground. It is quite another to actually witness that in such a fashion. It is the same for this experience. The alter-ego is that part of that every RLSH seeks to get away from, at least, that is how it is for me. With things overlapping in such a way, that elimination may come in the form of a formation. And perhaps that is best. Real progress is about uncovering the truth and letting it shine. Perhaps in this case, the alter-ego is not something to be eliminated, but a mask that must be lifted. I realizing this simple fact, we may do more good for ourselves and others than we had ever dreamed.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone," it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
Fantasy and reality fill our lives. It is our duty as humans, however, to separate them out and know how to use each one. Our role as RLSH is to bring a certain distortion to the lines in order to allow people to reconsider where they might actually be drawn. We disrupt the apathy and flow of normalcy in order to draw back the curtains on what actually is. This, I believe, is the duty of every person, and never the opposite.
As a famous man of fiction once said "Artists use lies to tell the truth." I believe my aching lies are finally becoming the truth I always sought. And in so doing, perhaps this art of mine has become the artist.
"I am real!" said Alice, and began to cry.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Starswept
There are those moments
Where you realize you're a star,
Where the now fades, and time just
Stands still with you.
The sky,
Open in embrace,
Calls to you.
And a feeling,
Like that of a lover's touch
Draws you to the gentle open heavens
Dark, with soft low clouds.
The moon,
Bright and high,
Reaching to embrace you with light.
And you fade into the sky's night embrace,
And reach out
With both hands
To join your starlight siblings in the quiet blue.
There are those moments
Where the universe holds you still
And whispers without voice
About the clear seas that wait above,
About the great deepness of space,
Filled with void,
And about the water deep love of the moon guided night,
Lifted in circles by the tall trees,
To your calmest happiness.
Those are the moments
Where you are.
Where you realize you're a star,
Where the now fades, and time just
Stands still with you.
The sky,
Open in embrace,
Calls to you.
And a feeling,
Like that of a lover's touch
Draws you to the gentle open heavens
Dark, with soft low clouds.
The moon,
Bright and high,
Reaching to embrace you with light.
And you fade into the sky's night embrace,
And reach out
With both hands
To join your starlight siblings in the quiet blue.
There are those moments
Where the universe holds you still
And whispers without voice
About the clear seas that wait above,
About the great deepness of space,
Filled with void,
And about the water deep love of the moon guided night,
Lifted in circles by the tall trees,
To your calmest happiness.
Those are the moments
Where you are.
Monday, May 17, 2010
National Police Week 2010 Challenge
This week in America it is National Police Week. It is a time of the year when we take time out of our lives to offer thanks and recognition to the gracious souls who take up the badge to protect us from harm. It is a time when all law enforcement members are to be honored for their hard work and dedication to helping people. To celebrate those who go to work each day to make sure that our safety and well-being is intact from evil actions is an honorable thing. There are many, however, who feel that this is not so, and that the praise these fellow brothers and sisters so rightly deserve is not only uncalled for, but insulting.
As a member of the Real Life Superhero community, this makes me ashamed in the highest.
We who would claim that we are out for the help and safety of all those around us. We who by nature of our descriptor must hold ourselves to the highest levels of standards. We whose greatest allies and friends naturally reside within the bounds of law enforcement. We who are and do these things would spit upon our friends and call them unworthy makes us very small indeed.
I understand that many have encountered corruption and evil action within the bounds of so-called law. This is why many of our community are here today.I know that government is a fallacy and that the laws of men rarely align with the laws and actualities of reality. I realize that not every law enforcement member is of the shining caliber that upholds peace, order, and justice, and are often times found to be part of the problem they claim to fight.
I know these things, but it still does not change the fact that the majority of those involved with law enforcement are actually some of the best people you will ever meet. They are caring, helpful, and ultimately out for the same goals as our community. The truth, plain and simple, is that law enforcement is the best friend any RLSH could have.
Not because of the badge. Not because of the title. Not because they are expected to uphold safety and justice, but because the majority of them do. The minority of evil doers is just that: a minority. Those in our community that would claim otherwise are ignorant, and consequently arrogant.
RLSH and law enforcement both are expected to hold themselves to higher standards. It is the love and appreciation we show our fellow helpers and humans that garners us the most respect and power to change. Deny that, and you cut off any hope of bringing the help which is so desired.
So, for the duration of National Police Week I offer a challenge to everyone understand why it is the men and women of law enforcement deserve our highest love and appreciation. You may disagree with some of them, and you may dislike the system as deeply as I do, and you may even have desires to strike down the system of law in favor of a more radical and positive change of your own.
But when someone lays their life on the line for you, you show thanks. And mistake me not, this happens every day without you realizing it. This year 63 law enforcement members laid down their life for your continued path to freedom, understanding, and love. That is a debt you can never repay.
But you can start by being thankful.
~~~~~~~
The link to my challenge on therlsh.net: http://www.therlsh.net/public-forum-f8/police-week-t3516.htm
Educate yourselves, my friends. Make the men and women who help and care for you proud that you wish to do the same for them.
As a member of the Real Life Superhero community, this makes me ashamed in the highest.
We who would claim that we are out for the help and safety of all those around us. We who by nature of our descriptor must hold ourselves to the highest levels of standards. We whose greatest allies and friends naturally reside within the bounds of law enforcement. We who are and do these things would spit upon our friends and call them unworthy makes us very small indeed.
I understand that many have encountered corruption and evil action within the bounds of so-called law. This is why many of our community are here today.I know that government is a fallacy and that the laws of men rarely align with the laws and actualities of reality. I realize that not every law enforcement member is of the shining caliber that upholds peace, order, and justice, and are often times found to be part of the problem they claim to fight.
I know these things, but it still does not change the fact that the majority of those involved with law enforcement are actually some of the best people you will ever meet. They are caring, helpful, and ultimately out for the same goals as our community. The truth, plain and simple, is that law enforcement is the best friend any RLSH could have.
Not because of the badge. Not because of the title. Not because they are expected to uphold safety and justice, but because the majority of them do. The minority of evil doers is just that: a minority. Those in our community that would claim otherwise are ignorant, and consequently arrogant.
RLSH and law enforcement both are expected to hold themselves to higher standards. It is the love and appreciation we show our fellow helpers and humans that garners us the most respect and power to change. Deny that, and you cut off any hope of bringing the help which is so desired.
So, for the duration of National Police Week I offer a challenge to everyone understand why it is the men and women of law enforcement deserve our highest love and appreciation. You may disagree with some of them, and you may dislike the system as deeply as I do, and you may even have desires to strike down the system of law in favor of a more radical and positive change of your own.
But when someone lays their life on the line for you, you show thanks. And mistake me not, this happens every day without you realizing it. This year 63 law enforcement members laid down their life for your continued path to freedom, understanding, and love. That is a debt you can never repay.
But you can start by being thankful.
~~~~~~~
The link to my challenge on therlsh.net: http://www.therlsh.net/public-forum-f8/police-week-t3516.htm
Educate yourselves, my friends. Make the men and women who help and care for you proud that you wish to do the same for them.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Awareness 1: The Stars Above
There is a lot to think about in life. As such, I tend to walk around life with my head in the clouds. I am constantly thinking about the world around me. As I have previously stated, this is both a boon and a burden. But I do believe there is wisdom in elements of this thinking, and I have come to learn and observe that through this thoughtful consciousness we can actually ground our minds and our bodies firmly in reality.
In my last entry I discussed the beauty of living in the present moment. In this I shall lay forth a small piece of one of the greater concepts required of living there in that place which we call the present. I believe that as humans we must culture a greater awareness of the world if we are to help anyone. Small thinking limits what we can do.
And so, awareness is required. By awareness I mean a greater and constant sense of the what is happening in the present at all times. Awareness helps to ground us in the present, and allows us to understand the reality that is shaping around us.
There are many different facets to awareness, and today with you I will discuss a particular type of awareness I believe we as humans all need to benefit more from.
So with that said, consider this your galactic awakening.
(Credit to the Amazing Anarchist for turning me on to the Symphony of Science)
Let us look at some numbers.
At the time of this writing, there are approximately 7,000,000,000 human beings known to be alive in the universe. There are about 150 galaxies in the universe for every person who is living today on planet earth. Stars in the universe outnumber humans 100,000,000,000,000 to 1. The amount of planets in these systems of life and space are immeasurably larger than any of these numbers.
Science tells us that the planet we live on is 4,540,000,000 years old, with our solar system being about as old. The Milky Way, and the universe for that matter, are both estimated to be 13,400,000,000 years old. For reference again, the average age of humans in this day and age is roughly 67 years.
The average height for an American male is 1.763 meters. The smallest stars tend to be between 20,000 and 40,000 meters in diameter, while the largest can be up to 900,000,000,000 meters in diameter. Our own sun is 1,392,000,000 meters in diameter, while the Milky Way Galaxy is 900,000,000,000,000,000,000 meters in at it's greatest length.
As for the universe, if it is finite it is estimated to be 1.475873953722605x10^24 meters wide, or 156,000,000,000 light-years.
On its way out of of our solar system in 1990, Voyager 1 turned back and took this picture of our planet. You can see earth around the middle of the farthest band to the right. 6,000,000,000,000 meters away from where you are now this very second, this is what our entire world looks like.
By the by, for those who have not read Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, I highly recommend it.
So, what do all the numbers mean? What does it really matter that we are tiny little specks in a vast sea of energies and vast spaces? What is the point?
The point is that people go through life without ever really thinking about the size of these numbers and how big we really are in comparison. We are small, and so far as we know we are the only place in the entire universe of great stars, galaxies, and celestial bodies that harbors life. These large numbers and pictures of worlds far, far away must always serve as a reminder that the beings we share this earth with may be the only ones we ever know in the entire universe.
This is all we have. The people around you right now are part of an intangibly massive existence, of which we will only ever call an insignificantly small fraction home. Those who do evil, those who do good, those who just try to get through life; we are all a part of this great unimaginable universe, sharing a space of living with our brothers the stars and galaxies.
We must appreciate our life. When we gaze upon the night sky, we must recognize our aged brothers shining brightly back at us, and know that as living beings we have a responsibility to make this life the best possible life that it can be. Each living being, each object in space, everything in the universe ultimately shares a common journey.
The moment we that we take this cosmic awareness to heart is the moment we open ourselves up to understanding our true potential. Open your mind beyond just the mundane decisions we care not to think about in life and begin to think how each of these actions and every action you will help you to reach a good life of truth, freedom and happiness. The actions you do will speak with the stars after you are gone. The legacy you leave for tomorrow's today will resonate throughout the cosmos, helping those of us that are living to keep living, and hopefully to help give us a greater love and understanding of why it is we live.
Your actions are timeless, and the way you interact with the world around you will affect so much more than you can ever hope to comprehend. So when you are grocery shopping, or stuck in traffic, or just watching the television, try comprehending the size of the universe. It is an impossible task, to be sure, but it is this awareness of existence and this push against the impossible that will help us reach the full lives of truth and love that each of us ultimately crave.
You have a lot to think about, hopefully, and very little time and space to do it in. So start. Because you only get one chance.
This, is all we have.
In my last entry I discussed the beauty of living in the present moment. In this I shall lay forth a small piece of one of the greater concepts required of living there in that place which we call the present. I believe that as humans we must culture a greater awareness of the world if we are to help anyone. Small thinking limits what we can do.
And so, awareness is required. By awareness I mean a greater and constant sense of the what is happening in the present at all times. Awareness helps to ground us in the present, and allows us to understand the reality that is shaping around us.
There are many different facets to awareness, and today with you I will discuss a particular type of awareness I believe we as humans all need to benefit more from.
So with that said, consider this your galactic awakening.
(Credit to the Amazing Anarchist for turning me on to the Symphony of Science)
Let us look at some numbers.
At the time of this writing, there are approximately 7,000,000,000 human beings known to be alive in the universe. There are about 150 galaxies in the universe for every person who is living today on planet earth. Stars in the universe outnumber humans 100,000,000,000,000 to 1. The amount of planets in these systems of life and space are immeasurably larger than any of these numbers.
Science tells us that the planet we live on is 4,540,000,000 years old, with our solar system being about as old. The Milky Way, and the universe for that matter, are both estimated to be 13,400,000,000 years old. For reference again, the average age of humans in this day and age is roughly 67 years.
The average height for an American male is 1.763 meters. The smallest stars tend to be between 20,000 and 40,000 meters in diameter, while the largest can be up to 900,000,000,000 meters in diameter. Our own sun is 1,392,000,000 meters in diameter, while the Milky Way Galaxy is 900,000,000,000,000,000,000 meters in at it's greatest length.
As for the universe, if it is finite it is estimated to be 1.475873953722605x10^24 meters wide, or 156,000,000,000 light-years.
On its way out of of our solar system in 1990, Voyager 1 turned back and took this picture of our planet. You can see earth around the middle of the farthest band to the right. 6,000,000,000,000 meters away from where you are now this very second, this is what our entire world looks like.
By the by, for those who have not read Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, I highly recommend it.
So, what do all the numbers mean? What does it really matter that we are tiny little specks in a vast sea of energies and vast spaces? What is the point?
The point is that people go through life without ever really thinking about the size of these numbers and how big we really are in comparison. We are small, and so far as we know we are the only place in the entire universe of great stars, galaxies, and celestial bodies that harbors life. These large numbers and pictures of worlds far, far away must always serve as a reminder that the beings we share this earth with may be the only ones we ever know in the entire universe.
This is all we have. The people around you right now are part of an intangibly massive existence, of which we will only ever call an insignificantly small fraction home. Those who do evil, those who do good, those who just try to get through life; we are all a part of this great unimaginable universe, sharing a space of living with our brothers the stars and galaxies.
We must appreciate our life. When we gaze upon the night sky, we must recognize our aged brothers shining brightly back at us, and know that as living beings we have a responsibility to make this life the best possible life that it can be. Each living being, each object in space, everything in the universe ultimately shares a common journey.
The moment we that we take this cosmic awareness to heart is the moment we open ourselves up to understanding our true potential. Open your mind beyond just the mundane decisions we care not to think about in life and begin to think how each of these actions and every action you will help you to reach a good life of truth, freedom and happiness. The actions you do will speak with the stars after you are gone. The legacy you leave for tomorrow's today will resonate throughout the cosmos, helping those of us that are living to keep living, and hopefully to help give us a greater love and understanding of why it is we live.
Your actions are timeless, and the way you interact with the world around you will affect so much more than you can ever hope to comprehend. So when you are grocery shopping, or stuck in traffic, or just watching the television, try comprehending the size of the universe. It is an impossible task, to be sure, but it is this awareness of existence and this push against the impossible that will help us reach the full lives of truth and love that each of us ultimately crave.
You have a lot to think about, hopefully, and very little time and space to do it in. So start. Because you only get one chance.
This, is all we have.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Looking Up
I was walking around a few days back. I was trying to get some place. I would not say that I was in a hurry, but I definitely had intentions of getting there as fast as possible. Now, I don't really know about the rest of you, but when I am just walking to get some place with no thought for detours and steadily focusing on what will be, I tend to look down at my feet to see where I will be going.
This is a simple instinct, I think. Most of us, if we take the time out of our day to think about it, do this quite often actually. In the midst of my walking I realized this, and took the opportunity to glance upward at a little above eye level, and expand my field of vision to not just in front of me, but to around me.
It was a beautiful day. The campus was particularly gorgeous with all of the trees finally hitting bloom and the sun coming through in cloudbursts. I realize how pleasant the temperature was, how a nice breeze kept the air alive with the buzz of early summer. I heard beards sing their songs, students outside enjoying conversation and Frisbee, and even more in depth than either of those, I heard the general sounds of a nice summer's day.
It is not something easily definable, just a certain warm hum that envelopes you with living noises and the joys of life. I slowed my pace a little bit. I looked at the old brick buildings around me, grand in their stylings. They had been there since before I was alive, before my family had had even arrived in America, before America was nearly torn in two by war. These buildings had changed, I knew that, but there they still stood amidst the groves of carefully cared for trees and squirrels looking for where they buried their spring harvest in the twilight of fall.
All around me there was motion. All around me stood life, vitality, and the general activity that perpetually compliments a wonderful summer's day such as the one I had been bustling through with no care for. I continued to keep my gaze raised as I crossed campus to my destination. The sun playing off the clouds, the blue shining through in places, the sounds of cars in the town nearby, the feel of the glowing pavement beneath my plodding footsteps.
It was beautiful.
I enjoyed the feeling until my destination, when I had to go inside and begin my work again. But in those few minutes of looking up while walking I had captured a good feeling that continued to help me through my day of toils.
It is the simple things that not only get you through life, but also make it worth living. Easy things like this can be done, and if you so allow yourself, your entire day can be transformed. So the next time you are in a rush to walk someplace, just raise your gaze from your feet and what's in front of them up a little over eye level to the world around you.
The moment we live in is often much more splendid and beautifully full of love than we realize. Look up, see the world around you and appreciate it for what it is. The future will still be there tomorrow, after all. In the meantime, enjoy today.
This is a simple instinct, I think. Most of us, if we take the time out of our day to think about it, do this quite often actually. In the midst of my walking I realized this, and took the opportunity to glance upward at a little above eye level, and expand my field of vision to not just in front of me, but to around me.
It was a beautiful day. The campus was particularly gorgeous with all of the trees finally hitting bloom and the sun coming through in cloudbursts. I realize how pleasant the temperature was, how a nice breeze kept the air alive with the buzz of early summer. I heard beards sing their songs, students outside enjoying conversation and Frisbee, and even more in depth than either of those, I heard the general sounds of a nice summer's day.
It is not something easily definable, just a certain warm hum that envelopes you with living noises and the joys of life. I slowed my pace a little bit. I looked at the old brick buildings around me, grand in their stylings. They had been there since before I was alive, before my family had had even arrived in America, before America was nearly torn in two by war. These buildings had changed, I knew that, but there they still stood amidst the groves of carefully cared for trees and squirrels looking for where they buried their spring harvest in the twilight of fall.
All around me there was motion. All around me stood life, vitality, and the general activity that perpetually compliments a wonderful summer's day such as the one I had been bustling through with no care for. I continued to keep my gaze raised as I crossed campus to my destination. The sun playing off the clouds, the blue shining through in places, the sounds of cars in the town nearby, the feel of the glowing pavement beneath my plodding footsteps.
It was beautiful.
I enjoyed the feeling until my destination, when I had to go inside and begin my work again. But in those few minutes of looking up while walking I had captured a good feeling that continued to help me through my day of toils.
It is the simple things that not only get you through life, but also make it worth living. Easy things like this can be done, and if you so allow yourself, your entire day can be transformed. So the next time you are in a rush to walk someplace, just raise your gaze from your feet and what's in front of them up a little over eye level to the world around you.
The moment we live in is often much more splendid and beautifully full of love than we realize. Look up, see the world around you and appreciate it for what it is. The future will still be there tomorrow, after all. In the meantime, enjoy today.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Purpose
I like to think.
I like to think about why things happen in certain ways, about what will occur if I do this, about how things will change, about how things should change. The world is an interesting place, and we as humans have been endowed with the ability to analyze it critically. Many of us fail to use this ability, though, and merely live.
I believe it is the purpose of every human to find truth, love, and peace with constructive change. These are the foundations of everything I seek to do as only good can come from them. Only with these three have humans ever made progress, and is is only with these three that we will ever hope to come the hopeless cycle of "human nature" and go on to something greater.
One of the biggest parts of why I originally took up being a Real Life Superhero was that I was tired of watching and waiting for the change needed. I wanted to become change. You see, out of the three, change is the one that allows for quickest acceptance of the others. It is the lifeblood of love, and the bringer of truths. If love is the heart, and truth the mind, then change is the rest of the body. Change works to bring about the fruition of both love and truth in all the lives that they touch, so it is first with change that I shall focus these series of writings upon.
This is meant to be a reflective place, a place where ideas are exchanged in search for truth. Community is important to me, and from what I have seen even the Real Life Superhero community could use some reform about it. I am not actually talking about our actions, however, but our mindsets.
Some people seek to do charity work within the community, others to protect the innocent and patrol unsafe areas. Still others seek to raise awareness about their causes, or to criticize and balance out the egos that many of us sometimes get. One of my main goals as Mr. Jack is to cause people to think differently, as a well-trained mind is key to a well-trained body. I intend to speak to the little ways we can change the way we view and interact with life, and help to have others understand that the choices and changes you affect have long reaching and powerful repercussions throughout the world.
I suppose this is a mental wakeup call. I see too many people come here with the intention of fighting bad guys and villains and getting their costumes together without ever thinking about the reason behind what they are fighting or how they can improve their own lives.
We all need more awareness, focus, compassion and understanding in our lives. The moment you stop growing and changing is the moment you die, but even then there are changes to still be had. It is with this idea that I begin this endeavor.
With that, please enjoy the ride.
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