Beginnings

(Courtesy Photo)

Beginnings
We all try to what we can to help our fellow man,
And prophets have proclaimed their master plans.
Questions continue about the eternal search
For who or what controls actions of the universe.
Some call it destiny, or claim they have free will;
While some think it’s a balance of numbers still.
Do the formulas and sequences stay the same,
While strange forces correct unnatural gain?
Some are surround by a glow of energy, and
Some see it; others call it magnetic personality.
Can we find the future with cards and astrology
And change the order in our lives chronologically?
Are our decisions a bet tested only by chance,
Or are we just victims of our past circumstance?
Are we a product of random DNA biologic codes
Where the strong survive as evolution shows?
Sometimes the only answer is that God knows.

Learn 10 ways how you can harness the Power of Words with modern technology.

Briana’s Secret

(Courtesy Photo)
Briana’s Secret
By Elias Tobias

Briana looked at the light streaming through the vertical blinds of her bedroom as she rested on the edge of the bed. Her mother walked into the room with a basket from the laundry room.  It was the last load of the afternoon since her mother brought her home from kindergarten. After folding the rest of the clothes on the bed, her mother held a single sock with two fingers by the toes-end .
“Looks like the sock monster took one of your favorite socks, again,” her mother said in disgust.  “I might have to buy you more socks.” She looked at Briana and handed her the lonely sock.  “Put it someplace safe in case the other one appears.”  Briana looked at the sock as the rest of the clothes were put away. Her mother walked out of the bedroom to the living room and turned on the TV.  Briana just stayed there.
“It wasn’t me,” a boy’s voice said.  Briana scanned the room, but saw nothing. “Really, it’s not my fault,” the voice continued.   She saw he covers of her bed move on the other side, and she started to get up when a green sock with black eyes stared at her.
Without making any move, she asked softly, “Who are you?”  She didn’t want to alert her mother, at least not yet.
“Jerry,” the sock said. “Your mother left the sock in the laundry room, again. And then she automatically blames the missing sock on me.”
She still had the lonely sock in her hand.  “Are you the sock monster?” Briana asked.
“That’s what some people call us, mostly old people, since one of the two socks drop from the basket or sometimes the small, thin socks go down the drain.  Most of the time, people like your mother, looses one of the socks,” Jerry explained.
Sensing a relaxed mood and a large dose of curiosity, she sat back on the edge of her bed, never taking her eyes of the thing at the other side of the bed.  “Where did you come from?” Briana asked.
“I’m never really far away from here,” Jerry said.  “I’m Jerry, and my twin brother Terry  and we live under your bed,” the voice said.
“No you don’t”, Briana said.  “I’ve looked under my bed before looking for things, and I never seen you before.”
“Of Course,” Jerry said.  “Here, let Terry explain,” as a yellow sock now appeared next to the other talking sock.
“Jerry’s right. We were here all the time.  We know that sometimes you’re sad because you daddy has to go away to fight in a war in the desert.  We don’t like to hear you cry.  We have friends where he is, and if it is anything like our cousins at the army bases tell us, I’m sure your daddy would rather be home with you.” Terry said.
“How come I never saw you before?” Briana asked.
The two socks looked at each other as if something was going to be revealed. “Okay, I’ll tell you,” Terry said.  Only the people who believe in us can see us.  Your mother, she can’t see us, and …”
“We also can make ourselves invisible,” Jerry interrupted, “ like when your mother will come in and asked who you’re talking to,” Jerry said as both sock monsters disappeared.
“Who were you talking to?” Briana’s mother asked as she leaned against the frame of the door with her hands crossed.
“Talking to myself, just talking to myself.  I don’t have a phone.” Briana said.
Her mother stared at her for a second and walked way, but stopped before getting to the living room, listening, but heard nothing.  She continued to watch her TV show.
The two sock monsters reappeared. “That was close,” Terry said.
“Real close,” Jerry said to this twin and turn to Briana.   “You can’t tell anybody about us, not even your mother.
“She wouldn’t believe you anyway,” Terry said.  “Do you promise to keep us a secret?
“If she can’t see you, why keep it a secret?” Briana asked.
“Your friends might believe you, and want to see us,” Terry said.
“Or they don’t believe you and you have to prove you can see us,” Jerry continued. ““You never saw us before because we didn’t think you would believe we were real.”
Not believing she is really talking to a pair of socks, she looked around the room and said, “Okay, but I have lots of questions, like do you take any socks?  Why?
Terry and Jerry looked at each other again, as if to let more information out.  “Sometimes we do take socks, but only to get attention of some people, some kids, like you,” Terry said.
“So you did take my other sock!” she said as she held up the one left from the laundry basket.
“Not this time,” Jerry said. “It’s your mother’s fault this time.”
“Ohh,” said Briana.  She looked at the characters. She started to move closer to them and moved her her right arm forward, extending her hand, “Can I touch you?  He left arm balanced her forward progress.   They offered no resistance as she touched their heads. “Just like a sock, soft.”
“What did you expect?”Terry asked and laughed as she moved her hand around him.
“Mother’s coming,” Jerry warned. They became invisible and Briana moved back to the other side of the bed where she was.
“I was talking to myself again,” Briana admitted to her mother who has that look to say, “Who were talking to?”
“I think you better come to the living room with me,” Briana’s mother said as she walked around the room, and looked into a closet, finding nothing.
As Briana left the room, she looked back and the sock she had earlier was gone from the covers of her bed.  She just smiled.

Gloryland Lighthouse Chapel

(Photo by Mike Hall)

This Gloryland Lighthouse Chapel is part of a larger property in eastern central Indiana while on a tour of photos for Red Bud trees and barns in the back country roads.

Videos on You Tube from the World of Words by Elias Tobias tap into the many faces of the poetry blog.

101 Words of Wisdom, again

There are phrases that are often repeated that have information that make us wonder why we do things when we do them, and these are called words of wisdom. Here is a collection of such phrases in several categories that were gathered by the staff of this website for your interest. Some of them came from www.finestquotes.com.   See the first set of One Hundred and One Words of Wisdom.

1. If you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.
2. Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down.
3. Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
4. It takes deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.
5. Don’t resist change, contribute to it.
6. There is a difference between problem spotting and problem solving.
7. Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
8. Logic will get to from A to Z, but imagination will get you anywhere.
9. Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try.
10. Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. – Henry Ford
11. The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. - William James
12.  View change as the one constant in your life. Welcome it, expect it and anticipate it.
13. Sometimes the best helping hand you can give is a good, firm push.

1. Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself. - Robert Collier
2. The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.
3.  Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.
4.  Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.
5.  Don’t set your goals too low.  If you don’t need much, you won’t become much.
6.  Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
7.  Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try.
8.   Perhaps the greatest weakness is not realizing your own power.
9.   If you think you can do it, that’s confidence. If you do it, it’s competence.
10.  Nine tenths of education is encouragement.
11.  Accept responsibility for your own growth and progress.
12.  People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
13.  A leader is anyone who can give you the direction and support you need.
14.  An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
15.  You have not failed unless your quit trying.
16.  When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
17.  Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford
18.  Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best – John Wooden
19.  If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive. –Dale Carnegie
20.  In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. –Vince Lombardi
21.  Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
22. Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. - Les Brown
23. It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking time to do anything well. - Joseph Ross
24. If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.  - Colin Powell
25. Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.- Conrad Hilton
26. Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.- Charles Scribner, Jr.
27. Obstacles are built into every opportunity.  You have to be willing to work through them to succeed.

1. Love must be as much as light as it is flame.
2. Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
3. The way to love anything is to realize it might be lost.
4. That which comes easily departs easily. That which comes of struggle remains.
5. Love is like the North Star.  In a changing world, it is always constant.
6.  A true man does not need to romance a different girl every night; a true man romances the same girl for the rest of her life - Ana Alas
7.  Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning its a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable. - Bruce Lee
8.  An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.- Mahatma Gandhi
9. Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope. - Josh Billings
10. If grass can grow through cement, love can find you anywhere.

1. Experience is a hard teacher because you get the test first, the lesson afterwards.
2. Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win to lose.
3. Our patience will achieve more than our force.
4.  The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
5.  Learn from yesterday. Live for today and hope for tomorrow.  The important thing is to not stop questioning
6.  The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. –John F. Kennedy
7.  Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success. - Brian Adams
8.  The future depends entirely on what each of us does with every day.
10.  Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what it can be.

1.  True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but their worth and value.
2. The best time to make friends is before you need them.
3.  Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
4. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. - Leo Buscaglia
5.  The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy.- Jim Rohn
6.  Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.- Buddha
7.  A good conversationalist is not one who remembers what was said, but says what someone wants to remember.
8.  A friend asks only for your time not your money.
9. People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

1. The only one who can tell you that you can is you, but you don’t have to listen.
2. There would be no one to frighten you if you refused to be afraid.
3. Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for. It is a thing to be achieved.
4. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to make the sacrifice to make them come true.
5. To acquire knowledge, one must study, but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
6. The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
7  The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
8.  The more you want to get something done, the less you consider it work.
9.  If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
10. Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep going.
11.  Life is to be enjoyed, not endured.
12. When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.
13.  Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
14.  Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
15.  Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. - Will Rogers
16.  The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. - Albert Einstein
17.  We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
18.  Anyone how thinks sunshine is happiness has never danced in the rain.
19.  You never know what happiness a simple act of kindness will bring about.
20. A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
21. A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
22. When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.

1.  Repetition does not transform a lie into truth.
2.  This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. – Theodore Roosevelt.
3.  The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
4.  If you take advantage of everything America has to offer, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.-Geraldine Ferraro
5.  Patriotism…is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. –Adlai Stevenson
6. America is not merely a nation but a nation of nations. – Lyndon B. Johnson
7. If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. –Benjamin Franklin
8. America, for me, has been the pursuit and catching of happiness. – Aurora Raigne
9.  Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.- Frank A Clark
10. I believe in America because we have great dreams, and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true. –Wendell L. Wilkie

Learn 10 ways how you can harness the Power of Words with modern technology.

Thistlethwaite Falls

(Photo by Mike Hall)

Water drops are frozen as they crash at the bottom of Thistlethwaite Falls in Richmond, Indiana. The falls was created when Timothy thistlethwaite and his brother-in-law Joseph Ratliff altered the course of White Water River in 1854 to use the power of the falling water for a series of grist, paper, flour and lumber saw mills in the area. Today no evidence of the mills exist, except for the waterfalls.

Who is Elias Tobias? Go to his biography that is also in Spanish.

Repeat Offender

I’m a repeat offender,
And I admit to my crimes.
The sentence is severe,
But I can do the time
Because the law I broke
Was wanting to hold you,
And with some help,
My wish came true.
Some people thought the
One you wanted was wrong.
Now I’m away from you,
And singing this song.
I’m a repeat offender.
I can’t get you off my mind,
But some others said that
You were not my kind.
I guess it’s true when I
Say my love for you is blind.
By the way you act and move,
There’s more I’d like to see.
But I know it won’t be possible,
And it’s a tragic reality.
I’m a repeat offender,
And I love to be near,
Just because I’m different,
There is a certain fear
We should not be together,
Any time, any place, any year.
I’m a repeat offender,
And I’ll pay for my crime.
But I’ll will always love you
For the rest of time.

Have you read the children’s story, The Peasant Princess? It is in English, French, Spanish, German, and Arabic.

Spring Harbinger

(Photo by Mike Hall)

Daffodils are one of the first plants to announce  the arrival of spring, and this plant at the Glenn Miller Park in Richmond, Indiana, is sounding the trumpet of a  new season.

Have you read a good book lately? Find plenty of free books online at Mike’s Books Cafe.