Railings and Founding Families

Calliope, Akeelah, and Eugene the mad scientist named Q who performed in a one-man George Bernard Shaw show.

Yella Fella.  Mark and Stewart from Australia working in the U.S. for Antonia from Sweden / New York / Brazil.

Watching the abandoned house across the street for unusual migrating birds.

Plowing a garden after a heavy rain, next to the family homestead.

We have the stories of our lives to give away.

Mountaintop views and valley hideaways.

Suburban plains and attic stowaways.

One life to live the days of our lives, performing in a village vanguard.

Pushing limits so others can stay within them.

When others are staring at the headlines, are you the one who turns around and looks the other way?

One primary focus per moment, mainly, that's what we have, what defines our lives.

Do you listen to: 1) your thoughts, 2) the echoes that create your thoughts, or 3) the echoes created by your thoughts?

Do you believe in thinking and thoughts at all?

The country life, where actions echo louder than thoughts.

Dirt roads.  Fishing ponds.  Winter wheat.  Hay.  Planting corn in the spring.  Cows, pigs, llamas, chickens, dogs, cats and frogs.

You working with the elements, not against them.

Bamboo huts on stilts.  Houses built with handmade bricks, roughcut boards and tin roofs.

Not knowing or caring what LOL means.

Subjected to droughts and floods, directly understanding what those kinds of periods mean.

Harvesting tree nuts more valuable than board feet.

Everything, including dirt, a commodity when you need it.

These are the days that fill our lives when or if we step off the sub/urban islands and look around.

The more we pack into the knowledge base of our youth, the less likely we see value in lives tied to working with land, plants and animals for a livelihood.

While we argue about privacy rights, nuclear armament, exchange rates, citizenship, and family values in local, national and international circles, let's put our lives in perspective with those who don't need to keep up with the latest social trends.

Frenzied fusses.  How many different ways are there to make a flannel shirt efficiently?  How advanced does a pair of work boots have to be?  Do you have to buy denim pants just because a celebrity endorsed the manufacturer?

How many specialised levels of society do you want to support?

A coworker much higher up the management food chain once pulled me aside and told me his secret to success: don't pay attention to what other people say about you and pay less attention to all the choices life gives you; pick out something you like to do and stick with it only as long as you keep liking it, then switch to something else before you hate what you're doing; if you love what you do, sometimes take a moment to see if there's something else you might love even more (but don't take too long); trust your instincts more than other people's advice.

When someone gives you advice not to listen to other people's advice, listen carefully.

What is a successful life to you?  Is it designing and building your own deck and hand railing at your leisure?  Is it sitting at home in retirement and talking with friends on the phone?  Is it still being able to plow your garden at age 90?  Is it volunteering at the senior center to assist your less able-bodied retired friends?

Success is not just celebrity and philanthropy.  Success is the moment you live, that's it.  How you display that success to yourself and others, through thoughts and/or action, is up to you and you only.

Pursue your dreams, not someone else's.  Your dreams don't have to involve the exchange of money.  Family and friends are as much a part of the successful achievement of your dreams as the things you accumulate.

I look forward to hearing more about the successful moments in your lives.