Who I'm listening to....6th installment? First for 2011

Soooo...on my ipod these days and in my CD player are:

Meshuggah

Metallica

Megadeth

Slayer

Testament

Annihilator

Iron Maiden

Incubus

The Mars Volta

Stone Temple Pilots

Hoobastank

Black Crowes

REM

Cat Power

Pink Floyd

and

Puccini - La Boheme

Blessed are the peacemakers yes, but blessed are the jackasses?

So yesterday at mass, the gospel reading was about turning the other cheek.

You know, giving your shirt off your back if someone sues you in court, befriending your enemy and praying for them. Don't just be kind to your friends, be kind to strangers (okay that's do-able) and your enemies as well (are you kidding me?)

In that way, you will be perfect, or at least be aspiring to be perfect like Jesus.

Now, I've heard some of this before,and maybe I am a cynic, but I'd like to ask Jesus and God if this means tolerating ill-treatment over a prolonged period of time? And this could be from anyone? Family, friend, co-worker, boss, lover, and yes enemy.

On the other hand, we always hear people say 'Be good to yourself' and 'You can't love others if you don't love yourself'

So how can I truly love myself if when someone hits me, I turn the other cheek?

Seems to me it's a bit of a contradiction.

I think, and I could be wrong, but maybe when someone does us wrong, we're supposed to be as compassionate and as understanding as possible and leave it to God to be the last and only judge regarding that situation and all parties involved.

Now that being said, leaving things in God's hands is about as hard as trying to find a decent driver here on the roads of Trinidad, one who obeys all the laws, you know the stuff most common sense people OUGHT to know how to do??

But that's another blog entry on common sense here in Trinidad. Oh yes indeed.

But anyway, not acting out any acts of wild, hateful vengeance is a tough nut to swallow, even if we are right. But my beef is, I can almost tolerate walking away, but why do I have to stand up and turn my other cheek? What, do I like abuse? Don't I like me on some remote level to know when I've tolerated enough crap?

And what about Karma? Don't we all have karma to repay for acts of non-kindness that we ALL do?

So God, If you happen to read my blog tonight, I'd like to say that I don't get that whole 'turn the cheek' thing. Aren't we supposed to stand up for what's right, without causing harm to anyone else? Isn't that our right as human beings? To fight for what's right?

Sure, I can walk away and 'Let go and let God', sure no probs, I hate doing that, but I'll do it! But can't I save my other cheek for myself and my 'lil bit of pride that's still left?

I don't need an answer right away. Whenever you're ready is fine by me. But I just thought I'd tell you that yesterday's sermon and gospel reading confused the holy crap outta me.

Happy Valentines Day

So, I figured today being St. Valentines Day...I'd use the definition of Love from the Bible......

Happy Valentines Day everyone.......Spread love and joy to every living soul

Ok...here it is....

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails...But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13

Speed and Sound

On another totally separate note, I was observing something in church and in yoga class.

I think all humans have a fundamental ability to speed up a piece of music. We naturally speed things up, it just feels as if we're keeping time, but we're speeding up the tempo bit by bit. It's totally normal.

The next thing is, when we sing in a group we lose pitch. We start off in one key and we either go flat or sharp (i.e. lower or higher than the initial key we started the melody in). As a group it feels natural but we are losing key ever so slightly.

I think our ear, as precise as it may be, is not our best tool for zeroing-in on perfect pitch and correct timing.

At least, that's what I think.

But I could be wrong.

We are truly blessed

Without sounding like a complete happy go-lucky, bible thumping, tree-hugging wanna-be; I'd just like to say that so many of us are really blessed and lucky to be alive.

In a world where's there so much sadness, fear, anger, violence and hatred; we are truly fortunate.

We are blessed if we're healthy and happy, if we can see, hear, smell and taste. If we can experience something new once in a while, we are one of the few lucky ones. If we can choose our own destiny within reason, then we are even more fortunate. If we can get up ever day with a roof over our heads, with no fear of imprisonment, persecution or death, if we have clean drinking water, if we have quality education and health care, if we can get in our cars and drive - then we are only a small percentage of the world's population.

We are totally blessed if we have friends and family in our life that can help us through any tough situations. With friends and family to laugh and cry with us, we can make it through the day.

And no matter what happens, with loyal friends and family around we can weather almost any storm. It's almost as if God sends us human angels to guide us along our journey back home to him.

When we look back on our lives, it's not 'what' we had in our lives, nor what we had accumulated in terms of material status and wealth, but who we had alongside us to share the moments with - both the good and bad times. Because they were still 'the times'.

That's all life really is - a serious of moments that we reflect upon as we get older and say 'Man, those times were truly the best!'

I hope to never forget the amazing times of my life, right up to when I get old and wrinkly, lose my teeth and fart in public, I hope I never forget those great moments and the friends I shared those moments with. I trust the bad memories will fade in time on their own, but I know the lessons learned will stay with me. And that's fine. The good times will always be with us in our mind.

I am truly blessed for having everyone in my life.

We are all lucky to have one another.

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com

Capturing a moment

Last week friday, it rained and the raindrops stayed on the trees in the yard.

I got a funky 'lil pocket camera for Christmas, and although I ain't no photo-out-taker, I took a few shots.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a thing for angles. It's good to have a camera close-by, you never know what you can capture.

Raindrops are a beautiful thing that reflect so much, they project an illusion, they fill up a space with water and then they disappear.

I like rain.