see the rainbow

it was sunday morning. headed down the 101, i was tired and really feinding for caffeine. it was rainy. i picked up ms. shirley and we went to the coffee shop.
"do you see that?"
"what?"
"the rainbow."
"where?"
"right there," i arced my finger.
"no."
"looook, red, orange, purple..."
"there it is, that's right, how'd you see that?"
"i don't know, it's right there."

i corinthians 13

the love scripture...
how many people, when they use the word "love," mean this --
*****
my feelings toward you are characterized by patience and kindness.
my feelings for you release my pride, jealousy and any rudeness.
in my love for you i'll never find joy in the wrong things, and my love will not be eroded or irritated. the rejoicing in my love will focus only on what's right and true; my love does not demand on my way...
my love keeps no record of wrongs, always hopes and never ceases to have faith.
my love perseveres and has a forever endurance.
it will last and last...
*****
whoa.
love is not commonplace.
it's certainly not for the faint of heart.
do we even love ourselves?

invertigo

so there's this roller coaster at the Great America theme park called invertigo. One set of people goes forward as the other set goes backward. Some people laugh, some scream and cry. Some feel refreshed after, others sick. it's easily one of the best roller coasters i've ever been on...
in life, it's the same story, but far from the best. when in the course of 10 days there are a birthday, a wedding, an historic election and 2 funerals (3 if i were to count the passing of President-elect Obama's grandmother); when i feel on the job, again, that one can succeed without the other receding; when the economy's got more twists and turns than the super-duper-looper, but hey Americans are paying less for gas...
what's up with the bittersweet?
what's to be made of the suicide of a shining star?
RIP Mentor and Friend, my prayers are with your family, see you in the casket tomorrow
Congratulations Brother, she's a beautiful bride
RIP Uncle, I'm so sorry Aunty and Cousin
Congratulations on the election, so sorry your Grandmother missed it by a day
Happy Birthday Daddy
i love life, i really do... but at some points, the paradoxes and conundrums just get so overwhelming that I don't know up from down or whether to laugh or cry.
how did God know to give us both?

Obamanos

Deserved Denial or Disenfranchisement?

Been really struggling with this one...
Black men being encarcerated and convicted of felonies at abnormally higher rates than any other demographic coupled with the fact that felony convictions remove citizens from the electorate,
BEGS the question...
Does this constitute a deserved denial of rights to those unable to abide by societal law OR is it a manifestation of systematic disenfranchisement?

The struggle comes from the fact that each side to the argument represents compelling rationale. Regardless of black felony conviction rates being so strongly linked to disenfranchisement, anyone able to make the leap of faith that racism no longer exists will see no such rationale. Maybe in their world, there is no black... only good and bad, criminal and upstanding citizen.
God can take my faith there...
Until then, I can't help but beg the question.

the quest for diplomacy (intro)

i want to be a diplomat...
point blank, i'd enjoy nothing more than being an advocate working on the side of peaceful efforts toward the common good.
if there's anything that i've learned from the emotional roller coaster of the american economy lately it's that there's a connected disarray in the united front of the EU... oh yeah and a more honest look at, again, financial crisis emotions in the far east.
this current situation is only an example, especially in the US. any way you slice it, we're not living in some silo that prior generations may have been able to. i believe that the most important skillset that anyone can have is that of being able to communicate with people to attain progress for a wide range of stakeholders. even what we are in the midst of currently may not be the most consequential circumstance that can arise from the interconnectedness that we share. over the next few decades, we're going to face many more challenges.
it's time to engage.

Republicans and the Media

Wow... I heard about this in a forward, so much for the coverage being fair and balanced!

Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally Full Story

***
"I attended the Welcome Home rally for Sarah Palin this morning. Hooo. It was an experience. About a thousand (maybe) hard-core Palin supporters showed up to hear her speak at the new Dena’ina Convention Center in downtown Anchorage."

...

"The organizers had someone walk the ['Alaska Wimen Reject Palin'] rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state."
***

If the Alaskan people are more willing to show out for a Palin Rejection Rally than a Palin Welcome Home event, how can the entire United States be expected to trust her in the pre-carious position of vice-president in such trying times? I won't go so far as to compare her to Bush, but let me put it this way--
Which event do you think would be better attended of the following...
1) Bush goes overseas, comes back and has a "Welcome Home" event
2) People who are FED UP with Bush organize an "Americans Against Bush Policy" event

I PRAY that the USA not let history repeat itself...

potential... .?

it's the test day in the middle of a term which may or may not be the first a series of courses. lately it's been all about multitasking. make sure everything is up, make sure there's progress on everything that's in motion...
thinking back to this past weekend our pps talked about patience, and then when we were all discussing the topic this week, we faced a discussion of what makes us impatient.
lack of provision came up: specifically the lack of provision which results in unrealized potential. many of us like potential, but can't stand too much of it, because it really can be characterized as that which is unrealized...
so back progress on multiple fronts... is there a patience element at work here, or is "the lack of a specific milestone" the beginnings of un-tapped potential? has mediocrity in the past just been the result of that which was unrealized? and if that's the case how does one keep that balance between patience and accomplishment?
as for me, i'll start with the mid-term, and re-assess after the final...

An Amusing Bumper Sticker, A Cultural Truth (?)

So in my commute of commutes, I saw that the leading cause for divorce is: MARRIAGE. Is that true? Has our culture become so wracked with commitment-phobia that the best way to maintain a lifelong relationship is not to commit to one? I actually think the bumper sticker muse may have been on to something, has (s)he uncovered something telling...?
It makes a strong, lasting marriage that much more attractive. Isn't that just like a woman...