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Category: Editorial

Since When Has Life Mattered?

C.L. Harmon

Every moment on social media or on a news segment somewhere there seems to be a reference to “All Lives Matter” or “Black Lives Matter”. My question is since when. Since when has any life mattered when it comes to humans? Did it matter to the Romans when they conquered the peoples of Western Europe and other lands or persecuted and killed Jews and early Christians? Did it matter to Pol Pot and his regime when they murdered two million fellow Cambodians? Did it matter when Genghis Kahn and his army killed 40 million people in his quest for a Mongolian Empire? Did it matter when Adolph Hitler and his followers exterminated 6 million Jews and 5 million others from all walks of life and nationalities? Did it matter when the Mayans beheaded and tortured their own people as sacrifices to the Gods? Did it matter when Joseph Stalin and his Communist regime murdered 20 million people? Did it matter when religious zealots burned their neighbors at the stake because they believed them, witches? Did it matter when the US Government used abhorrent methods to eradicate Native Americans? And, let us not forget the 45 million abortions worldwide each year in a time when medical science has proven that a fetus is alive. Are we sure life matters or that it ever has been that important?

The truth is, humanity has been murdering and torturing since Cain slew Abel. There has never been a time in history when one race, one nation, or one person was not trying to kill another. Even Christian Crusaders and Muslims murdered one another in the name of God. This madness stems from the fact that all of humanity does not accept that all lives matter let alone any lives. So again, I ask, since when have any lives mattered?

As angry as one may get over the senseless death of another human being, the truth is that senseless killings happen every day all over the world. And most of these are not reported on but simply left to fade into a forgotten history and dust from which God created them.

In order for senseless murders to abate, ALL of humanity must learn that every other life is as valuable and precious as their own. Every government must treat its citizens with equality and value. Every parent must teach love, humility and compassion to his and her children. Every peaceful religion must be respected. Every citizen must accept the fallibility of all humanity and utilize the power that forgiveness holds and not the judgment that revenge brings. Every person must accept that their existence is equal to everyone else’s in God’s view. Until the citizens of the world embrace these principles and practice them in their own lives, no lives will ever truly matter enough for senseless killings to stop, no matter the amount of media coverage, public outrage, rioting, or peaceful assembly.

Writers Note: This work was posted on Facebook but due to its nature, was limited so very few people could see it and no one could share it. In the future, all of my writings will be published here. As I cannot control the actions of social media and their choice to limit who sees content, I ask that each of you share this and my other works so that others might have the option to see it.

CL

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Our Focus Is Often Out Of Focus

C.L. Harmon

We are taught from a very early age to focus. In our education, personal lives and careers we are instilled with the belief that we achieve more by focusing on what we are doing. But do we ever stop to think just what we are accomplishing with the importance we place on this focusing? The very essence of focusing is putting ourselves at the center. We must focus in order to be better. We must focus to reach our goals. We must focus to create. We must focus to succeed. At the center of all our focusing on these actions is always ourselves.

It is true that there is a need to focus on certain aspects of our lives at specific times. However, many of us allow our desire to focus to become the focus of our lives. What should only be a tool in the building of our lives, becomes the structure we are building. We have become so involved in our efforts to achieve, we ignore the needs of others. We become the center of our own attention shutting out the world around us.

We were not created to focus solely on ourselves. Our purposes are rooted in inclusion. We are designed to function as an intricate web connected to each other with each strand intentionally woven to the next. The focus on one strand alone creates nothing beyond itself. We must shift part of our attention to others so that their strands will connect with ours creating a stronger outcome for all. To be a million strands disconnected is to be broken; to be a million strands intertwined is to be the structure of life and a vision worthy of focus.

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Pardon Me, But Is This Your Butt?

By C.L. Harmon

While stopped at a stoplight recently, I noticed the vehicle in front of me had two decals on the back glass. They had been placed there with care to produce the most visible angle for the world to see the owner’s views. The first was one in support of Bernie Sanders for president. The other was 4ocean, an organization that promotes clean oceans around the world. And though I care nothing for this person’s political views, I certainly support everyone’s right to promote their views in a safe and legal manner. I did, however, respect this person’s views on protecting our natural resources. That opinion lasted all of 10 seconds. That was the span of time between first seeing the decal and the cigarette butt which this person then nonchalantly flipped out the window.

So, it’s okay to support the clean-up efforts of one aspect of our world while trashing up another? Perhaps this young lady of 20 something (I eventually passed her because my curiosity got the better of me) assumes her future grandchildren will pick it up when 4ocean expands to 4land and sea or something else clever. Where does such a breakdown in common sense come from? How does one not understand that the very mentality which polluted the oceans is the very same one that throws a butt out of the window? I can’t help but wonder if this young lady even grasps the concept of what it means to save the environment. Perhaps, she just thinks it’s cool to be a young hip democrat who belongs to something of which so many others are members.

Whatever her motive, I feel her comprehension of what it means to truly sacrifice for the good of a cause is lost on her and many other young people today. Promoting yourself as part of an organization and buying some trinket or subscription in support of that organization is not sacrifice. In fact, It’s barely even commitment. Sacrifice means change. It means effort. It means the giving up of something. Commitment means the willingness to do all these things followed by the actions to make sacrifices. Picking up trash in your front yard and dumping it in the back yard is not progress. All this accomplishes is making the neighbors in front of your house like you better than the ones behind the house.

I certainly do not wish to single this young woman out, but I believe her actions are indicative of what we see everywhere in the US today by so many young and old alike, democrats and republicans and across every race. If you choose to support a cause, then support it whole-heartedly. If you believe in something, then work for it and not at it. If you want to change what is wrong, then do what is right…even when it costs you. If you want to solve problems, then be willing to meet everyone at the table of compromise. And if you want to impress your neighbors, take your trash to the garbage can…even those living behind you will like you.

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What Matters Are The Particles Of Matter: Mindset

What Matters Are The Particles Of Matter: Mindset

Words,music notes, brush strokes and elements come together to form beauty, art andvision. Mysterious particles of matter and thought swirling about a vastnessbeyond comprehension and yet they group to form a discernible pattern of beautyand purpose. Do we draw reason or coincidence from such an awesomecollaboration? Could it be that each particle has purpose; a destiny it mustfind in a sentence, stroke of color, or chemical compound? Are they asmagnetized molecules drawn to one another? Or are they simply lost looking tofind a home in a creation larger than itself which then creates something weexperience as beauty?

How do we know? Which do we choose to believe? Does not thisvery question determine how we choose to live, how we believe as we travelthrough this life? Every choice we make is rooted in the answer we offerourselves. Is it logic or faith which guides us? Is it a combination of thetwo? If so, which is dominant? Does either offer explanations that we feel safe to bet our life’s outcomes on? Are we individual grain of sands combining to form the intensity in a dust storm?

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle or even beyond our scope of understanding entirely. I believe it’s not about the manner in which beauty materializes but the proof that it does which we should focus. We should follow the particles because they appeal to us in a way that brings about fulfillment. They are not an offer of anything else other than they are real to us. To expect a particle of matter to obey our commands or to lead our lives to where we wish them to go is to save the night in a jar, but to embrace that night is to own it. What is created, whether in our control or not, is simply the proof that we mattered at one time and place in a vast creation simply because we accepted the opportunity to follow a few particles of matter and witness what they made for us.

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Seeking The Darkness Within The Light: Mindset

Seeking The Darkness Within The Light: Mindset

For most, life is about the pulling the light from the darkness, but for others it’s about seeking the darkness within the light. We associate what is bleak or twisted within the wreckage of tragedy and chaos as the destructive forces which pull us away from the shining rays of comfort and safety. We few, however, know this and still make choices to gravitate toward it. In some respects we never escape the darkness regardless of how much light is present. What is the darkness? Who is the darkness? Why are we drawn to it?

Is the definition of such a concept as simple as black and white? Does it not provide cover from enemies in conflict? Does it not bring relief from a blistering sun? Does it not have a mystique and beauty to be appreciated? As with any creation, it has an allure that beckons to certain individuals who can feel its prowess and energy.  For those few, there is a desire to pull reasoning and purpose from what is hidden, what is lost.  It is as a seed planted in the soul which desires the dark to the light, drought to the rain, chill to the warmth in order to grow.

Seeking direction in the darkness is not insanity, but faith. To know such knowledge is the doorway between complexity and simplicity. It is to turn pain into creation, devastation into new ideas. As charm and elegance is found within the light, depth and mystery is within the dark.  Those who are drawn to it are the ones with the courage to discover that life is never lost within itself or within the wreckage which litters our existence. They are the ones who discover that inspiration resides in the corridors of life that most fear to tread.

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Be The Key To Unlock The Universe Within: Mindset

Be The Key To Unlock The Universe Within: Mindset

When we live without reason we exist without freedom. Chaos captures us when what is on the outside influences us more than what is on the inside.
It seems probable that we are programmed to some degree during our creation. Little adjustments or additions that make some right-handed while others are left or allows for one person to be shy why others seem naturally comfortable around people or an adjustment that even makes some more creative while leaving others with little talent for the arts at all.

Based upon this belief, it would seem likely that other additions or adjustments were made at the same time. Perhaps a conscience or some moral code that is woven within the fiber of our being to help us along as we make our choices in life. When we distance ourselves from that internal set of rules and sense of what is right and begin living without the benefit of those rules, chaos begins to track and then imprison us.

Words that are corrupt, actions that cause turmoil and desires that destroy are done without the benefit of reason and thus bring chaos to peace, captivity to those free. These words and actions limit us thus imprisoning us within their consequences. They lock us into a dark existence away from joy, compassion and, enlightenment.Reason is the fundamental key to understanding each other and each time we use it, we unlock a bit of humanity within ourselves allowing the universe to grow exponentially, expanding our realm in which to experience even more freedom.

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Each Of Us Is A Light That Only Needs A Power Source:Mindset

Each Of Us Is A Light That Only Needs A Power Source:Mindset

Sometimes all we can do is accept the decisions of others. Although life is so much about choices, we are not given the ability to change the views and decisions of others if they choose not to listen to or act on what we say.  Many times our only option is to accept and this is not by accident but by design.

This act of acceptance, however, does not mean that we have faith in other’s ideas. It does not mean we believe in them or understand them or the direction they have chosen to pursue. It simply means we offer them the opportunity to learn and explore with support while offering us the opportunity us to gain insight beyond our current beliefs. To be believed in is a fundamental need for us all to build character, confidence and self-worth.

There are no great achievements without support. As we live we learn that we are created to believe in possibilities, not question them. Endless possibilities exist only in the presence of unwavering faith. When we believe in others, we not only give a part of ourselves to them, we tell them that they matter and that they have purpose. And it is that faith which is the most important element needed to achieve great things. Our faith in others teaches them that we are all lights which only needs an outside energy source combined with their design to illuminate the world

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Escaping From Inside The Raindrop: Mindset

Escaping From Inside The Raindrop: Mindset

Rain pours and pounces the landscape near and far. To nature a drink of life; to others, a dismal day in shelters and hideaways who long for escape. The drops fall with purpose but without permission. They require no planning or proposals but only elements to interact and become whole. But delve deeper and realize we are not but prisoners of life within raindrops, but chosen components to the development of an awesome experience.

We are tiny shards in a fragmented sky. What we see, understand and encompass exists within a fragile framework that is delicate and yet withstanding of the powerful forces which surround it. We are a drop falling to seemingly certain destruction. This is life.  We are formed as drops when the elements are present and fall through this life only witnessing it through the thin veil which imprisons us. We rarely push the veil for fear of dying, and yet we were dead before our fall to the surface even began.

And yet it is death which gives any meaning to life at all. Yet still we live as though we are dead because our fear of life being taken from us consumes us, making us prisoner within the raindrops.

Whether we push the walls of our liquid cocoon to break out or hide within, we still slam to the ground and fall apart. The protection we feel is no protection at all. The ending is always the same. So if the drop breaks during the fall, what have we lost? The essence of rain is that it falls; the essence of life is that it ends. The beauty of it all is not that we know in the end we die in a downpour but to have lived within the storm, felt its passion instead of not being chosen to fall at all.

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It Is Outside That We Discover What Is On The Inside: Mindset

It Is Outside That We Discover What Is On The Inside: Mindset

When we think of our lives, our place in humanity and our world, we tend to think of it on a broad scale that encompasses all that we do and experience as an ordinary ritual of sorts. But what if that world we focus so heavily on each day causes us to lose sight of so much more? What if we miss the treasure because we are focused on finding the spot marked with the X?

Consider that all life, each individual entity, is a world all its own, made up of countless functions and processes in constant motion. We must then realize that life is happening in each ability, every talent, each characteristic and every second of time and examine them as though they are the only thing in our world.

We can then see them as a sole entity, full of energy and vitality becoming enlightened as to the extraordinary genius of all creation. Within each thought that becomes an idea, every ability that becomes a creation and each characteristic that brings interaction with others, there is an opportunity to discover that perhaps the meaning of life is simply that life has meaning beyond breath and knowledge.

The hours we are given to live are our opportunity to find meaning in each and every aspect of our lives. We will never see how incredibly in-depth we actually are if we do not understand the complexities of all things in our world. Understanding purpose and self-worth comes not from inside but from outside. It is only through the realization of the intricate nature of everything that we learn the incredible value of the one thing we call self.  

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A Sip Can Save, But An Ocean Can Drown: Mindset

A Sip Can Save, But An Ocean Can Drown: Mindset

What we refuse to acknowledge is the measure of how much we lose. Every blessing bestowed upon us becomes a curse when we seek more than the blessing offers. When we seek more than what has been given, that original blessing is lost to us in exchange for a desire that has no absolute certainty.

If we ask why a given amount is all we receive from a blessing, then we have convinced ourselves that we need more, thus creating a thirst. But if we proclaim that what we have is all we need, then there is no need to want more and our thirst is quenched.

To continually desire more is perhaps the greatest example of just how thin the line which separates good from evil actually is in this realm. We must all decide for ourselves what we need to be happy, then learn to be happy without it. If we learn to live with nothing then any gift becomes everything. We should also remember that no one gets everything, yet everyone gets something.

We are given what is required for each of us to grow into a specific purpose meant only for us. When we choose to focus on wanting more, then we are separated from that purpose and drawn into a quest chasing a thirst which can never be quenched. No one who chooses to want more, ever proclaims there is enough.

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