I attended my 40th High School reunion last month, and it drove home to me some superficial and deep memories. The ups and downs of my life past and present and an overwhelming since of a word that seems to run so much of our lives. And that word is “Acceptance”. At least within my own personal ruminations from my life.
Acceptance as a young person was a big deal, and still to this day. However it is managed differently, with the maturity of age, or so-called hidden maturity we call our age… “Acceptance” seems to balance the prism of so many values, both of vice and virtue - that measure our actions with both ourselves and with others. Other important and simple but related and profoundly valued words, such as “Forgiveness”, “Humility”, “Caring”, and “Acceptance”, just plain and simply resonated with me as I reviewed my old friends and moments past, and these old friends in the present.
So this is my experience as I reflect from that High School Reunion: The simple word of acceptance, which extrapolates far beyond the plain and simple - or beyond just itself.
So what do I mean? I am not sure I can tell you, as my rhetoric is full of ambiguity, as usual, but full of its own poetry, in a form of its own Prose. So bear with me as I ramble on… Poetry and Prose or perhaps “iambic pentameter” is the thrust of my expression. It is meant to coin or congeal a moment of thought, in simple poetry and expression that captures a feeling, an expression of time, a moment of importance and value, all in a phrase of mere words, rather than a banal phrase of sense… This is the poetry of the moment, of the caring, that transcends common spirituality, but embraces the heart of spirituality… You must understand it, not necessarily believe in it.
But I will share some of my rambling thoughts, along with an old poem, that this reunion brought to mind, that I wrote as a youngster at about 20 years old, that speaks of acceptance of self, and for the hope of acceptance from that mythical valentine we all sought, and much, much more, as I see it…
But it is all trite, to be very real about it all. Still, trite or not, it was this reunion of thoughts, or moments, of the trite and the profound, all scrabbled together into a moment, that tied the past and present into a legacy, we all will leave someday. One way or the other we will leave a past, either of value or not.
In other words this poem, for its youthful simplicity, is profound in its scope. It touches that fulcrum or prism I spoke of that touches the spectrum of values we are all innately engaged within. Some of us possess, simply better luck and skill than others, but still, it is of arbitrary sensibilities, that we lay claim to personal success versus failure. In other words, some are born with the silver spoon and in the right geographic place on this planet to live a relatively fanciful and joyful life, and some simply are not as fortunate. It is always that simple, save those who believe hard work is the only genie of gold that made their life so pleasing or the lack thereof…
Neither truth stands on its own, but truly both have merit.
It is finding that modicum of intellect within yourself or your peers if you expect to have a sound discourse on this issue. Life is arbitrary, life is random and life is blessed for some and lost for others. It is - the way it is. No excuses can change that truth.
But I digress… So here I go with my rambling of acceptance and its importance, which is so central to all species. At least the older I become, the more it becomes more apparent. As anyone who has read my other rhetoric on values, clearly knows that I believe in the Golden Rule as the fundamental guide to a good life, but even the Golden Rule teeters on this fulcrum of life’s truthful sense of finding acceptance, forgiveness, and the willingness to care for others.
Acceptance? Acceptance of self, caring for others, caring for self, and our ego’s are all wrapped up in the same ball of wax… Sort to speak… Acceptance, and Caring are the spirituality that really only matters to our momentary existence.
I do often speak in riddles, as you can tell, as my words speak for themselves. However riddles are sometimes more telling of the truth, Far more telling than implicit ideological fixations based on the fanciful world of ideological faith and wishful belief’s.
Still all is fair in an unfair existence, of which we are born into. For every child that smiles, there are probably 10 that cry. That is a statistic that is hard to dispute. And for good reason. The world or existence and the crap shoot we are involved in - by way of life – simply is not fair. It can be no other way. It can be improved upon, but for genetic mishaps, and the nature of imperfections or superior perfections, life is – simply – what it is. And fairness is the myth of the miss-given… Critically thought out and logically speaking.
But kindness can trump unfairness. Both Kindness from within and from without.
However, such kindness is too few and far between, but none-the-less such kindness is the gold standard of living a good life. And I mean also the personal kindness of accepting our fortunes and misfortunes by way of humility and valuing the honor of working well, toward a happy life, and an accepting life.
The finest people in the world, are those with genuine crosses to bear, and they bear their crosses with “acceptance”. Beyond all expectation. That is the true gold standard, that those of us, such as myself, that live here in the United States, in a virtual Disneyland, compared to the squalor of so many on our planet, are by the shear math of the issue, are implicitly bound too. I am ashamed at how I often may squander my days with my sense of mistakes or superficial issues, which pale to real hardship.
Heck guys – we all live in Disneyland… We should never forget it.
So with my Disneyland analogy I will cease and desist, with my riddled dribble, that I hope some of you will find of value, and now share this simple poem of spying a person across a room and wondering, in sometimes trepidation, fear, and awe, due to acceptance of self, and the search in ourselves to cross that bridge at some point - and make a life move positively forward. Still whether we move forward or struggle to do so, we learn and grow, and consequently come to know acceptance of oneself in the process.
So without further pedantic dribble, here is the less than awe inspiring poem that came to mind at my High School Reunion as I thought of my youth and of the words I use to write, looking for answers to my own direction…
Please do not fault me for being naïve and simple… It is the way of growth, and will continue to be…
Across the Room
I saw you today, in the rear of my thoughts, in my fantasy, in my subtle battle of needs, which are in essence vain not loving. - But then needs are undeniably selfish.
To really love is to meet without desire, without pretense, within common goals directed outside the passions of personal attraction.
So that personal desires are not the initial impetus but rather secondary blossoms of the vine.
Wherein the initial nature, character, principle and common atmosphere to which you met is not overridden or altered in a vain pining effort to please.
Albeit to please is the truest of joy…
But none the less – you are a little dawn, a fantasy to reap, a novelty of mind, an experience to feel and oversee – and see myself.
Russ Otter, as a youngster, and even today…
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