there are days when it is just so fine

A dark thing quickly dashes across the pale rocks,

and just as fast, is gone.

What was it, we wonder, a shadow?

Looking up, only blue sky - no clouds, no birds.

So it goes sometimes, in life.

Something very dark scurries past,

low and fast.

We cannot identify it, and, like fools

we looks to the heavens for an answer.

And even if we actually found an answer there,

would we believe it?

Quite often, no, we would not.

It wasn't the answer the ego wanted,

or is just too unbelievable.

Or perhaps we do believe the answer,

but have no way to use the information

gifted to us that is actually helpful,

being slow and thick as we are.

No, my friend. When darkness passes,

Let it go. Don’t waste the moment worrying.

A better use for the light from the heavens

is to find your own path through the rocks.

James Lee Jobe

No Self is True Self.

Zhuangzi

MILES DAVIS - Boplicity

She likes to think about angels and mermaids

And when she dances it is with her arms outstretched

She spins and whirls

My granddaughter, only five years old

Today I gave her some prayers beads that I had strung

And told her about the LovingKindness prayer

Sweet child, she touched one bead at a time

Saying

I love my Momma, let her be good

I love my Daddy, let him be good

Oh, there are days when it is just so fine

To be an old man

James Lee Jobe

It's only after we’ve lost everything

that we are free to do anything.

William Lee Jobe

Although it was well past time for me to be a man, I wasn't much more than a boy when I spoke to her. Bring your best holiday smile and walk with me, I said. I’ll show the place where I hide away from everything. There is a small cabin with a wood-burning stove, a fresh stream, and the woods there are full of sound. Bring your optimism and good cheer. Bring your sunshine, bring your moonlight. I said all of this with a hopeful look on my face, like a puppy-dog hoping for a treat. She asked me, "And what will you bring to this hidden cabin?" The strength of Sampson in his most righteous fury. (I actually said that. Can you imagine?) The delight of children when they run, the way that they shine. And also this, the strength of heart that the stars turn to warmth. She hesitated, then smiled, patted my hand, and walked away. Now, a lifetime later, I still remember that day.

James Lee Jobe

For years, the border guard watched as an old man pushed a wheelbarrow full of manure across the border. Every time, they searched the manure, as they were certain that he was smuggling something. Eventually, the guard was due to retire. On his last day, he said to the man, "I'm retiring, and I know that you've been smuggling something all this time, but what? I won't tell anyone." The man replied, "wheelbarrows." (Source unknown)

Invest yourself in everything you do. There's fun in being serious.

John Coltrane

There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.

César Chávez

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Thanks, James