tenderness, kindness, joy - for no reason at all

"The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions."

--Thích Nhất Hạnh

And so now even the sun and the stars cannot help us. 

The western sky, sliced by razors of rain, gun metal gray. 

Coffins draped with american flags, parents and spouses 

and children whose faces are lined with grief, their heads 

are bowed. The priest says the pithy biblical  words 

and some of the names of his god are spoken. Ghosts, 

in the uniform of soldiers. A thick crust to cover 

those who survived the battles, a painful crust, like a scab 

that is getting old. Like the curse of time. This country 

now lives in a perpetual state of war. Hated by so many.

This is a house built of anguish and regret, a place 

where people live dry lives, barren lives, hopeless, 

with a choking from the scabs in their throats.  

--James Lee Jobe

"Not thinking about anything is Zen."

--Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

James' Epitaph. 

“I am proud only of those days that pass in undivided tenderness.”
Robert Bly

Did I rage? Yes. Sometimes righteously. Sometimes ridiculously. 

And yes, a couple of times my rage was evil. I am not proud of that, 

But also this - I won't deny that or anything else any longer. 

And did I love? Most assuredly. Many times. Wives and lovers, 

My children, my parents, my friends. And now, a grandchild. 

But proud of it? No. Love exists beyond foolish pride. 

Love is to be expected of me, of us all. To fail to love 

Is far worse than being angry about something. 

Love is the rent I pay for my own humanity. 

Other than the simple fact that I have it inside of me. 

Now that is something to be proud of. And so I am. 

--James Lee Jobe 

Eternal Gratitude:

A whole lifetime could pass 

before you open your eyes.

Every dream, every success,

every failure, and every

happiness you ever felt

or wished for will have passed 

and gone before you even know it. 

That is why we must hold on 

to each other before we're gone.

Cherish every moment.

Love every second. 

--Will Lee-Jobe 1991-2017

Some people need compassion, and cannot find any. Others cannot find compassion within themselves to share with others. That all people have compassion in their lives, actively, both to receive and to share, this I pray.

James Lee Jobe

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James