Ashes to Ashes

The world
I saw in a book long ago
floats like a lead balloon
on my shoulder.

The scorching heat,
oceans and rivers,
running off my brow.

I am fearful to let go,
underneath, confused,
mistakenly disconnected.

I turn and turn
carried by its powerful orbits,
fingernails grasping;
resigned in its revolutions.

The world
I saw in a book long ago
floats like a lead balloon
on my shoulder.

I cry, I laugh,
I live from day to day:
scorched, bruised and dazed.

Ashes one day
I will be,
and the earth and I
will finally be one.

The world
I saw in a book long ago
is pounding me into ashes.

Marco Aurelio

On the Issue of Social Problems – Education

     We can go any place in the world, and we will discover human beings behaving completely different than we do. We understand that as the precise definition of culture. Despite all our differences throughout the world, there are two constants: poverty and violence. We instinctively understand that these problems are rooted in a lack of a proper education, and derive from the abuse of alcohol and drugs. 

     At the root of any problem there is always an organism affected by and in reaction to that problem, so if we are to understand these issues, it seems necessary to take some time to talk about people. The malignancies that afflict our society are all directly related to people’s self esteem and poor education. Our school system is further dividing our society into two very distinct categories: the “haves” and the “have-nots.”  Much blame for all social ailments has been placed on the shoulders of the less fortunate-but it is the boutique educators that bare sole responsibility for the lightless beacon they are setting for our children. 

     Among the improvements they have designed to solve the education problem, nothing infuriates me more than the new trend, in certain schools, of interviewing children before accepting them. This is a policy we should revise at once. It’s a doctrine aimed at extremely superficial and bored individuals, who are likely unaware that the whole principle in this type of selection process is rooted on social darwinism. 

     The policy is aimed at our insecurities and our constant need for self affirmation. Advertisers practice these principles daily and bombard us with ads, designed to sell us everything from tires, to perfumes and acne products. Schools are now using the same principles against unsuspecting parents, pitting them against one another, preying on their insecurities and exploiting their sense of self worth, while ignoring the welfare of the children in the community.

We all think our children are special; and that it is because they are. It’s necessary to recognize their importance, while providing them with an education and enough room that allows them to discover what talent they will contribute to our society. Unfortunately, parenting is luck of the draw, and there are parents who feel better if their children are considered more special than the Joneses.  Preying on someone’s insecurity wouldn’t be so detrimental if they were selling shoes or computers, but they are not. They are vouching to be educators, which implies an eminent ability to discern right from wrong, and an overwhelming desire to educate. 

     It is imperative that educators understand the importance of what they are doing and that they be qualified. The growth rate of the population and its weight on the public school system should never be the sole motivation to open a new school. Being an educator requires that you are on the forefront of issues pertaining to the well being of our society. 

     Society should shun any school practicing a philosophy of interviewing children before accepting them. Educators be mindful of the moral dilemma we’ll face in the future in regards to genetic research. As of now, they use parental affluence and children’s personality traits to base their decisions on admission. In their ignorance, these so-called educators fail to realize that they are paving the road for a society that pre-screens children for generic anomalies before entering them into a particular school. This is not an intellectual leap; it’s a natural progression. Their actions are nothing but a barbaric practice, and a preamble to what’s to come.  

     It is a privilege to educate, and educators need to understand that they are the ones applying to teach a new generation of thinkers-not the other way around. When they label  and dismiss children at such a young age, they are doing a disservice to all the other children at their school, because they are denying them of sharing their utmost quality: their uniqueness. They are also abdicating of their responsibility to educate. 

     Through their disturbing interview process, they are telling the children they reject that it is not acceptable to be who they are. It is morally reprehensible to deny a child, whether of his or her uniqueness, or to deny them of an education anywhere. But most importantly, it is criminal to sit in judgment of a child, refusing in the end to validate his or her humanity.

 



 

NOW

Image

I dream of today,
today only
and nothing more…

A whisper –
not a sound –
moving the day
and nothing more…

Half a thought
I shall tend to,
gratefully,
regardless of a theory forming.

Deep in my heart,
a strange feeling
pervades,
that nothing more,
is nothing more than now,
a single moment
paradoxically eternal. 

 

Available Now @   http://www.tashapictures.com/publishing                                                            

 

 

 

*

SUNSET

It is necessary to remember….
to remember the sorrows,
to remember the victories,
to remember the deceased…

In our short walk
through this world,
every single memory
confirms our existence.

They say that
knowledge
is the only thing
that can’t be taken away from us:
rubbish.

I don’t know who they are,
but they are all unimportant:
the bankers, the judges, the royals,
hiding behind walls,
ears pressed against
exquisite wallpapers
pretending desperately not to hear
the footsteps approaching,
full of fears, full of despair
forged into majestic cufflinks.

She will come for you,
she will come for me,
and this knowledge
we ought not to remember.

Our memories
will only be preserved
by our imagination
in the buildings we leave behind;
the necessary windmills,
the parks, the bike paths,
a simple pencil…..
and let’s not forget
to plant a tree.

Our legacy
is all the tangible and material;
not the love we once had,
not even the love in our hearts.
Love is the blessing,
a gift we must possess
to allow us to hold hands,
to walk on the beach,
to watch sunsets,
and not see ourselves
witnessing darkness come,
rehearsing the inevitable,
full of contentment, full of joy, full of life.

Available Now @   http://www.tashapictures.com/publishing