“I'm looking through you”… “What did I know?”

(with thanks to Lennon and McCartney)

What do you see when you don’t consciously look; 

when you observe from within, 

when you scrutinise from outside?

What do you see when you look deeply inward; 

peer beyond the well-known, 

examine the unknowable?

Do you see certainty?

Can you comprehend legitimacy?

Have you the vision to recognise Truth?

Is your reality just illusion; 

do your synapses reflect carnival mirrors?

Can you recognise the image in your mind?

Are we really who we think we are, 

who we see in the glass, 

what we hear in our heads?

Is the external world illusory, 

just fantastic dream domains of our own invention?

Or are we merely invisible only to ourselves?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 23 January 2015

Why? “I wake up in the morning and I wonder why everything's the same as it was; I can't understand…”

(with thanks to Sylvia Dee and Arthur Kent)

I am progressive because I wish to continue to move forward, the world to keep on spinning;
I do not want to cling to what no longer works or relates to today’s world.
I am pragmatic because I know it is impossible to always get what I want, 
but progressive because sometimes we need to push ahead to get what we need.
I believe in building on solid foundations, keeping what needs to be kept; 
not throwing out the new baby with the old, dirty bathwater, and the miscellaneous rubbish.
I am liberal with my heart, my empathy, my friendship, my involvement; I am charitable
which means that sometimes I must be liberal with the giving of money as well as compassion.
I am moderate with my consumption because sometimes there isn’t enough to go around; 
I believe more people should conserve resources, internal, external, natural, and man-made.
I am conservative with my trust, my confidence, my hopes, 
and my ideals; 
I hold on tightly and do not squander them on chimaera, threats, and veiled allusions.
I am less willing to give up my opinions, beliefs, and truths than I am my tax dollars.
I am not the only one… sometimes it seems I am.


Ronda R. Scott-Marak 
© 13 January 2015

"Both Sides Now"

(with thanks to Joni Mitchell)

Ignorance
Apathy
Hypocrisy
Delusion… Insincerity

Knowledge
Empathy
Awareness
Reality… Authenticity

Cruelty
Violence
Vitriol
Assumption… Oblivion

Kindness
Compassion
Benevolence
Understanding… Generosity

Pick a Side…
Ruthless, or Humane?
Fiction or Reality?
Even from the same window, 
people’s viewpoints may not be from the same perspective.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 5 January 2015

“Nobody living can ever make me turn back... ‘This Land was made for you and me’” (with thanks to Woody Guthrie)

The year in review:

The worst hypocrisy is condemning in others what one does oneself;

To cast accusations, denunciations, indictments of others’ motives and actions just because you don’t agree with their opinion is one thing.

To use the same rhetoric, behaviours and tone as those you decry in the process is a double standard not to be taken any more seriously than that with which you disagree.

Categorising, grouping, defining people by their “designation” with no regard to what they actually believe is tantamount to defining by race, creed, colour, gender, sexuality, or age.

We are generally more alike than different…
It is unfortunate when that similarity although all-encompassing highlights the bad instead of the good.

RS-M
31 December 2014

“When will we ever learn…?”

(with thanks to Pete Seeger)

Where have reason and tolerance gone?

Why are so many eyes closed tight while claiming to see the other side; 
only seeing their own blinded view from within?

Where have discourse and discussion gone?

Why do voices all shout and demand acquiescence to their opinions; 
hearing nought but the sound of their own words?

Where have consideration and generosity gone?

Why do words preach benevolence and hope
when empathy, compassion, and charity are now deemed aberrant?

Where do we go from here?

Where is humanity, where went human kindness; 
when all that’s left is avarice and shame?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 19 December 2014

Suspending Belief..."It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it"

Do you believe in what you do?

Do you trust what you believe?

Do you understand resulting actions?

Do you comprehend the meaning of your words?

Do you repeat the speech of others?

Do you research what you read?

Do you take their words as gospel?

Do you echo what you hear?

Do you appreciate different values?

Do you grasp what others say?

Do you know how to evaluate?

Do you consider or maintain?

Are you capable of empathy; 

see into someone’s pain?

Can you be swayed by reason; 

will your convictions ever change?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak   

© 17 December 2014

"Circus of Sours"... with apologies to Donovan Philips Leitch

I don't get it...
I don't understand...
Someone, please help me make sense of it all.

We're supposed to be on constant alert against Terrorists.
We are warned to report suspicious packages in depots
and on trains,
We are told we should understand, and not be upset when our data is read;
"It's just to keep us safe from potential danger".

Yet, People carry guns and semi-automatic weapons openly in public,
People threaten others openly in social media and on-line.
After an attack, mass shooting, rape, abuse, any egregious (sic)
act of violence everyone goes on about prior signs of danger and madness, unaccountably missed warning signs. 

But... we're supposed to overlook the glazed eyed person armed to the teeth at the grocer, 
the people carrying pickets with violent or racially charged depictions of the President,
the "Sovereign Citizen" rhapsodising about violently overthrowing the government,
the lunatics posting threats of violence, death, and terrorism online.
Because... "Freedom of Speech"... The lawyers petitioning the Supreme Court say so.
What if the Supreme Court agrees?

Someone tell me how we are supposed to recognise the deranged, violent, or the extremists speaking out from our neighbours, or the police?
Anyone?


Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 2 December 2014