If you had to choose...

Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power. I wonder which is better?

Are You Blind?

People argue with eachother occasionally. We can't all agree on everything all the time, so sometimes we argue about our opinions. Perfectly reasonable, right?
But have you ever been in one of those arguments, when the other side is being so stubbornly stupid that you just want to shake him? slap some sense into him?
Well, i have been in that situation, in any case. I don't know about you.
A few days ago, my friends, who live in a different town than i do, were complaining that their town made a new law- soon, recycling would be mandatory.
"That's great!" i exclaimed. for years, i had wondered why that town never recycled, and i was thrilled to hear that they would finally begin. My city had been recycling ever since i could remember, and i love being a part of the effort to save our planet.
but these kids just don't get it.
"I don't have time to worry about these things," someone said.
HUH?
i have several problems with this. i certainly hope you do, too.
OK, first of all, "time"? what time is involved here? is it really so time-consuming to put a piece of paper into a recycling bin? is it really so exhausting to throw a plastic bottle into a separate bag than the rest of the garbage?
they were complaining as if there was actual effort involved here.
what irked me most of all was that these people weren't only lazy. they really just didn't understand the big deal.
they couldn't visualize the mountains of garbage that we are running out of room for.
they didn't see the big deal if a few thousand species of animals were totally wiped off the planet.
they couldn't care less about the fact that where there was once vast forests, alive and green and full of beauty, there is now nothing but barren emptiness.
they didn't care about the streams that once ran down mountainsides, beautiful and life-giving to so many creatures, is now nothing but a polluted, mud-filled puddle that nothing could possibly survive in.

they couldn't visualize the future planet that their children will inherit- totally empty of beauty. so full of garbage that there's no room for growth. the ozone layer so depleted that it's impossible to walk outside without getting fried.

WHY?

It's because of people like this that our planet is in such bad shape. people who just don't care.

Don't they have eyes?
Of course they do. the problem is, they simply never bothered to look around.

How do I know...

...that I am not living a lie?
...that I am who I want to be?
...that what I'm doing is right?
...who I can trust?
...where to go?
...that I am not a faker?
...if I love him?
...that my tears will ever stop?
...that I make a difference?
...that you care?
...if I am making the right choices?
...whether I am lost, or if I'm on the right track and just don't know it?
...that you are not lying to me?
...that I am not lying to myself?
...if you can help me?
...when to go, and when to stop?
...what I'm supposed to be doing?
...that I am not alone?
...Myself?

Braces

It finally happened!
At long last, after three and a half years of agony and annoyance, the long-awaited salvation has arrived- my braces are off!
it was such a strange feeling, not having braces anymore. at first, my mouth felt so funny. it felt really uncomfortable, like something was missing. you know that feeling? that first day, i almost wished that my braces were still on, because the feeling of not having them was so weird and foreign.
this got me thinking. sometimes, we feel this way about other things, too. take a bad habit, for example. sometimes, we grow so dependant on the habit that we can't imagine life without it. it's like an addiction. this habit becomes so ingrained in us that we feel like it is a part of our essence, part of what makes us who we are.
and then, when someone tries to remove the bad habit, we cling to it. we aren't willing to let go. we are so used to it being there, we cannot handle it leaving us. we manage to convince ourselves that the habit is a good thing, that we need it. we tell ourselves that the habit is a part of us, and if it is ripped out, there will be nothing but an empty void, a feeling of missing something.
what we fail to realize is that, yeah, the habit is a part of us. but it's a bad part, and in order to become a better person, we need to be able to let go of it. the longer it stays a part of us, the worse off we will be. (i guess the braces isn't a perfect analogy, because braces are actually very helpful.)
if we get rid of our less-desirable traits, we aren't creating an empty hole in our essence. actually, we're doing just the opposite- we are cutting away at the rotten parts, in order to make ourselves into a more complete and perfect person.

One of my Favorite Quotes:

To be nobody but

yourself in a world

that's doing its best to

make you somebody else

is to fight the hardest battle you are

ever going to fight. Never stop

fighting.

- e.e. cummings

Magic

what is magic?
is it the witches in fairy tales, dancing and chanting while adding newt tongues to their cauldrons?
is it wizards who wave wands and wear pointy hats?
is it little pixies and elves that are only found in children's stories and cheesy movies?

or is magic more like...music that you hear in the distance. you can't tell where it's coming from, and no one else can hear it.
or when you see something out of the corner of your eye that you can't quite explain.

or is magic something more along the lines of...rain. the way it feels when it falls on your face. the smell of the ground just after a storm. fresh and cool and new.
a child just born, with her tiny fist curled around your finger. the fact that the child was born at all.
life.
the way the ocean is constantly moving. never resting, always changing.
children's laughter as they play, carefree.
the way a tiny seed can grow into a towering tree.
the way winter slowly fades away, and grass peeks out from the muddy snow, and flowers suddenly appear. spring.
the feeling of someone's breath against your cheek, when he whispers, "I love you forever."

Is magic just fantasy? stuff of legend?
or is it very, very real?

Is magic all things beautiful?

what is it?