The Village Blacksmith

Love this poem




Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

American Society

Unfortunately George Bailey is a fictional character.  Yes this means he was never born. You know what that means.  We, in fact, live in Pottersville World. We are the sum of our lowest denominator.  Open your eyes, take a good look around…I mean a good look.  SEE what we look like, Look at it and try to be proud of humanity, of America of what we have become.  Realize what society is chasing, what our brothers and sisters are striving for, how they are going about it, how they live their lives and the actual choices they make, would make and what they perceive would make them happy.  Look at what America is doing to them.  This is what society is doing to us.

My only hope is that it is involuntary, that it is not thought through and that people are confused,trapped and feel helpless to do anything about it.

 

I hold this hope because in my experience the vast majority of folks I know, that I meet and speak with, interact with are good people.  Truly good people.  They are doing their best, keeping their noses clean, doing what they are told and believe in their hearts that they are doing the right things…or trying their best to do the right thing.

But they, we are powerless.  And the reason is that in this world there are greedy, soulless bastards (GSB) that are gaming the system.  These GSB only care about ONE thing – taking our money, being in power and staying in power.  

 

The GSB have spent time, money and vast research on how to mold society into a fold that maintains this world they dominate.  They realized early that PT Barnum was correct, there is a sucker born every minute and if you give him what he wants you can take everything from him.  Pat him on the back, tell him he is smart, tell him he can have what he wants, just sign here and take it home today.

 

Yet we do not realize that the Man has spent millions telling us what we want, showing us how to get it, instructing us on how to live the American dream/

 

It is so pervasive.  Billboards, radio spots, tv ads, adds in our movies, in our shows.  It has infiltrated our art, our culture. It is a 24/7 barrage of how to conform to society – how to fit in – how to be.

 

How else can you describe the word we live in?  We have two income families with both bread winners commuting great distances to jobs that do not fulfill them to live in bedroom communities insulated against the world.  We have countless “fast food” outlets, payroll advance outlets, furniture rental business.  Five year olds have cell phones.  Most people you see are looking down into their laps ¾ of the day searching for happiness.

 

It is in our education system.  We laugh at how brain washed other cultures are.  The North Koreans, the Chinese the Soviet’s.  How could those people buy that brain washing.

Yet we send our children off to school, like we were sent.  They are taught how special WE are.  They are taught the food groups (as defined by our agriculture and food industry).  We are taught how to get along, we are taught by teachers and the sons and daughters of The Man as to what is important to learn and more importantly – how to be cool, what it takes to be with the “in crowd”.  From the time we are children we are taught what we should want and what it takes to get it.

 

And then one day, as adults we are put into boxes according to where we fit into the spectrum.  Some of us are rewarded incredibly well, some very well, some do all right and then there are those who just do not make it.  These people are of special interest to The Man.  They are great examples to all the others as to what happens to you if you do not keep your nose clean, do not know the rules.  Step off the path and that will be you.

Wrestling with Life

Back in High School I participated in three sports, Football, Baseball and Wrestling. I believe I excelled in two of them, Baseball and Football.  Wrestling was another story.  I was a mediocre wrestler.  Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost.  It was a 50/50 proposition.

I wrestled for something to do in the season between the sports I loved.  It kept me busy, it got me in better shape, and it was something to do. I did not really like it that much.  I had no real desire to “pin” anyone.  I felt no desire to hold someone down on the mat and dominate them. About the only thing I liked to do in wrestling was to “take someone down”.  Once I did that, I eventually would let them go.  This became my strategy.  You received two points for taking someone down, and they got only one point for getting away.  If I could beat them on the take down issue, AND if I could get away from them, I would win the match. 

I learned life lessons from baseball, and I learned life lessons from football.  These were great team sports and the lessons learned have made me a pretty good teammate in life.  I am helpful, supportive and I believe I do a pretty good job of holding up my end, doing what is expected of me and helping the team.

Lately my reflections have focused more on what I have learned from wrestling. These reflections made me glad I participated in this sport that I did not enjoy all that much at the time.

Life, for me, has been more like wrestling. 

For starters, life, like wrestling really is an individual sport.  Yes, I enjoy family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and even strangers.  But at the end of the day winning and losing is really dependent on what YOU do and YOU are pretty much alone on the mat.

It really is YOU and an opponent – LIFE.  And if you do not get your nose in there, if you slack off, if you do not pay attention your opponent is going to take you down.

And for me life is like wrestling because:

I am not all that interested in it – It is just something I am doing between the things I love.
            Lets face it, most of life is tedious, repetitive, somewhat painful and a struggle

            Most of life calls for you to stick your nose into areas that you would rather avoid

Life makes us DO things that we are certainly not prepared for, do not know how

            to do, and sometimes do not want to do but you do anyway

Like wrestling, life can be exhausting and wear you out 

And my approach to life is similar to my approach to wrestling

            I certainly have no desire to dominate anyone

            When challenges come I am content to “take them down” and once down to let

                        them up and avoid them.

I am content to take my two points and give back the one, I wish to win but have

no desire to “pin” life or other people in my desire to live

And it goes without saying that the hardest thing to do in life, like wrestling, is to make weight