Good People

I don't believe in bad people.

Sure, you may not get along with certain folks but in general, they are good people. Their personality makes them someone else's best friend and I would hate to not have a best friend - Or at least good friends.

I don't think everyone has a best friend, unfortunately. But someone has made them smile and that is worth a lot.

People can steal and kill and hurt others but how are we to know their reasoning?

I'm not saying it is a good thing. I'm just saying it exists and they shouldn't be condemned forever. Actions do speak loud though.

I was watching a few videos where these people would go to a major city - New York, New Orleans, ect - and they would ask people on the street questions. All these people were unique: a sorority girl, a homeless man with no teeth, a housewife from Russia. It was quite interesting and they all earnestly yearned for something more - and if they didn't, there was still something deep with in. Something screamed, now that's a good person.

Or at least, a person is a good thing.

Where do you wish to wake up tomorrow?
What do you want to happen by the end of the day?
What is your deepest secret?

I don't think I would ever say those answers to a camera.

I wrote this is two sittings and now, I don't even know where I was going with.

Maybe, I just love my friends.

Candles

In general, when I think about myself, I think of a candle. In fact, to make this metaphor easier lets just say all people are candles. Looking up from above, we would be a reflection of the night sky on water. Some of us are brighter, some of us are not as bright but still visible.

You aren't forever stuck in one intensity of light. You flicker, like a candle, sometimes it is dull while sometimes the flame is massive. Wind comes and you've got to do something to protect it. Sometimes, you may look at your candle and see the black wick with a orange spark lingering on the tip. If you blow gently, it may relight.

I have a few flaws with this analogy. One of which is I've never imagined mine or anyone else's flame going out, it's always there. Sometimes, the wax gets precariously low, but then the next day the candle looks brand new. The candles are never consistent and I would like to venture forth and say, in general, life is consistent.

Also, I never factored in that someone else can help light your candle for you.

This is the way I am always picturing people and the stress levels in my life. When times get tough, I see myself crouched beneath a tea leaf as wind gushes around me and my hand is cupped around the flame and rain is pouring.

I started thinking like this when my counselor told me I would burn out as a freshmen. It made me sad as I had never heard such terminology. All I could think about was wax dripping.

But anyway, that was more or less a tangent.

I think it takes more than yourself to protect your flame. You need friends to help you! Also, flames do go out. That's okay though because when you walk in the darkness, it is never pitch black because the light from the other stars are always shining.

Eight per Second

I have heard it said that the hurdles are a metaphor for life. You run towards an obstacle at full force and then at the last minute, you jump over it. The best hurdler won’t hesitate. Their stride is the same as their jump. The hurdle isn’t even there. Yet, to get over the hurdle creates so much fear and it clenches at your heart, but you’ve just got to face it.

Perhaps, that’s true for some people.

But I’m a distance runner.

You can’t give it your all because there is more left to come and then it is just so silent. Then the silence consumes you perhaps for a minute: perhaps for infinity. When you poke your head out of the shell, you first hear your breathing - it’s ragged but you’ve got to fight to keep it steady. You have to keep track of each lap - one, two, three. Did you make a mistake?

Too late to know now.

You’ve got to keep going, despite how much it hurts. Everything becomes loud. How easy would it be to just step off the track and throw in the towel! But you don’t, you find some way to keep going. Along the way, you are lapped but then, you lap someone else and the race still goes on and you can barely figure out the start and end of the runners on the black top.

Yet, you’re still alone.

Oh, how you keep fighting.

Your obstacle is the body that is allowing you to make any progress what-so-ever.

Then it’s over, before you know it.

Is this the cynical take on life? I don’t think so. I imagine myself as more of a realist. There are so many metaphors to life and it’s hard to decipher through each one. It feels like you’re wading in mud but one that refreshed my senses was the saying, “5cm per second; the rate at which cherry blossoms fall.”

Cherry blossoms do not fall in a straight line. The flutter and sing back and forth such as a pendulum does. They hit the floor lightly but while in the air, they dance with other petals. Perhaps, that is truly how life is. We dance with random petals - people - and then as quick as we meet we loose each other.