wolfpack

follow the leader ...

is peace possible?

has this chaotic world of ours ever truly experienced peace?

we, humanity, are we capable of living in peace with one another? on the evidence produced thus far i would have to say  ... "no"!

fight or flight is the way we are programmed to react.  as groups, tribes, nations, we tend to fight! this is the programming which has helped us to survive and elevated us to the pinnacle of the food chain.

time to reprogramme! it will not be easy, it will not be soon, it will take the concerted effort of many.

every small step will count. every child who is encouraged in kindness and taught to respect, instead of fear, the differences between us will weigh in on the side of peace.

we fight because in our arrogance we believe ourselves to be better, superior, right. if you differ from me in opinion, sexual orientation, religion ... the list is endless. why then, you must be wrong because... i am right.

we have to learn that  'i am right' does not equal 'you are wrong'. we need to become 'we'.  we differ, we are different, we will learn from one another and we will eventually come to understand that there are a multitude of ways in which to be 'right'.

hopefully in the far distant future war will become a forgotten concept.
no more will we send our sons and daughters to die on the blood soaked fields of  war in order that the views of those who triumph may be written into history ... 'i was right'.

there is no rightness in death and suffering.

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back."
~Harvey MacKay

resurrection

the train slides past
glasgow central the sign says
here and gone
on a journey to elsewhere
the trees which shield the line
summer green on their away side
buffeted and brown
from where i stand, blowing smoke
and contemplating
the wind blew day after day
from the north
she blew harsh and insistent
the wind blew until
the then spring green turned
brown, dry and dead
why ...
was it the icelandic ash
carried through the air
driven into their living cells
or perhaps the sheer persistence
of wind force
and the trees stood
half living, half dead
when the wind stopped
i watched and wondered
resurrection
the weeks passed
next to, in between and above
the death dry leaves
mother nature pouted
and produced small swellings
which burst and unfurl
a summer growth of spring green
soon the green will hide the brown
birth will mask death
life, a study in resurrection

Copyright © 2011 by Eryll Oellermann

friend of a friend

"a stranger's just a friend you do not know!"

swans swimming

the mouth of the river doon, ayr.

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it"

-Confucius