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acg's JournalReflections of My Mind
REFLECTIONS OF MY MIND
By Al Garcia
I’ve listened to many voices and heard too many lies. I’ve seen so many sunsets that fade and vanish into the shadows of the night. I’ve marveled at the beauty of a rainbow and felt the radiance of its glow deep inside my soul.
I am consumed by the splendor of all that surrounds me and astounds me. The fields of swaying sugar cane, the gentle waves along the river’s edge, the warm embrace of the golden rays of sun. Reflections of my mind devour the sights and sounds and textures of my life. Memories, like mirrors of my mind, reflecting the hues and shapes, shades and tints of all I’ve ever done or seen or felt.
Life betrays the beauty and serenity of my existence. Life beckons me to wonder and to question, but never lets me find the answer to the riddle or the mystery. Time betrays me with the promises of tomorrows, then snatches the breath of dreams and stops a beating heart without so much as a second thought. And I am left only with the reflections of my mind to keep alive inside of me what once had been or may not have ever been.
Voices, sunsets, rainbows and the essence of me. I am but a specter and a phantom of time itself, gathering impressions and sensations as I drift with the blowing tide of the endless waves of time. And yet I believe I am and therefore I must be, for the reflections of my mind reveal the reality of my delusions and illusions, if they in fact exist in my perceived existence.
I have seen and felt the death of time too many times. Shadows of lives once lived and of abandoned dreams invade my mind and heart and soul. There is an emptiness that lingers and endures despite the changing seasons that fade into the folds of time.
The only thing that I have learned as the years have passed me by, is that the only thing that time cannot destroy or touch or alter in any way, shape or form, are the reflections of my mind that forever live and grow and glow.
Reflections of my mind – memories and dreams that never cease to be, and remembered faces and places that used to be. And I remember all the voices, all the sunsets and all the rainbows of my life. How wonderous life can be, even if I only have my memories and the reflections of my mind.
Let Children Be Children
TO IMAGINE, TO CREATE, TO THINK
By Al Garcia
How the days of my childhood bring back wonderous memories that still fill me with awe and wonderment. Childhood, before the current age of privilege and indulgence, was a simpler time, for simple minds just forming and evolving. It was a time of reflections in the sun, of dirty faces and scraped knees, and of exhausted bodies and souls, sprawled beneath the willow trees, spinning yarns and fairytales, and making believe that witches fly over the moon, and magic carpets can carry them off to far off lands where stardust and snowflakes rain down on a land of make-believe castles they have built in the air.
How innocent the mind of a child back then. How uncluttered and free we were to explore, to imagine, to create, and to think. How the days of childhood have changed, and how the sprouting of the child within has withered and shriveled with each passing season.
In our time, we created a world built by our imagination and our vision, and inspired by our curiosity and wonder. It was the lazy, hazy days of carefree summer days, and the inquisitive nature of our hungry and thirsty minds that made our childhood days so full and so exhilarating and exhausting.
Today, the days of childhood are filled with gadgets, contraptions, devices, gismos and doodads that manipulate and control a child’s mind, instead of inspiring, stimulating or stirring their imagination, creativity or ingenuity. Today, the days of childhood are planned and scheduled, each moment accounted for, each activity designed and devised. Little, if anything, left to childish play, or mischiefs or tomfooleries that shape and mold the changing and evolving character and mind of the child within. Today, the world is creating and molding the child of tomorrow, instead of the child discovering the world, and seeing their reflection in dreams that will challenging and change the world around them.
It is good to be able to provide a child a life of privilege and indulgence, especially if it reflects our own ascension in a society and a world that once may have disparaged us, or even rejected us. However, that is no excuse for overlooking or disregarding the naturalness of letting a child, be a child.
The world around us is built on imagination and vision, on inspiration and motivation. A child must be see their reflection in the sun, must feel dirt on their face and sense the pain of a scape on their knee. And a child must feel the exhaustion of his body and his soul, as they sprawl out beneath a willow tree, spinning yarns and fairytales, and making believe that witches can fly over the moon, and that magic carpets can carry them off to far off lands where stardust and snowflakes rain down on a land of make-believe castles they have built in the air.
To hinder a child’s ability to imagine, to create, to think, is to destroy the child within that will define a lifetime to be lived. We should not have to look back with pangs guilt or regret at the promises lost or the possibilities squandered.
American Taliban - The New Republican Party (posted yesterday in a response)
American Taliban – The New Republican Party
By Al Garcia
First, let me begin by attempting to explain as succinctly as I can, the Taliban.
The Taliban is an ultra-conservative militant organization, attempting to spread and enforce its religious and political views on those around them. They have been known to “excommunicate” or kill those who do not follow their radical views. In other words, it is a dictatorship. Its followers are not free to practice or live by their own views or beliefs, nor can they criticize the Taliban’s policies or practices. The Taliban is 10% about ideas and ideology, and 90% about power and money.
Now, let me try to explain the new Republican Party.
The Republican Party is an ultra-conservative Right-wing organization that is becoming militant in nature, with no direction or focus other than to obstruct and to divide, and even overtake or overthrow. It is attempting to spread and enforce non-existent political views with inflammatory rhetoric to rouse long-simmering racial, ethnic and religious fervor. They have been known to “excommunicate” members of its party for nonsensical, irrational and ludicrous reasons – like telling the truth, and wanting to practice long-standing Republican ideals that propelled them into national power and prestige generations ago. In other words, the new and rapidly expanding Republican Party is losing its coat of conservatism, nationalism and patriotism, and exposing its true nature and complexion -- an autocracy in the making. Its followers are not free to practice or live by their own views or beliefs of the party they once belonged to or believed in, nor can they criticize the Republican policies and practices of outright falsification, obstruction, or manipulation of truth and reality. The Republican Party is now 10% about abandoned ideas and ideology, and 90% about power, greed and money, at whatever cost, even democracy.
There is no difference between the Taliban and the Republican Party, other than head coverings and location. One is attempting to take over the Middle East, the other, attempting to take over and end our American Dream.
Our American Taliban, in coats and ties, out to destroy our heritage and our legacy, and to make Americans crawl and grovel before the golden statue they have already created.
Betrayal - By The Terrorists Within (January 6th Insurrection)
BETRAYAL – BY THE TERRORISTS WITHIN
By Al Garcia
I have seen the well-hidden prejudices disguised with civility and charity. I have seen the smiles that deceive and betray, and heard the guarded words of obligatory tolerance and harmony. And I have seen the assaults and heard the insults. I have seen the betrayal – by the terrorists within. I have felt the treachery and tasted the vulgarity of insurrection and sedition in the very halls of our democracy. And I languished in the wretchedness of the moment and in the madness of the notion that Americans were attempting to complete what Osama bin Laden had failed to achieve – the downfall and destruction of the American democracy.
In that very moment of insurrection (January 6, 2021), my mind reeled with thoughts of anger, confusion and uncertainty. How strange the mind can be. For also at that moment of insecurity and doubt, I also thought about how the color of a rose is admired. How the color of a rainbow astounds and astonishes. And how the color of a tree in autumn is so overwhelming. And it helped to calm and soothe my breaking heart and tearing eyes.
And then, I thought about the color of the human skin -- from white to black to brown, and every shade and variance in between. The human race, a multihued kaleidoscopic spectrum of diversity and multiplicity of every kind and nature, its beauty and essence beyond the splendor of a rose, more exquisite than a rainbow and more profound that an autumn landscape along a river bank. And then, there is America – a brilliant rainbow coalition of humanity – showcasing all the strengths and flaws that make it resilient and determined to persevere.
And in that moment, I felt a spark of hope. I remembered how we have lived in harmony with a perfect rose. I felt deep inside of me the joy of seeing the beauty of a rainbow breaking through the midst of a noon-day rain. I marveled at how we relish the changing seasons and the coherence of the colors that each season splashes against the bright blue sky. And I was in utter wonderment at how the animals of every species, every color, every form and every type, roam among the open fields, mountains and valleys in perfect synchrony. And I understood that it was so because it is the way it was meant to be.
And yet, with the beauty and splendor that surrounds us, we still live among ourselves with well-hidden prejudices. We disguise our animosity, acrimony and hatred with civility and charity. We separate, segregate and isolate ourselves by type and color, language and religion. There is a scale by which we judge, evaluate and assess one from the other. The lighter the skin, the higher on the scale. The darker the skin, the lower on the ladder. We consider ourselves above all creatures great and small, and above the vegetation, flora, foliage and shrubbery that grows and flourishes around us. We control most of what surrounds us. We create that which we imagine and envision, and we have even dared to touch the stars.
And yet, we have not yet found a way to follow nature’s way, and just accept ourselves for who we are, and not be judged by what color, shade or hue we have upon our skin, or the thoughts, ideas or opinions we may have or believe. We are part of the overall divine design and should not judge or presuppose our superiority over our own creation. That was not the way it was meant to be.
Man is man regardless of the color of his skin, his nationality, ethnicity or religion. We have reached a point in our evolution where we presume to know and command the scheme of what was meant to be. How presumptuous and arrogant have we become to believe that color defines us and all that surrounds us, and that power, greed and arrogance can sustain and nurture the beauty and splendor of the American Dream. For power stolen is weakness, power demanded is vulnerability, and power abused is treachery and betrayal.
The thoughts and images that flooded my mind on January 6th betrayed the frailty of our democracy and my faith in my fellow man. My thoughts and images of roses, rainbows and beautiful trees could not keep out the horror or revulsion of the moment. The idea that ordinary Americans could be incited to the savagery and violence I witnessed on January 6th was not only foreign, but abhorrent. Yet it happened. Terrorists had found their way into the American psyche – the very soul and essence of our existence.
The attack of 911 engineered by Osama bin Laden was horrific and shocking. The January 6th insurrection, incited by the very President tasked with defending and protecting our Nation, was hideous, vile and treasonous. I saw no Muslim insignias or Islamic militant cries of martyrdom. Instead, I saw the Trump flag, the Confederate flag, and sadly, the American flag, being used by a maundering band of home-grown American terrorists, threating, beating, breaking, smashing and trashing the very democracy they were supposedly attempting to salvage from the grasp of an election they had lost. It was the ultimate betrayal – by the terrorists within.
At that moment and at that place, the Trump Base became Osama bin Laden’s accomplice in terror. Both attempted to kill the American spirit and the American Dream. September 11, 2001, and now, January 6, 2021, will live in infamy – both fueled with lies and hate. One, an attack from without, and the latter, and a more frightening one, an attack from within. Both acts of terror, designed to bring down our Nation, and defeat the spirit and kill the soul of a people determined to keep alive the idea and ideals of patriots who believe in truth, justice, and the American way.
Betrayal – by the terrorist within. We have seen it occur in too many countries across the globe, and succeed, killing the will and the life of a nation. Now, we too have experienced the indignity, shame and dishonor of an attempted coup against our own Nation. We saw the rage and the hate – live and in color. We heard the incitement and the sound that lies and deceit can enflame and provoke – as it drowned out the sound of law, order and truth. This time, there were no airplanes crashing into buildings. This time, an unhinged President and his agitated base struck at the very heart and soul of our democracy, at the very time when reaffirmation of our democracy was being confirmed. We must not allow it to happen again. We just may not be so lucky if there ever is a “next time.”
The impeachments are now history. Let history and a Congressional Commission now confirm the atrocity and the outrage of what occurred. This time, put the rancor and partisan posturing aside. If not now, when? There should be no debate or deliberation on what occurred, or why. It is time to expose the enemy within. It is time to stand up against the betrayal – by the terrorists within – the very people we may have once trusted and believed in. They have become a cancer that is attempting to consume and annihilate the very essence of us, the very core of our conviction, and the very passion that has nourished, nurtured and inspired us for over 240 years.
The Congressional Commission will expose nothing we don‘t already know. It will, however, expose the true grit and tenacity of our American spirit and resolve. For we are a Nation of patriots and heroes. And more importantly, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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