Yes both, but not all the time. If you are a puzzle master or wordsmith perhaps you’ve figured out the title of this post. Perhaps not.

There are times when actions in life are simple or easily achieved. Conversely there are times when the task is faced with nothing but challenges and roadblocks. I think life would be boring if everything was always ‘easy’. I don’t have time for easy. Actually I do have the time for easy but I find easy to be wasted time, sometimes.

I want the challenge. I want the challenge simply because I seek the accomplishment. A life of ‘easy’ is total sleeper. A life of challenge is met with excitement and gratitude once the ‘challenge’ has been successfully accomplished. I like that.

However life is not about me.

Reflecting on life can get one to think about a lot. All that has been achieved, and all that was missed. Perhaps things and/or opportunity was intentionally passed, perhaps not. Too late.

Everything I never had, will never be.

Never be.

Loss, and fond memories hurt for a reason. Without both, people would not be whole.

No. Marginalized is a condition that either is, or isn’t. It’s like making the statement or reference of ‘being slightly pregnant’. No such thing. However there are, or can be, levels within the condition of marginalization that either promote or demote individual populations. This can be for people, places, or things.

Marginalization occurs every day, all the time. The necessary question to ask is, ‘Do we partake in the act of…?’

This is one image I did not take. Just posted under the Sky tab is a recent image provided to me by a dear friend. This marvel, captured from the air. Those who know me well, know that I am enamored with Sky and it’s incredible, and unmatchable awe. Such beauty is what life is all about.

Sure, supply and demand often drive consumer design but are we now reacting to what drives us for consumer purchases? Or are consumer purchases driven by those who design? A little of both really. But there are societal and cultural shifts that take place as a result and it’s not always good.

Just posted under the Musings tab is a short essay titled ‘Oooh, I Like That Box!’ As I wrote the piece it opened up multiple avenues for potential discussion and debate. Perhaps you’ll find it interesting.

The grass is always greener on the other side. This is the longest title to any post or essay I’ve written.

I don’t care for long titles and see no logical purpose in them. They are more of a tagline to a title, a ‘teaser’ to whet one’s appetite to read on, or watch if the reference is for film.

I began writing this morning on an essay titled Where’s My Tea?! But then I realized that story requires more time than I have this morning. Eventually that essay will be posted under the ‘I Remember’ tab. So I changed my goal to writing a Post. Theoretically at least in my mind it would be faster because my Posts are generally shorter in length. Then I landed here, in this boat thinking I could complete it before I leave this morning. Well I was wrong, again.

I need to leave now and I’m not completely satisfied with my results. Perhaps there is a lesson here for me, and the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Wasn’t that a great time? A time when the world was right, at least in my mind, and everyone was happy and carefree. Where did the time go?

Time. It doesn’t go anywhere, yet it passes us by. As if it has something to do or somewhere to go. It does not. It just passes without end, it’s timeless.

No wonder.

Distractions…choose one.

We don’t wake up everyday and say to ourselves, ‘Hmmm… I wonder what I can be distracted by today.’ Far from our minds we don’t typically thank of ‘distractions’ as part of our planned daily regimen however, they will just automatically arrive.

Like an unwanted houseguest suddenly there it is, a distraction. ‘What do I do with it?’ we most likely don’t ask ourselves. We just allow the distraction to build and manifest inside our heads. From there, our bodies are affected physiologically and we ‘feel’ things that weren’t there before. What is that? Why is that? That manifestation quickly becomes anxiety and then leads to stress, and that becomes _____, and then, and then, and…

What? Then what?

When I was a child and did something very wrong, I can recall my mother and/or father saying to me “Words, words, words, blah, blah, blah,….. and I mean it!” I knew when those words were spoken that there was something waiting for me around the corner that I did not want to discover or unveil by continuing with my poor choice behavior. But things are different now and parents manage their kids differently.

The world is distracted by distractions. Countries are distracted by distractions. Societies, Communities, City’s, Households, People, every aspect of our current human-being is distracted by distractions.

Our ancestors were not distracted by distractions. They were focused on the here and now. They weren’t ‘looking’ elsewhere for more information, or something else non-related to the current task at hand. They held honor and respect to those who were simply doing their best to do the same. Finger pointing and blame was not a tool used for displacement of an uncomfortable situation. Our ancestors took ownership to every part of their existence and kept their person to themselves. Thieves and wrong-doers were managed by the law.

Our distractions seem to have removed much of that, that ownership of personal responsibility. Bummer how many have become distracted by something other than the task, the action, the wrongdoing.

We see it every day. Distraction induced deflection of action leading to blame of something or someone else. I can hear it now, “Your honor, my client feels uncomfortable and scared in this court of law for how He/she, He-She, They, His, Hers, Ours, Them, It is being treated. And for this, we place blame on the person/s who brought this to court. That individual needs to be on the stand for wrongdoing, not my client. We motion for immediate action against the prosecutor.”

Oh my goodness all I can hope and pray for when that occurs, is for the judge to say “Apparently you have never seen or heard of the documentary Scared Straight. Motion denied.”

Perhaps you did, hear me that is. But did you listen? Those two words are often interchangeably misused.

One of the books I’ve read references a phrase ‘precision of language’. It is a phrase used for a necessary protocol in place while speaking or writing. Words are words, and while there are synonyms for many words, there is also a variety of words in the ‘word bank’ that should be used in context to the sentence in which they exist.

Apologies for such a level specificity, but it matters.

Today’s technological means of communication homogenizes the use of many words. We hear, “Well, this is faster for me to finger-type”. Faster because it is truly faster?, or faster because it is easier?

If we do the hard things in life, our lives will be easier. But if we do the easy things in life, our lives will be harder.

Oh I heard what was suggested by someone else, I know what I should be doing as a result. But did I listen to what was suggested?

‘Hear’ is a Passive verb, it requires nothing beyond an auditory system in working order. ‘Listen’ is an Action verb, it comes with a requirement to take action.

Are you listening?