Loner vs Lonely

I always thought of myself as the "social butterfly"....somewhere along the years I've developed the LONER personality. I wonder if it's just a phase. A loner is a person who avoids the company of other people. How is this me? lol...i love people...most of the time! However, I really love to just be alone and do the things i like to do at my own pace...on my own time... etc.

Lone-LY on the other hand is not necessarily me. While they both are on the same page...ALONE...I'm not really dejected by being alone.

Man I enjoy my own company. Honestly tho, NETWORKING is needed....otherwise your life could end up like this...

Amazing Grace-The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation

I read this book years ago and I never stop thinking about it. I'm constantly plotting ways to make bigger things happen... one step at a time tho eh?

a review that took the words out of my mouth

Jonathan Kozol has dedicated his work on bringing light to the inequalities that exist within our nation. These inequalities are best seen, unfortunately but not unexpectedly, along racial lines. "Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation" is a book with a lot of questions, a lot of shocking information, but not a lot of answers; if only because the answers may not exist. It is a stunning look at the deep disparity between rich and poor within our nation.

Kozol focuses on the South Bronx ghetto of Mott Haven, the poorest borough in New York, clearly segregated from the middle and upper classes, where two-thirds of the population are Hispanic and one-third African-American. Through interviews with school children, teachers, ministers, and community members, Kozol paints a bleak picture of the equally bleak lives led by those who live in this area. He recounts stories of buildings where wires have been eaten through by rats that are the size of squirrels, of drugs being bought and sold openly on the streets (although the drug dealers have enough respect to break when school lets out), and of families too numerous to count who are being killed off one by one by AIDS. The way these children see the world is frightenly dead-on; they know when they're not wanted because it's proven to them everyday in the way they have to live.

"Amazing Grace" is not an easy read due to its topic matter. Kozol's style is matter-of-fact, made up of usually uninterrupted comments by those he's interviewed, sometimes with his questions thrown in, and his own comments and hypotheses as to how this can go on. But Kozol doesn't necessarily have answers or even blame. Surely, some blame has to go to a system that keeps the poorest people with the least chance for success segregated from others, a separation of the haves and have nots to the greatest degree. And certainly others would place the blame on the poor people themselves. Perhaps it's a combination of a lot of factors, not one or the other, but what is certain is that too little is being done (or maybe can be done) to make a difference before it is too late.

COURAGE

Soooo, I have my moments....where i lose my courage. I HATE THAT!! LOL...it's just that TIME is too precious to give in to FEAR...SO i kick myself in the ass everytime I give into my fears.

I won't LIST my fears here...because, well...why waste keystrokes on Fake Evidence Appearing Real ? Its like COnFIRMING that they exist..and its a waste of convincing.

I'd rather convince myself that i DO have this inside...and that i NEED to do these things...
ALSO, that FACING MY FEARS becomes SO MUCH MORE EXCITING than RUNNING... once you get THROUGH it? man...its Nooooothing. What a trip.... Makes you much stronger!

There's this guy.....Ralph Marston...boy is he enlightening...


"Courage is the commitment to do what you know is right. Courage arises when your integrity will not allow any other choice.
Courage comes from following a purpose that goes beyond your own petty concerns. Because of that, courage gives far-reaching power and consequence to your actions.
In the short term, courage can often appear foolish. In the long run, courage has the power to move the whole world in a positive direction.
Courage asks much of you, yet it is not complicated and is always within your reach. Courage is truth put into action.
In every moment, courage is there for you to choose. In every moment, courage is the choice that will fulfill the best of who you are."

so i say....lets face some things we haven't wanted to face...TODAY....we only have TODAY....until we get to "tomorrow"...if we're lucky.