Category Archives: Uncategorized

i. schizophrenic canto

in the quest of discovering
who I am
it is important to note
that I’m slightly less
than the sum of my two halves
the two hemispheres of my brain
exist in rapporto simbiotico

they share residence
in my oblong cranium
fraternal twins
with little in common
and seldom in agreement

my romantic mind
resides in eastern hemisphere
painting dazzling oils
in vibrant colours
of idyllic dreamscapes
where I am hero
to all who seek my heroism

my rational mind
lying parallel
taking potshots
blowing vast holes
unrelenting
unrepentant
common sense
into even the tawdriest
of my unfulfilled dreams

key to equalizing
my mania
with my depression
is the tolerance
which allows romance to dream
while reality sits idly by
waiting to clean up
telltale signs of
my destructive irrationality
in my fantastical fantasies of you…

ii tropical forest canto

I have dreams
of lush forests
meandering streams of rainwater
and bananas fresh off the tree
for breakfast at sunrise

you and I run naked
through our unspoiled eden
our fat little babies
playing symphonies
with the vocal instruments
of their musical laughter

midmorning
I teach our youngest
to swim in the pond
that lies at the base
of our waterfall

she giggles
at the slick touch
of the shimmering iridescent fish
as they swim
between her chubby little legs

happily exhausted
we recline
in the bright clean sunshine
of an ozone protected atmosphere
beads of water drying on our skin
in the light breeze

you are using a sliver of bamboo
that was downed
in the torrents of rain last night
to cut slices of pulpy mango
creamy avocado and crunchy chilis
for our lunch
on a bed of dew soaked spinach

sated
we lie down with our babies
naked to the world
and sleep

rain comes as always in the tropics
mid afternoon
first heavy droplets
steady torrents
horizontal sheets
invading every pore of skin
of foliage
air saturated with moisture

thunder awakens me
eden is gone
perfection is gone
children are gone
you are gone

and I cry myself back to sleep…

iii desert island canto

only to awaken
with crashing surf
on a flat of scorching sand
my pale flesh perforated
by the tiny granules

I sit up against the base
of a solitary palm
survey my surroundings

I am clothed
in dilapidated levis
fine blond body hair
faded tattoos
and fiery angelic mane

my only possessions
moleskine journal
fat, primary school pencil
and a sliver of bamboo
from another dream
to sharpen its point

this island is ten feet in diameter

on the horizon all about me
I see mighty metropolises
civilization scant cubits away
yet I cannot swim

dreams that I struggle to remember
contain fantasies of her
my muse
flickers of rainforest
to be written in fat graphite forms

my rational mind foretells
of exorcism
by means of spontaneous prosody
inoculation for heartbreak and loneliness

so I write of all the things
that my cowardice will not bring
and in doing so
I lessen the yearning

my mind’s eye struggles
to picture her face…

iv canto poetico

she walks into the café
ear buds in place
book in hand
goes to the counter
orders a marshmallow mocha

I look up from reading
“bum on the loose”
a particularly brutal
bukowski piece
that sums up my thoughts
on giants of literature

as I peer across
the ten feet that separate us
I see that she is engrossed
in william carlos williams

methinks, poet’s poet
as I look over the precipice
into her dark eyes
and the stray tuft of hair
that darkens her forehead

she looks up at me
with a quizzical smile
arches an eyebrow
opens door into her world

I grasp for the right words
as visions of rainforests
and waterfalls
cloud my romantic mind

oh no, here I go again…

(and it’s not the way you think)

I breathe politics. Those of you connected with me through social media know this. The vast majority of my contacts, both pro and con, have come through my politics. I’ve had spirited debates on a variety of topics over the years. I’ve commiserated on the losses and gloated on the wins. I’ve lamented bad decisions from the Left and the Right. I’ve offered my advice to everyone from the President of the United States to the Denver City Council. After twenty-plus years of being active in politics as a layman and as a professional I have come to one startling conclusion. Liberals have ruined America.

I’m a Progressive. You know this. It’s likely the first thing we talked about when I met you (unless we were fighting on the playground or sharing the nozzle at a keg party in high school). I wear it on my sleeve. I’m a Progressive when I go to bed and I’m a Progressive when I wake up. With that being said, I have never self-identified as a Liberal. I am a Progressive. Liberalism has always been a four-letter word to me. I’ve gone so far as to say the words “I Hate Liberals.” They annoy me to no end. That’s why I shout it to the rafters. Liberals have ruined America.

Over the course of the last four years I have traveled America talking to folks about politics. If you live in a vast portion of Central Ohio there’s a good chance that I’ve knocked on your door. If you live in sections of Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts or North Carolina you have probably talked to one (or more) of my people. I’ve talked to thousands of people about what matters most to them. I’ve been able to draw a conclusion. No matter which way they lean, most people want the same things out of life. A job that with a company that we can be proud of; A good job with a future, benefits and retirement at the end of our career; A safe place to live for the family; A solid education; Access to quality health care; A fair chance to get ahead. These things don’t seem like a lot to ask for. We work hard. We get rewarded. Everybody wins. The disconnect comes when we start mixing ideology into the equation.

America has become a binary, dare I say bi-polar, society. Everything is this or that. Right or Left, Black or White, Gay or Straight, Male or Female, Liberal or Conservative. I could keep going, but you get the point. We have lost out ability to see the shades of gray that exist between every absolute. There is common ground in every single relationship and conversation. Our politicians deal in absolutes. They would rather draw a line in the sand between their core issue than find the common ground that we as their constituents share and live on a daily basis. The issues that we all care about. The basic needs required to pursue the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Instead we get bogged down on issues like God, Guns and Gays. They are wedge issues that divide rather than unite us. Which explains why a voter would cast a ballot for politicians who proudly stand for profits over people. They would rather have Congressman X beat Congresswoman Y because Congressman X will protect their right to bear assault rifles. Or stop gay marriage. Or prevent abortions. Or allow prayers in schools…

“But Terry, I think I read you wrong. You said that Liberals have ruined America. Didn’t you mean that the three G’s crowd was responsible for our downfall?”

Patience, Grasshopper. I am getting to that.

I have no problem with folks who go and vote their conscience on election day. If you choose to believe that the President is going to take away your guns, or that abortion is murder, or that gays are sending America (literally) to hell like some modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, by all means get out and cast your vote. That is your prerogative, your duty to your country. When Americans participate in the political process the country is stronger and more resilient. And that, in a nutshell is why I say That Liberals have ruined America.

If the ideologies of the Right and the Left are polar opposites, so too is the application of said ideologies. It is not unusual in a primary election to say eight Republicans on stage ripping each other limb from limb over the minutest of ideological differences or voting record. That Candidate A once voted to expand Medicaid in their state, or that Candidate B voted against Keystone XL becomes a black mark and makes them unelectable. They fight to see who is the most conservative of a bunch of conservatives. We watch and we laugh at the idiocy of it all. Once the Battle Royale is over and the bloody swords are put back in theirs sheaths, everything turns hunky dory and they all get behind the victor. In November they take their resolve to the voting booth to elect their candidate. The Republicans become the “Walmart” of campaigns and they turn all of their bloody swords on their “communist” opponent. Everybody is welcome in the tent.

In the meantime, in between all of our laughter and jeering, the Democratic Party is also debating on their nomination. The process is much the same. Knives are sharpened to cut away at each candidate’s liberal armor. They debate on who is the most liberal and force each other to take stands on reproductive rights, gay marriage, environmental protections, minimum wage, labor rights, health care and a variety of other issues. Their voting records are laid bare for all to see. They parade these platforms through all of the primary states and harp constantly on their differences. They nominate and winner and move on to the general election, chattering about their “extremist” opponent.

Pretty similar process, right?

Unfortunately, that’s where the similarity ends. When the Democratic Party goes into general election mode they become the “Small Business Saturday” of election campaigns. Everybody is still shopping, just not at the same store. With their Liberal credentials laid out for all to see, you’d think the faithful would fall in line and vote the party ticket. After all, the candidate likely represents the better option on the vast majority of issues that are important to you. You’d think wrong. Liberals tend to fixate on these credentials to the point of distraction. If the candidate is not strong enough on my one core issue, say Income Equality, then my feelings get hurt. I may decide to sit this election out. This is the trap that we fall into over and over again.

Case in point: I have a friend in Pennsylvania whose one big issue is fracking. Over the years he has become increasingly disenchanted with Barack Obama’s open support, dare I say cheerleading, of fracking. It became unthinkable for my friend to vote for the President. I can’t speak to my friend’s voting record. I’m hoping that he voted Green instead of Romney, because there is no way that Romney would be better for the anti-fracking crowd than Obama. This gets right to us to my first point.

The last seven years should have been a boom market for Democrats. The President won by a landslide in 2008 and by a slightly lesser margin in 2012. The Republicans when on the attack before he ever swore the oath of office. They started talking about impeachment before he had a chance to make an impeachable offense. They boasted that they would block everything that he tried to accomplish. Even though they were the minority in both houses. This should have been a rallying cry for the Left. Instead, our liberal politicians started abandoning ship almost as quickly. They became the Small Business Saturday of Government. So much more Progress could have been made if they’d worked together instead of arguing about what to work on first. We could have had Single Payer Healthcare, a higher minimum wage and signed off on all of the projects that the stimulus was designed to pay for. Instead we got bunk. But that’s the Liberal Way.

Most recently I’ve been campaigning down in North Carolina to save the Senate from the Republican takeover. If you follow the news you know that I failed miserably. This despite the fact that all of the people that I talked to seem to hate Thom Tillis with impunity. Despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by 700,000, Ms. Hagan still lost to Tillis by 47,000 votes. Not only have Liberals ruined America, they have surely ruined the great state of North Carolina. Their crime? I’m glad you asked. If the candidate doesn’t fit their profile perfectly and exactly, they refuse to vote for them.

The case against Kay Hagan is a familiar one. In her campaign ads she called herself “The most moderate member of the Senate.” Liberals do not want to hear that. Liberals want a firebrand, someone who will dash as far to the left as possible and then tear down the walls and go even farther. They want someone who will go to battle to defend the environment, to protect reproductive rights, to expand Medicaid, to raise the minimum wage as high as possible, to give amnesty to the Dreamers and their families. Not only that, but they want their core issue to be Kay Hagan’s core issue and first priority. Kay Hagan did none of that in her six years in office. In fact she did the opposite in most of those instances, went for business time and time again instead of representing the base that got her there in the first place. She did nothing to inspire the Liberals of North Carolina to get out and vote for her. Not even the constant Tillis ads tying her to President Obama could help her win the Liberal vote. The majority of the Senators that lost on this election day did so because they distanced themselves from the President. And he’s the one that got them there in the first place when he blew out the walls of the tent and brought everyone inside.

Even though Kay Hagan was bad on “insert issue here,” she was still better than Tillis on every one of the Liberal core issues. Every time a Liberal says, “She didn’t vote against fracking, so I’m not voting for him,” they are disregarding them plethora of other issues which differentiate the Right from the Left. Just because your congresswoman didn’t stand in from of the House and speechify on Gay Marriage, it doesn’t mean that he is not better than his challenger on every other issue. This is what I mean when I talk about the Boutique Liberal. If a Democrat is not displaying at the “Worker’s Rights Boutique,” then Organized Labor rank and file will turn their backs on him. They do this even though they know he is better on every other issue, every other boutique, in Liberal issues mall.

Don’t give me the lesser of two evils defense.

The lesser of two evils assumes that neither candidate represents you on either of the issues. If a Democrat doesn’t represent you on any of the issues then you should be voting Republican any way. If you choose to abstain from voting in any election you invite the worst possible outcome. You can’t complain about one party dominating a government if you didn’t participate. Sure you can bitch, but I’m not listening. You are dead to me. Or at least your opinions are.

Conservatives don’t give a rat’s ass about the lesser of two evils. They hold their nose and march to the polls to vote for weak candidates like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin and George Bush. Mitt Romney told the American People that he didn’t care about the bottom 47 percent of the people at all, yet 61,000,000 people, or 47 percent, voted for him. That’s how the Republicans swept to victory in 2010 and 2014. The Conservatives hopped on the Walmart bus and drove to the polls while the Liberals were still window shopping at the Boutique Mall. We need to be Progressives and become the Costco of political parties.

And that’s how Liberals have ruined America.

Stay tuned for the sequel 😉

Maybe I’m a Pollyanna, but I have a dream…

a) a moratorium on police and national guard showing up in riot gear and tanks Every time a weapon is discharged the spotlight gets brighter.
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b) a moratorium on burning, looting and pillaging. Every time a building burns the pulses race faster and the response gets stronger. (the same applies above).
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c) the right to free speech and assembly. If I disagree with a government action or policy I have the right to peaceably protest. Our country is built on that.
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d) the protection of people and property. Burning down a neighborhood doesn’t benefit anyone, but decidedly hurts its residents and small business owners.

I understand that the cops put their lives on the line during every single shift. They deserve the option to protect themselves within reason and within the law.

I also understand that people want the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All of these things are under attack by our own government. There’s a reason we call it a “police state” and it has little to do with the actual police. The 12 year-old with bb gun notwithstanding, unarmed people should never have to fear for their lives.

The two are not mutually exclusive

It’s common sense folks. Two wrongs will never, ever make a right. We need to get along to GET ALONG! We have to stop this race towards dystopia.

I’d say the same goes for all the foreign skirmishes around the world, but that’s a dream for another day.

Thought of the day: Has America become the existential model of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?

We have smart phones and video games, restaurant and grocery delivery, broadband and Amazon, 24 hour sports and news, iPads and iPods, Satellite TV and Radio, the Biebs and Miley, Twitter and Facebook. What incentive does the average American have to get out of the house?

Why form your own opinions when Bill O’Reilly, Jon Stewart, Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow and Joe Scarborough can tell you how to think?

Oh how the times have changed since the 60’s when people took to the streets to stop racism, to stop mountain-top removal and forest clear-cutting, to stop a war. We lament the loss of will when it comes to activism. Is there a correlation between the aforementioned distractions and this loss of will?

Indeed we do. One only needs to look at the Arab Spring and the developing world to see true change is possible (for better or worse). When people in the developing world get truly angry the hit the streets and don’t leave. Then American version of this is the one-hour protest and the letter to the editor. The we pick up the dry cleaning and head out to happy hour. Our motives may be pure, but our will is weak when it come to showing up and sticking it out for the long haul.

Until Americans put down the remote control, unplug the PC and turn off the smart phone. Until we get outside in the streets and in the halls of government. Until we see what’s going on. Until we ascertain the true meaning of things, we are all the very model of that prisoner in a cave that Plato was talking about, watching shadows on the wall, and drinking the Koolaid of partisan ideology.

Better duck, it’s time for Link to set off the EMP and wipe out the machine world. I’d fix it myself, but I’m not THE ONE. I’m just the 37th Most Interesting Ginger in the World.

Here we are, fifty years removed from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and if anything times have gotten ever tougher for the American worker. Wages remain stagnant, even as corporate profits soar and the stock markets show near record highs after the deep plunge they took six years ago. Unemployment is still hovering at seven percent with countless others having retired and/or given up. There are many reasons why we are having a hard time getting everyone to work and keeping them there.  To name a few, we have the off-shoring of jobs to save on labor costs, automation and higher productivity meaning more production for less labor hours, State and federal budget cuts causing layoffs and furloughs of public workers and mega-corporations buying up the competition or driving them out of business.

Organized Labor, of which I am a part of, has taken a big hit as well. Union density has gone from a high of 35% in 1954 down to its current 12% in 2013.  Conventional wisdom says that “unions were a great idea back in the day” but they’re unnecessary now. This is wrong-headed thinking perpetuated by Capitalist think-tanks that are still pushing the “trickle down” policies of Reaganomics from thirty years ago. If the economy “trickles down” from the “job creators” then why has CEO pay grown by 725% since 1978 while worker pay grew 5.7% over the same time period. (Economic Policy Institute, http://www.epi.org/publication/ib331-ceo-pay-top-1-percent/) Seems like a few more nickels could have trickled down. This roughly coincides with the decline of union power in this nation. No voice in the workplace leads to economic disparity on a grand scale.

Labor is not without some blame in the equation. We have seen corruption that disillusioned the populace, turned people off. We have overreached in contract negotiations when we should have compromised. We have been arrogant when we should have been innovative. We’ve excluded and mistreated our non-union brothers when we should have embraced them. We’ve all heard the cliché of “three supervisors watching one guy work.” We’ve singlemindedly supported a Democratic Party that has often been weak and ineffectual on Labor issues. All of these things have combined to kill our public image.

Corporations have moved in to consolidate their power in the absence of unions. The Corporate Welfare State has since spiraled out of control. In 2006 corporate subsidies outstripped aid to children and families to the tune of 50%. In other words, corporations received $93 billion while aid to needy children and families was $59 billion. (Think By Numbers, http://thinkbynumbers.org/government-spending/corporate-welfare/corporate-welfare-statistics-vs-social-welfare-statistics/) Our tax dollars are subsidizing corporations to take our jobs and move them overseas. They are being used to help carpet-bagging companies to move from state to state or even city to city looking for the best deal. Is this what we call a “free market economy”? Sounds more like a free ride for these CEO’s and shareholders.

Corporate interests have rallied to the aid of the Republican Party, often citing the Labor’s “influence” on the Democrats. Groups like the Heritage Foundation, Americans For Prosperity and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spend millions of dollars supporting anti-union candidates and lobbying in Washington for anti-worker legislation. This legislation is often written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and crafted for the very businesses that the bills are supposed to regulate. ALEC has a vast stable of elected officials who they subsidize to do their work in Washington and in state capitals across the country. (Sourcewatch, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council)

Even celebrities feel the need to get into the mix. In a famous press conference, “Papa” John Schlatter, one of the most famous entrepreneurs in our country’s history, stated that the implementation of Obamacare would force his company to raise prices by 10-14 cents per pizza. Forbes Magazine calculated the costs at roughly 4 cents per pie. (Forbes Magazine, http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/11/14/Forbes-Papa-Johns-ACA-cost-5-cents/UPI-54101352940627/  ) He hasn’t publicly come out on his take on raising the minimum wage. Maybe he learned his lesson.

So, is this really the requiem of the American Worker? Are we fading off into the sunset like old cowboys on horses being replaced by the automobile. I think not. Instead of being fighting a losing battle we are rising from the ashes like a phoenix on the back of New Labor. Wal-Mart, whose ownership is among the richest people in America, are seeing their workers stand up for a living wage and benefits on the job. Fast food workers across the country are rising up for better working conditions and quality of life. Lobstermen in Maine have formed a union for the first time. California has seen unionized “Gentlemen’s clubs.” Hotel workers, home health care professionals, taxi and shuttle bus drivers have been organizing across the country for a better way of life.

So what’s the answer? A new economy that allows us all to prosper together. Instead of a minimum wage create a living wage. As wages rise, so will spending, saving and the GDP. Redistribute the spoils of our labor to the producers of those spoils. Like it used to be when America was the economic engine of the world. It’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of what form the (r)evolution takes. Solidarity!

“Our actions are like ships which we may watch set out to sea, and not know when or with what cargo they will return to port.” ― Iris Murdoch, The Bell

At the end of the day, the Golden Rule is called the Golden Rule for a reason – do unto others as you would have done to you. – Chad Kroeger

I was in a bad mood. Back in those days I was always in a bad mood. I walked into the office and saw “Donna’ sitting at her desk. I leaned into her cubicle and said. “Hey, do you have those deposits done yet.”

Without turning to me or saying a word, she handed me a folder that contained the documents that I was asking for. I turned and walked out without a “thank you” or a “go to hell.”

I was about twenty feet down the hallway when I heard footsteps coming behind me and fast. A hand touched my elbow and I spun around. It was the girl that I was dating at the time. She’d witnessed the last exchange. She said, “”What do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Back there with “Donna.””

“Taking care of business. That’s what I do. Take care of business.”

“That was completely wrong.”

“What do you mean?” I was genuinely perplexed.

“In my culture we would never have an encounter like that. You walk in. You say hello. You ask after the person’s health and family. And then you take care of business. “Donna’s” father just had a heart attack and you didn’t even bother to ask. You have to consider people’s feelings!”

It was like a slap in the face. Now those of you who know me know that I am the very definition of being socially awkward. I have gotten better over these last fifteen years, but I’ll never be the belle of the ball. My eyes were opened that day, so much so that I was forever changed by the encounter. The following day I went back into that office to see “Donna.”

“Hi Donna, I heard about your dad. Is he doing okay?”

She looked at me like I had just stepped off a spaceship, complete with green skin and antennae. “Yeah. thanks for asking.”

I walked out of there feeling pretty good about myself. I carried that feeling until the following day, when another coworker told me a funny story. “So, Donna said that you were really nice to her yesterday.” I smiled. “She also said you were faking it.” I was flabbergasted. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for me to blame her for being harsh and unforgiving, but indeed it was I who’d built up these bad feelings in her over the years. She was perfectly justified. My negative energy had killed any chance that we ever had to be friends.

I was bitten by reciprocity.

I was a raving lunatic back in those days. I was working too much, drinking too much and was dumped by the aforementioned girlfriend. The icing on the cake was when I got fired from the job for “just not caring” anymore. I was just not caring to the tune of 65 hours per week. In retrospect it was one of the best days of my life. I moved on through a succession of General Manager jobs in restaurants. With each new job I got a little bit softer, a little more empathetic. Finally, after twelve years of mind-numbing soul-crushing work. I was ejecting into the real world like Neo being unplugged from the Matrix for the first time.

I took that “Donna” lesson with me.

I’ve become the antithesis of that raving lunatic, so much so that my most recent girlfriend said, “No one could be that happy all the time.”

To set the record straight, she was right, I am not that happy all the time. But I am that cheerful all of the time. I choose to be cheerful because I’ve noticed that when I’m in a good mood it puts everyone else in a good mood, which in turn makes me happy.And it also allows me to keep any bad vibrations at bay.

I wrap my arms around reciprocity.

We all have the ability to be creators. We create every encounter that we have with another human being. We can shape it into a thing of beauty or make it as ugly as we want. If I spend 15 seconds with a complete stranger, does it cost me anything more to make it a beautiful 15 seconds? Heck no! In fact, I can gain spiritual currency in every exchange. When I get a smile out of the deal, I win. When someone says thank you, I win. When someone gains some satisfaction, I win. If I do the right thing in every situation, I always win.

This is my Law of Reciprocity.

Do something beautiful without expectation, it will bounce right back at you.

Do something evil and spiteful, be prepared for the whipping post.

Karma gonna get you, baby.

I often think back to that day 15 years ago and the lesson that I learned. It would have cost me nothing to do the right thing, yet I chose to “take care of business.” Now I hope that everyone throws their arms around Reciprocity. All these good vibrations bouncing around make the world a kinder gentler place.

Namaste, Your Brother T

Or
The Middle Way Vs. The Way of the Artist

“First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It looks at things objectively. It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool’s paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness.” – Walpola Rahula, What The Buddha Taught

“And so it goes…” Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

“You can do anything you set your mind to.” Benjamin Franklin

The world is a vast playground where virtually anything is possible, yet from the day we are born our options are limited and stunted. Our parents, however well-meaning like to put us in a box, do what is best for us, help us be all that we can be. Later, as we start school, our teachers do the same thing. They begin teaching to the standardized test, teaching us what every kid needs to know to be successful in the world. In short, we make our kids what we want them to be rather than allowing them to become who they want to be.

I don’t claim to be an expert on any subject. I’m really more of an unused mind that is playing catch-up in my dotage. I’m an under-educated underachiever who is finally using my brainy superpowers for the forces of good. Or rather the all-consuming power of Art. By the way, what happened to Art?

I can hear you thinking (cue lab rats running on a little wheels), “What are you talking about Brother T? There is art all around you. Open your eyes, Brother T.”

True, you can turn on the radio and hear music or go to the library and grab a book that will make you laugh AND make you cry. Every city has art galleries and museums where you can see stunning works of visual art. Drive through any town and you’ll see architecture, parks and landscaping that will blow your mind. Listen to a street poet or read a poetry book. Go to a popular restaurant and you might see a stunning recipe plated like a masterpiece. Pop into your local brew pub and drink a work of Art. Stop by the indie record store and see window art and posters for rock shows. Go to a town with a thriving bicycle scene and be amazed by the beauty of the handcrafted bicycles. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. There is ART everywhere that you look. Right now. “Open your eyes., Brother T.”

My eyes are wide open. My heart fills with joy every time I rub up against any one of those examples that I just rattled off. Right now there is ART everywhere I turn my head.

But where will it be tomorrow.

I’ll bet when you read the title of this piece you thought it was going to be a treatise on Eastern mysticism and spirituality. It is. Nothing is more spiritual (to me) than ART. For thousands of years the standard bearers of the Eastern religions have been preaching the Middle Way as the way to find enlightenment.

Buddha said “The middle way avoids both these extremes; it gives vision, knowledge, and leads to peace, direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nirvana.”

Indeed, the Middle Way can be the source of enlightenment if all I want to do is to know my own mind (a frightening prospect, if you’re asking). A life of knowing the ecstasy of emotional highs and the crash and burn of the lowest lows are what makes me tick. When I’m too happy for too long I can almost feel the gears within me start to grind to a halt. I have hurt many people and ruined many relationships because of it. Does that mean I should stop seeking the ultimate happiness that life can give? Should I settle for a life of safety and mediocrity? Might as well shoot me now.

What I’m talking about here is the Western version of the Middle Way, a version also fraught with mediocrity. For many people, probably the majority of people in the world, the Middle Way is probably a perfectly acceptable way of living a good life. Born into a happy home, work hard in school, get a degree in an acceptable profession, find a job in said profession, marry within your social class, buy a house, pop out a few kids and retire in Florida. Sound good?

Sounds like hell to me. Which is probably why I am hopelessly and forever single, a status in which I am beyond redemption.

Not every kid that is born in 2013 is going to want to follow the Middle Way blueprint that I just laid out. There are kids who are going to want to write and paint, play music and cook, design buildings and parks. The embracing of the Western Middle Way has systematically taken away these alternatives for generations of our kids. Music and art classes have disappeared from our schools. Every kid is thrown into a box, shaken vigorously, and then expected to come out the same. Expected to pass THE TEST. The brighter kids can’t help but be bored, the average kids make out like bandits and kids at the bottom of the curve come out alienated and miserable. Kids who are too lively, who don’t fit the cookie cutter, are brought down with pharmaceuticals and counselling until they can’t touch those emotions without self-medicating. Is it any wonder that many of the world’s most creative minds of the last century have died well before their time.

What we need is a system that allows each child to be celebrated as the individual that they are without the stereotype of what they should be. So what if little Johnny wants to be a hairdresser or little Janey wants to work on motorcycles. Their happiness should be valued as much if not more than their future financial viability. This is where the government of Bhutan has surged ahead of the rest of the world. Instead of a Gross Domestic Product they calculate a Gross National Happiness. This is the Way of the Artist.

Creativity can be a curse. It can be the bane of our existence. But the absence of creativity makes for a world not worth living. There is something to be said for the Middle Way, but I’ll spend my nickel on the Way of the Artist. Thanks for listening.