Paul

Paul A Butkereit April 1922 - June 2009

Everything I ever could ever define as good
Was there in this man

A scant five minutes in his presence
Was all it took to convince anyone of this

He had an honest and open relationship
With the world
With everyone
With everything

I never knew him to tell a lie
Not once

His simple philosophy
Could be summed up
With one phrase

Do the right thing

What the right thing was
Needed no mention

It was understood
That you knew

It was your responsibility

To know

I really believe that he felt that way
About so many of the world's
problems

People, most often know
What is the right thing to do
Deep down inside
They
know

They just won't always admit it
To themselves

Let alone
To others

If ever there was
An example needed
To define the opposite
Of pretense

That would have to be
My dad

Unassuming, charismatic, outgoing
He was the guy who

Picked up hitch hikers
Stopped to fix flat tires
Did business on a handshake
Volunteered his time
Trusted his neighbors

One of my earliest memories
Is of my dad
Rushing in to pull someone
From their shattered vehicle
Lying upside-down and on fire
In the middle of East Seaman Avenue

A crowd of people
Looked on
Frozen with fear
Dad walked right up
And pulled the man from his car

The crowd failed to act
Because they were afraid the car would explode
My dad went in
For the very same reason

Mom had a fit of course
But I don't think Dad could have done any different

And so it went
He was always that way
Which caused Mom much grief sometimes
But as kids growing up
It gave us a very broad perspective

The sort of perspective needed
To realize that the world is more
More than a man
More than a people
More than a nation

That we can be the heroes
We can be the leaders
We can be the champions
If we simply

Do the right thing

Now he is gone
And I am realizing
Perhaps for the first time
That he is as much a part of my message
As I am

As we all are

Thanks Dad

The Power

For Roxanne
Patiently Practicing her Art
And always asking
The right questions

What drives people towards peace...
I'm not sure I can say

I am sure the power of love plays a part
But
So does the power of fear
Perhaps there is a place for the simple understanding that it would be catastrophic to allow...

However
War or not
We budget for it
Over two trillion US dollars annually, worldwide
It's a fine line
Between fear
And paranoia

Perhaps we no longer need a global conflict
As long as we can have conflict

My dad served in World War Two
He tells me he has seen far more death
Since the war ended
Then he ever saw
In Europe

"They just changed the presentation, that's all"

He is referring to the media

We share a dark secret
Dad and I
He knows I can see it also

On top of this
We now declare war
On the abstract

War on poverty
War on drugs
War on terror

Fighting shadows, illusions
Nightmares...

Attacking the symptoms
Not really wanting to find a cure
It's all about the fight

Yet I do not despair
For I see
Another side also
A bigger picture

A worldwide understanding
Of our environment
Our world
Ourselves

Peace
Love
Hope...

It is a fine line sometimes
Between hope
And faith

Thanks to all of you
I can honestly say
I have both

Right Now

Human being
Has been
Recently reminiscing on Rumi...
And the power of love

Over the last few weeks
This has kept an old song
From my youth
Pleasantly running through my mind.

Turbulence aside

It was a simple time
Filled with simple ideas
Though you wouldn't know it
From the mysticism and hype
Instilled on it today

There was a poster on the wall
Outside my bedroom door
It read:

WAR IS*******************
************NOT HEALTHY
FOR CHILDREN************
AND
***OTHER LIVING THINGS

A billboard on Broadway
In New York City proclaimed:

******WAR IS OVER******
****If YOU want it to be****

The only difference between then
And today...

We really believed these ideas then
We need to believe in them once again, today
Let us start
Right Now

And the song in my mind
Doesn't keep me up at night

I still believe
Always have.

Get together

Love is but a song we sing
Fear; the way we die

You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry

Though the bird is on the wing
You may not know why

Come on people now
Smile on your brother

Everybody get together
Try to love one another

Right now

Some may come and some may go
We will surely pass

When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last

We are but a moment's sunlight
Fading in the grass


Come on people now
Smile on your brother

Everybody get together
Try to love one another

Right now

If you hear this song I sing
You will understand

You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand

Just one key unlocks them both
Its there at your command

Come on people now
Smile on your brother

Everybody get together
Try to love one another

Right now

Come on people now
Smile on your brother

Everybody get together
Try to love one another

Right now

1967 The Youngbloods

Three Minutes Forty Four Seconds at Zenspace

Sometimes
A warm
Quiet
Rainy
Afternoon

Can be just the
Magic
I have been longing for

The Witness

Silently she waits
Eyes never close
Never a shoulder
To turn cold

Forgotten it seems
To those around her...

The spider weaves
The blossom contemplates
The Crow gathers
As the seasons chase each other
Around and around
Her little garden

There is more to this place
Than meets the eye
And she knows it well
Seeing all
Judging not at all

As hope and death
Play out their dance
In an equation that always
Always
Always
Meets perfect balance
In the end

Slowly she counts
The days
The years
The seasons
Of the world

And of the men
And women
Who pass through her tiny space

She stands as witness
That they should have dignity
In their final days
And take solace in her simple blessing
That we may all find peace
And that we are all equal

In the end

The Shadow of Winter

Long drawn pale
Winter's shadow fades
The frozen chain
Gives way
Letting loose
The green growth of spring

Long days
Short nights
Darkness gives way
To the season of light

Yet my heart can tell
Hiding below the horizen
The long shadows wait
Patiently

Who speaks for Earth?

For those who cannot see the video

This is an excerpt from the final episode of Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
Partial transcript as follows:

…How would we explain all this to a dispassionate extra terrestrial observer?

What account would we give of our stewardship, of the planet Earth?

We have heard the rational offered by the superpowers

We know who speaks for the Nations

But who speaks for the Human species?

Who speaks for Earth?

See Full transcript in the comments

What account will we give?
What account can we give?

Our legacy will speak for itself

Therefore
I do
I speak for earth

I welcome all citizens
Everywhere
To join me in this endeavor

I encourage everyone
Everywhere
To watch this series

What account will we give?
What account can we give?

Our legacy will speak for itself

Awakening

I went to the river today
She was sleeping
Ice dreams weaving
Blue sky
Limbs swaying
Birds playing
Quietly

I wanted to kiss her
Touch the brooding deep
Beneath the white sheets
While discussing prospects
Of spring, rain, and coffee
Like lovers on a lazy Sunday morning

But I dared not disturb her
Such is her beauty
Even in slumber

I gaze in silence
And watch her
Shifting with the seasons
Slowly awakening
And I am content

A Spark of Vision

February 12, 1809
Two men born on this day
Still reverberate through our collective psyche

One would take simple observation to the edge of scientific discovery
The other would bring himself and his nation to a new level of human awareness
As spelled out by the founding fathers of his country
Thus are the origin of species
And the ending of slavery in the United States
Forever connected

A spark of vision, awareness and understanding
Touched humanity that day
And manifested itself in the form of two men
Both of whom would change history
Both of whom would embark on long journeys
Without knowing where they would be taken
Both of whom believed the truth to be self evident
Both of whom were born on this day
February 12, 1809

I thank the universe
And history
For the words
Deeds
And wisdom

Of Charles Darwin
And Abraham Lincoln

I went to visit Abe
When I was a child

My father thought it was important
And so, on a trip to Washington DC
We spent a few hours at the memorial
Dedicated to this man

The Immense marble figure
So much bigger than life
Neither brandishing a sword
Nor posing for posterity

Rather seated in a chair
Imbued with kindness
And solemn understanding

I looked into the cold stone eyes
And I could feel it
I still feel it
To this day

I was five years old

But it is not the marble
Or the man
That consoles me now

Rather
It is his words
Recorded there in stone
As they are in bronze
In a Pennsylvania cemetery

As a nation struggled to reach a defining moment
After untold hours of oration, argument, declarations
Amidst years of conflict
War death and slaughter
And conflict within himself

He went to the battlefield
To honor the dead
And to speak

Defining the moment
And the Nation
With just 272 words

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.


But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain

That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom

And that government : of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth

Missing in Action

Apologies for my absence to those who follow this blog

Life has taken my time and attention for a while

The wheel however

Has not stopped turning

I am not going to relate

The pain that comes

From watching a loved one

Fade from glory

Life ends

Life begins

And I expect to see both of these events

Up close and personal

At some point this year

I will however

As time passes

Share any wisdom I am blessed with

And I will find the time to visit these pages

Find the words, to give meaning to these days

I miss you all and will soon be returning to your pages

To read

To understand

And to share my thoughts

Thank you all for the seasonal and holiday wishes

May my best wishes find you

In all hemispheres, all corners of this beloved Earth

Without bias, prejudice or contempt

But rather with Love

We are all citizens of Earth

Simple as that

One Humanity

In spirit, and in flesh

Thank you all once again

And I’ll see you soon

Bobbb