Sometimes There is Just Nothing More to Say and the Words Speak For Themselves

Sometimes, I sit in front of my computer screen and wonder what I am going to write about. I try my hardest to see beyond the fickle and finicky things in life; however, sometimes, you just cant escape the fickle and finicky. Tonight, though, I am sitting in front of my computer and trying to see beyond my own existence and decided to pick up the collection of Walt Whitman's complete poems I have on my bookshelf. Sometimes, an author or a poet can give me strength to see beyond what is and see what needs to be seen. Sometimes, when I find those passages, I try to expound on them and add my own two cents. However, tonight, there is nothing that I can add to this passage but feelings. Tonight, I am just going to let the passage speak for itself and let it touch you as it has touched me.

The passage is from Whitman's Leaves of Grass from "Song of Myself." I can add nothing to it and I cannot find the words to expound on it. It is a gem hidden and waiting to be polished. All that I can say is if you haven't read at least "Song of Myself," do yourself a favor and pick it up. Without further ado, here is a passage from "Song of Myself."

...Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,/You must travel it for yourself./It is not far, it is within reach,/Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know,/ Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land./Shoulder your duds dear son, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth,/Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go./If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the cuff of your hand on my hip,/And in due time you shall repay the same service to me/For after we start we never lie by again./This day before dawn I ascended a hill and look'd at the crowded heaven,/And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be fill'd and satisfied then?/And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond./...Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,/Now I wash the gum from your eyes,/You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life./Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,/Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,/To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and laughingly dash with your hair (118-19).

Namaste. 

Standing Out Within the Background

"To exist is to stand out, away from the background...You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgement of your existence" ( Herbert, Frank. Children of Dune. 226-27). Have you ever wanted to stand out as someone more than the Average Joe or the Plain Jane? Have you wanted to be noticed as something more than the unnoticeable background? I have. Everyday, I look in the mirror and pray for something more than a part in the background.

It wasn't until thinking about what constitutes the background, than I came to realize that the background is seen from perspective and is the focus of the viewer. For example, as you look at the hillside or the mountain, the background is sky or the colors on the mountain. However, when your focus shifts to the trees that give color to the mountain, the trees become the focus and the massive mountain becomes the background. Who would have thought that the imposing mountain would become the background?

So, what is the background we are seeking to stand apart from to be noticed? We are all completely different, but amazing in our own ways, so how do you stand out or out-shine all the amazing and beautiful people and things that surround us? And by standing out, does that truly give you the ability to claim that you exist simply because you stand out? wouldn't the true test of existence be to not stand out alone, but to help others stand out and by doing so, stand out together? I think testing yourself and questioning things is important, but in standing out, who are we truly trying to stand out from and whose focus are we seeking to gain? God's? Our family's? The hot guy or girl down the street?

I want to be noticed but at what expense? I am risking my own sanity or my ego in thinking about the importance of the beauty in everything and everyone and seeking to see beyond myself and help others to stand out. My ego keeps pulling me back and screaming for its own five or more minutes of fame, but I continually keep rebutting with, "why?"

Perhaps, for some people, they need to stand out from the background. They have the glamour, beauty, and color to stand out and be noticed. However, for the Average Joes and the Plain Janes, the way we stand out is giving color, space, shape, and life to the background. Our way of existing is not standing apart from the background but adding to it. Maybe, by not standing out, we stand out in our own ways. We become the beauty of the background and bring the others the background from which to stand out. We have purpose. We exist. And we enliven and brighten a world with diversity, difference, and beauty. We stand out within the background in our own unique ways.