"Stories"

Stories walk the earth. Tales exist in the air we breathe. They are hiding in the cracks of the sidewalks that stretch across suburbia. The moving truck, the cigarette butts that litter the ground of certain spots, a empty lot shadowed by a foreclosed building; all have a story to tell. Because that moving truck came from somewhere, driven by a man who once had a higher ambition, to move the belongings of a family who wanted to start over. The cigs weave a tale of a man who filled his lungs with smoke to have one simple pleasure; to cope with the stresses of his life. Even the empty lot once contained a bustling crowd of minivans and compact cars parked next to a supermarket that had long since went bankrupt. But stories are also hidden in the most secure mobile safe known to man; his own brain. A story probably just passed by you on your daily commute. Every person you've ever seen or met is a story in the making. The ballpoint pen moves slow on some days, but every once in awhile something amazing happens, and that memory will exist as part of your life story. If there's any goal to life, consider this one; if they had to turn your story into a novel long after the pen has stopped writing, make damn sure it was a good tale. Stories and tales are a rich part of life. If you watch television, inhale movies, read or write, then you know the power of a good story. But stories don't just exist in those mediums, they are hidden everywhere. All you really need is a good keen eye.

"Mankind"

We came out of the womb; little faces opening their eyes to a bright new world
Fathers and Mothers staring in wonder at the life they had newly molded
First came a crawl, then a single step
We fell many times, only to get up again
First words brought laughs of delight
Our cries have kept many mothers up all night
But time cannot be stopped; the seeds begin to sprout
To parents we started being a little less devout
Mischief, mistakes, silly games
Kisses, heartbreak, the affections of a dame
Through our mistakes we grew
Until the time was right
The Rite of Passage would be taken tonight
Choices would be made, covered in sunlight or rain
Our hands can help and heal
Or hurt and maim
Yet such is the beauty of the human race
We aren't born with claws or overwhelming strength
But a mind of formidable sharpness
And a soul that begins pristine
Whether our touch purifies the ones around us
or defiles with burning hate
Well...
That choice is yours to make.

Self Deception

*On a side note, sorry for my kinda long absence. You know how it is... needed a little break from this blog, but now I'm back. Man the harpoons! Eat cold breakfast cereal! Better yet, target your eyeballs on this here post.

Know all those people who think they aren't good at something? Bullocks. Besides being the fastest little man-cell to the egg, everyone is masterful at one thing; deceit. Oh yes my friend, you are the best manipulator around. We super stack hypocrisy with whey protein and drink that down while doing one finger push ups. We can analyze everything around us, but can't (or won't) see the truth... even if it was Megan Fox spontaneously growing a tail in front of us. Well hey, deceit has it's uses. Except for one little problem. We um... don't really control it. Or want to for that matter.

We all innately know that we deceive ourselves often. I wouldn't call it hypocrisy; more like being selective of what we choose to acknowledge. Sure, it doesn't make sense to process everything we see and hear, but the filters we use are always biased. We all have some ego, and we naturally protect it. You aren't going to post that you don't fit into those skinny jeans on twitter, or give a straight answer to the job interviewer when he asks what your greatest weakness is. So by naturally protecting that ego, we keep it safe and unbruised on a fluffy cloud. But through protecting our pride, we block off any desire to improve or advance. Pride is so simple, yet it's effects are very intrusive. The problem is that when we convince ourselves that everything is ok, and that we don't need to improve anything, we actually pull out solid evidence for that somehow. This makes it even harder to confront the issue and take a course of action. Self Deception is everywhere, from my procrastinating work habits to "I'm not that fat" to "I'll pay off all that credit card debt sometime, now lets jump in the Lamborghini already". Putting on a blindfold only takes problems out of sight, but never out of mind. So what's the moral here? Your pride is like an obese thirty-something that constantly wants to be fed, but does nothing for you. Don't smother your ego, but take the things that "hurt" it as a challenge. Self Deception is really just another excuse to avoid a confrontation that could benefit you in the end.

Is Self Deception really an accurate term? Deep inside I think we all know when we deny what's perfectly clear. Is it better to deny bad things for a little while, if just to take a little time to think? Comments; I want yours; good, bad, critical or celebratory if you feel that way today, heh.