Going around in circles

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Forever Searching

Better to light a candle than curse the darkness

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Imagine if you will

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention,

A kingdom for a stage, princes to act

And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,

Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,

Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire

Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,

The flat unraised spirits that have dared

On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth

So great an object: can this cockpit hold

The vasty fields of France? or may we cram

Within this wooden O the very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt?

O, pardon! since a crooked figure may

Attest in little place a million;

And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,

On your imaginary forces work.

Suppose within the girdle of these walls

Are now confined two mighty monarchies,

Whose high upreared and abutting fronts

The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:

Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;

Into a thousand parts divide on man,

And make imaginary puissance;

Think when we talk of horses, that you see them

Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;

For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,

Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,

Turning the accomplishment of many years

Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,

Admit me Chorus to this history;

Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,

Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

Ill met by moonlight

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Lest We Forget

95 years ago today the ANZACs landed at Anzac Cove at Gallipoli. By the end of the bloody campaign some 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers had died and many more were wounded. Their spirit and sacrifice lives on in the ANZAC legend. Today we commemorate them and the fallen from the wars that followed.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives. You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side Here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, Who sent their sons from far away countries Wipe away your tears, Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace After having lost their lives on this land they have Become our sons as well.

Kemal Atatürk

I won't be marching today as I normally do with the horses but the nibs and I will watch the march as our veterans and solidiers pass and we will wear my dad's/his grandad's medals with pride and cheer as they pass. Please take a moment to remember the fallen.

LEST WE FORGET

Fractures - repost

This was originally posted a while ago but it seems important in the light of things to move it up.

I broke a glass on the weekend. Nothing major, just a bog standard, cheap Ikea glass. Made in Italy for what it's worth. It was on the edge of the bench, stupid place to put it, my own fault. I knocked it, wasn't quick enough to catch it so it broke, smashed, spread shiny little shards on my kitchen floor. A whole suddenly in pieces. It was swept up, put in the bin but still I missed pieces, I stepped on two, TG on one, niblet on none thankfully. Thought nothing of it.

Until now.

I'm finding that glass is a metaphor for things that have happened in the last few weeks. A whole, something apparently cohesive, shattered into pieces by an act brought on by a combination of factors, much like my smashed glass. It broke because I knocked it but a combination of factors led to it being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For a while it seemed swept up and kinda alright but actions have consequences and now it's like ripples in a pond spreading out from the impact of a stone, the slow motion fracture of my glass as it hit the floor the concussion of the blow moving through the solid structure shattering it.

Well shit happens I suppose but I hate it, I hate conflict, I said to someone 'I don't do black and white', I see the sides, the stories, I can't define where it is I sit because that is not me. Life is all shades of grey inbetween to me. No one will ever agree completely, that's not human nature. What defines us is how we deal with those disagreements. How we take the opinion and actions of others. Do we take them to heart straight away, think them over or just go with the flow? Do we just act and think later, consider what we're going to do and then do it or consider it and decide that maybe, no that's not the thing to do at this moment in time.

Words can be powerful, they can change people, lives, history. And yet they're used so thoughtlessly without any thought for what the future may bring because of the way those words have been used. Simple little things like 'I love you' 'I hate you' they make and break people. Then there's the more insidious use of words, phrases skipping around their true meaning or just outright saying what you mean.

Words can mean absolutely nothing but they can mean so much too.

Think on that. Own what you say but say what you own with care. Because behind the screen there is not only the machines there are people, people with hearts, minds, feelings. People who sometimes wonder what the damn point of it all is. You may not care who you piss off or upset but the people you piss off and upset do. Actions and words are the stone in the pond, they spread, have a ripple effect, they hurt.

No (wo)man is an island, entire of itself; every (wo)man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

 John Donne

So be it, I have said my peace, interpret it as you will. I condone nothing and condemn no one I only write from my heart in the hope it will make you think about what you say and how you say it.
There but for the grace of god go I. 

Patience

Grant me the serenity to  

accept the things I cannot change, 

the courage to change the things I can, 

and the wisdom to know the difference.