“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” – James Madison
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First Principles: The Advancement and Diffusion of Knowledge Is the Only Guardian of True Liberty
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Tagged Advancement, Diffusion, First Principles, Guardian, James Madison, Knowledge, True Liberty
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Thought For the Day: The Hope of A Secure and Livable World Lies With Disciplined Nonconformists, Who Are Dedicated To Justice, Peace, and Brotherhood
“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!” -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Brotherhood, Cause, Dedication, Discipline, Faith, Freedom, Hope, Justice, Liveable, Mankind, Martin Luther King Jr., Nonconformist, Peace, Progress, Secure, Thought For the Day, Trailblazers, World
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Innocence Born
Innocence Born
by Michael Doyle
A child is born into this world innocent
Despite the ways that can make a life diffident
There is no wrong this child has done
Yet, hatred ends its love before it's begun
However the killers guilt is framed
There is no restored value to be named
There is only a life that has been ended
For no reason and in no way able to be defended
Because there is no sort of adequate defense
There is only the monstrosity of man and the pretense
That the child's death came with good reason
Such are the ways of this age's killing season
There are lies told as if giving immunity
As they are spoken as if for the good of the community
But every good soul knows the truth of the pain
Caused and suffered will wash away with the rain
(c) February 16, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Adequate, Age, Begun, Born, Caused, Child, Child's Death, Community, Defend, Defense, Diffident, Done, Ended, Framed, Good, Good Reason, Good Soul, Guilt, Hatred, Immunity, Innocence, Killers, Killing Season, Know, Lies, Life, Love, Monstrosity of Man, Named, No Reason, No Wrong, Pain, Poetry and Poems, Pretense, Rain, Restored Value, Spoken, Suffered, Wash Away, Ways, World
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First Principles: You Cannot Help the Poor By Destroying the Rich. You Cannot Lift Up the Wage Earner By Pulling Down the Wage Payer
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.” – Abraham Lincoln
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Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Destroy, First Principles, Help, Lift, Poor, Pull Down, Rich, Wage Earners, Wage Payer
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Thought For the Day: No Man Means All He Says, and Yet Very Few Say All They Mean, For Words Are Slippery and Thought is Viscous
“No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.” – Henry Adams
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Tagged Henry Adams, Mean, No Man, Say, Slippery, Thought, Thought For the Day, Very Few, Viscous, Words
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I’ll Meet You There
I'll Meet You There
by Michael Doyle
Somewhere in here
In the deep felt inside
There is cold fear
That has nowhere to hide
Pushed past mountains and woods
The darkness comes as it should
Fighting against this is no good
This is the truth that's understood
Wounded hearts always remember
The hope found in cold December
There at the year's end
Is still hope on which life depends
Somewhere, not here
Comes the ghosts of fear
Mysteries veiled before our eyes
We forget the truth replaced by lies
Ancient wisdom buries the dead
Though they'll live on forever in our heads
A journey of strife chases around
All the moments of life that we've found
The heartbreaks that we face
And the soul searching we embrace
Are always silently waiting
In a world too lost up in hating
Darkness flows into darkness
As our lives fill with harshness
We can wish light flowed into light
But our hearts long for the night
I know that I need you near
But I know that I'll meet you there
Somewhere beyond the last breath breathed
Are my misconceptions that I've truly believed
That goodness could somehow manage to win
The coins on your eyes buy you passage again
As we cross the River Styx and know as then
I'll cry to the heavens, reminded of my sins
The cold wind blows as we say goodbye
It should been someone else to die
My hope is buried with you under the snow
I've yet another ancient road to travel and know
That I'll never know your loving truth again
And my words run deep even in error, my friend
But not so much as my loss lost in the loss of you
Somewhere within is the anguish felt true
Buried though this should not have been your fate
You walked your life in love and never in hate
I wait for you though you're never coming back
It is my soul that's turned to the blackest black
Here you lay, having taken your very last breath
Called as you are by the pains of knowing death
I beg that you please wait and don't go, my dear
Failing at this, I promise that I'll meet you there
...I promise that I'll meet you there...
(c) February 15, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Acknowledging Your Lies, Ancient Road, Ancient Wisdom, Anguish, Beg, Believed, Blackest Black, Bury, Coins, Cold Fear, Cold Wind, Darkness, Dead, Dececember, Die, Embrace, Error, Eyes, Face, Fat, Fight, Forever, Forget, Ghosts of Fear, Good, Goodbye, Goodness, Harshness, Hate, Heads, Heartbreaks, Heaven, Here, Hide, Hope, I'll Meet You There, Inside, Journey, Last Breath, Life Depends, Light, Live, Long, Lost, Love, Meet You There, Misconception, Moments of Life, Mountains and Woods, Mysteeries, Near, Never Coming Back, Night, Nowhere, Passage, Poetry and Poems, Promise, Remember, River Styx, Run Deep, Should, Silent, Sins, Snow, Somewhere, Soul, Soul Searching, Truth, Understood, Wait, Win, Wish, Word, Wounded Heart, Year's End
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Thought For the Day: In Questions of Science, the Authority of A Thousand Is Not Worth the Humble Reasoning of A Single Individual
“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” – Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (15 Feb 1564-1642)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Authority, Galileo Galilei, Humble, Question, Reason, Science, Single Individual, Thought For the Day, Thousand, Worth
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First Principles: Nothing Is More Certain Than That A General Profligacy and Corruption of Manners Make A People Ripe For Destruction
“Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction.” – John Witherspoon (1776)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Certain, Corruption, Destruction, First Principles, General Profligacy, John Witherspoon, manners, Nothing, People, Ripe
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Valentine’s Season
Valentine's Season
by Michael Doyle
In a circular society, there are seasons
Some of these devoid of sensible reasons
As to why there is plenty or there is less
Love to be found, yet if I had to guess
It's more worth quietly learning to resign
And putting myself up a do not disturb sign
Let those who find it easy have their good turn
I'll put my attention to other things to learn
The silver moonlight is just another reminder
That once again, I did not and will not find her
The dream that I cannot seem to ever complete
Though looking around, the chances seem replete
I sit here reading with a cappuccino that I sip
Wondering at the why that my life is a trip
A beautiful journey in which love is not mine
It's to the point it seems it must be by design
Too often, loneliness feels like my human condition
And falling in love seems like self-sedition
As it does not seem to ever really be in style
In this age of anguish and constant denial
It feels like every time I have given love its try
The heart that brought a smile becomes a reason to cry
The only argument against these feelings is my daughters
In whom I find the happiness and joy of being their father
After a four-course dinner, they, too, leave me alone
It's the quiet moments like these I wish I was stone
I follow the shadows playing on my apartment wall
And I wish that there was someone that I could call
To tell them, how I know that it's my fault for all of this
So many efforts at being loveable, and yet I manage to miss
The secret that evades me as I look happily at my loving friends
I wonder what prayer I've failed to say, and on what love depends
(c) February 24, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Age, All of This, Alone, Anguish, Apartment Wall, Argument, Attention, Call, Capuccino, Chances, Circular Society, Complete, Constant Denial, Cry, Design, Devoid, Do Not Disturb Sign, Dream, Easy, Efforts, Evade, Failed To Say, Falling In Love, Father, Feelings, Find Her, Follow, Found, Four Course Dinner, Friends, Good Turn, Guess, Happiness and Joy, Human Condition, Journey, Learn, Less, Life, Loneliness, Love, Love Depends, Loveable, Manage, Mine, Miss, My Daughters, My Fault, Plenty, Poetry and Poems, Point, Prayer, Quiet Moments, Reasons, Reminder, Replete, Resign, Season, Seasons, Secret, Self-Sedition, Shadows, Silver Moonlight, Sip, Smile, Someone, Stone, Trip, Try, Tyle, Valentine, Wish
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Turkey Run State Park