“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
– Zephaniah 3:17
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First Principles: The Lord Your God In Your Midst, the Mighty One, Will Save; He Will Rejoice Over You With Gladness
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principles, Gladness, God, Lord, Love, Midst, Mighty One, Quiet, Rejoice, Save, Singing, Zephaniah
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Thought For the Day: When You Have Eliminated the Impossible, Whatever Remains, However Improbable, Must Be the Truth
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” -Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (22 May 1859-1930)
Thought For the Day: The Inclusion of Transgender People Into Female Sport Cannot Be Balanced With Fairness Due To the Retained Differences in Strength, Stamina, and Physique That Are Present
“The inclusion of transgender people into female sport cannot be balanced with fairness due to the retained differences in strength, stamina and physique that are present when comparing the average female with the average transgender female/non-binary person who was assigned male at birth (whether with or without the involvement of testosterone suppression). … For the sport of swimming, the inclusion of transgender people on the grounds of fairness cannot co-exist in the current competitive model. Swimming should choose to offer competition in which the female category is protected for reasons of competitive fairness.” – World Swimming Coaches Association
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Average Female, Balanced, Co-Exist, Competition, Competitive Model, Fairness, Female Sport, Inclusion, Physicique, Retained Differences, Stamina, Strength, Testosterone Suppression, Thought For the Day, Transgender, World Swimming Coaches Association
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First Principles: Without Freedom of Thought There Can Be No Such Thing As Wisdom; and No Such Thing As Public Liberty, Without Freedom of Speech
“Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.” – Benjamin Franklin (1722)
Caught In the Fracture of Distraction
Caught In the Fracture of Distraction
by Michael Doyle
The present generation's grab for screens
Is like a plague sucking life and it demeans
By going to extremes to get enough attention
The attention seekers lose right intention
This constant indiscretion shapes our fate
If we do not turn back, it will soon be too late
There is an insurgency in these attention wars
With so few realizing they appear as bores
Bleak reminders of a generation lost in place
Forgetting the worthiness of what to embrace
Insurgents know attention is a tool of control
This incessant madness is a destroyer of souls
Un-owed debts are paid in intimate currency
There are no fair trades in the attention economy
These hijackers of social media force our experience
To be a shared moment not to be lost to deference
But to be examined in detailed, sweeping observation
Made in a zero-sum calculation of more devastation
The maelstrom swirls in an overload of every moment
That invades, intruding the collective mind to torment
The idea of choice has become little more than absurdity
As the age of infinite scroll takes its toll in complexity
A second layer of passing night hides in the starlight
Twinkled mindfulness almost blinding to those of pure sight
The triptych model of the psyche has moved past connection
Into a lived mantra of misguidance and blind misdirection
Twitch-clicking on the so-called headlines of our days
Until like frogs in boiling water, our focus only strays
We suck on the Now-or-Later of distraction to absorb taste
Only to wake up the morning after knowing the life we waste
It is in this constant drive for more that we find anxiety
As life robbers forced on us when what we need is simplicity
We need to slow down long enough to search for the starlight
And when we find it to focus on its guidance to get it right
Too much of what has happened in life are things not meant
But not paying attention to the lessons that the universe has sent
(c) May 20, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Attention, Attention Economy, Attention Wars, Bores, Caught, Control, Destroyer of Souls, Distraction, Embrace, Experience, Extremes, Fate, Fracture, Indiscretion, Insurgency, Intimate Currency, Lost In Place, Plague, Poetry and Poems, Present Generation, Right Intention, Screens, Social Media, Sucking Life, Too Late, Turn Back, Worthiness
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Thought For the Day: Vocations Which We Wanted To Pursue, But Didn’t, Bleed, Like Colors, On the Whole of Our Existence
“Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn’t, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence.” -Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Bleed, Colors, Existence, Honore de Balzac, Pursue, Thought For the Day, Vocations, Want, Whole
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First Principles: History and Experience Prove That Foreign Influence Is One of the Most Baneful Foes of Republican Government
“The jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.” – George Washington (1796
Stirred Up In Recipe
Stirred Up In Recipe
by Michael Doyle
It is hard to be ecstatic
About a man who acts erratic
Nor is there a thrill in Bernie's weekend
That gives anyone a reason to pretend
That we have any reason left to be reverent
About just choosing something different
That doesn't and hasn't worked as a solution
It seems still disrespectful of the situation
Either way you look, we stand corrected
No longer willing to be directed
To where truth is stranger than fiction
And things are far worse than their depiction
This may be the first time in history
When the best choices made seem a mystery
We no longer need any sort of conspiracy
As we piss away our republic for democracy
There is too much going on day-to-day
To the point what we can't believe what they say
The outcomes have become quite craven
And the prospects range from grim to graven
All that is left is to laugh at it anyway
While quietly praying that we'll see better days
Even the comedians feel it's down to the wire
While the world around us looks really dire
This is the truth that we all must face
There is not longer anywhere that is a safe place
We've stirred up this recipe for disaster
But when do we work out what it is that we're after?
(c) May 19, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged After, Anywhere, Believe, Bernie, Best Choices, Better Days, Choose, Comedians, Conspiracy, Corrected, Craven, Day-To-Day, Democracy, Depiction, Different, Dire, Directed, Disaster, Disrespectful, Ecstatic, Erratic, Face, Fiction, First Time, Graven, Grim, History, Laugh, Left, Look, Man, Mystery, Outcomes, Poetry and Poems, Point, Pray, Pretend, Prospects, Reason, Recipe, Republic, Reverent, Safe Place, Say, Situation, Solution, Stirred Up, Stranger, Thrill, Truth, Weekend, Wiling, Wire, Work Out, World, Worse
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First Principles: When We Assumed the Soldier, We Did Not Lay Aside the Citizen
“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in the happy hour when the establishment of American Liberty, upon the most firm and solid foundations shall enable us to return to our Private Stations in the bosom of a free, peacefully and happy Country.” – George Washington (1775)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged American Liberty, Assume, Citizen, Country, Establishment, First Principles, Foundation, Free, George Washington, Lay Aside, Private Stations, Rejoice, Return, Sincere, Soldier
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Thought For the Day: The Thing That Makes You Exceptional, If You Are At All, Is Inevitably That Which Must Also Make You Lonely
“The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.” – Lorraine Hansberry, playwright and painter (19 May 1930-1965)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Exceptional, Inevitable, Lonely, Lorraine Hansberry, Make, Thought For the Day
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