“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.” – Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 8 Apr 1955)
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Thought For the Day: Good Fiction Creates Empathy
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Another Life, Another Person, Ask, Barbara Kingsolver, Create, Empathy, Eyes, Good Fiction, Live, Novel, Somewhere, Thought For the Day
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A Little Time To Kill
A Little Time To Kill
by Michael Doyle
She had a little time to kill
Among other things
He had a need for a big game thrill
And to find out what tomorrow brings
With a single shot, she found what
She was looking for and it couldn't be bought
There was a trace of blood three sheets to the wind
When the query strikes back, it's no longer a friend
When the hunted hunts the hunter back
Where the screen fails to turn to black
There is the when the heart knows the thrill
Of seeing the truth of the view to the kill
It's a slaughterhouse turned to a real mess
When even the guilty are not left to confess
The protagonist keeps somehow slipping away
Here on this most fateful of days
With the pull of a trigger, it started a war
One that few know what it is for
When we stop listening to the lies in our head
Who knows what dreams there be and which we will be led
(c) April 7, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Big Game, Black, Bought, Confess, Dreams, Fateful, Few, Found, Friend, Guilty, Head, Heart, Hunt, Led, Lies, Listen, Mess, Poetry and Poems, Protagonist, Pull of A Trigger, Screen, Single Shot, Slipping Away, Strike, Three Sheets To the Wind, Thrill, Time to Kill, Tomorrow, Trace of Blood, Truth, View To the Kill, War
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Thought For the Day: No Man Is Entitled To the Blessings of Freedom Unless He Be Vigilant In Its Preservation
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” – General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Blessings, Entitled, Freedom, General Douglas MacArthur, No Man, Preservation, Thought For the Day, Unless, Vigilant
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First Principles: The Spirit of Resistance To Government Is So Valuable On Certain Occasions, That I Wish It To Be Always Kept Alive
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.” – Thomas Jefferson (1787)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alive, Atmosphere, Exercise, First Principles, Government, Now and Then, Occasions, Rebellion, Spirit of Resistance, Storm, Thomas Jefferson, Valuable, Wrong
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Speck of Dust
Speck of Dust
by Michael Doyle
This speck of dust on which we rest
Is the speck of dust that is our test
Unwritten laws frame our minds
And what is left when we no longer find
That the laws written serve us well
And that we need to create our own tale
Having never stepped foot out of our bounds
Who are we to dream of what might be found
Fragile as we are in our words spoken
We come apart at the seams flawlessly broken
Here we are only hoping to never die
Yet, the truth is that none of us know why
For all of our lives know pain and misery
As the eons go by, century after century
What more then is there to want to live for
Shall we seek out pain, just a little more
There is beauty in the tragedy that we are
As we stand hand in hand, staring up at the stars
Shall we do more than simply survive
And if we dare to love, will we learn how to be alive?
(c) April 6, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Alive, Beauty, Bound, Century, Come Apart, Create, Dare To Love, Dream, Eon, Find, Flawlessly Broken, Fragile, Hand In Hand, Hope, Know, Learn, Live, Mind, More, Never Die, Our Lives, Pain, Pain and Misery, Poetry and Poems, Rest, Serve Us Well, Simply Survive, Speck of Dust, Star, Tale, Test, Tragedy, Truth, Unwritten Laws, Words Spoken
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First Principles: Men Must Be Ready…To Sacrifice Their Private Pleasures…When They Stand In Competition With the Rights of Society
“Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society.” – John Adams (1776)
Thought For the Day: This Habit of Forming Opinions, and Acting Upon Them Without Evidence, Is One of the Most Immoral Habits of the Mind
“This habit of forming opinions, and acting upon them without evidence, is one of the most immoral habits of the mind. … As our opinions are the fathers of our actions, to be indifferent about the evidence of our opinions is to be indifferent about the consequences of our actions.” -James Mill, philosopher (6 Apr 1773-1836)
The Sphinx of Legacy
The Sphinx of Legacy
by Michael Doyle
In the mystery of the sphinx
Is the ancient mystery that links
To secret rooms of love and wisdom
It brings release like keys to the kingdom
Some are kept prisoner by this lure
While others believe this is the cure
In the end, it seems that we all die
The way to glory is just another long goodbye
In the mirror, we look into our face
If we're lucky, we've aged with grace
Visitors come and go, easy as a rhyme
Each of these is merely marking time
Rinse and repeat as we aim to cheat the Devil
Keeping plumb with the square, we keep it level
Until we really cannot tell where we are
No matter how close to home; or if we've wandered far
Hope comes today and then again tomorrow
While with distant shivers, we face our sorrow
Shadows of our selves that we have once been
And yet mere echoes of what is meant as human beings
There is one secret we know still yet remains true
We each stay alive as long as the last person remembers you
Drifting along free flowing as coded memory
And in the end, this is the sphinx of lasting legacy
Death watches over us, gazing face to face
While we, like goldfish in a bowl, pray for grace
In the crumbs of dreams that aged all too well
There's room enough in that for yet another tale
When we push to the depths in the cores of our heads
More is the pity that some are better off dead
Despite how we try to be ever more the clever
None of us are meant to live on forever
We play the game all the way to the bone
Until we each are buried under tombstone
Though some would have fought to sit on throne
In the end, we leave as we arrived, each alone
Riding hard into the flames of the last sunset
To meet who it is that we have not yet met
Unscathed as it were without a single lasting regret
We lived to play with fire and we will each burn yet
(c) April 5, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Aged, Alone, Another Tale, Arrive, Been, Better Off Dead, Buried, Burn, Cheat the Devil, Clever, Close To Home, Coded Memory, Core, Crumbs of Dreams, Cure, Death, Depths, Drifting Along, Easy As A Rhyme, Echoes, Face, Flames, Forever, Free Flow, Glory, Goldfish In A Bowl, Grace, Heads, Hope, Human Beings, In the End, Keys to the Kingdom, Last Person, Last Sunset, Lasting Legacy, Lasting Regret, Leave, Legacy, Level, Link, Long Goodbye, Love and Wisdom, Lure, Marking Time, Meet, Met, Mirror, More Is the Pity, Mystery, Play the Game, Play With Fire, Plumb, Poetry and Poems, Pray For Grace, Remembers You, Riding Hard, Rinse and Repeat, Room Enough, Secret Rooms, Shadows, Shivers, Sorrow, Sphinx, Stay Alive, Throne, To the Bone, Today, Tombstone, Tomorrow, True, Unscathed, Visitors, Wandered Far, Watches, We All Die, Where
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First Principles: Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance and A People Who Mean To Be Their Own Governors Must Arm Themselves With the Power Which Knowledge Gives
“Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance and A People Who Mean To Be Their Own Governors Must Arm Themselves With the Power Which Knowledge Gives. ” – James Madison
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principles, Forever Govern, Give, Ignorance, James Madison, Knowledge, Own Governors, People, Power
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First Principles: The Constitution of the United States Is To Receive A Reasonable Interpretation of Its Language, and Its Powers
“The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution.” –Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833