“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” – George Mason, Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788
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Thought For the Day: Act As If What You Do Makes A Difference It Does
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” -William James, psychologist (11 Jan 1842-1910)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Act, Difference, Does, Make, Thought For the Day, What You Do, William James
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An Appetite For Destruction
An Appetite For Destruction
by Michael Doyle
I awoke with a startled cough
Wondering how it was, I drifted off
The Mad Hatter's world is no longer pretense
As I awoke to a world of nonsense
There were poets denying use of rhyme
As though that were the deepest crime
Worse perhaps than having nothing to say
Or disguising bad grammar in a poetic way
Have you ever questioned this reality
Or looked straight into its face with totality
It seems every set of wordsmiths think itself clever
To repeat and rinse just to repeat this on forever
It became popular to confuse nightmares for dreams
Cut-aways and paste overs pass for pleasing it seems
Unpleasant things have become the world's past time
But you, Mr. Poet, must never, ever dare to rhyme
Life's card games keep dealing the same dull hand
As if doom and gloom is what we humans best understand
Resting on the ghosts of yesterday's reconstruction
When happiness gives way to an appetite for destruction
(c) January 10, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Appetite, Appetite for Destruction, Awoke, Bad Grammar, Card Games, Clever, Cough, Crime, Cutaways, Dare To Rhyme, Deny, Destruction, Doom and Gloom, Dreams, Drifted Off, Dull Hand, Face, Fireside Poets, Ghosts of Yesterday, Gives Way, Happiness, Human, Life, Mad Hatter, Nightmares, Nonsense, Nothing to Say, Past Time, Paste Overs, Pleasing, Poet, Poetic Way, Poetry and Poems, Pretense, Question, Reality, Reconstruction, Repeat and Rinse, Rhyme, Totality, Understand, Unpleasant, Wonder, Wordsmith
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Thought For the Day: The Best Thing We Can Do With the Failures of the Past Is To Let Them Be History
“The best thing we can do with the failures of the past is to let them be history.”
– Gary Chapman, quote from The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
First Principles: It Will Be of Little Avail To the People That the Laws Are Made By Men of Their Own Choice, If the Laws Are So Voluminous That They Cannot Be Read, Or So Incoherent That They Cannot Be Understood
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be to-morrow.” –James Madison, Federalist No. 62, 1788
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Choice, First Principles, Incessant Changes, Inchoherent, James Madison, Know, Laws, Little Avail, Promulgated, Read, Repealed, Revised, The People, Today, Tomorrow, Understood, Voluminous
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Words To Think
Words To Think
by Michael Doyle
Praying for blessing and favor
All words linked, meant to savor
In a world changing fast
So many moments that do not last
In this living age of acceleration
We find many moments of fascination
Living moments of radical transformation
Past a bygone age of simple information
Yet, we remain anchored in relevance
Living lives filled with magnificence
Speaking from the heart in authenticity
But this must be stewarded in our legacy
We cannot say just whatever we might feel
Without laying verbal bombs passions reveal
It's best to know the heart is filled with deceit
And we must understand the need to be discrete
The good is in what we choose to cultivate
Being careful of in what it is we saturate
Let it be wisely heard and then understood
We must always seek to speak the good
So that by our words, we may end acquitted
Or, by our words, will know we should have quit it
In our words, we will reveal our hearts
Speaking poorly of others that should depart
Harmony and goodness with God in our focus
Learning to communicate well is good for us
We all stumble in so many, many ways
Harnessing the tongue slips throughout our days
We need to steer our words as these flow
Like reins on a horse, to direct where to go
Like a rudder on a ship, mastering the wind
We are to walk this life gently as if a friend
The world is filled with far too much despair
Smiles are better brought to help us repair
All the missteps we've made along the way
Bringing a little more God into each given day
Careful of the labels that we rapidly toss out
And how these can fill others with hesitant doubt
Let our words be filled instead with encouragement
The world has enough moments of discouragement
Like a spark destroys a forest with wildfire
We must be careful to curb the tongue's desire
The tongue is transcendent bringing bad or good
Let's be more intentional as this is understood
As God is both our blessing and our forgiver
Let's ensure the fire doesn't jump the river
Wreaking havoc in slander and in our sinning
This is in no way the path we might call winning
Just because we have the right to say it
Doesn't make it right that we do say it
Blame gets us nowhere but leaves us lame
It's best to guide ourselves into the thinking lane
Moments of indiscretion are best spent in refrain
T Being truthful with kindness kept on our brain
H Be helpful in the things we have yet to say
I Inspiring the momentum to one another's days
N Saying in reproach only that which is necessary
K Let's make kindness our living, lasting legacy
... When God speaks to hearts...
... Life can only get better
(c) January 9, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged A Little More God, Acquitted, Age of Accelration, Anchor, Authenticity, Blame, Blessing, Careful, Changing Fast, Communicate, Cultivate, Curb, Days, Deceit, Depart, Despair, Discouragement, Discrete, Doubt, Encouragement, Fascination, Favor, Feel, Focus, Forest, Forgiver, Friend, God, Goodness, Guide, Harmony, Harness, Heard, Heart, Helpful, Horse, Indiscretion, Information, Inspiring, Intentional, Jump the River, Kindness, Know, Labels, Lame, Last, Legacy, Linked, Magnificience, Missteps, Moments, Necessary, Passions, Path, Poetry and Poems, Praying, Quit It, Radical Tarnsformation, Refrain, Reins, Relevance, Repair, Reveal, Right to Say It, Rudder, Saturate, Savor, Ship, Sinning, Slander, Slips, Smiles, Spark, Speak the Good, Speaking Poorly of Others, Steward, Stumble, Think, Thinking Lane, Tongue, Tongue's Desire, Transcendent, Truthful, Understand, Understood, Verbal Bombs, Walk, Ways, Wildfire, Wind, Winning, Words, World, Wreaking Havoc
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Thought For the Day: I Pray That I Keep My Tongue From Evil and My Lips From Deceitful Speech
“Beautiful One, I am grateful for my life and I want to see good days, so I pray that I keep my tongue from evil and my lips from deceitful speech. Let the words that I use be transparent and honest so that I can be an appropriate reflection of You. I pray against thoughts of lying, malicious talk or any other negative use of words, because speech was not given for me to abuse. Instead let me build up things with words that come from You, Amen.” – 1 Peter 3:10
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged 1 Peter 3:10, Abuse, Amen, Appropriate, Beautiful One, Build Up, Deceitful Speech, Evil, Given, Good Days, Grateful, Honest, Life, Lips, Lying, Malicious Talk, Negative Use of Words, Pray, Reflection, Speech, Thought For the Day, Thoughts, Tongue, Transparent, Words
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First Principles: Dependence Begets Subservience and Venality, Suffocates the Germ of Virtue, and Prepares Fit Tools for the Designs of Ambition
“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” – Thomas Jefferson (1781)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Dependence, Designs of Ambition, First Principles, Fit Tools, Subservience, Suffocate, Thomas Jefferson, Venality, Virtue
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Dedicated To A Half Remembered Lorax, Part III
Dedicated To A Half Remembered Lorax, Part III
by Michael Doyle
There's one word left to say
One hope left yet to pray
There's no need to second guess
It all comes down to unless
Unless we have faith of a mustard seed
Unless we listen to warnings that we heed
Unless we make the chance to learn
And from lessons learned, we discern
Take the care to spread this simple dream
And though it may not really truly seem
Love comes down to all like a course direction
When we learn and take our needed correction
Things that are small can have significance
Growing into much needed models of magnificence
From smallish things, great things can become
It's best to remember where these are from
Running down the plays of plentitude of naysayers
Changing as it is into the those who would be change-wayers
There's a meeting of hearts where dreamers dream
Holding each other into truest, harmonious esteem
(c) January 8, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Chance, Change, Correction, Course, Dedicate, Direction, Discern, Dream, Esteem, Faith, From, Great Things, Harmony, Hearts, Heed, Hope, Learn, Lesson, Listen, Lorax, Magnificience, Model, Mustard Seed, Naysayer, Need, Play, Plentitude, Poetry and Poems, Pray, Remember, Say, Second Guess, Significance, Simple Dream, Small, Smallish Things, True, Truly Seem, Unless, Warning
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Thought For the Day: I Fear To See the Consequences of the Court’s Practice of Substituting Its Own Concepts of Decency and Fundamental Justice For the Language of the Bill of Rights
“In my judgment the people of no nation can lose their liberty so long as a Bill of Rights like ours survives and its basic purposes are conscientiously interpreted, enforced and respected so as to afford continuous protection against old, as well as new, devices and practices which might thwart those purposes. I fear to see the consequences of the Court’s practice of substituting its own concepts of decency and fundamental justice for the language of the Bill of Rights as its point of departure in interpreting and enforcing that Bill of Rights.” – Justice Hugo L. Black (1886 – 1971)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Bill of Rights, Concept, Consequences, Decency, Departure, Devices, Enforce, Interpret, Judgment, Justice, Justice Hugo L. Black, Language, Liberty, Lose, Nation, Practices, Protection, Purposes, Respect, Substitute, The People, Thought For the Day
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