“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.” – Blaise Pascal
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Thought For the Day: Truth Is So Obscure In These Times, and Falsehood So Established, That Unless We Love the Truth, We Cannot Know It
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Blaise Pascal, Established, Falsehood, Know, Love, Obscure, Thought For the Day, Times, Truth
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Beyond the Sea
Beyond the Sea
by Michael Doyle
There are spaces under the painted sky
That are beautiful enough to make me sigh.
Stretching beyond the edges of the sea
Is a world of water in its own beauty.
Rivers, lakes, wetlands, and streams
Are all filled with a life full of dreams.
After a life filled with coastal praise,
I had thought I had seen my better days.
Moving inland to the Corn Belt,
I did so following what my married heart felt.
Though I felt my soul torn in its injury,
When I saw the seagulls, I regained my energy.
Certain that it was some sort of a sign,
It had started to rain at the Indiana state line.
It felt like 60 days of rain, gloom and dark
But as the sun lifted, I found it wasn't so stark.
Beneath Lake Michigan was the start of my journey.
I have traveled as it has led its way for me.
There is so much hidden life to explore each day,
Who knew that The Great Lakes would be this way?
Kayaking down the rivers of a once-inland sea
Has become purely magical for a surfer like me.
Finding remnants of what was once an inland reef
Has, itself, brought a great deal of relief.
Gassing up my SUV, I have found roads to explore,
And each of them has led to water and so much more.
Ruby Falls that flow there in Tennessee's underground,
And a million more paths all around.
I dream of a surfing surfari around the Great Lakes.
It will rival the coasts with surprises and mistakes.
Each stop along the way will bring its own pleasure.
This is how life leads to the discovery of new treasures.
(c) June 18, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Beauty, Better Days, Beyond, Coast, Corn Belt, Dark, Dreams, Edges, Energy, Gloom, Heart, Hidden Life, Indiana State Line, Injury, Kayak, Lake Michigan, Lakes, Painted Sky, Poetry and Poems, Rain, Rivers, Sea, Seagulls, Sign, Soul, Space, Stark, Streams, Sun, The Great Lakes, Water, Wetlands
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First Principles: If You Want To Know Who Controls You, Look At Who You Are Not Allowed To Criticize
“If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.” – Voltaire
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Allow, Control, Criticize, First Principles, Know, Voltaire, Want
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Thought For The Day: Sometimes People Don’t Want To Hear the Truth Because They Don’t Want Their Illusions Destroyed
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
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Tagged Destroy, Friedrich Nietzsche, Illusions, People, Thought For the Day, Truth
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My Dream Come True
My Dream Come True
by Michael Doyle
As this evening's shadows are growing long,
There is a feeling inside that grows strong.
In the time that I have spent learning about you,
It's the most natural thing for me to do.
Dancing with you here in my aching, lonely arms
One by one, I desperately fall for your charms.
You are the waking up from my life's lonely sleep
And the fall into you is as endless as it is deep.
Magical isn't it, how my dream has come true.
I feel this miracle every time I look at you.
Wonderful isn't it, how much I really need you.
If I have my way, this fairy tale will come true.
It's the quiet music that holds the passion.
It's the dress you wear in its perfect fashion.
It's the way your hair lays across your shoulder.
It's my love for you that makes me ever bolder.
Bold enough to say what's on my mind and heart.
My love for you has been true from our very start.
Your angel wings are the most beautiful sight,
And this love of ours is the one thing I must get right.
Magical isn't it, how my dream has come true.
I feel this miracle every time I look at you.
Wonderful isn't it, how much I really need you.
If I have my way, this fairy tale will come true.
How do I miss you each time before you're gone?
How is it that I just want our moments to go on?
I see your face like a flame inside my soul.
It's burning there like the purest ember of coal.
There's a softness of the sun that plays on your skin,
And a longing in your eyes that hints you want me in.
There is a touch from your fingers that lingers with grace,
And the sweetest of kisses whisper on your beautiful face
Magical isn't it, how my dream has come true.
I feel this miracle every time I look at you.
Wonderful isn't it, how much I really need you.
If I have my way, this fairy tale will come true.
(c) June 17 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Charm, Dance, Deep, Dream, Evening, Fairy Tales, Fall, Fantasy, Feeling, Learn, Lonely, Lonely Arms, Love, Magical, Miracle, Natural Thing, Poetry and Poems, Shadow, Sleep, Strong, Time, True, You
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First Principles: The Greatest Good We Can Do Our Country Is To Heal Its Party Divisions and Make Them One People
“The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people” – Thomas Jefferson (1801)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Country, First Principles, Greatest Good, Heal, One People, Party Divisions, Thomas Jefferson
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Thought For the Day: The Mystical Bond of Brotherhood Makes All Men Brothers
“The mystical bond of brotherhood makes all men brothers.” – Thomas Carlyle
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged All Mankind, Bond, Bortherhood, Brothers, Mystical, Thomas Carlyle, Thought For the Day
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The War On Free Speech
The War On Free Speech
by Michael Doyle
There is one lesson of liberty, we must always teach.
This is about the importance of maintaining free speech.
Free thought and freedom of expression are the one liberty
Above all else, that is what is needed to keep a nation free.
We must always have the right to speak without fear
Those things that maybe some will not want to hear.
It's a salient point that hopefully none are missing,
Censored speech harms those speaking and those who listen.
In England, people are currently imprisoned and serving time
For simply speaking their minds as if that is some sort of crime.
European and world leaders need to listen to the voices
Of their people and allow free thought in making choices.
Thoughtcrime is something straight out of Orwell's Animal Farm,
And as such it should raise the very loudest of alarms.
Censorship is an alien work of ruling through disinformation
And daring to call the truth out as if it were misinformation.
This happening across the world before our eyes.
We must believe in free speech even for those we despise.
We must fight for the right of all to speak and to think
If we are to keep civilization from slipping over the brink.
The public square is the marketplace of ideas to openly contest
And through rigorous debate, we as a society decide what is best.
Alternative viewpoints should be welcomed for all to speak,
And where necessary be shouted from the mountain peaks.
There cannot be any real degree of security without free voices
To discuss all the myriad of necessary choices.
Silencing dissent is the path that removes our freedom
And kills off the all-powerful right of free expression.
Some argue that dissent is among the highest forms of patriotism.
To a large degree, I agree and say so with full optimism.
To dissent freely is to express faith in our nation's system,
Knowing that if wrong, our ideas are free to be reset again.
(c) June 16, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Democracy, Fear, Free Expression, Free Nation, Free Spech, Free Speech, Free Thought, Hear, History, Lesson, Liberty, News, Poetry and Poems, Politics, Teach, War
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First Principles: The Measure of the Wealth Of A Nation Is Indicated By the Measure of Its Protection of Its Industry
“The measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its industry; the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers.” – Henry Clay
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Abandon, Action, First Principles, Foreign Powers, Henry Clay, Industry, Measure, Nation, Neglect, Poverty, Protection, Wealth
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Thought For the Day: Doing Nothing For Others Is the Undoing of One’s Self. We Must Be Purposely Kind and Generous, Or We Miss the Best Part of Existence
“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one’s self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself, gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others.” – Horace Mann
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Existence, Heart, Horace Mann, Inner Life, Joy, Kind and Geerous, Large, Nothing, Others, Secret, Self, Thought For the Day, Undoing
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 