Bird Droppings February 5, 2013 Writing as opposed to say only sending a digital image “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” Aldus Huxley In 1965 I was introduced to this author in a tenth grade English Class. The book was Brave New…

Bird Droppings February 4, 2013 Solitude is within ones soul and heart “No person, standing before this mystery, has the wisdom or the knowledge to see across the curtain. But for those who stand before their dead with aching hearts and tear filled eyes, one affirmation endures..one truth remains…and one light shines clear. Where there…

Bird Droppings February 1, 2013 Apathy is being there and never having really gone “The problem isn’t materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we…

Bird Droppings January 31, 2013 Counting knuckles can work if we allow it or NCLB2 No Congressmen left behind On Wednesday a student asked what day of the month Thursday would be and I responded January 31 and just as quick another said he thought it was the first. I said no it was the…

Bird Droppings January 30, 2013 A wondering of the moment Nearly ten years ago I received this email from a dear friend. I met Frances when I was a new staff member at Loganville High School in 2001. Frances had been teaching English and had worked with our then principal at the time at a…

Bird Droppings January 29, 2013 All in words we find On days when my wife is out of town I can go out and take sunrise photos and wander about as I do with few time restrictions. This past weekend sunrises were gorgeous and I was able to sit and watch for nearly thirty minutes…

Bird Droppings January 28, 2013 We should be examining the threads of life “Man did not weave the web of life – he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle, 1854 It has been a few years since I read a National Geographic article…

Bird Droppings January 27, 2013 The circle is a basis for life I missed the last rerun of a favorite miniseries “Into the west” and one of these days will find the DVD set. The movie starts and ends with a circle of stones; there is a line going east to west and one going…

Bird Droppings January 25, 2013 Who is at the center of your universe? “Tung-shan was asked, ‘The normal mind is the way; what is the normal mind?’ He replied, ’Not picking things up along the road.’” From Teachings of Zen, edited by Thomas Cleary, © 1998 One aspect of the Zen teachings is the process…

Bird Droppings January 24, 2013 Can we define our own success? Yesterday in a teachable moment I drew upon my experiences and while discussing the phylum arthopoda and one of my favorites the black and yellow garden spider, Agriope aurantia, or writing spiders. I then proceeded to offer a Creek Indian view of early morning.…