There is iron in the words I write - the iron of truth - and that truth comes from a place of love, hope, and light.
Powerful medicine for the ear that can hear.
When a young man, still in my 20s, I went in search of my best friend from high school - someone I had lost touch with for a few years. It was Christmas Day...his birthday...and the night before, I had spent Christmas Eve watching Bill Murray in the movie, Scrooged
The movie had re-filled me with hope, it renewed my belief in the power of helping others, it renewed my belief in the redemptive and healing power of reaching out to re-connect with someone.
As I walked up to the front door - of the house of my friend's Uncle - I was filled with hope...that he would be there visiting...or that I would be able to get his number...that I might be speaking with my friend in just a few minutes...
My friend. That incredibly bright light of intellect and adventure - with whom I bonded as a brother. We shared many adventures in our youth.
After knocking on the door, I heard footsteps inside approaching...a smile had already begun to grow on my face...
Once the door opened - the somber silence of the interior was like a dark foreboding shadow that inscribed in my heart the truth that my ears then only waited to hear.
My friend was gone. He had decided that life was too much of a burden for his hyper-sensitive soul. His decision to "check-out" haunts me to this day.
His was a bright and beautiful soul.
I miss my friend.
I do not know if there is life beyond this. If we are to believe in the teachings of some religions - those that choose to "check-out" are banished to a place that is not congruent with our idea of a good after-life.
I desperately hope that was not my friend's fate. But if it is, I have made a promise that once my time on this earth is done - I will go in search of him - and seek to redeem him from his plight, if that has indeed been his fate.
I have a ritual that I perform to his memory...
It is my hope that he can hear me - and finds some comfort in the words and energy I send out into the universe in his memory...
When I am in a restaurant or bar - if I am alone - with my first glass of wine, I raise a toast...but it is much more than that...it is a talisman...an invocation...an incantation of power...a warding of protection sent out across all the 'verses that may exist...and thus do I speak, ever so softly...
"Shane Barner,
Wherever Ye May Be,
Under What-So-Ever Conditions Ye May Exist,
Peace Be Upon You And About You My Friend.
The Memory of Your Friendship is Not Forgotten.
Hang In There Buddy, I'm Coming."
I wish I could have taught my friend an important lesson I have learned in this life...perhaps the most important of lessons...
No matter how bad things may get, no matter how bleak the situation seems - hold on for just one more day.
There is incredible power in words. These words - as spoken by the Giant, Saltheart Foamfollower have always been a source of resiliency and comfort for me - when my mind has been troubled by something:
"Stone and Sea are deep in life,
Two unalterable symbols of the world:
Permanence at rest, and permanence in motion;
Participants in the Power that remains."
Be a force for good - give a kind word - smile - reach out to people - find some way to bring light into the heart's and mind's of the people who enter your sphere of influence today.
It is within your power to give encouragement - a kind word, or act of kindness, might make all the difference in their fight against a darkness that may be their interior reality in this moment. Speak words of encouragement...words of power...of hope...of ideas that uplift.
People that look for miracles are misled. Be someone else's miracle. If there are angels...they are within us...they speak to us with whispers of thought...urging us to manifest them in our actions and our words...it is simply a choice we make.
2020-04-15 Addendum:
Other writers have expressed similar thoughts - but, far more eloquently than I have the capacity to write:
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