Red, Rose, Wool, Pedestals and Blindness

Author’s note: A little bit of a brain teaser, no typos, just a play on words

Seeing red
Rose colored glasses
Put on a PedestaL
The p edesta l must come down
Must, come down!
Hold my head hIGH
Feet on the g r o u n d
Turn around
Run, run, run!
Until the horizons BuRsT
New dawn, new beginnings
Because HoldingOn
Can be a lot more damaging than l-e-t-t-i-n-g-G O!
Rather know the truth and face the pain
Then be dnilb and tnarongi
STRONGER and Wiser
In the end anyways
Wasted t:ime
Wasted e e g
n r y
Suppose it had to take me that loooonnnnngggggg
To finally pull the
Wool
Off
Over
My
Eyes
When that happens
All that can be done
Simply m o v i n g forward
Sear for the genuine and true ching
Believe in your ability to discern
And not make the same mistakes twice twice
Believe that there are people out there
Who have good intentions and desires
Who are ching for genuinity and truth sear
Just like yourself

By: AearlPmaraVrdenOan

Honest hearts produce honest actions. -Brigham Young

Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships. - Author Unknown

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. - Rollo May

The Young Adult

Young and free
To explore our horizons
Afraid of missing the action
Of losing that spark of curiosity
And excitement that we are able to
Conjure or find in anything
Escaping responsibility
Yet taking the bull by the horns
When we realize the inevitable
Accepting our place
Letting go of the youthful past
And we either build our own future
With steady goals of progress
With a dream or great motivation behind it all
Or become society’s self-fulfilling prophecies

By: Amara Van Orden

“When I can look life in the eyes, grown calm and very coldly wise, life will have given me the truth, and taken in exchange - my youth.” -Sara Teasdale

“Many people use their youth to make their old age miserable.” - Unknown

“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” -Oscar Wilde

The Wander Lusting For the World

One day I am going to jump on a plane

When I need to get away
No hesitation or speculation
Anywhere like Italy, Peru, or Japan
All I will have is a guide book, passport, and map
To help me get around
Maybe I will get lost
Maybe I will have no idea what anyone is saying
I won’t care
As long as I immerse myself in the culture, the moment
If I pass a bungee jumping business
I will do it
If I pass an ancient temple
I will go enter it
If I pass a strange cuisine restaurant
Full of wild or exotic foods
I will give them a taste
If I have to I will stay in hostels
I will backpack to places
Or maybe if possible rent a bike
Or just hope buses and taxis are readily available
Or rent one those cute small European cars
Maybe I will meet a nice foreign boy with pure intentions
Who could show me around
Yeah, right! (In my dreams)
Maybe I will run into an old wine vineyard house
Off in the hills of Tuscany
Buy it and decide to stay and just write books
Maybe I will go into an ancient Buddhist temple
And monk would kindly teach me
The ways of meditation and of being unworldly
Maybe a master of Kendo will teach me the way of the sword
And I can begin to imagine the life of a samurai
Maybe I will hire a Peruvian guide
To take me to Machu Picchu
I will imagine the civilization that once flourished there
I can’t forget to take a stroll through the Amazon
And at one point I may have to
Use a rope and handlebars to swing me down over a cliff
And believe me I will do it
Maybe I will get bitten by some exotic bug
Or run into a cougar
As long as I lived in the moment
And hopefully come out in one piece
And fulfilled my dream
These fears and possible cultural or environmental hazards
It will not stop me from dreaming

And eventually doing my little adventures
Because worrying will only stop me from living
But yes, one day I will quench my wanderlust
I will set free the little Lara croft that has been running around in me
Ever since I watched Indiana Jones and the Travel channel
Read Arabian Nights and a dozen books on archaeology
Crossed the U.S. from New York to Utah several times
Trekked the Alaskan Highway and climbed mountains
The world has been inside my room several times
Waiting for me to let it float out the window and surround me
Maybe it will not happen any day soon
But one day I will jump on a plane
Because there is a whole other vast world going on all around me
Sometimes I lose perspective and forget that there is so much more
I am just a needle in the hay stack
That wishes to be found and thrown out into the thick of things
And I wholeheartedly believe the crave of adventure
It is legitimate, a worthy cause
Because life is about learning, gaining knowledge and experience

The best way to grow or progress is to step into the unknown

By: Amara Van Orden

"Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life - facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own unique potentiality." -John Amatt

The wind is old and still at play/ While I must hurry upon my way, /For I am running to Paradise;/Yet never have I lit on a friend/To take my fancy like the wind/That nobody can buy or bind.... - William Butler Yeats