Loving is Living

Hey y'all, this is going to be short because I'm out of town and at a training week for a summer camp. You know all those times that you tell yourself how you could have done this better and be that better. We tend to be our own worst judges, we tell ourselves we are too this or not enough that. We point out flaws in ourselves that we easily overlook in others. Remember that it's ok that you aren't perfect. We have been so taught to focus on being the best, the greatest, the most talented, the most well known. We are taught to succeed but we have been taught that succeeding looks like fame, riches, and perfection. You are not perfect. You are too this and not enough that. But see, that's ok. I am not the most athletic, not the strongest, not the tallest, fastest, smartest, the list goes on. I have fears that are stupid, flaws that are irrational, I make mistakes that are just plain stupid. That has to be ok with me. Perfect imperfections... That is you and I. ...

Fire. Burning with fury deep in the night I stare into the depths of the flame I feel it proclaim ‘I am you’ … I freeze with fear and forget the fire that burns in front of my eyes Instead I see the despise of my life, my heart and my soul, laid bare before me ‘How can it be’? I question myself, ‘how do I hate this this heart fate has assigned to me?’ But I do. I see my heart and despise the weakness that is ever before me, the scars that will not ignore me, the doubts that do so implore me I bore myself to death my emotional health it drones on and gone down the drain like a poison It spreads, this time I dread, I feel like I’m dead but death knocks still upon the door and so I look My heart and soul in the fire I see my desire, to this I aspire, one day I’ll be hole… one day I’ll be healed So as I stare into the fiery depths of my regrets it starts to fizzle out like a bout of rain pours on my day I kneel on the grass and pray, I feel my past wash away and then ...

As the western wind whips my face And I see the clouds role in I hear a voice from far off place Come home my love, come home As the freezing rains soaks through my skin And the storm rages all around A whisper calls from deep within Come home my love, come home As the rolling hills go ever on And my winding path won’t end Tender words come with the dawn Come home my love, come home As the treacherous peaks rise before And civilization falls behind I hold to the call of my beloved Come home my love, come home Alas! I leave behind the strife And home comes into sight I run to my one, my only, my life I’m home my love, I’m home! As tears run down my weathered face And I smile from ear to ear I stand by my love, in my rightful place I’m home my love, I’m home   ~ Kaleb I wrote this poem this last year while thinking about what home really is. What is home to you? Is it your house? Family? Friends maybe? Is ...

You know those songs that you hear that bring you back to that one time in your life? Those songs that you hate to hear in public because you start to tear up? Music influences us in a good way, and sometimes in a bad way.  The same thing happens with movies, the same thing happens with the news. Movies, Music, News, the list goes on. What we listen to, what we watch, what we spend time on shapes who we are and affect who we will be. Media and entertainment is something that we tend to spend a lot of time with, but as always I ask why? What i want to question in the post is what are we allowing to influence us and where are we spending our time? I learned this lesson the hard way in an almost amusingly situation. For one whole year in speech and debate I studied terrorism, the whole year that was my section of expertise. So what happened? I caught myself scanning crowds at six flags, I caught myself constantly thinking about terrorism, even subconsciously. The news ...

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘I don’t expect anything so I won’t be disappointed,’? What are expecting from our life? What are our standards of what we can accept and what we won’t? Through the eighteen short years of experience I have had in this world I have discovered that knowing what your standards are and why they are is so very important. From ensuring that you become the best version of yourself, to making sure that you don’t end up in a friendship that lowers your standards. This post is all about what standards we hold ourselves to, what standards we hold the people around us to, and ultimately how that affects and shapes our lives. I will look examine this through education and through relationships. I believe in high standards that remain reasonable. What standards do we hold for ourselves? The Eurostat online publication recently provided statistics on the quality of life in the European Union. Their data publication, specifically examining the affects our persona...

Have you ever noticed how a little boy will stand and act and talk just like his dad? Ever noticed how people talk like and dress like the people they admire? Having younger siblings taught me to realize the influence we have over others. This last year of competing in speech and debate I have thought constantly about what kind of precedent I am setting... Realizing that there is always someone watching and always someone listening. We are always told growing up that we can change our world, but I realize now how wrong that statement is. The fact is, we are changing our world, the question is not will we change it, the question is how are we changing it? Something we don’t think much about is how we are talking. Now I am not saying y’all go around talking trash and cussing people out in front of young and impressionable people. But when was the last time you looked around and took note of the ages of the people around you while you were talking about things like death, or depress...

We always have those day or moments when our worlds just seems to crash around us. Where our past hurts resurface, or when that one song plays, or when we see that one person, and we fight back the tears. Inevitably, it happens at the worst time too, when we are out an about, hanging out with friends, the list goes on. I don’t know, maybe I am the only guy that has this happen to them, but as a guy it is TEN TIMES WORSE!!! That being said, this post is for both males and females (I try not to be too sexist XP). When we hurt we inherently try to hide, we try to act like we are fine, we try to ignore the pain and run from it hoping it will stop haunting you. Unfortunately, that is one of the worst ways to handle pain. I guess a better title of this blog post would be ‘dancing in the rain’, but honestly, sometimes you can’t dance. We are told to find joy in all sufferings, but sometimes all we can do is push through and not give up. When you lose someone you love, when your relati...