Today has been a pretty awesome day. I went in this morning to do my day job as a stage hand for major concerts and didn’t work terribly hard. I was standing with some really cool people, one being the roadie (who directs us stage hands) the other being a retired Fire Captain and a few of my co-workers. We had some time and we got to discussing racism at length. I learned a lot of new things about minorities and blacks in the US and other places. I was able to put my 2cents in because I have looked into the topic before, reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and seeing the movie, “Ghandhi” several times. One of the interesting things I learned is that the African people who live in Jamaica largely come from people who were taken as slaves and couldn’t be ruled. The slave traders would simply dump them on the Island and keep going to sell their more docile slaves.
As far as the movie, “Ghandhi” (I really hope I am spelling that right), I was enraptured with this film as a kid. If anyone reads my first memoir, “Through The Withering Storm” they will hear a story of a guy who kept wanting to fight me and bully me and then when he did he lost in short order and I walked away, allowing him to hit me because I didn’t want to hit anyone when they were down and I didn’t particularly want to fight much either. I think right now the world needs a lot more people like Ghandhi, there are so many terrible wars going on, so much proliferation of violence within our society, without our own society and right on our TV screens. The other day I watched a movie about a counter terrorism unit that got 4 1/2 stars in its rating and all the move had in it was killing, death, bullets, bombs and fear. I don’t think that is any way for people to entertain themselves.
Being a writer, fortunately I can actually do something about this. Although I have to admit that my first novel was about a special forces operative and there was a great deal of violence in it. I think though that if I study some of the really good literature that is out there, I will not have to resort to this kind of crap. I want to be able to teach people about themselves, help them to learn things that I express often in my poetry, which I am attaching here today. I feel really blessed to have this voice though I am only scratching the surface of people I can reach. If you have any interest in joining this discussion, I urge you and invite you to leave comments as to what you think the value of fear and violence has in the media, be it journalism, movies or books. And have a great day!
Time Poem
Is love really a thing to be simply defined
I feel that those times that I thought I had it, it wasn’t truly mine
Although the first girl I felt it for looked so sweet and divine
My feelings for her went away over time
Sometimes when I see long blonde golden curly hair
My heart skips a beat and I think it is her that is there
But as I grow now I know it we had a love she no longer shares
If she had done so, by now she would have shown she had cared
She might have liked my strong spirit perhaps even my looks
Liked my command of the lessons in our history books
But when courage was what was needed I didn’t have what it took
I ran far away hiding myself just like a crook
For two years a long time ago she sat near me and her smile broke me down
She was the one popular girl who didn’t think I was some clown
She had a radiant look and such beauty but all I showed was a frown
Bad things in my life had beaten me to the ground
For such a young man I was lost in depression, anger and booze
I never had a clue what I had or what I could lose
I was in a dark gloomy cloud, but one that I didn’t choose
And all I later could do was sing out the blues
Perhaps love comes to us some set number of ways
And it often finds us lost in a haze
I wish I could have back those sad younger days
But at least I have learned though I really have aged
I now know that love can form if you give it a chance
It starts with a smile, a casual glance
It has little to do with removing your pants
It is so much more about compassion and true romance
I had a girl a short while ago
I cared for her so much and I let her know
Each day I would see her a new seed I would sow
A small gift, a compliment, just to see her eyes glow
It is all about the little things that we do
And before long they will be done back to you
And it is worth a million bucks the way it makes you feel new
Or at least it will if your intentions are true
I wish that some time back I could have learned
Because there is something for which I have yearned
I wanted a child who would be like me and her
A new creation born of our love that of course was the cure
But when two people join and decide to bring
A child into the world with no proper wedding ring
Their union is doomed and the child one day learns that they were a fling
Build love and respect first then you will be truly a king
King of your family, provider to your home
No more need to do things yourself, you will not be alone
Even far away you can send your love on the phone
The feeling beats any drink, beats any stone
A truly loving family is all you really do need
And then each day new love you can feed
Grow it and nurture new love just like a new seed
And soon you will find happiness and your pain will be freed
It is a sad thing that sometimes you can lose even that
No one understands God’s overall plan, what is under his hat
It would be so simple if we had nine lives like a cat
But if life were that easy we would grow lazy and fat
We need to work each day for food and for love
And then one day our reward will wait up above
And even if you lose those you loved so dearly and true
You must get up and keep fighting with all the love in you
Leif Gregersen
October 18, 2014
Look for my books about Bipolar Disorder, “Inching Back To Sane” and “Through The Withering Storm” as well as poetry chapbooks and short story collections at my website, http://www.edmontonwriter.com
Mental Health coping skills blog by leif gregersen 