Wonders Of The Night

As the light of day slowly slips into the blackness of night, and the

night sky lights up with a billion stars. I wonder just how many

of us have gazed upon the night sky in years, as the lights of the cities

and towns in our modern society have blocked out Gods magnificent

window on creation.

How many of us, at times in our lives haven't lie down on the grass on a

cloudless and moonless night and imagined the wonders of an endless

sky stretched out before us.

I believe that there are children who live in big cities who may have never

seen the stars in the night sky.

Being In Debt

Being in debt is not a ideal place to be in your life, it's depressing

and discouraging and could be bad for your health. For the

most part debt is a condition we bring upon ourselves, we have wants

and needs, but we should be concentrating on our needs and not our

wants. Needs are things you have to have to survive in today's world,

the necessities. Wants are the things that got you in debt in the first 

place, there nice to have but unnecessary. These are all the things that

fill up the closets of your life with things you thought you just had to 

have at the time, and today your still paying for them at high interest 

rates.

I can tell you this, not being in debt is a great place to be, if you stay out

of any new debt, by learning the lessons from your past. You will be

surprised at how much more money you have in your pocket no matter

how much money you make. You'll find you have more money to spend

more money to save and more money to give, a life with less stress and

less worry.

The Worlds Greatest Artist

He was, in the eyes of many, and still is the worlds greatest artist. He's an expert in
the worlds creative arts and design disciplines. His work has been seen by the whole
world, yet not everyone excepts who he is, or knows his name.

He started this project  with nothing, you might say his work started on a blank canvas,
and the canvas was void of shape or form, until he add light and shadow.Then he
painted in solids and liquids, landscapes and seascapes and animals all types and
descriptions, some walked on land, some swam in the seas, while others flew in the air.
Then he stepped back and looked at his work, and saw it was good.

And now he would embark on a design, the most difficult part of his creation, for
everything that was done before was for this part of his creation to flourish. he would
design and create the human form in his own image, and he would give them all the
gift of freewill, to except or reject life everlasting.

          

Life's Lessons

Learning life's lessons: It seems to me that life is on a calendar of ten year cycles.
When you were born till the age of 10 you were in your parents generation.
From 10 to 20, well that was your generation, the one you'll look back on the most
These were your breakout years, slowly separating yourself from your parents
generation. Then came the years 20 to 30, these are the years you'll look back and
ask, whats wrong with this young generation? And the cycle continues.






 
























    

Human thoughts are the real danger

By Bruce Knipp

Published: Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 07:34 PM.

To the editor:

I’d like to explore a piece of history with you — a time that changed the world forever and still excites to this very day. It took place over seven decades ago, and its effect on the human race still casts a foreshadow of impending doom over the world.

It started with an idea, a thought exploring what had never been. An idea that seemed more important than the reality of what could be, what would be, or what should have been. On July 16, 1945, at place code-named Trinity, the world was changed forever.

In the light of a thousand suns, the world heard the words, “I am death, the destroyer of worlds.”

We now have nine nations, going on 10, with nuclear weapons — and this could really get out of control.

There is a saying, “Once the genie is out, you can’t put him back in the bottle.” In other words, once you invent something, you can’t un-invent it.

But there may be a solution. The solution would be to replace them with something else, or make them obsolete, too expensive to maintain or make.

That’s easier said than done. It is beginning to look like the most dangerous things in the world are human thoughts. It seems that everything that ever was started with a thought — an idea, invisible pieces of information entering the mind from sources unknown.

Bruce Knipp

Jacksonville

No Special reason

So yesterday was Valentine's day, and as I sat here at my computer and watched and
read all the good wishes people that I know had for each other. Even watched a coworker
get engaged on Facebook, ( good stuff Chris ) My own memories started to flow of
times passed. As I looked down under my printer stand I saw a old card my wife had
given me some years ago it wasn't a Valentine card, it was a  no special reason card.
She wrote, Hi honey I haven't gotten you a no special reason card for a long time. I
love you more today then yesterday! So in a strange way I did get a card from the
other side on Valentine's day      

Communications

There is this communications device I have used over the years on occasion, but I
must confess I've used it a lot over this last year, like everyday. Even though this
device has been around since the beginning of our time on this earth, it still
works, it seems to transmit using a little electrical and chemical components from
the brain stimulated by the mind.
The distances it can travel is in dispute, some say it covers trillions of miles in seconds
while others say it only has to travel a few feet, through time and space to a different
dimension. We use this device to ask for help in our lives  and other peoples lives. If
you are not sure how it all works, I would highly recommend as a last resort to always
read the instruction  manual. The communications device is called prayer, the instruction
manual, would be the Bible. Enough Said.

      





   

A Love Story

After the death of a spouse you find yourself going through stuff tucked away in
closets and dark corners, underneath stuff that was being saved because one of
you thought it was important and had a sentimental value. So today I was doing
just that and came across a loose leave note book Natalie had of all her posts
she had when she had a web page. And so I'd like to share with you, two posts
made so may years ago, A LOVE STORY that never ended.

I posted this on Marine web site I used to go, Natalie coped it and put it on her
web page. 5th anniversary Sept 12, 1998
Today, five years ago, I married my wife Natalie. We have been together 10 and
married for 5 years, I have been blessed, she loves me for who I am, even when I
don't know who I am. It is said love makes the world go round, Natalie makes my
world go around. There are times I ask myself why me? this marriage is almost too
good to be true. We don't know where the future will be, but you will find us
walking into it, hand in hand, and loving each other and counting our blessings.
Loving the good times and supporting each other through the bad times. Five years
have gone by to fast. The point is, without her I am nothing, and with her, I am
everything !

Natalie post this on her web page 9/12/99 My darling Bruce, last year you really got
to me with your post. We have a great thing going on here, Honey, and I love you
more each day. You said that you did not know where the future would take us but I
do know that 11 years ago I had no future until you my wonderful friend came along
and quite literally saved my life.
You got me back to mom before she passed away and for that I cherish you. You also
gave me the chance to know my brother Dave and to better understand him.
We have been through some really rough times and yet the times I remember are the
good times, the quiet times, the ones when we were alone in our love.
We have often said we wished we could have a longer time together but when we were
younger(LOL) we would not have appreciated each other as we do now. We have both
grown together and God willing will continue to do so. I love you Bruce and will always
need you near me. You are my love my friend & my life.

                           TODAY   TOMORROW   & FOREVER  
  
    
  

The Kiss

 It's been around 38 days since I lost my wife Natalie, to some she was a mother, to others
she was a best friend, to me she was my best friend and soul mate. We were together over
twenty years, and in that time we rarely had a harsh word between us. She was always doing
something for me all the time, people would tell me how much she loved me, hell I new that,
it was no secret how we felt toward each other. Natalie had this thing she started from the
first time we started going together, lets call it Natalie's rule, we would never part for the day
without a kiss, on arriving back home a kiss, when we went to bed a kiss, even if I went to
bed before her, she'd wake me up for that kiss, and of course there was the morning kiss.
On the day she passed, she drove me to work and before I left the car as always there was
that kiss, I remember that kiss, she had on dark lipstick, I gave her a peck on the lips and
then one more and got out of the car, and that was the last time I saw her alive. A long time
ago when I met Natalie's mother she asked me to take care of her, I promised I would,
the truth is through the good and bad times we took care of each other. She always said
that she wanted to die before me, because she didn't want to be left alone without me.
Well I tell you being left here alone without her is really hard, at times the grief is almost
more then I can handle. I can remember the first time we kissed and where, and now
the last time, life as come full circle.


              

Change

Change is this slow moving thing that takes away all that once was, and relegates it to
an obscure place in time where our past history resides. Change is like a vine that slowly
creeps into every void and changes the familiar to the unfamiliar, as we try to adapt to the
new, while still holding on to the past.  

    
     
     

The Storytellers

Once upon a time and long ago there was this magic box that stood in our living rooms.
Some of these boxes came in different sizes, many looked like fine furniture with
numbered dials and lighted back grounds while others were not as fine and a little smaller,
and to us, they were magical transportation devices, known as radios. Oh, I know we
still have radios today, but the different between them was the element that the listener
would have to provide, and that was called imagination. For imagination was the key to
the great stories that were being told, that took us from the living rooms to places that did
or didn't exist. In just seconds you could be transported anywhere in the world and even
places out of this world and back, by the use of your imagination, radio became a visual
medium seeing pictures in your minds eye, you might say it was a kind of time machine.
Albert Einstein said "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming
attractions." Remembering that imagination can make the impossible, possible.
Carl Sagan said "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it
we go nowhere." And so from the days before the written word, to the days of the digital
word, it seems that storytelling and imagination still live on at Sirius XM, Classic shows
from the golden age of radio, but on a much smaller scale. You would think by now that
radio would be just a memory from the past, but here it is, still hang on. Kind of like the
sandal, Roman armies wore them to conquer the known world, and we still wear them
today, to conquer the nearest mall.

 

When The Game Was Pure

The American pass time, played by the boys of summer, its been an American treasure
for over 150 years and now played in many countries around the world. Today baseball
is facing some hard times with many players being suspended for drug use as the game
try's to take back its heritage. But the truth is the game as always had players that would
cheat to get an advantage on the other team, all the players know it, the teams know it
and we the fans know it. From pitchers who would doctor the balls to batters who would
doctor the bats. Somehow we the fans have excepted it as part of the game.

But I remember when the game was pure, where there were no doctored bats or balls
there were no performance enhancing drugs and their were know adults in sight to screw
things up. All across America on sand lots, parks and places big enough to play a game
we loved. It was summer time and school was out, we would get up eat some breakfast
and we were out the door heading for our local ballfield on foot or on your bike with
your glove a bat and ball if you had one.

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey named Dunellen, and this was a lot of my
summer time from about 9 years old to about 12 or 13. There were a couple of places
in town where you could play baseball and I would go to a field we called weed
stadium. When I was about 9 it had a chain link back stop and some base lines, later
the town put up a little league field with fences and dugouts and the hole 9 yards.
We would meet at the field and pick teams, we rarely had enough kids for 9 players
on each side, so we would adapt. Sometimes we would only have four players on a
side so two players in the outfield center and left and two infielders third and short
stop. Each team would pitch to themselves sometimes we would run bases and
sometime not depending on how many players there were. With just 4 players on
a each side, we could not hit the ball to right field, on the fly or on the ground. If
you ever played like this, well you no the rules you made up for the amount of
players you had.

I also remember a player who was always there a girl by the name of Evelyn
Charmer, she could play ball as good or better then any of the guys. Yea, that
was a time when baseball was pure, it was played for the love of the game. Now
I wonder if I was to go back to my old home town if there were kids still doing
that, still playing for the love of the game with know adults in site. Well I kind
of dough it, it was a different time when life was much simpler.






 
                 

The Awakening

                                                                  The Awakening

                                                              (  Author Unknown )

                        
 

A time comes in your life when you finally get…when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out…ENOUGH1 Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes. This is your awakening. You realize it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon. You realize that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you…and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance. You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are…and that’s OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions. You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself…and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval. Your stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you – or didn’t do for you – and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn that people don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and everything isn’t always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself…and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance. You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties…and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness. You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. You begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for. You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you’ve outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with. You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a “consumer” looking for you next fix. You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn that you don’t know everything, it’s not you job to save the world and that you can’t teach a pig to sing. You learn the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake. Then you learn about love. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You learn that alone does not mean lonely. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO. You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drinking more water, and take more time to exercise. You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play. You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it’s OK to risk asking for help. You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms. You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn that life isn’t always fair, you don’t always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people…and you lean not to always take it personally. You learn that nobody’s punishing you and everything isn’t always somebody’s fault. It’s just life happening. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls. You lean that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower. Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than you heart’s desire. You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility. You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. Finally, with courage in you heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best as you can.

Worth Living

What makes life worth living for you? I'm sure we all have different answers to
that question. As I pondered the question to myself the other day, and after
eliminating  a lot of very good answers, I came up with this one. What makes life
worth living is not being able to answer all the questions. If we new all the answers,
then life would have no meaning. As said in a quote "Life is a journey, not a
destination." and so the journey is the question and the destination is the answer.
I love finally getting the answer, but the question was the journey, on its away to
an answer.

      Bruce Knipp
 

Being Yourself

Their are people who think their lives are not exciting, mundane, or just plain boring.
Which leads some to make-up stories about themselves, of exploits and deeds never
done, except in the corner of there minds where the imagination resides, the Walter Mitty
affect. It's hard to know just why some people do this, it's like living a life they never had,
or wish they had by taking short cuts. Not doing the work it takes to be what you want to
be, kind of like cheating on a test in school.
In the military they have a name for this, it's called "stolen valor" stealing valor from those
who really deserve it, taking glory from those who do not seek it. The people who tell lies
about who and what they are, are really stealing from themselves. Life is unique, their
are no boring lives, each life has its own story to tell, its own failures and victories, its own
place in the world, its own path to follow. Some years ago I coined this quote.
"Don't claim to be what your not, Just be who you are, that should be more then enough".

People will like and respect you for who you are, not for what you think would empress

them.

Bruce Knipp

Rules I Try to Live By:

some rules i try to live by:

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1. don't panic. don't take anything, not even these words (and especially not yourself), too seriously.
2. never stop thinking.. if someone ever says to you ‘you need to stop thinking so much' just ignore them and keep thinking deeper... your mind is the most important tool you have, if you stop using it, it will atrophy. FACT.
3. daydream as much as possible, even if it's only for a few seconds at a time. stare into space blankly and don’t ever punish yourself for doing it. there's no such thing as wasting time.
4. don’t be afraid to talk about anything. ask questions, and demand answers.
5. everyone is original. every life experience is case sensitive and unique. every thing you do makes you more YOU than anyone else has ever been.
6. stop rushing. take your time and enjoy every moment.
7. don't let anyone tell you what to believe. discover 'religion' for yourself.. it should never be taught, only found.
8. talking to yourself is healthy. who else do you have more in common with?
9. we will always be in a transitional phase. look around you and know that everything will be replaced at some point.. this existence is only temporary.
10. if someone else has already said it better, don't be afraid to quote them.
11. there is no such thing as time. there is only your life- earlier today you were born and death is predicted later in the evening.
12. every now and then take something that you see everyday and try to see it in a different light. renew its existence.
13. be happy... but don’t force it. that defeats the purpose. discover what is making you unhappy, and change it.
14. you will always succeed in trying.
15. we are all crazy. every person you read about in the history books, already know, or will maybe meet on the street, has or had some kind of ‘disorder’...you just have to learn how to use yours.
16. we are all about as similar as we are different.
17. ideas are just as valuable as people. why do you think we keep making people? we hope new people will have new ideas to share- so don't let everyone down by keeping yours to yourself.
18. words will always be just words. only the feelings are real
19. ask a child for advice, and never speak down to them. they may not know much, but they know what is important.
20. prove you’re alive. remind the world you are still here.

METAMORPOSIS

METAMORPOSIS

Having just emerged from its cocoon, a butterfly sit on
a leaf, its wings spread wide so the sun can dry them.
In a few minutes it will fly for the very frist time.

Not to long ago it was a caterpillar eating its weight
in leaves. Do you think the caterpillar new it was going
to be a butterfly when it closed itself up in its cocoon,
did it know a metamorposis would take place.

Does the butterfly now sitting on the leaf remember it
was a caterpillar. Or does it now, have no memory of its
former life, and this is like a birth, the only one it
remembers.

When our time comes to leave this world, will a
metamorposis take place. Will we come out the other side
changed, will we remember the life we left behind. And
like the butterfly, will we also fly for the very first time.

 

Ten Rules for Being Human

Ten Rules for Being Human

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1.	You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.
2.	You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."
3.	There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."
4.	Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5.	Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6.	"There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."
7.	Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8.	What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9.	Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10.	You will forget all this.

Kill all the lawyers

In Shakespeare's Henry VI, is the line "the first thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers"
Now that line was really meant to compliment the great things lawyers do helping
to bring order out of chaos.
Well it seems that we have way, way to many lawyers in this country, many more then we
can use or need. We could really use more doctors and nurse's and almost any other
profession then more lawyers.

So what is a lawyer to do? They have to make a living right, got to pay off all those
expensive law school loans. A brandy new lawyer fresh out of school, looking for a
job in a over saturated and shrinking job market. So maybe our brandy new lawyer
gets a job with the ACLU. Now our brandy new lawyer can sink his or her teeth into
all those nasty christian symbols like school prayer, or The Ten Commandments on
public buildings, and Crosses, their are crosses everywhere and must be eliminated.
And lets not forget the tree, the dreaded Christmas Tree, is now the Holiday Tree
and last is the Nativity Scene. As the ACLU defends the separation between
church and state, which the Constitution doesn't even say, but hey, there the lawyers.

Then we have some lawyers with a great imagination, on how to make a buck. These
not so honorable lawyers go after small business using the Disabilities Act: they will
find a client, lets say in a wheel chair and send him or her into a business a week or a
mouth later the business gets a law suit in the mail, the business is being suited under
the Disabilities Act: The isles where to narrow for a wheel chair, the door to the bath
wasn't wide enough the stalls didn't have hand rails, and on and on it go's.
Some businesses have been in the same building for 30 or 40 years and try to be
accessible to the disabled, but it would take major renovations to the building and just
can't afford it. You see with the American Disabilities Act: if the client get just one
dollar from the law suit the business as to pay the law fees of the lawyer which are
higher then most. But the lawyer will drop the suit if the business settles out of court,
for 10,000 to 20,000 grand, the lawyer walk away with money in his pocket and his
client pockets 500 bucks for a days work. Oh you think its black mail? well your right
its ledge black mail, and their trying to put a stop to it now.

So do you think just maybe their was a lope hole in the law to let lawyers do this, and
the lope hole was put in the law intentionally. Well I can't say it was, but the total
number of lawyers in congress is 162 out of 441 members that's 36% and in the Senate
54 out of 100 that's 54% Thomas Jefferson said  "If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? "

 

A Poem

A poem is a short story told, conceived in a thought,
based on emotion, then spoken from the heart.
A conveyor of words where language is art, where ideas
and expressions are just a small part. Wisdom and
magic are part of each line, stirring up images deep
in your mind. Creating words through the power of
thought, telling your stories straight from your heart.
Taking this journey through the realms of the mind,
inspiring others with visions of time. A place where
imagination and fantasies start, traveling places by
the use of pure thought.

Bruce Knipp