I have not nearly lost enough

2009-03-01, Manhattan

I thought I had lost everything when the market crashed, but I have not nearly lost enough. I spent a year afraid of the news. Every day turned another one of my investments into dust. So here I am; I would have to live for two hundred years to earn it all back. The impossibility of it is liberating.

I found my flute and started playing, worse than when I was seventeen. I have never been more pleased. A year ago I spoke with old friends only on the phone, only while I was in a cab. Now I spend hours with them for no reason at all. I used to eat at pricey restaurants I hated. It cost just three dollars to feed myself today and I used my spare time to learn to juggle.

The world is ninety percent poor if we judge it that way, but other things are equal.

I want to know what you would love to lose if everyone else would, too. I want to stay up all night with you and throw that stuff away. And when all this mess is over, I want to dance with you. I want to dance like light on the rubble of our ruined city.

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17 Comments »

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-02 21:18:47

this is so sweet…

i feel both happy and sad while reading this entry.

i’m happy for the one you wrote this for… at this point when everything around us seems so haphazard, downtrodden – at least someone still sees the sunshine and will somehow spread the light.

sad.. for not everyone is as lucky.

I want to know what you would throw away, secretly, if everyone else would, too.

i don’t know. maybe, that cancer that corrupts. that which eats everyone alive. but how can i throw away something that’s beyond my control?

i don’t know… the things that i somehow have now (desire to keep, if i be more specific), i treasure.

but there’s something i hope some would wanna throw away… fear.

i’m happy for you. i hope everyone will be as free as you are.

 
Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 00:41:26

I would throw away cigarettes if no one else smoked. I would throw away the past, if I thought everyone else would do it too.

 
Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 08:11:41

funny, i was also gonna include the same thing. i thought throwing away some parts of the past (or some people from the past) would be cool – doing so would prevent me from trudging the unnecessary paths i believe i would have been better off without.

however i couldn’t bring myself to write it because my walk towards the dark path has made me appreciate the light i now have (and… once had).

plus, there’s something from the nearby past i want back… if only i could choose one without the other – if they can but be mutually exclusive – then obliterate those unwanted in my past past, i will…

Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 18:57:00

I would not like the past to have not existed. I of course, like many others wouldn’t have minded coming to where I am by an alternative route, but thems the breaks.

If everyone could forget the hurt I had done to them, and them to me, I think my life would be easier. If I could forget breaking, maybe someone could make me whole.

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 19:41:06

in life i have learned this one difficult but important tenet: only love can douse hatred.

only in loving can we exercise the grace of forgiveness.

I choose to love. i choose to forgive.

Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 20:06:21

I have very little hatred left in me. I find hate is a thing that burns out eventually. There are always exceptions.

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 20:19:41

..seems like you’re holding on to it still?

or did I misread the: “There are always exceptions.” bit?

 
 
 
Comment by simmy
2009-07-11 20:19:03

if you forgot about breaking, wouldn’t you be whole already?

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-07-11 20:34:07

definitely not.

memories of my brokenness are parts and parcels of the total me.

…and they’re mine to erase, if I want to.

but i dont.

as it is, we defnitely should not erase memories that awaken us to the truth in ouselves. and others.

i am whole when i know the pieces that comprise my wholeness.

including the breaking.

i am not supposed to forget.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 21:00:05

I said very little hatred. There is are certain things I hate and will always hate. Somethings are not forgivable.

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 21:57:18

Mind if I ask? I respect if you do…. Just wondrin’ what things could be so concrete they can become unforgivable.

Sorry for asking.

 
 
Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 21:10:09

At least I assume it always will. It might burn out like everything else one day.

 
Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-03 23:12:37

Many things, rapists, child molesters, abuser’s etc. These are things I hate.

Comment by ritz Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-04 00:04:05

Oh, them.. I’d be lying if I say i don’t harbor negative emotions against them… If I could but zap them into oblivion, I want to and I will… But I know I shouldn’t… for what difference would there be if we take the course these people have chosen to take and do it without remorse?… At a time like this when i am reminded of hate and yet of another option, I choose to let God do His thing, I’m curious as to what will happen from hereon.

God touches me, God touches you. He’ll touch the hearts of those who believe in justice, those who side with reason.

Let’s not take anger in our hands or hatred in our hearts.

Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.

He has plans for these people.

He has plans for us.

Let’s just wait and be ready for His leading.

 
 
Comment by Jx. Subscribed to comments via email
2009-03-04 00:34:58

Ah, if only I had your faith.

 
Comment by Breanna
2009-03-05 18:51:35

You make my head swim, toss my mind around anxiously, when you push me to yearning. Somehow, some way, you persuade me to want, and want this intensely. When my fingers settle upon your wrist, searching for proof of your existence, I find myself wanting to give you much more than the world.

In those senseless moments, I realize that I would give you more than the stars in the sky, more than nerves exploding with ecstasy, if only I knew how to give like this.

You’re always present, following like a shadow. In the back yard for the first years snow, I close my eyes against the wind and snow flakes, thinking: “How would he see me, in this moment?” But you are beside me, inside me, as these thoughts pass. You are everywhere.

The beauty of winters frost and ice and snow is nowhere close to the beauty you possess, or the beauty you deserve.

And, as always, I’m thankful for this lovesick.

 
Comment by Joseph Tonner
2009-12-12 22:30:28

This is really nice.

I have no other words than that for fear of ruining what I mean to say.

 
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