Love is...

I started my two week theatre intensive today AND started a massive purge in my room at my dads' house. I actually got done with my workshop at 4 and thought, wow, what a great post I'll have today, but then I got home and got sucked into cleaning.

So, many apologies, but seeing as I already took my sleeping pills and I'm falling asleep as I type, I don't think I can manage a real post for today.

I found a poem that I could post tonight, but I'd rather save it for another time.

Instead, I am going to share with you one of my favorite chain email things of all time.

What does Love mean?

A group of professionals posed this question to a group of 4 to 8
year-olds.

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even after his hands got arthritis too. That's love.” Rebecca- age 8





"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy - age 4





"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl - age 5





"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy - age 6





"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.” Terri - age 4





"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7





"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily - age 8





"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." 

Bobby - age 7

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle- 7





"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy - age 6





"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and I saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.” Cindy - age 8





"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare - age 6





"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine-age 5





"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4





"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." 

Lauren - age 4





"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." Karen - age 7





"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8




“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with someone who you hate.” Nikka- age 6

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Passacaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry."

(This is T.A.D. again)

I think the innocence and purity of children is amazing when held in contrast with the wisdom and kindness that young ones can show. This is my favorite example of that, and these are some of my favorite definitions of love.

I'll make a real post tomorrow. Now I must go to bed before my dog gets too comfortable and makes me sleep on the floor. (She'll try too)

Cheers,

T.A.D.

Always love

Today I'd like to talk about a bit of a heavy subject, and a very controversial one: religion. I label myself as an atheist, more out of need for a name than anything. I don't believe that there is a higher power. However, while I am not a religious person at all, I am a spiritual person, and so I pride myself on being, out of most of the atheists I know, one of the most respectful ones when it comes to beliefs. My cousin Patrick and I have very different views on spirituality, but we still manage to have meaningful conversations about it without offending one another. So first off, I want to give you a disclaimer that my musings are not meant to offend, but to provoke thought.

The reasons that I don't believe in a higher power are many, but I'll try to name a few. I have studied religion, mostly christianity, due to my high school years in a Catholic school, and so I like to think that I'm not pulling opinions out of the air and that I have a fairly good grasp on the beliefs of those who I disagree with. During my childhood, I was raised in two openly gay households, so my first sort of beef with religion comes from the fact that I have encountered many kinds of religion used as excuses for homophobia. I don't believe that's a proper use of ones' beliefs.

Probably the most significant reason that I don't believe in a god comes from the fact that I don't view this world of ours, wondrous and beautiful as it is, as a fair one. I have witnessed, first hand and from a bystander's perspective, the great evils that we as humans reign down on one another. I study history and see centuries, millennia even, of genocide, war, plague, greed, hatred, the list goes on and on. Simply put, I can't believe in a god that stands by and lets us do what we do to one another.

I find it odd that I identify myself as an atheist when I know full well that I am a very spiritual person. While I don't believe in a higher power, I do believe that there is more to us and our world than the physical and mental. I believe in souls, spirits, auras, whatever you want to call them. I am going to write about my spiritual beliefs another day though, so on to my point (I do have one).

I feel as though religion and spirituality are things that should pull us together rather than force us against one another. Centuries of hatred have built up between specific religions and sects. But the message that I see over and over again in every religion is about loving each other. It's called "The Golden Rule" in Christianity, but it has many names and forms. Click here to see the many versions of the same rule in almost every major religion.

If all these deities and religions and spiritualists agree that above all, we should treat others as we would like to be treated, then why do we fail to do so? As individuals, as countries, as religions, as cliques, as families, I look at humanity and see a failure; a lack of compliance to this rule. I believe the world would be a better place if we all tried harder to follow this rule. I mean, everyone learned it. In kindergarten we were taught to share and treat others with respect, kindness, and love. It doesn't have to be something that we only think about when thinking religiously. I believe in the integrity of this rule as much as any Christian does.

I'm going to stop now before I get preachy, but before I do, I'll say one more thing.

Let's start a revolution.

Peace and love,

-T.A.D.

I believe in love

I believe that love defies all boundaries. I believe in love that overcomes all differences. Love is beautiful in all shapes, sizes, sexes, races, religions, and forms. I am a romantic, though you might not think it when you first meet me. A classic romantic.

Ferry rides into the sunset. Holding hands and gazing at the stars. All the sappy stuff that never happens in real life, that's what I want. A single red rose.

I'm a bit of a sucker for love, and I've never really found a reason for it. I wouldn't say that any of my parents are classic romantics. My romanticism surprises me. I suppose you could say that while my outside surface is pessimistic, under the initial crunch there lies a big sappy gooey center of hearts and roses and sunsets. I believe in poetry and words and music. I think a classic tux is best, and a classic dress. Sometimes I wonder if my romantic side even belongs in this day and age. I think of clandestine messages passed by hand and think of how superior those methods were to our ability to text or email.

Romantics are a dying breed. We are being slowly weeded out by pop culture. I think about my ideal date and all I can ponder is how old fashioned I must seem, especially seeing as I was never a part of that old fashion.

All I can hope for then, is someone either as romantic as I am, in which case we would become a cesspool of gooey emotion, or someone willing to put up with my romantic tendencies.

I just don't know if they'll be lucky or annoyed.

Cheers,

-T.A.D.