The Pebble

"The greatest disease in the west today is not TB or Leprosy;

it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for .We can cure

diseases with medicine , but the only cure for loneliness, despair,

and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are

dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for

a little love. The poverty of the West is a different kind of

poverty --- it is not only a poverty of loneliness

but also of spirituality. There is a hunger for love, the is a hunger 

for the Divine."

- Saint Mother Teresa

Inspiration :

An executive on her way to a meeting noticed a homeless woman

she had passed time to time . The woman executive stopped , 

bought a sandwich for the woman. During her conversation

the executive learned how this destitute spirit became broken. 

After a few years of serving sandwiches to the homeless

this executive left her corporate world to create a non for profit

to help the homeless by teaching them how to help themselves.

The organization grew rapidly around the U.S.

to over 200,000 volunteers in 43 states. 

She received the "Points of Light Award" 

from President H.W. Bush.

This pilgrim then met with this executive seeking  her counsel

as to starting a not for profit service for the unemployed. 

The compassionate executive placing her hand on mine,

"When you are ready your heart will know', adding,

"a helping hand can also be in the small things."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Olson

This searcher in disguise then shared 

the previous meeting with another

successful well respected empath female exec.

He trusted her impeccable judgment and ability

to see right through to the heart of the matter.

Listening intently a smile stretched across her face,

"You know you are filled with the spirit. 

Whatever path you follow, be the pebble

the ripples will do the rest ."

https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21914708/former-csb-chairman-dies

A consoling voice murmurs from 

within a transcendental proclamation, 

 " We don't stop being or working

for good , showing compassion and helping those

who can't help themselves because we may not see 

the result of our effort. One doesn't love another just

to be loved in return. We are not selfless and helpful for any

reward...in this life or the the next...we do it ,

....we live this way because 

it is the right thing to do."

-----------

The Writing :

The Pebble

I.

See the broken card board boxes

under the rusted overpass.

Torn sheet tents ,  

three wheeled shopping carts adorning

the passage ways to the residents

reluctant to call this their home.

II.

The fragile factories shuttered and chained.

Remains of once bustling business cubicles 

now abandoned , rats and more rats

roam seeking scraps

through the maze of the refuse of 

once self proclaimed cathedrals of free enterprise.

Those at the beggar's banquet 

inquire from those who have ears to hear.

More vacant office buildings

than hope filled homeless hungry citizens 

needing just an opportunity 

to feed and shelter loved one's.

Desitute cohorts in confusion

over the news of Richard Cory's tragic fate.

A misguided midnight one trick pony preacher 

misses the existential synchronicity

of the moment imploring the disoriented herd ,

"How can the poor pull themselves 

up by their bootstraps if they have no boots"?

III.

The roaming pilgrim blinks at a sudden

supernatural cosmic bright beam shining through 

the fog, grime and clouds 

hiding the divine virgin blue canopy.

This sublime gleam cannot be commanded as

it glows where and when it wills.

The pilgrim catches a glimpse of 

the focal point bathed in the light , 

a drifter casually entering a tired donut shop

who reaches out to a young mother 

on the never ending check out line. There two

toddlers tugging the mom's one hand 

as her other hand frantically 

sorts through the collect of dulled 

worn down coins on the cashier counter.

Attempting to avoid attention he hands 

his plastic money card 

to a manic puzzled barista .

The drifter pays for the woman's order,

not stopping for a thank you he slips away.

A half humiliated-humble smile accompanies a

a solo tear carefully meandering down the mother's cheeks,

     -  a pebble drops.

- JF Sobecki

-------------

" For us , there is only the trying. The rest is not up 

to us."

- T.S. Eliot

Words: Poetry and Such (for your Inspiration and reflection)

click on "links" below each picture for video and sound

Have You Earned Tomorrow

Is anybody happier because you passed this way?

   Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?

This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;

   Is there anyone to utter a kind word of you?

Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came

   along?

   Or a churlish sort of 'Howdy" and then vanish in the throng?

Were you selfie , pure and simple as you rushed along the

way?

   Or is someone deeply grateful for a deed you did today?

Can you say tonight , in parting with the day that's slipping

fast, 

that you helped a single brother of the many you 

passed?

Is a single voice rejoicing over what you did or said,

does a man who's hopes are fading now with courage

look ahead?

Did you waste the day , or lose it, was it well or sorely spent?

   Did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent?

As you close your eyes in slumber do you think God

would say.

   You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did

today?

- Edgar A Guest

If I can Stop One Heart From Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

if I can ease one life the aching,

on cool one pain

unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

- Emily Dickinson

The Speech That Broke the Internet

https://youtu.be/wHRdQVnR3XA?si=WRYyToAyqo_iGF_g

------

Music : for your listening pleasure and reflection

click on "links" below each picture for video and sound

I think It's Going to Rain Today - R. Newman

https://youtu.be/7zDt8xyVKtw?si=m2pXnz3DyT0sEXEy

Hello In There - J. Prine

https://youtu.be/RfwGkplB_sY?si=w7sJRGMuuBBvrONN

What The World Needs Now - Ja okie DeShannon

https://youtu.be/YUaxVQPohlU?si=Liyjp9n3umSBMI0j

----------------

Coda: For your reflection and contemplation

Happiness is Amazing

https://youtube.com/shorts/IpqbaOc_OrI?si=p_ZdlA-Y0aklq5ZJ

Small Things Like These  - Movie ( w Cillian Murphy)

( Based on the Novella (Booker Prize Winner) by Claire Keegan 

If you do not to read ...watch this movie - now on cable/streaming)

https://youtu.be/Nqwn5Y_Y4xs?si=nVV73MtZIBjzrXBL

Kundun - ( the Dalai Lama escapes Tibet

from the Chinese invasion- movie ending)

https://youtu.be/WB5Buz0MvZM?si=aDiWWnvVEPq8FER6

R.I.P. - Chase 

Miss you Chase -- I know you're with your pal Otis.

See you on that Rainbow Bridge

To YB and all the self exiling pilgrims - Remember everything 

you have been seeking has been living within...

                                 

53 Years ! (6/16/72)

                                                               

And two bonus tracks just because sometimes we just need

you get up and dance...TURN IT UP!!!

Protection - Colin James and Lucinda Williams

https://youtu.be/pOVJJjamYUA?si=GRJ_DTokuZCKr5wQ

Shine - Mondo Cozmo

https://youtu.be/QIXwAc-zSmw?si=Sv0rBWSPaAzcGxN0

Love And Mercy - B. Wilson

https://youtu.be/U6oYC0Gus-Q?si=huzIm2axWW-a5DUj

AMDG

Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Stargazing: An Ascetic Contemplation

The Milky Way

"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the Now the 

primary focus of your life"

- E. Tolle

"For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."

-T. S. Eliot

“You admire the man who pushes his way to the too the top in any walk of life, 

while we admire the one who abandons his ego.” 

              - Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrier

The Inspiration :

* Recent outer space probes indicate to scientists  that our galaxy

 is made up of 100-400 billion stars ( each star  an equivalent size of our own sun )

 and that the galaxy is about 100 million light - years across. Our galaxy being

much like a grain of sand in the universe the size of the Sahara desert.

"Two important days in your life are the day you are born and 

the day you know why " 

-David Johnson , Director of the Global Owl Project

" Your grandfather once told me it was ok to think about what you 

want to do until it was time to start doing what you were meant to

be."

- Jim Morris Sr, ( To his son Jim Morris Jr.. from biographical film

 "The Rookie" )

The Writing:

Stargazing : An Ascetic Contemplation

Artificial Intelligence , the headline news of the 21st century.

Doesn't three thousand years of ignorance prove other wise?

Wondering while wandering the ascetic monk-in-training contemplates

The majestic cosmos : 

"Why do so many continue to try convince the lost

Wayward sheep that all that these sheep experience and know

Is the result a random accident or coincidence?

Is filling up one's trunk with wordly treasure

A true measure of one's worth ?

Earthly accomplishments are expected to be rewarded by most

When their Odyssey in that the earthen vessel in which they ride is finished.

Does it matter what name is given to the eternal spark,

The divine DNA, the source that gives all things life

and continues to reside in every aspect of creation?

"Make your life your prayer and your prayer your life, '

Read a faded script discovered on a subway wall . "

The novice monastic's stargazing 

Abandoned all the spiritual and material  busyness by letting go,

Showing compassion to everything and trusting the majesty .

    - JF Sobecki

-------------

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

" To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.'

- Wm. Blake

Buddha's Last Instruction

"Make yourself a light" , said the Buddha

before he died.

I think of this every morning

as the east begins

to tear off its many clouds

of darkness, to send up the first

signal-a white fan

streaked with pink and violet,

even green.

An old man , he lay down 

between two Sala trees,

and he might have said anything,

knowing it was his final hour.

The light burns upward,

it thickens and settles over the fields.

Around him, the villagers gathered 

and stretched forward to listen.

Even before the sun itself 

hangs , disattached ,, in the blue air,

I am touched everywhere

by the ocean of yellow waves.

No doubt he thought of everything

that happened in his difficult life.

And then I feel the sun itself

as it blazes over the hills

like a million flowers on fire _

clearly I'm not needed,

yet I feel myself turning

into something of inexplicable value.

Slowly , beneath the branches,

he raised his head.

He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

- Mary Oliver

The Music:

(Musical reflections on the inspiration)

Part Of The Plan - Dan Fogeberg

https://youtu.be/V1imSzUwy9g

The Soul of a Man- Bruce Cockburn

https://youtu.be/xUqFP3kGMZg

Love Comes to Everyone - George Harrison

https://youtu.be/LfpoQoHVnPo

Across The Universe - The Beatles ( World Wildlife Fund version)

https://youtu.be/iotagMCkJRE

Coda: For your listening and viewing pleasure if you desire:

Seven Psalms - Paul Simon

https://youtu.be/ANtntuDslnk

The End of The Line - Traveling Wilburys

https://youtu.be/UMVjToYOjbM

admg

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Spring Murmurations of The Heart

         

 "The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, 

and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love 

only the reflection\n of ourselves we find in them."

       - Thomas Merton

                                   

                                                 Ok one more time...

Did I mention I gave up worrying for Lent?

....................

                                                                

Spring Murmuration of the Heart

The Cape's Bird Man outlined

The chapters of his forthcoming book,

Of how trench warfare of words and attitudes

Grows deeper and more adverse

Between the right and left 

Leaving the marginalized drowning in the wake.

Yet , he observes how birds come and go faster than people

And how they don't act worried.

Even the the Great Teacher observed how sparrows and other 

Winged messengers don't seem overly concerned 

As somehow they know they are loved.

They say it is instinct for starlings to fly in murmurations ,

Communal constructing of complex spectacles 

Swirling in seemingly aimless wild group flight.

Their secret mission is their common welfare, their communal preservation,

Their collective love and mutual selflessness in unison.

Iconoclastic stragglers and prodigals become vulnerable

To hungry hawks and those mischaracterized predatory eagles.

Other feathered paracletes mimic the starlings .

Who did it first is not of concern nor competition.

Meanwhile sentient beings have possibly devolved to be more lost by being locked down

And  continue less concerned about who really inherited the earth or the wind.

Starlings and most likely most of the divine's creatures may not worry about

Or miss the absence and demise of humans . Many of the Homo Sapiens really

Don't seem to care much about the common good....

Hiding in their own nests, filling them up with this or that.

Or maybe, just maybe these two legged creations forgot their own murmuration

Or maybe they just don't love themselves or each other 

As much as they say they do or

As much as the poets and mystics speculate.

    - JF Sobecki

__________________

What the World Need Now - Jackie DeShannon 

This song is still quite relevant

https://youtu.be/YUaxVQPohlU

Give me Love - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/s-KAvPbO8JY

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding - N. Lowe

https://youtu.be/Oy3LpV0THB0

Change Myself - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/dCU4P5EQNFs

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/IgRrWPdzkao

Quote from "The Princess Bride" - Mandy Patinkin

https://youtu.be/s_t3uDVPiRc

                                                            Family Promise - LINK below

                                                         https://familypromise.org

                                                Habitat for Humanity - Link below

                                                          https://www.habitat.org

amdg

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

"The Love you take is equal to the love you make"

 - Lennon and McCartney

The Dream of One Fine Day

"But the effect of her being those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric act; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully, a hidden life , and rest in unlisted tombs."

                      - George Eliot -  last quote in the film "The Hidden Life" by Terrence Malick

 " If God gives us free will we are responsible for what we do and what we fail to do, aren't we?"

                                                                - F. Jagerstatter

----------------------

Trick Or Treat : The Dream of One Fine Day

And there the pilgrim was again

On the road to nowhere

It seemed like a place he had been

At least 71 times before.

Or was it 72 , 25 or a dream loop?

He was growing tired of keeping count.

Mitchell's carousel of time

Was picking up speed.

Well, something was going faster.

The virus had hit the fan

And yet the so called deniers 

Were keeping the grave count low

As if to say "hope is found by avoiding the truth."

They asked "What are the Wokes smoking?"

Were they all ignorant of the global caste system

And that no one sentient being is worth more or

More privileged than another?

The demons of the seasonal exercise of elections

Had reared their ugly heads again

Promulgating myths and false promises

Forcing the lost sheep to choose one side or the other

While multiple paths remain unexplored.

The Good Shepherd watched disheartened

From the bleachers.

A tattered banner hanging by a thread read,

"Vote for the wrong candidate and all hope is gone!"

Yet, on this feast of the All Hallows,

The Eve of All Saints and the 

Eve of the Eve of All souls

It was either "Trick or Treat."

This prodigal pilgrim's mask frayed and tattered

He sacramentally opened a favorite

Consecrated chocolate bar anticipating the 

Magnificent sweetness of redemption and blessedness.

As he prepared himself for this communion -

Eyes closed and bowed head solemnly 

A small piece of paper

Mystically slide out from the candy's wrapper.

( on it a revelatory message)

"When we look in the eyes of our children

and hopefully that day when we do the same with our grandchildren

do each of them know the depth and substance of our unconditional love?

Do they realize we do not expect anything in return?

There is no expectation for adoration for our desire for their continued well being, peace and love.

Truth in love is given freely and completely.

It is the way with our spouse , dearest friends and the way of the universe.

Do we stop loving others when the night falls upon them

or the unexpected storms sweep across our world as we experience it ?

The teacher once suggested that "When another's peace and happiness is your

peace and happiness- that is love."

And added for good measure "When we desire peace and love for those who do

not know peace and love - that too is love."

Remember desire is a term longing for what the heaven's bring - 

"de sidere" "de sire"( of the father )

[A strong impulse for something deep inside you to flourish.] 

Love is everywhere all times isn't it?

Desire love and know when you feel alone you are loved,

When hope seems a fantasy ...you are loved.

If you ever feel undeserved know you are loved and always will be.

One Fine day you will know "

Somehow the chocolate bar tasted sweeter and it everything was perfect for this moment .

   - JF Sobecki

------------------------------

Note: If you do not see the song YouTube click the link.

One Fine Day - D. Byrne

https://youtu.be/JvlT5fBIi4U

Show them the Way - Stevie Nicks

https://youtu.be/-hsNZXe3r50

Making Do - Lake Street Dive

https://youtu.be/bs4dR4YjGPg

After The Goldrush -Harris, Rondstadt and Parton

https://youtu.be/o2XcBL6kWn8

Robin or Wren - J. Tweedy

https://youtu.be/UmETdNhQgU0

One more from David Byrne

On the Road to Nowhere- D. Byrne

https://youtu.be/Dz1fl6u8ut0

Jerry Jeff Walker who influenced me finding my own voice

Passed recently....my way of saying "Thank you." Rest In Peace

Night Riders Lament - ( still pertinent)- Jerry Jeff Walker

https://youtu.be/f7xw1Q7hwco

Mr Bojangles - Jerry Jeff

https://youtu.be/mDoeUz8vExY

amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC