Photo: Narcissus
It may be fashionable to be unkind,
To dismiss civility as weak
And see polite discourse
As reflecting ‘snowflake’ fragility.
One wonders, though,
About the price of bullish ways
On our children
Who are learning
Not what we say
But what we model.
Will they grow to celebrate insult
As denoting power,
And be enthused
By pseudo-charm;
Or will they see
The true resilience of empathy
So hate and war
Can finally be
Disarmed?
For The Daily Post
Deny hate a room
In your heart
Anywhere.
Fill it instead
With soul truths:
The sweet breath
Of infants
Asleep against your chest.
Does not differentiate
Who is worthy of care.
Deny hate a room.
Allow compassion
Instead
To take hold
Everywhere.
For The Daily Post
Not all interest
Pays dividends.
Not all attention
Is of value.
Too often what’s at stake
Is a diversion
To some bias of
Profit,
When in truth
The real returns
Are found in
Empathy, and
Real growth is in
Addressing prejudice,
Resolving hate
And healing
Conflict.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Inbar Asif
How much will it help
If we can
Get ourselves out of our own corners,
Out of righteous
Stiffened chins
For right or wrong?
Maybe round out those
Hardened edges
So we no longer must
Contrast
One side
With another,
Or need to confront
A person’s sigh
With slight or fault.
Can we
Perhaps
Find common ground
In what may be beyond
All argument:
If we rotate
Long enough
Around a circle
We will eventually
See
More than
Our current
Vantage point.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Dvora Freedman
You are no accident.
This time.
This place.
Your presence is
If not pre-ordained
Then an absolute responsibility,
Manifesting
With each moment
Every action
Of said and unsaid,
In a remarkable
Synchronicity
For opportunity
And fate.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein
Pamper someone
Today.
Cosset Mother Earth, and
Attend with care
To all her beings.
Indulge your loved ones, and
See to those who hurt.
Let others see to you.
Pamper someone
Today.
You will spoil nothing
By offering a plenty
In kindness
To others
And to you.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Ofir Asif
Do not let anyone tell you
That kindness
Is a privilege
For other times.
Do not let anyone convince you
That truth
Is peripheral
To the necessity of
Getting some things done.
Do not let anyone berate you
That hope is
Irrelevant
And you are somehow
Weak
For holding on
To empathy, veracity, civility, belief.
They are all
Relevant.
Especially
Now.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Ofir Asif
Some photos of a layered world aren’t pretty. Some are there to remind us of history that shouldn’t have happened yet did: People stacked in slave ships’ holds. People forced to march. People warehoused in concentration camps. People massacred. People just like us … stripped of dignity. Dehumanized.
And yet. People they each were. Each one a universe of thoughts and soul and feelings. Each one worthy. Each a human being.
Layered in the bowels of our collective histories are memories that hurt as the agony they resurrect is peeled away so they be seen. And yet they may be there exactly to remind us what we should know … and never repeat.
Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev
When faced with rough terrain ahead
Or uneven steps that may
Hold the potential
For plunging
Into pain
Or disruption:
Proceed with care.
Caution does not mean
Cowardice.
Bluster and bold moves do not denote
Good reason.
Determination often means
Holding on
To what railing is available
And bending down
To circumstance
So one may reach
Desired heights
Without the disservice
Of overzealous
Pride
To
Detriment.
For The Daily Post
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
In the constant feed of drama
And five-minute-news of all-that’s-wrong
And all that must be done
And all that cannot yet
Or won’t be,
Seek a spot of shade
And a penchant for deep breathing.
Nurture moments of quietude
Of birdsong
Children’s laughter
And the breeze whispering
Sweet nothings to your soul.
For The Daily Post
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