"You would have loved it here my friend. I would have loved it here too if you could have been here with me.

This is everything we worked towards. I must relearn what life is without you.

God, I hate you. I hate you for leaving me.

My heart is shattered into a million pieces. And yes I will go on, but I will never be the same.

I miss you my friend. You were my conscience.

May god's disciples fear my wrath, now that he has taken you from me. "

The old Lynyrd Skynyrd song is my motto.

When I hear be a simple man, I also hear love God, love your woman, love your family, do what is right, and treat others with respect.

I'm a married man now and my wife is my world. I don't want to get caught up in the drama. I just want to reach my goals as fast as possible while staying true to myself.

May the ghost of Darwin curse you for considering the possibility. To sacrifice evolution to the ignorance of humanity’s elite is like stopping the world from spinning. Impending death provides purpose. It motivates the extraordinary to accomplish wonders and implants dreams within future generations. Humanity has not reached its pinnacle yet. To break the cycle of life and death is to fight against the will of the universe.

Before you dive into this philosophical question, I must ask another. What does it mean for a person to be evil? The google definition of evil is “profoundly immoral and wicked.” By definition, for a person to be evil, they must violate morals. Morals are standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. Therefore one person’s understanding of what is evil can be different from another’s. This leads me to conclude that nobody can be born evil because morality is taught and variable based on several factors including religion, culture, and history.

Another question I have heard before is, was Adolf Hitler indeed an evil person if he honestly believed that what he was doing was God’s will, morally justified, and the best thing for his people? My answer is yes because he manipulated the clearly defined morals of his religion to justify amoral actions.

Are cannibal tribes evil if they believe it is respectful to eat their ancestors? My answer is no. They are not evil because their actions are common practice and respectful within their culture. Whereas a cannibal that grew up in the US is evil because they learned that eating people is morally wrong and still chose to do it.

When the children were young you just couldn’t get them out of the yard. They would push each other on the swing while I would throw tennis balls for our mutt. Their mother always told them to play safe, but a scrape or bruise was inevitable. It also seemed like one of the kids would drag the foul smell stepped in dog poop all over the house every week. The yard was full of life back then, with children, pets, and colorful toys. What remains is a decaying bitter-sweet reminder of what once was. The playset fell in on itself a couple of weeks ago. All that's left is a pile of wood with a wavy green slide laying on top of it, and just yesterday a storm came through and blew a frisbee off the pitch of the roof that had been stuck there for at least ten years.

To live within a paradox, a superpower on its knees.

Only when the mute king says so, will the money grow on trees.

The price of peace is bloodshed from the ones amidst violence,

And when the flag is folded, hear the screaming of the silence.

The swiftness of bureaucracy, when your money’s what they spend.

The complex and simple budget of a war that doesn’t end.

Homes of excess luxury still claim to be oppressed.

While those who dawn their work boots, can not afford to rest.

A peaceful protest march can leave businesses in flames.

The mastermind’s a simpleton, that likes to fog our brains.

Shades by the forge

A wave pattern in the tempered line

Lotion on a slight burn

A handle wrapped in periwinkle cord

Sand off any burr

A blanket as a sheath

Weapons do not make a man

A man makes a weapon

Reoccurring procrastination is a result of confidence. People who lack the confidence to succeed in their task tend to delay starting a project because they fear failure. People who are full of confidence tend to delay starting a project because they lack a fear of failure. Saying you got distracted is an excuse to justify your fear of failure.

How sweet the sound, on a Sunday evening sitting in the middle of a church pew. Mr. Otis played the piano occasionally at church. He was a self taught musician, and never knew how to read music. Every time he played the song “Amazing Grace” it was a new and unique version. He would play and sing like a jazz musician in an old western saloon, but the words were always the same: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” As he got older he would still play the piano with the same energy I remember from when I was little, but the age made it hard for him to sing past the first verse. It was okay though, cause the church would sing for him, and you could see the joy on his face. Mr. Otis was like a grandfather to my brothers and me. He even gave my family football tickets to a few University of Georgia Football games. He passed away last year, and when I hear the song played I smile and my eyes get a little watery. Mr. Otis was the embodiment of spreading love and joy in the name of amazing grace.