MAN ON THE RUN

Move it, he said, there isn't much time.

So you stepped on the gas or walked a bit faster or hurried your phone conversation, and still arrived late for your next activity.

Faster, he said, only losers slow down.

So you worked late at the office or left the party early or rushed out of the house without kissing the kids goodbye, and still never made up for the time you lost.

Hurry up, he said, you'll miss your big opportunity.

So you took a second job working weekends or cheated in business or cancelled the family vacation, and still never found the opportunity you were looking for.

Skip the formalities, he said, you'll have time for that later.

So you forgot your anniversary or never showed up for parents night at school or stepped over a friend to better your position, and still found yourself dreaming about all the things you didn't have.

Don't slow down, he said, time grows shorter every minute.

So you pretended to stay young or cheated on your marriage or forgot to watch your children growing up, and still never found someone who could understand you.

Pick up your speed, he said, time's almost up.

So you grew bitter and resentful or left your family or started a list with everything the world owed you, and still grew older every day.

Final seconds, he said, last chance to make good.

So you looked around and wondered where all the time had gone or searched out those you had wronged or started making friends with priests, and still couldn't get his voice out of your head.

Move it, he said, you're running out of time.

And finally he was right.

You ran out of time.


Forgive me if this brief story has appeared before, but a friend of mine recently received bad medical news and this piece immediately came to mind. I run it as a reminder and gift to everyone, but especially for myself.

This story appears in “How To Train A Rock” by Paul Steven Stone
Copyright © 2009 Paul Steven Stone

The Church of Sacred Vampires Wants Your Vote

Heaven protect us!

It wasn’t enough that they abandoned thousands (literally thousands!) of young children to the sexual appetites of predatory priests, but now America’s Catholic Bishops feel they have the moral and spiritual obligation to tell the rest of us how we should behave—and vote!—to validate their right to dictate public morality and individual behavior.

Defending what they describe as their “Religious Liberty” they are campaigning and essentially joining forces with the largely Protestant right, aligning themselves with Republican presidential candidates, in order to combat federal regulations that support the equality of homosexuals, the distribution of contraceptives and the right of women to have abortions.

You don’t have to read between the lines to see the Bishops care more about the welfare of unborn children than the protection of real children in their care. Their protection was reserved for pedophile priests who feasted off the young and innocent like hungry vampires.

It’s a sorry state of affairs that the Bishops today are more interested in defending a discriminatory definition of marriage than the quickly crumbling social safety net that was once so critical to their mission of service. Where is the voice of moral indignation that once clamored for the rights of workers and justice for the poor? Why are these very same Bishops not standing alongside the victimized, non-violent warriors of the Occupy Movement? That’s where Jesus would be. Certainly, he would not be standing with those attempting to shut out “undesirable” segments of society from their rights and privileges. Nor would he have allowed deviant priests to move among children with impunity, quenching their sexual thirsts while destroying lives.

How strange that this enabler of pedophile priests, this destroyer of childhoods, this institution too-tightly-controlled by the corrupters themselves to ever really change, should tell others how to live their lives, how to vote, or what to think. What hypocrisy, what sham morality!

If the Bishops ever learn to see beyond the walls of their enclosed insular world, they would see humanity thirsting for an honest, moral voice to lead us out of the wilderness. And they would silence their cruelly divisive attacks for fear of drowning it out.

FOR ALL THE LOVELY PEOPLE

Yesterday I looked around and realized there was only beauty and happiness in the world. Everybody had a home, two Mercedes and a signed Christmas card from George W. Bush.

Yesterday I looked around and realized I didn’t have to wait to go to heaven.

This is for all the lovely people,
This is for those with the Midas Touch,
This is for all the ones
Who never leave
Till they have too much,
I love all the lovely people.

Yesterday I looked around and realized there was no hunger in the world, and that poverty only existed in old newsreels and fiction. Everybody had quiche for breakfast and an American Express card for emergencies.

Yesterday I looked around and realized I was no longer just a man. I was a member of a club, and membership had its privileges.

This is for all the lovely people,
This is for summers at the shore,
This is for Donald Trump
Who never stops
Working at the pump,
God bless all the lovely people.

Yesterday I looked around and realized there was nobody in the world that needed my help. Everybody had more than enough love and every child knew just what they wanted for Christmas.

Yesterday I looked around and realized there was no reason to wait for the second coming. It couldn’t get any better than this.

This is for all the lovely people,
This is for People Magazine,
This is for all the ones
Whose private jets
Are always kept clean,
God loves all the lovely people.

Yesterday I looked around and realized there was nothing I had to do for anybody. Everybody had gotten exactly what they deserved from life and only deserved to get more.

Yesterday I looked around and realized I was the center of the universe.

Yesterday was a day like any other.

Anti-Bullying Video Wins Contest

Pardon me for blushing, but I'm proud to announce that "To You Who Are Different" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IJA-uxretY) was recently announced the winner of the Challenge Video Contest by the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center. If you haven't yet seen this powerful video, please check it out. It runs for less than 5 minutes but it packs a hell of a punch. The featured students from Randolph High School did an amazing job taking ownership of the video's message of tolerance and support for those who are different. "To You Who Are Different" was a joint enterprise of Mona Rosen, Sheara Seigal and yours truly. If you wish to download "To You Who Are Different" for showings by your school or group, go to: http://www.4shared.com/video/ktKDqdqP/To_You_Who_Are_Different.html