How to Be a Human Being

A person's politics must be applied to their philosophy of life if they are to be true to themselves. Let me be clear: I'm using the word politics to reflect the interaction between the self and anyone else because as long as there are two or more people in contact, there is politics. I am not referring to the politics of any governmental body or party.

I have not always lived up to that statement because, hey, I'm human and flawed. Earlier in my life, I intellectualized that I could delve into any number of oceanic feelings, the undertow that pulls you along each day without becoming scathed. But of course, I was damaged yet denied it for many years by focusing all my energy and attention externally. For me, it was easier to put the love in my heart toward achieving something in the world. Yet despite the hostile external forces and conditions placed upon me from a young age (by young, I mean a person in their pre-teens), the supreme council of my spirit was based on my moral choices. I was born with a compass whose true north was based on compassion and love, yet it took decades to figure out how to navigate the swells and storms to reach calm. During my teen years, I took an ethical stance, not to justify humanity's good, bad, and ugly actions but to achieve justice for my soul somehow on a level not yet understood in my mind. A soul still searching for shape and form.