I am invisible

I am invisible
I am an Aboriginal man
And I live in Edmonton

I am invisible
You walk right through my space
And you don't even flinch

I am invisible
You never look at me
I might ask you for money

I am invisible
Until I walk into your store
Then everyone greets me
And follows me everywhere
Shadowing me in case I steal

I am invisible
I am an Aborignal man
And I live in Edmonton

I am invisible
Until I live in your building
Then you give me the once over
Three times up and down
Ending with a gaze upon my shoes
I am feeling judged

I am invisible
You never look at me
No smile ever on your face
I must remind you of someone
Some Aboriginal man

I am invisible
Immigrants ignore me too
My reputation has preceeded me

I am invisible
I am an Aboriginal man
And I live in Edmonton

Time Travel and Therapeutic Fiction

God is with me wherever I go.  He plays music for me over and over again to bring tears to my eyes.  The Times They are a Changin' by Bob Dylan is now playing in this cafe.  I am closer now to the end of my days and indeed, the times, they are a changin'.  I look back now on my life and see "the good ol' days."  I did not know how fortunate I was but now in comparison to the present reality I was fortunate indeed!  Some things were worse back then but so many things were much better than they are now.  I suppose every generation feels this way in this stage of their passing.
    
I hear the crying and fussing of a little child in this cafe and I remember the struggles in raising my own children.  Although my reaction is one that does not envy the young parents dealing with this I long to be able to go back to this time in my own children's lives and possess this revelation of old age.  It is my dream that I would have a new appreciation and a differing perspective on the struggle and would fare better in my parenting and have made my children's lives better in the process.  And yet here I am with brokenness all around.
    
It is no wonder that time travel is such a human fascination.  We ruminate about "what if..." and all the schemes that could make it a possibility.  What if I said this?  What if I did that?  What if...etc., etc.?  Perhaps it is this imagination of ours that makes life bearable in unbearable reality.  I have gained an appreciation for fiction.  My austere evangelical Christian upbringing eschewed fiction and looked down its condescending nose at such frivolity.  My broken soul now sees how therapeutic fiction can be for all the tangled ends of the fabric of my life.  If only momentarily, if only fleetingly, if only imaginatively, the fictional story knits these tattered rips of pain into another garment of hope, still scarred but with a new beauty and hope.
   

Do lions believe they are king of the forest?

“The subconscious mind is one million times more powerful in processing information than the conscious mind. Also the subconscious mind controls our behavior about 95% of the time.” Dr. Bruce Lipton

We sometimes describe the lion as a creature that is the king of the forest.  The Cowardly Lion of the movie Wizard of Oz tried his best to talk himself into this royal position if the Wizard of Oz would only give him courage.  The above quote indicates that our behavior arises from our subconscious and so the little bit of "positive confession" that the Cowardly Lion did would be of little impact on his behavior.  I would suggest he get intouch with his inner lion instead. 

If 95% (probably more) of a lion's behavior arises from its subconscious then king-like behavior is inherent in the very genetic/biologic nature of the lion.  The further 5% (probably less) of king-like behavior then comes from the learned behavior passed on by other mentoring lions.  What we observe and then describe in our metaphor "Lions are king of the forest" arises primarily from what I will describe as grace - a gift not earned but received.

My application of this to the human experience is to say that human life is a gift of the Creator in a much more profound way than we understand.  We live, move, and have our being primarily by grace - this 95% of subconscious autopilot given to us in our creation.  The little bit we learn and give ourselves credit for is by comparison a very small thing.  We are foolish to boast, comparing our tiny bit with others tiny bits, and thinking we are so great.  Creation and it's gift of life humbles me!