I remember reading the words, “Freedom isn’t free!”
I can remember reading this in the post 9/11 days after the terrorist attacks on my City.
I can remember a movie too, from back when I was young – there was a slave who chanted pull to his people because they were pulling a rope to cover a moat around the castle walls to defend their own people and prepare for an upcoming attack.
I remember hearing, Pull for your life.
Pull!
Pull for your freedom!

In the case of I against I or me against me, and in the case of my life and my world or the skin I want and the skin I’m in, I have found some truths to be, as they say, self-evident. I see this now as obvious as ever. In the case of peace against chaos and crisis against tranquility, I have noted down the following.

There is no reason to find fault or to assign blame to anyone or any particular thing, at least not anymore.
This is us which means that acceptance has to start here. We have to own our spot and position.
This is where we are and yes, like we have been talking about in the last few entries, there’s been the discussion about “the skin I want” and the often-apparent difference that notes the skin we’re in.
We started to approach the difference between the two:
The skin I want.
The skin I’m in.
The life we want.
The life we live.

I suppose I have to credit this entry to a song by a man named Dobie Gray.
And in a minute, the world could strike a chord and the music could change speed.
So be ready to dance. That’s what I say.
I think there are a few details which should be included in our life. We have to eat a little and talk a little. We have to dance as much as we can and we need to sing as often as possible.
We need to find our way out of this craziness and to drift away, like Dobie says.

Just for the record –
We do have an impact on the world around us.
Life changes and so do we.
I have been saying this for a long time now.
I am not the person I used to be. Then again, none of us are, at least not really.
I am not the same person I used to be nor am I anywhere close to the teenage version of myself. And yes, without any question, I am not the 20-year-old version nor am I anything like that 30 or 40-year-old version either. Even now, I am not the same as I was at this time last year. I am physically different. I am emotionally different and spiritually different as well.

I believe that in life, even our dreams may die. Unless we feed them.
Unless we care for them. Yes, our dreams are very much alive.
I believe in work. And further, I believe it was in the Book of James when it was said, faith without works is dead.
What is faith without the works behind it?
I agree. What does faith mean without any depth behind it?
What is it to believe in something without any motivation to make our beliefs come to light?

Snow is falling in New York City. The world looks different to me this way. Soft and slow. Peaceful. And I like it like this.
Soft and slow. Peaceful too. And that’s exactly what this is about.
Peace.

I think it is important to be honest. In fact, I say this with all sincerity that we need to come to a constructive conclusion at the end of each day, which means we have to acknowledge our faults and flaws as well as our victories and successes.
As I see it –
We are closer now than ever before. And we have to believe this is true because at this point, we are beyond the halfway mark, at least I think so.
Then again, I suppose this is all relative. Perhaps this all according to our perspective which means this could be the beginning for you and I.
Who am I to take that away?
And I like that too –
I really do.

My last entry mentioned the difference between the skin I want and the skin I’m in, which is not to say that there is a discrepancy between the two. No.
I can say that like most people, I am an eventual and inevitable. I am a work in progress, much like the rest of us are.
I am improving on a daily basis. While I find myself in the face of a new beginning and overcoming new obstacles, I am still here and still making my rounds and waking up, each day, one morning at a time.
I can say that I’m growing. We all are.
But . . .

It would seem there are times when people are split in two halves.
This is a mix or should I say this is life when split in two parts.
Say for example, the skin I want. The skin I’m in.
Or otherwise, the life I want. The life I live.
The life I have. The life I need.
This is a split.
People are torn between the life they have and the life they hope for.
I do not envy the ones who stay caught in the middle.