Still Alive, Grateful........and keepin it real...

Hi Sweetheart, I hope this finds you doing well and feeling grateful about it. Ya know, that's a really important factor in people's daily opinions about things. You can either be happy with yourself or things around you, or not, but one should never allow themselves to forget to be grateful. Yep, even if things aren't going right and your mood is completely in the dumper, you should still try and remember that there are still numerous things that you can always be grateful for. Be grateful that you even have problems to deal with. Be grateful that you'll have a chance to fix them. It's easy to forget about or take for granted the ability to feel and recognize that you are grateful, but when you think about it, we should all feel a sense of gratefulness.

In the most primal, basic sense of all, we could and should be grateful for the fact that we are even conscious, free thinkers and that we even get a chance to be alive on this wondrous planet in the first place. See, it's easy to honestly identify sound and fundamental reasons why we should always carry a sense of gratefulness in our hearts. Recognizing some things that you have to be grateful for can help to honestly change your perspective on life in general. I exude these feelings because at this point I truly know, but I think that anyone can, and should as well. I'm grateful that I could share that little tangent with you, at least it was a pleasant one, and I'm grateful that you will be able to read it too. And I'm also grateful that, well, you get the point. (We Should All Be More Grateful Both In And For Our Lives) ;-)

Well, that did a great job of getting me completely off the subject I was going to talk about. Now just let me try and remember what that topic was......hmmmmm...grateful I have a memory(ok, enough of that). Ah yes, I was initially going to talk about how difficult it is these days to see through all the false appearances that we're presented with on a daily, or even hourly, basis. I just want to talk to you a little bit about fine tuning your ability to see through the visual aspects of things and being able to connect on a real level with what's actually going on. Most of the time in this world, I believe that things are, to an incredible degree, a lot more simple than they appear. The world we now live in, more than ever, is filled with an infinite amount of visual and audible cues that are designed to initiate false and illusory human perceptions. It's going on bigtime in the political arena, of course, but I think if you take a little closer look at things that you'll realize the amount of phony or inaccurate diversion that you have to cognitively sift through on any given day is indeed an ever growing perplexity.

We now have entire cultures and tastes built primarily on a fake or phony aesthetic while at the same time we're being bombarded with attempts at making us buy in to the "scene" and to accept the phony as if it were to be real. Most of the time there may be a few originators of whatever philosophy or style is being presented, which could be seen as more authentic, at least original to some degree, but as far as the mass of the pretenders that follows, Sheesh, you can toss any hope for authentic originality right out the window. Why are so many in society so readily willing to throw out any ability they may have to be an active, and positive, free thinker?

It's called deindividualization, Sky, and it involves giving up your individuality as a person and going along with a crowd despite your own values , morals, or beliefs. Learn this word, look it up and commit it to your permanent memory and don't EVER do it. Not because your father told you not to, or your mother, grandparents, or any social worker, counselor, or teacher. Make a commitment NEVER to allow yourself to do this because you understand what it means and because you decide you'd rather remain your own individual in character and be distinguishable, as an individual, from all the other fraudulent, cookie cutter types that are out there. A good example of this is engaging in an activity that you normally would not be willing or interested in doing but you do it anyway just because everyone else is.

I would strongly urge you not to fall in to that trap Sky, going with the crowd in many cases won't make you cool, or hip, to anything good, special, or desirable, if it's a poor decision in the first place, then it'll just make you stupid for making a bad decision along with a large group of other people. You are the ONLY you, Sky, that holds an immense amount of worth. I'd encourage you through your own judgment, to trust me on this one sweetheart, it's one of those that you'll be very glad you did. Ok, now back to the subject of false phonies and fakers, they're everywhere, they've even taken over most of main stream popular music these days.

I think most of the so called "jam band" movement, for example, was actually started by the demand of honest music lovers everywhere that were just entirely fed up with the complacency of modern mainstream music these days. Wow, I think a lot of good music has come from that sort of genre, but the point I'm talking about is how this all seemed to grow so huge out of shear desperation from the fans that were starving for some good live music. It spans much farther, or deeper, than the popular music industry. You go anywhere these days and it seems ever increasingly difficult to find someone that's real or down to earth and not hiding behind some phony props or false presentation of themselves.

And it happens everywhere it seems, even in all the products we consume. Take this as an example, how many times have you seen a beverage that was labeled as a "juice drink"? It's 10 or 20% actual fruit juice and the rest of it is some nasty mix of high fructose corn syrup and some indiscernible industrial concoction that you'd have to be a master chemist to understand. How likely would it be for someone to want to buy this stuff if it were just plain honest and up front in it's presentation of what it really is. Would you buy something if it said "High fructose corn syrup with 20% fruit juice included !"? Yuck, neither would I. Advertising is such a con game most of the time, we definitely have to beware of the tricks of their trade. But that's those corporate fark wads, let's get back to the subject of people...

You know what I think, I think there are two primary culprits to this narly social phenomena. Laziness and fear. Yep, It's just my theory but I believe that there is an ever growing segment of society that is just too scared to be themselves and/or just too lazy to figure out how to get past this problem. Add in huge amounts of public apathy, in general, and you have the makings of our current state of..hmmmm....I'll call it.... Non-being. Yeah, that's a pretty decent name for it, that'll do for right now. Fear + Laziness + Grossly Apathetic Public = The Mess We're In Right Now. That's my new formula, fresh off the presses, of my brain. Ok, so how do we fix it? That's another hundred and fifty thousand pages, at least.


I know this may seem simply like a rant to you, and yes, to some degree, I am ranting to be for sure. I only hope that you may be able to take a bigger, wider look at some of the things I "rant" about from time to time and that you will be able to become enlightened to some of the deeper points that I'm intending for these observations to illuminate to you. That's the only thing that could give these observations any value or make them worth the time it takes to share them. I only share this stuff in hope that you could personally benefit from them. My hope is that if I share an alternate viewpoint(s) with you it can have a positive effect of expanding your consciousness a bit and as a result you may just begin to form a more critical thinking mind of your own someday. This is a crazy world we're living in right now, that's an understatement of the grandest proportions for sure.

Sky, just as some things are surely destined for change, there are also some things that will, equally as surely, always stay the same. There is more to the term "old school" than just a reference to outdated fashions or some kind of nostalgia trip for all us older folks. No, dear, it's a sense of when things had a more basic, more real sort of feel to them, simpler times. When core values and basic moral sensibilities still held a wide spread importance to the common citizen. In that sense, those truly were the "good old days". Hey, there's yet another reason we should sooo value our elders, ya know? They can help to carry over the good wisdoms, the ones we need to survive, for civility to survive.

What I'm trying to get across to you is that people are always going to be people. Throughout the ages and far in to the future(in some galaxy far far away perhaps?) the human behaviors, thoughts and emotions, that people have always had, will always originate from the same human origins. It's probably safe to assume that things like greed, love, compassion, apathy, and all core level feelings and emotions are all natural human capacities that will be with us, largely governing our actions, and originating from the same kind of human brains that have been around for centuries, for as long as natural(non-laboratory) human beings exist. Indeed, some things, thankfully, will never change. That's why it's important for us to learn and retain some of the things from the past. Like the importance of self respect and the value of respecting and learning from our elders, for a couple of examples.

I hope and pray that you will be equipped with the self confidence and awareness it'll take to survive out there in this crazy world of ours. Please, don't get me wrong, darling, I do have an immense amount of confidence in you and that faith is neverwaning. I just want to make sure that you're "awake" enough to steel yourself with the positive energy it takes to stick things out when the going gets tough. My primary hope is just that you won't allow yourself to be sucked up in to the giant "Negative Energy Vortex" that seems to dominate a lot of our culture and society as a whole right now. Don't do it baby, be strong and be free to think for yourself, as an original, because underneath it all that's exactly what you are, a beautiful one-off original, an incredible one of a kind. :-) Fo'Shizzle.


I love you and I hope you're keeping yourself busy with constructive and positive things. Don't forget to keep that noggin muscle stimulated either 'cause I'm afraid that if you don't use your nugget than you might wake up someday much too soon and it won't be quite as strong(Doh!). Know what I mean, jelly bean? I don't really know about the whole "use it or lose it" philosophy but I definitely believe that your brain is kind of like a muscle in that you have to exercise it regularly in order to keep it in optimum shape. Good brain fitness is totally smart, it's the most important "muscle" in your body.

Phewwwee.... Skylar, I'm going absolutely nuts out here trying to survive without you. It just totally makes me feel sick, literally sick. I hope that I can manage to achieve some sort of contact soon, Sky, 'cause I don't know how much more of this I will be able to endure. I'll hold on though, because, I know there is always hope. You REMEMBER that Sky, hope can exist for as long as you will let it, and then some.

Even if you feel really angry with me, which I'm sure you probably do, or even if you feel like you hate my ugly guts, which I hope you don't, It will soothe my soul just to know that you're out there and your doing alright. I'd like to know that you're safe and healthy and doing ok, ya know? I just totally miss you a hella mad crazy lot, and I'm concerned for how your doing and how your feeling emotionally because, well, probably because I'm a quasi worrywart, but mostly because I love you and I'm your father. Mostly I just long for you to know how much I care. Right now, that's definitely the biggest thing.

I miss you with all my heart Sky. I'm waiting for the day that I can get word to you and let you know that I'm here, that I love you, and that I've always wanted to have you in my life. I'm sorry that things are the way they are Sky. I'm so deeply sorry that I've ever let you down, In any way, honestly, I totally didn't mean to. I Love You More Than Life Itself Baby. I pray that I'll be able to hear your voice soon, before you're all grown up. You try and treat people right, Ok, like you would prefer for people to treat you, and always make sure you're conscious of the choices that you're making and be sure to do the right thing, because it totally matters. God Bless you my beautiful daughter. Je t'aime chèrement mon beau Ciel. I'll post again here soon.

Sincerely Yours Forever, You're Forever E.G.F.