Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 50

CarrollBlog 7.6

"The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only

their kind of love to give, not our kind." Mignon McLaughlin

CarrollBlog 7.3

"She loved like a 17 year old: volcanically, temporarily."

CarrollBlog 6.30

One day an old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson. He said:

"There are two wolves fighting inside all of us -

the wolf of Fear and Hate, and the wolf of Love and Peace."

The grandson listened, then looked up at his grandfather and asked, "Which one will win?"

The grandfather replied:

"The one we feed."

CarrollBlog 6.29

"The Orange"

by Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange-

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave-

They got quarters and I got a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.

This is peace and contentment. It's new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all the jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I'm glad I exist.

...

CarrollBlog 6.28

Her cigarette in a long amber holder, long fingernails perfectly kept and painted, she lifts her espresso cup and takes a little sip as she watches the world go by. She's sitting at that outdoor café in her usual spot. I see her there a few days a week when I walk by in the early morning. She's always well dressed too and obviously cares a great deal about her appearance. The only exception is the eye makeup which she glomps on as if she were a gypsy fortune teller in a small circus...

CarrollBlog 6.26

She tried on different men and living with them as if they were new shoes. After walking around in them a while, checking them for comfort and what they did for her, she invariably shook her head no for one reason or another, took them off, and then asked to try on another pair she had seen in the window. Always pleasant about it, always hopeful that the next ones would be the right ones, she invariably walked out having bought nothing and leaving behind her a mess

CarrollBlog 6.22

Eamon Reilly was handsome and sloppy. He seemed to know everyone, even waitresses in restaurants. When he walked in the door, they beamed and began seriously flirting the minute he sat down at their table. I saw this happen several times at different places-- restaurants or bars none of us had ever been to before. I asked if he knew these women but he always said no.

Eamon wore his heart on his sleeve and it worked. People cared about him even when he was being impossible, which was pretty o...

CarrollBlog 6.18

One day, a Tibetan Lama was speaking to a group of monks and, to make a point, pulled out a large jar, set it on the table in front of him, produced a few fist-sized rocks, and placed them, one by one, into the jar. When no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone said, "Yes." He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel, dumped some in and shook the jar, the gravel worked between the rocks. Again, he asked: "Is this jar full?" The monks were...

CarrollBlog 6.16

Making a Fist

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,

I felt the life sliding out of me,

a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.

I was seven, I lay in the car

watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern

past the glass.

My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

"How do you know if you are going to die?"

I begged my mother.

We had been traveling for days.

With strange confidence she answered,

"When you can no longer make a fist."

Years...

CarrollBlog 6.14

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

...