well-being

I want dinner cooked to perfection, my companions should be talented, amusing, I want the table conversation to be witty and a bit ribald.

      Well marbled steak, rare with marchand de vin sauce, a good Bordeaux and some french bread with lots of butter.  I like the green tomalley in a lobster more than the lobster itself.  Hot sauces, chilies, poblanos, chipotle, anchos.  I like traditional food, baked beans, New England clam chowder.  Bread, bread, bread, baguettes, boules, bagels.  Rainbow trout with garlic butter. 

      That music better have a beat, baby 'cause I like to dance!  This is what it is all about, finally.  One's ability to dance in the face of all that life brings.  Hang in there baby, and keep that mojo going.  You got it, you know it, flaunt it! 

      I like my government to be socialist, to take into account those among us who need a helping hand with no judgment passed, I want a government that is comfortable in its power, has achieved a certain equanimity without the constant need of war to feed and support its destructive habits, be it on their own citizens or those of other countries, I want every citizen to have a right to as much education as they want, gratis; I want rich people to pay higher taxes than the rest of us, I want a shorter work week with a month's paid vacation guaranteed to all workers, I want a government that is aware of its own natural resources, its bodies of water, its forested lands, mountains and rolling prairies, its myriad animals, birds, fish and insects, the interconnection of all these things and their importance to our survival.

      I want to see and hear the poetry of artists every day, I want to read words that astound me, I want to be inspired by the artworks of others, architecture, sculpture, food, painting, I want to cry at an exhibit at the Musuem of Modern Art, I want to see an actor transcend reality and become another, and I want musicians to break my heart, to touch my soul.

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        I met a grown-up this week.  Such encounters are wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time.  Wonderful in that communicating with such a person opens up a part of oneself that is seldom heard, a part that seeks to blossom and embrace her world, to fly unencumbered in open skies, and sad because it so seldom happens.  One is alone on a planet inhabited by the corrupt, the ignorant, the grasping.

     Meeting such a person is an affirmation of self, the deeper self.  It is a breakthrough, a dropping of the mask one wears to get through, the shields to protect oneself.  It’s Ok, this person doesn’t need you, is not looking to fill some void, some need for power.  Such a person already has what he needs.  You walk away from such an encounter having received affirmation.  I am not alone.