what went wrong with this great country?

As the son of immigrants, I have been a USA advocate since birth. I feel it's been as they say... "the greatest country on earth" It's gone from greatest to great I think. And that thing calld "good old american ingenuity" that we used to count on... well... working abroad changed my opinion of that. The current government in the US thinks they can rest on the laurels of "american ingenuity" for the future of this country... I don't believe it. I just want to see what went wrong enough to know how to handle my own part of the future and the change.

sterling hayden.. talkin to me right here.

"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea - "cruising," it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.”
Sterling Hayden

picture is a castle i built for myself at mackinac island

windy inspiration

`Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,' said the Rat. `And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all.
from "the wind in the willows"

rory said if i ignore my urges to go beyond the wild wood, my passion for living subsides
i say the wide world awaits us, and it's wilder than what we have
and we have only to bear the consequences to have it all, to live
nothing comes for free, even passion

courage to speak

I know how overused this is, but every time I read this I feel a few inches taller.

Great forces are directing you to conform to the patterns of your society. You have DNA that has been handed down from generation to generation, coding repeated behaviour patterns into your being. You have archetypal energies setting the standards for how you behave as a man or a woman, as husband or wife, as father or mother .... You are immersed in consensual reality, whereby the world around you reflects societal understanding of how life has been and is to be.

At the same time, you have an even greater force within you inspiring you to wake up and recognize the reality of who you are. This force, the creative power underlying the entire universe, is urging you to create brand new standards of reality.

The status quo is blind to our creative power. Create a brand new world for yourself, one that meets your deepest needs, and you will help raise the quality of consciousness of the entire world.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

-- Gandhi