Blessing for a New Born

Preamble...

Good afternoon,

If this message made it through your spam filter and you wish it hadn't, there's a button for that. If your email address has changed to: dontwrite@soon.com, just lemme know. Or, if your computer erupts in flames every time you receive these messages, it's probably time you stop reading this drivel.

However, for anyone else that's still reading these posts, after all these years, thank you. A lot has changed recently: marriage, job, newborn son, step daughter. Considering how often I write, 'recently' has a very broad definition.
By the way, I totally recommend having a child; you can pick them up on any street corner.

Today's post is one of generational education, which is arguably one of the most fundamental vehicles toward a thriving and evolving society. This is just one very small slice in an otherwise extremely large and much bigger super slice, which itself probably fits somewhere in a knowledge mega-pie, metaphorically - of course; a literal mega-pie of knowledge would be a culinary oxymoron encompassing something that everyone wants but has a hard time motivating to attain, and something else that people gorge on but say they could easily do without (knowledge, and calories).
So, to add to this caloric megalith of edible slices of knowledge, I offer a few words for my son..

            

 A Slice of the Pie...

            I wish someone told me that in the end everything is okay. That, in the end, the world has the mastery to care for itself and the wisdom to see to that aim. I wish someone told me that my actions though important in my life are small in the ebbs and flows of the world as a whole and therefore my mistakes aren’t grounds for dismissal but instead are lessons in becoming the person I was born to be. I wish I knew that sometimes it is more important to act in courage than to do the right thing.

            I wish someone taught me that I am, and was born, the person I will always be and that the only challenge in my life will be to surrender to that, to explore that innate sense of myself. All else is merely a chance to clean the complacency and negativity off my soul.

            I wish someone informed me that it was okay to be human and to believe myself, to not always trust people and to know that people are responsible for their own feelings, not I. I wish I knew that people are cruel because they either don’t know better or don’t have the courage, or just don't care (but that's more rare than most people think). In life, people will hurt you and you will hurt others; it is okay to mourn this pain and I would like to tell you that it is okay to end that mourning and continue the work of your life. I wish someone told me that it is not acceptable to live a life of guilt, despite what you wish you had done differently. I wish I knew that living only for myself, or only for other people, is no life at all. I wish I knew that anger, injury and suffering were not badges of honor.

I wish I knew that love is a blessed gift; to myself and the person I love, even if that person cannot return my love, and that sometimes it’s okay to love someone from afar.

            The greatest gift you can give yourself is a positive outlook on Life and Self. Your Life is created by what you see. Though the object remains the same, everyone will see something different. This is why some people have successes and others do not. You have a choice in your vision. Choose what you see wisely because you will live the results of your sight. A positive outlook on Life and Self is the greatest gift that you can give someone else. This is an act of creation meaning that it is yours to define and modify anytime you desire. I wish I learned this before I was 30. I wish I had perfected this before you were born.

            In your Life I hope that you practice seeing other people for who they are, not as you would like them to be. If you are fortunate, you will practice this your entire Life.

            Joy. Not ignorance, not glibness, not immaturity, not clinginess, not sucking the joy from others nor causing detriment to others. Grow joy in your life as a gardener grows succulent greens. This is a deep and powerful source of soul nourishment. Therefore, avoid the malaise and traps of pessimism. It is literally wasted energy since in it nothing can grow, and it is a nagging burden sucking up more energy than it gives; eventually, it will break you. Joy will heal and build you. 

            Though it will be difficult at times, and hopefully easy at others, grant your parents your patience. Sometimes, we literally have no idea what we're doing, and at still other times we are reflexively practicing what other humans taught us - where these humans too were works in progress and still on their personal journeys.

            The world gives birth to everyone for a reason. Many people are granted birth but suffer the great loss of not finding or creating a reason for their birth. May patience, peace, balance, wisdom and love be the whispers in your ear as you sleep, and may you rise above the chains of fear and become the reason for your birth, to live as the person your are.

            

            Insomuch as I can I bless these lessons on you and hope this knowledge reaches you when you are ready for it.