pen and paper

"To be or not to be?"
begins the soliloquy,
for which many are familiar.
It is a question for which
we all at some point ask ourselves.

You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

It is life's challenge to maintain optimismin
the face of adversity.
To challenge the obstacles placed before us,
if only to discover,
it is us who hold ourselves back,
keeping true happiness at bay.

The images and stories displayed
on television amount to only a sliver
of what is actually real.

There are many sides to every story
And then there is the truth,
but how is 'The Truth' determined?

History is just one's own perception of the truth.
If you're blessed with enough funds
you can have that perception printed,
market it as 'The Truth' and scores of generations
will be programed to know it to be so.
That is unless they investigate on their own.
Which is why hardly anyone knows who invented the stop light.
Of that small group, though they know a black man was behind this everyday fixture,
They couldn't tell you his name.
And of the selected few that know his name to be Garrett Morgan,
They couldn't tell you about the other inventions he was behind.
Just by glancing at this man's life one could definitely see how "to be"
has the advantages over "not to be".

Some times one must go underground,
constructing a manhole to go around the unnecessary
in order to accomplish something great.
Garret Morgan's has served him well
in allowing him to keep others from stealing his ideas.
It is such struggles that build our character and remind us
of the light at the end
of that sometimes long, dank tunnel.
But most importantly, it reminds us life is
with out a doubt
worth living
Which is why we shouldn't hesitate to live it to it's fullest
And keep at the fight to maintain a positive outlook.