i am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. i have decided i would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old again.

i want to go to mcdonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant.

i want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

i want to think m and m's are better than money because you can eat them.

i want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

i want to return to a time when life was simple; when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

all you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

i want to think the world is fair.

that everyone is honest and good.

i want to believe that anything is possible.

i want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things
again.

i want to live simple again.

i don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

i want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

so . . . here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my 401k statements. if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause . . .

"tag! you're it!!!"

"i am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

- the bhagavad-gita, quoted by dr. j. robert oppenheimer, inventor of the atomic bomb

oftimes, all that is left beyond the emptiness is hatred. in and of itself, hatred is insidiously evil, but nonetheless an incredibly powerful weapon.

some say the world will end in fire,
some say in ice.
from what ive tasted of desire
i hold with those who favor fire.
but if it had to perish twice,
i think i know enough of hate
to know that for destruction ice
is also great
and would suffice.

- robert frost

the zen master hoshin lived in china many years. then he returned to the northeastern part of japan, where he taught his disciples. when he was getting very old, he told them a story he had heard in china. this is the story:

one year on the twenty-fifth of december, tokufu, who was very old, said to his disciples: "i am not going to be alive next year so you fellows should treat me well this year."

the pupils thought he was joking, but since he was a great-hearted teacher each of them in turn treated him to a feast on succeeding days of the departing year.

on the eve of the new year, tokufu concluded: "you have been good to me. i shall leave you tomorrow afternoon when the snow has stopped."

the disciples laughed, thinking he was aging and talking nonsense since the night was clear and without snow. but at midnight snow began to fall, and the next day they did not find their teacher about. they went to the meditation hall. there he had passed on.

hoshin, who related this story, told his disciples: "it is not necessary for a zen master to predict his passing, but if he really wishes to do so, he can."

"can you?" someone asked.

"yes," answered hoshin. "i will show you what i can do seven days from now."

none of the disciples believed him, and most of them had even forgotten the conversation when hoshin next called them together.

"seven days ago," he remarked, "i said i was going to leave you. it is customary to write a farewell poem, but i am neither poet nor calligrapher. let one of you inscribe my last words."

his followers thought he was joking, but one of them started to write.

"are you ready?" hoshin asked.

"yes, sir," replied the writer.

then hoshin dictated:

i came from brilliancy.
and return to brilliancy.
what is this?

the poem was one line short of the customary four, so the disciple said: "master, we are one line short."

hoshin, with the roar of a conquoring lion, shouted "kaa!" and was gone.

happy fourth of july. today is an especially poignant day for me, as i serve this country and have gone to war under that flag.

remember that there are those who still serve in a combat zone, who are being shot at, who are called upon today as they are every day to be willing and able to lay down thier lives defending the very freedom that that flag symbolizes and ensures. we are the most diverse nation on earth, the chosen of the lord, and the most blessed. we are that because the men and women who serve under that flag have shed the blood of our enemies and thier own to ensure it's survival and continued prosperity.

god bless the u.s.a., the men and women of our military forces at home and abroad, and the citizens of this great nation.

now, go blow something up.

today is a good day. the raise isn't much, but the rank is great. and this one means more to me than any other. it's tradition to tack the new rank on, and my arms are the victims of severe, long-time-coming beating...