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Ode to Eyes Wide Open

Question: Is it any easier to assist the living to live than the dying to die? There are lots of walking dead out there, lots who have given up the ghost. Yet, who am I to say that their doing so was premature? Who am I to say that their life is worth actively, consciously, if not voraciously living? My valuing someone’s existence seems to have little relevance when they, themselves, don’t.

I've been among the ranks myself on occasion. Just because I chose to pull myself back to the realm of the living doesn't negate similar experiences of others. As always, it's in the journey, not the destination and we all choose our own separate paths and ramble at our own paces. It's as it's meant to be.

Which brings me to more personal questions: What is it I live for? What is it that I would die for? I figure how I choose to face life is as significant as how I choose to face death. And, my choice, for the record, is straight up, with arms and eyes wide open.

As with the blind newly envisioned, its the colors and textures parading before me that grab me more than the content. I lived in sepia for far too long and became literally color deprived. Didn't realize it for a while, didn't know it could happen. But, it did.

Now, life itself seems moot to me aside from the actual verbage. I mean, aside from the fact that it is meant to be actively lived. And in so doing, it's the impressions of it in action, of life lived, that's vivid technicolor. How incredibly lush the vibrancy of life is--I had no idea how important living was to me. I get so hung up on trying to comprehend what it is that I'm seeing, the details--the details--the details--that I plumb miss it all. An art teacher once told me to not draw what it is I knew was there but what it was that I was looking at, what it was that I saw. Made drawing so much easier. A shame it took me so long to apply that same principal to life. But, better late than never.

For those open to lush, open to vibrant, open to BEing alive--for those just opening, there is a garden awaiting, roadside wildflowers, fiesta banners strung in the breeze. Imbibe. Be good to yourself; you are deserving.

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Two poems by Marvin Bell

“To Dorothy” and “The Self and the Mulberry”

Question: Is it any easier to assist the living to live than the dying to die? There are lots of walking dead out there, lots who have given up the ghost. Yet, who am I to say that their doing so was premature? Who am I to say that their life is worth actively, consciously, if not voraciously living? My valuing someone’s existence seems to have little relevance when they, themselves, don’t.

I've been among the ranks myself on occasion. Just because I chose to pull myself back to the realm of the living doesn't negate similar experiences of others. As always, it's in the journey, not the destination and we all choose our own separate paths and ramble at our own paces. It's as it's meant to be.

Which brings me to more personal questions: What is it I live for? What is it that I would die for? I figure how I choose to face life is as significant as how I choose to face death. And, my choice, for the record, is straight up, with arms and eyes wide open.

As with the blind newly envisioned, its the colors and textures parading before me that grab me more than the content. I lived in sepia for far too long and became literally color deprived. Didn't realize it for a while, didn't know it could happen. But, it did.

Now, life itself seems moot to me aside from the actual verbage. I mean, aside from the fact that it is meant to be actively lived. And in so doing, it's the impressions of it in action, of life lived, that's vivid technicolor. How incredibly lush the vibrancy of life is--I had no idea how important living was to me. I get so hung up on trying to comprehend what it is that I'm seeing, the details--the details--the details--that I plumb miss it all. An art teacher once told me to not draw what it is I knew was there but what it was that I was looking at, what it was that I saw. Made drawing so much easier. A shame it took me so long to apply that same principal to life. But, better late than never.

For those open to lush, open to vibrant, open to BEing alive--for those just opening, there is a garden awaiting, roadside wildflowers, fiesta banners strung in the breeze. Imbibe. Be good to yourself; you are deserving.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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