Author: Miles Alex (Page 13 of 14)

There’s always a trade-off for most decisions one makes in life – whether it be relocation from one city, village, region or country to another, changing careers, making choices in education, family size, or financial, romantic, and marital decisions; or any of a multitude of choices one must make along the way.

It’s always easy to reminisce about the past or to second-guess choices we make in life. It’s important though not to so romanticize about alternatives forsaken that we block out the negatives. Everything in life has its pros and cons. Reminiscing or reflecting is one thing. Forgetting or denying the full record and all the pluses and minuses weighed in making important decisions does not help in moving forward.

True, for example, the old countries for immigrants held many pleasant memories – but the present and future are usually much brighter for decisions made to exchange the old for the new.

The stars you see in entertainment news are stars too. Sometimes their stardom lasts a year or two, sometimes several decades. You star will last a lifetime. You have the power to make a difference in the lives of those you encounter each day along the way.

Your demeanor, disposition, personality, the vibe you exude, can put a smile on someone’s face – or take it away. You interact each day with someone – a neighbor, the mailman, a boss, a subordinate, a customer, a fellow passenger. The karma you give out will come back the way you send it out.

Yes, we may not all make the news, or bask in the spotlight of flashing cameras and neon lights – but we are all stars.

As you journey along, leave a twinkle, not a snarl or a bitter trail…and you’ll be a star whose glow need never fade.

Truth be told, almost every grouping of human beings imaginable by man (by race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, tribe, social class, caste, etc.) will include acceptable and unacceptable, laudatory and deplorable, commendable and despicable.

Yes, it can be enjoyable to receive positive commendation as part of a group, but by accepting this we are also then setting ourselves up emotionally for non-parallel rejection of adverse characteristics ascribed to us because of actions by others within the relevant group.

In my writer’s idealism, admittedly not an easy approach to follow, we would all be judged by our behavior primarily as individuals…and reject all natural or behavioral characteristics ascribed to us – positive or negative – merely because of our membership in any specific group.

Even though censorship for PRIVATE displays or enjoyment should not be abridged unless it causes harm to the vulnerable, as in the case of child pornography, we must nevertheless be wary to recognize that the appearance of an art form in the marketplace does not always mean that the contents are an example of how one should live one’s life… nor do the contents necessarily always give credence to or legitimacy of, all expressions and manifestations of human behavior.

What is right and wrong is often determined by each individual, independent of the media or of exposure to art – not by artists like myself and others who earn an income by producing content which must sell. And yes, we do also try to influence – but an audience must not be so casual about the way it lives its life that it keeps swaying, like a palm tree on a breezy day, back and forth based on which direction the wind is blowing.