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Dedicated to the men and women of our armed forces:

Our world is often a vacuum… and it is equally often not filled by good, fair or equal. This is why the circumstances that allow bad things and evil men to fill their roles also define the heroes who would stop them. Leadership, even in its truest form, can be a lofty place from which to point and cast the sword, yet nothing else can guide the blade. It can leave us with tears in our eyes or a lump in our throat because the odds are as real as the dangers in the hardest things we must do and do for others. That is why our convictions tell us and the world who we are and that our call, whether to duty or to hope, is the reason why we persevere and the reason why we fight; both for that which we have that which we wish to keep. This is why people go, why people rise –not simply because they are told to do so but because they must.

-Jonathan E. Keys (son of retired, Air Force General Ronald E. Keys)

“You know it’s always good to talk and keep in touch with people you care about but that value, hands down, doubles when you can reconnect and realize that they are having to dispense with the same, damn, daily bullshit you do. ”

-J. Keys

It is the creation of humor and the need for those to spread it that truly enlightens us all. I believe that when we can laugh at anything and everything we can not only come together unexpectedly but also dispel the very worst and darkest parts of our greatest ideas and desires to make the world what we think it should be. -JK

Related:  http://massivelatte.com/?p=50

“I am consistently amazed at how people that make it their business to do one certain thing… do that one thing so badly in every respect.”

-J. Keys

From where you are
By J. Keys

He caught her eyes peering at him above the gloss black rim of her computer screen as he was deep in his own world of thoughts and questions. It was a stare somewhere between recognition, surprise and want. If it were possible to escape that look it wouldn’t matter… who would want to?

He had seen her here many times before. They had spoken and even knew each others names. But for some reason this instance was oddly shaped, connected somehow and more powerful than before. She had this face that was… it was difficult to pin the particular word, but you couldn’t miss it –ever. In a sea of a thousand people you wouldn’t just be able to find her… you simply wouldn’t see anyone else but her. The thought alone was enough to make him smile.

Her situation always seemed like that feeling you get when you sigh in that way and moment when you become resigned to the cliché’ “it is what it is”. She wasn’t trapped but she wasn’t free, either. He guessed that circumstances can make for some high walls in this life, it would seem. Not that anything was impossible or given up… just more like the harsh wisdom of observing someone else’s fight, knowing that it is certainly and indeed, righteously, not yours. Nevertheless that didn’t take away the potential or the possibilities that almost oozed out of her every move, desire and word… and it never took away from those eyes or that stare.

Going forward, sometimes, about the best you can do is hit a challenge head on and hold on tight. There are no nice parts, it’s just hard.  Its important, though, not to give up; on your options, the total realm of possibilities and the things that matter more than the circumstances. Its easy to declare war… it may even be necessary to fight one… but I’ve never been a part of one that wasn’t a mess or that didn’t have casualties. The former you can usually cleanup, the latter you just lose.  -J. Keys

The hardship of our past, the fine wine of our lives…
By J. Keys

Today: The hardship of our past always seems so long ago when it was really just around the last bend; just as the challenges in our future and our hopes to make it another year, stronger, are indeed around the next. -JK

Originally Posted on March 15, 2008: “You know I really enjoy going back over so many of these words I’ve written; particularly my creative writing. Yeah, I know, it sounds like I’m tooting my own horn but I’m not. I read these things… these poems, stories and thoughts and they bring me back; not to the past but to who I really am and get so lost from (seemingly more and more). I think this kind of thing defines the fine wine of our lives. Those memories and reminders that always last and continue to call us, making and keeping us… for the better (As “Slide by the Goo Goo Dolls finishes in the background and “Dig” by Incubus begins) -JK

In the spirit of “how great things start” keep in mind that the picture you now own started as nothing. It was blurry, underexposed and noisy. By adding some passion, vision and creativity it became something to the world that it wouldn’t have otherwise. This is how all dreams begin and this how all dreams, one day, become reality.

Your Friend,
Jonathan

Her Gravity
By J. Keys

There she is, laying on the ground, tragically drowning in half an inch of water filled with false hopes, anger and despair as she forces her lips against the surface as hard as she can trying to consume every last drop. Pity… if she would just turn over she could breath and see the sky.

She reaches out and tries to hold on to so many things that don’t do the same back. She wants and tries and then falls down and doesn’t understand why; doesn’t understand that saying goodbye is as much a part of the deal as getting back up and trying harder or simply trying again. She wants to know why and claims that life is just unfair, quoting words and philosophy that are either incredibly cliché or incredibly wrong. The irony is that she gets it… she doesn’t want to pay the price to have it all.

Her potential was once grand and perhaps it still could be if she would realize that her freedom from gravity has nothing to do with the weight on her shoulders or a perceived need to escape it… but that is has everything to do with pushing back on those who stop her and pushing up on that which keeps her down, away from the sky, tragically drowning in only half an inch of water.

Why people think cops are assholes…
Posted: Friday, April 24, 2009 at 12:51am
By J. Keys

I don’t deal with the police very often. I’ve found rare occasion for needing their services or protection. That isn’t to say that I don’t respect police or dislike them; I just don’t end up in scenarios with them involved. A cop’s job isn’t easy and I don’t discount the danger they face; I’d rather have police than not have police.

However I hear a lot of stories about how certain cops have really bad attitudes, particularly in situations that don’t really call for an aggressive attitude. I hear this complaint A LOT about Cobb County police officers and up until tonight I didn’t really have an evidence of my own to support a similar claim.

I was having a little trouble with my car tonight and to try and replicate and/or figure out what the problem was I decided to drive it up and down the hill that runs alongside the complex I live in. Upon reaching the crest of that hill I saw lights of all kinds beaming around; fire trucks and police cars. A fire had taken place at the apartment complex next to mine. I turned around, as the road was obviously blocked, and went on my way. Later this evening I came back to the same road to attempt the same test and some emergency vehicles were still there (this is near midnight).

Up ahead was a fire truck on the right side of the road but the left lane appeared clear. A cop stood in the road and flagged me down. I rolled down my window and asked, politely, if I could pass the fire truck ahead. He responded with this:

“No you may not drive over those fire hoses, you need to make a u-turn and turn around”

Oh really, jackass? You mean the fire hoses that I couldn’t see because of the rain, mist and strobing lights? Or the fire hoses I couldn’t see because one of my headlights was out? Prick.

Prick. You’re a prick, sir. That was a prick response and it was COMPLETELY unnecessary. You’re a fucking prick and you don’t deserve to be a cop because of it. You’re JOB is to protect and to serve and all you did was act like a prick when all you had to do was say, “No sir, we’re still in the process of putting out a fire. If you wouldn’t mind, please make a u-turn and find an alternate route.” I wasn’t giving you any attitude or acting like a dumbass. That tells me that you’re probably, by all accounts, a prick right down to your bones.

So, I got news for all the cops out there who act like this and moreover who feel it’s their right to; engage some common sense and some fucking manners and you won’t have so many people remarking you as douchebags or as bullies. If you think it’s cool or effective to make the law abiding citizens fear you then you don’t deserve to dig ditches in the dirt let alone wear a uniform or badge of any kind. On top of that you SHAME every other badge and uniform that elevates the epitome of a police officer when you act in the aforementioned manner –in the military that’s called “conduct unbecoming” and if you’re lucky it will only get you fired.

Mark my words now. I carry a camera, pen and paper just about anywhere I go and I’m gettin your numbers from here on out. This is MY town too and I’m not putting up with pricks masquerading as cops. We elect your bosses and we pay your salaries –we deserve a little class thrown in for good measure. And there ARE good cops out there who AREN’T like this… wherever you are and whomever you are, you’re appreciated (tell your buddies to lighten up when you get the chance).

That is all. -JK

Re: The New President
Posted: Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 4:56pm

All,

Ok, it’s WAY past time for a grain a salt on the public Obama-stroking

I think everybody needs to curb their enthusiasm just a little bit. He won, he’s got his chance to make any number of things happen (or fail to happen). I grant him that opportunity. But I hear a lot of people talking about how much they like this man’s words or what they perceive as his character as if they are some kind of guarantee –they are not. And I would warn them that such things are dangerous without a clear demand and understanding of results and reproach applied to any leader, anywhere.

Greatly charismatic individuals have a tool at their disposal that can just easily become a weapon, granted that they are allowed to wield it in the face of such grandeur and adulation. I don’t believe I need to cite the obvious, historical examples… We, the people, are the keepers of the power and it’s our responsibility to cross-examine and question our leaders as much as it is to support them. I fear that within a certain level of desperation OR enthusiasm this can be easily forgotten. If that occurs we will lose our way and will subsequently allow someone else define it for us.

For anyone to say they are “proud to be American again” should be ashamed (though that phrase seems oddly void of context in its reference). It is America that provides the platform for all of us to live in a democratic republic in which we have the power to choose and vote our leaders into office vs. them taking it as the please. I haven’t liked many of our leaders but I haven’t once been afraid or felt disgraced to be an American.

This country, our freedoms and struggle to make them work, like no other nation in the world, does not belong to the President, the Office of the President or the governments we institutionalize as operating agents –it belongs to us. We must always know this, want this and believe this.

I wish Mr. Obama the best and I look forward to the possibilities that he and his administration bring to our, current, dire situation as well as our bright future. However he is no more perfect than anyone else and he will not always be right. Now that doesn’t propose him as a failure anymore than people’s relief that he’s not “W” or John McCain makes him the answer to every prayer they ever had… but it does give cause for a reality check. Don’t forget to give that a chance, either.

V/R
J. Keys

“Forgetting” With the best intentions we treat this word and its concept like an eraser. I wonder if we ever do, forget that is, but either way the underlying truth is that a mark made is like a thing known –the impression shapes not only us but our world as well. In this regard, all actions and their outcomes are unavoidably indelible.

Regret is a silly thing but it does mitigate both our ridiculous pursuit of perfection as much our altruistic pursuit of spiritual harmony. Curious, but mysteriously appropriate, how this blade in our canon of life-weapons seems to cut so much deeper than the others –as it serves our doubts and provides swath against them too.

Though I believe in second chances there are no do-overs; “next time” is referred to as such for a reason. Additionally, “next time” is never plays out the same as the first time. As for control? You have control over your choices about in as much as making them (though not much more). But as the Sunscreen song says they’re also “half-chance, so are everybody else’s.”

Perfect
By J.Keys

It really is too bad
When you look but do not see
You pick one simple thing
And wrongly make it me

I suppose that is the way
Of fallen-natured man
A fault-first view avoids reflection
More than blindness can

Accusations stand self-conscious
With mask and stain so cruel
With this, your way, be on your way
Instead…? try everybody’s fool…