"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly everybody will side with you when you are in the right."

Mark Twain

Response:

Why did you leave me all alone?

Why did you act like I threw a stone?

It was just a fight- a little battle.

My heart weeps for you, lost friend.

Thank you for staying close to me.

Thanks, dear one! I thank thee!

You didn't leave me in the night!

You didn't leave me for our fight!

Left alone again no more,

Instead happiness equal to elves in lore.

Life filled with joy and sorrow-

No longer do I wait for the morrow.

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and understand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."

-George Washington

I'm sorry dear friend- I turned on you

Please hear my part- to renew the stone hewn.

I cannot stand on rocks of doubt-

This is only a passing bout.

Few friends I have- That be true.

But they are strong and true-blue

I need people to understand

My sorrows that sting like grit from sand.

Will you forgive me, dearest one?

Will you again see my face in the sun?

Will you stand these shocks of my heart?

Will you let healing start?

"Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes… keep hope alive."

-Jesse Jackson

Why is the night darkest before the dawn?

Why does a heart ache, like pierced with a prong?

Why does despair reign in one's life?

There is hope to expel the strife.

I am nothing without hope.

I can not but try to cope.

I hold steadfast to my bare rock.

Inside my heart I hope still locked,

For the rock will yet yield to earth,

Unless it breaks with the surf.

How does it chose- fire or ice?

To shelter the fish or the mice?

It chooses with hope and dignity.

It chooses with the life inside you and me.

Do not forsake a life's love.

Instead, hold firm like the dove.

"There are no hopeless situations, only men who have grown hopeless with them,"

Never turn your face from the sun,

Walk backward sometimes- when it must be done.

Even the darkest hour is not dark enough

To hide the moon or a cloud puff.

When you hide you face from the sun,

You will become a Gollum-like one.

To look at the ground is giving in-

When the chances are you may win.

"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of peace must be constructed."

The minds of men- why do they turn to wrong?

Can't they just stay tall and strong?

Is peace wrong or just the men?

Should it be the sword or the pen?

Do we have to attack, to wrong, and to hurt?

Can't we just dance like a seert?

We cause wars and don't wanna end them.

Till we to the dead we send.

Peace- so rare and so sweet,

Rather like the bird's gentle cheep.

There one minute and soon as gone-

The most frail thing as ever.

"Ever felt stereotyped, labeled, or prejudiced because of your skin color, accent, or you live in the wrong neighborhood? Haven't we all? Isn't it sick?"

"I hate that snobby white girl!" Whenever I hear that, I wonder. Would they respond differently if she were black? Or even of South West Asian descent? Why are whites also prejudiced against? I don't understand. Why does skin color matter? Why doesn't the color of your heart matter? Honesty, integrity, do they not matter? Why skin color?

"We aren't born prejudiced. They're learned. Kids, for instance, are color-blind. But as they mature, they pick up prejudices from others and form walls."

Kids are not color blind. They just see past skin color. They look into the heart, the character and its color. Walls are formed from prejudices, but also from other experiences. I too have walls. But my walls are from so many past pains. They are walls against people, against guys in particular. Oh, Mason! Why me? Why my heart to destroy? Why my spirit to break? Why not someone else's?

"Synergy is more than compromise of cooperation. Compromise is 11 ½, cooperation is 112, and Synergy is 113 or more. It is creative cooperation, emphasis on creative. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

Just like man, synergy is. If you have a pair of arms and a pair of legs, they are nothing until you attach them. The spirit of synergy keeps it stronger.

"Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so indispensable, none so powerful as hope. Without hope, man is half-alive."

All alone on this branch of mine-

I see my hope, where is thine?

Without hope, thy's shall fail.

You mind emptier than a pail.

"O thou weak and oppressed

A new era is dawning

Right battled with might and a victory won

Grope not in the night but watch for the gleam of the morn.

Doff sorrow and gloom, turn thy face to the sun."

I've been silent all this while.

I, alone with a smile.

Why does my silence scare you so?

Why will you run just to go?

I'll be silent no more, if I get my wish,

No longer quieter than a fish.

My eyes will peer from endless deeps.

And the victory I shall keep.