Nothing's gonna stop me.

Never ceases to amaze me. The people who allow trivial things to upset their lives. If one thing goes wrong, it upsets their day. Puts them in a foul mood. My mother was like that. She wanted everything to be perfect. Including the day she was living. Now. She obsessed.  Because life wasn’t flowing quite smoothly enough. Everything had to be perfect.  She obsessed for the entire day. Because one thing went amiss. Didn’t matter that 20 other things went nicely. According to script. Little wonder that mother spent  much of the last 20 years of life in depression. She had a compulsive disorder. A yearning for life to be perfect. Yes, an ungawdly and cruel way to live. Being cruel to one’s self.  And to other people.  Ain’t right. I had cruel parents. My father was cruel, too. To himself. And I suppose to his family. For committing suicide. Thing is, many, many humans are cruel to themselves  and to each other. But I refuse to be cruel. Especially to myself. I covet kindness. In all forms. But mostly by finding something wonderful to salvage and cherish from each day. Even when multiple things go awry. Instead, I focus on something meaningful that went right.  Often, I see people around me being cruel.  Mostly, by being overwhelmingly unhappy. Maybe for legitimate reason. The break-up of a marriage. Or ill health. They lament.  Endlessly. They even go into hysterics.  Rather than getting on with life. I’ve had periods when my life was shattered. But I made it a temporary shattering.  Despite the cruelties of happenstance.  I’m not gonna allow the relatively trivial or even a full-scale disaster to keep me down and rob me of my inherent right to happiness. I’ll find a way to salvage meaningful life. Not least, the vibrant pulse beat of love.  I’m on a mission. In my roles as romantic idealist, spiritual free-thinker, political liberal, lover and  dreamer. Nothing’s gonna stop me. From strolling  down a path. Maybe not to a perfect life. But certainly to happiness. To peace and contentment.  Which means being in love. With life. –Jim Broede