WHY DIDNT I LISTEN

We ask ourselves this
Time and time again.
We can blame hard-headedness.
That wont help the mess were in.

Some of us need all the help we can get.
Others prefer to go it alone.
There are reasons we cannot forget.
Why ignore the examples were shown.

We only get one life to live.
We make decisions every day.
Everyone has advice to give.
Mind your own business,some say.

Some of us end up hurt.
They can show the rest a lot.
We just have to stay allert
Or we wont learn squat.

Sometimes we have to learn.
We are given no choice.
Everything we have we earn.
This reason needs no voice.

We see others prosper and grow.
They either learned or were taught.
They found out where to go.
Or earned the help that they got.

Few things in life are free.
This is one of those.
The freedom to think and be.
On whatever road you chose.

We hope for a long road.
Which is not always the case
If you ignore what dues are owed.
Your debts will be in your face.

We all want a clear conscience.
That doesnt happen on its own.
We all need to learn patience.
There are ten guidelines carved in stone.

Our own person is who weve become.
Whether we are proud of it or not.
We can be reverent or troublesome.
What weve earned is what weve got.

We cannot always do the right things.
We will always have some flaws.
We must accept what life brings.
Nature even has a set of laws.

They say History repeats itself.
But we cannot see the future.
When we look inside ourself.
Our experiences become mature.

The circle of life gives us evidence.
All the way back to our youth.
What comes around is coincidence.
What goes around is the truth.

The voice of reason is loud.
It comes from all angles at you.
You have to be awful proud .
If none of it gets through.

You can turn off your ears.
And choose not to know how.
But maybe in a few years.
You will look back to now.

I hope you are okay then.
And do not have to say,
Why didnt I listen
To those things that day.

MTI

MONEY CANT BUY HAPPINESS

When I was a young boy
My parents didnt have much.
They knew if they brought me a toy
It would keep us in touch.

That was the way
They made me smile.
All that they would say.
Was; make it last a while.

I knew that I had to see
How much time I could get.
Out of that toy that was for me.
Where it came from I didnt forget.

When I started to get older
It was somewhere around age ten.
It was a ride on Dads shoulder
That meant more to me then.

The toys were just great.
But it was time that I wanted.
If Dad came home late
I pouted and grunted.

My Mom was too wise.
She knew what was wrong.
She would look into my eyes
And say,Im sure he wont be long.

She got that look on her face.
When he came through the door.
He knew to pick up the pace.
Toys just dont do it any more.

It was right then and there.
That we started to understand.
Time is what we needed to share.
We must carry out what we had planned.

The toys were all on a shelf.
For me to look at and remember.
They helped me to entertain myself.
And become a good family member.

I wasnt finished growing yet.
I still had a lot to learn.
Money was not easy to get.
And my parents did not have it to burn.

I knew when things were rough.
Although they didnt complain.
The decisions had to be tough.
And bills can drive you insane.

My parents have taught me so much.
I hope to repay them someday.
I do my best to keep in touch.
And make them proud of me today.

Things are not always as they seem.
And I dont always understand.
I know it doesnt hurt to dream.
Because that is how goals are planned.

I will leave this earth The same way I came.
To my parents I owe birth.
I should give them no shame.

I can honestly say I know happiness.
I saw it in my parents faces.
After they took care of business.
They were proud to take me places.

If you think that life is mean.
Dont let it cause you stress
Good times can be seen.
But money cant buy happiness!

MTI

Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 10:00 AM
Subject: flash fiction
How About That
The garbage truck wakes him up from a sound sleep. At five o-clock in the morning it's hard to tell what that kind of racket actually is. For all he knew it could be an alien landing or something extraordinary like that. Well he came to his senses and realized he needed to do something really constructive today.
He'll write about the first things he has seen today. Lets see what topics he can mix up and make something out of.
The garbage truck is a vessel to eliminate waste from our landscape and homes. I looked across the road at a house with a solar panel mounted on the roof in a fixed position. A Solar Panel is a device created by a brilliant person to allow us to turn sunshine into electricity,cleanly and efficiently.
A presidential election is going on in the news. Fighting over the votes of a couple of states. The fighting is a product of the system. Why isn't the system uniform in the execution of an election. This election will determine the leader of our country for God's sake. No news of war today but it's still early. Elections also cause unrest in other countries. They realize it could affect their relations with our country. Albert Einstien said it all when he said everything is related.
Anyway, between the garbage truck and the garbage on the TV, he would rather look out the window and daydream. He daydreams about a world without fighting. A world that has a uniform way of thinking. In this world when someone has a good idea they present it to a council,or some group of respected citizens. They will decide if it is good enough to make use of. When he daydreams it seems so real he would swear that it was really happening. The idea he has to share is to benifit all mankind and our planet.
The idea involves the garbage truck, the Solar Panel, and politics.
What if we had a system that used nuclear energy to transport waste from our planet outward toward the sun. The sun has a gravitational pull of its own. If we can build a one time, one trip rocket ship we could send our waste to a place where it would have no effect. We spend billions on impliments of distruction. We could use some of that money. Think about it for a minute. We could use up the dangerous bombs and nuclear devices by converting them into useful items. The scientists are already in place and the only thing that would change is their mission. If we can send a man to the moon why can't we send a garbage "truck" to the sun? The affect of this on the morale of the inhabitants of this planet would surely be signifigant. We could use Solar energy to produce most of our electricity. And still have a way to get rid of the waste of our existing power plants so we don't polute any more. I don't mean that all the household garbage from all of our homes will go on this"truck". Just the stuff that the Earth can't deal with. If we could believe that our planet will survive the test of time then we could believe that we have a future to look forward to. We could also upgrade our recycle system to include more homes and businesses, There is strength in numbers! This new system would obviously be easy to manage.There are few changes to the common people and many benifits. Why wouldn't they buy in.
The politics end of this would reap some rewards from this also. Why couldn't the leaders build a Solar Panel production plant and distribute them to the citizens in exchange for help with the conservation efforts. This is, in effect, a preservation effort as well. The more Solar Panels there are in use the less demand there is for commercial electricity.That in turn will reduce a large source of polution.And also save each household some of the expense of electricity.
He awakes from this daydream to a familiar voice saying" Did you take out the trash last night?"
He thought to himself,"I'm sure glad I did. My part isn't that big considering who it helps. Me!"
Merl Irick
617 Willow St.
Hannibal,Mo.
63401