God Bless The Fools

They say: Leopards don't lose their spots.

I say: Convicts don't lose their stripes.

A newfound friend asked, with the best of intentions, "How far are you willing to go in order to prove to this two-bit bureaucracy that what they did was wrong?" (Note: For latecomers, our first posting on this David-and-Goliath battle on intellectual property violation by big bullies against small social enterprises A Pound and More...)

Well, if one's dedication is to the truth... why should the outcome matter? Winning or losing is beyond your control. But if one focusses and concentrates on each movement, on taking each step with consciousness, or "laying each brick in the most perfect way in which a brick can be laid,".... the question of outcomes disappears. And so does a lot of worry.

For all the emphasis on cultivating the good, I'll have to say this for 'bad' experiences - they're teachers too. Looking at life in the *bIg PiCtUrE perspective* there are no bad experiences, I suppose, but that's the lesson we were meant to learn in order to evolve into more perfect beings.

It is great to have ideals. Most old people don't believe in the greater heights of things. But age is no indication of Wisdom. I have met young people who are wise, old people who remain depthless - and vice verse.

And in these encounters, I've noticed this:

Wisdom continues to have faith in truth. God speaks to us through those who believe the impossible - that in a world so consumed by Self, overwhelmed by Things, side-by-side exists Beauty and Goodness and Justice. It says something when even in the most overwhelming negativity, beauty still flourishes naturally.

So for the leopards who never change their spots, the convicts who never lose their stripes - they are no match against the fool who believes in the ultimate, unseen goodness in mankind.

The fool believes that when one speaks from the heart to another, it transmits something of its pain, its suffering, its great injury - caused by life's many Goliaths, convicts and leopards.

This sincere sharing touches people and unwittingly transforms everyone to the cause.

The fool wins the race because in her head, it is already won.

God bless the fools. They represent all that is naive, lovely, good in people. They keep us soft in the gentle sort of way. They keep on rockin', creatin' and lovin' every moment of it!

N.B.: A tribute to Robert Indiana, who gave us his iconic painting "LOVE" at the height of the American Pop Culture, and which graced the US 8cent stamp. Because he didn't want to disrupt his original design by his signature or copyright notice, he had no legal protection against imitators. And though it was his greatest creation, he enjoyed little financial gain. Then 2 years ago, he used the same design for Barack Obama's campaign creating "HOPE". Unveiled outside the Democratic National Convention the image was adopted by the Democratic party and sales of HOPE merchandise raised more than $1 million for the campaign. More importantly, it gave Robert Indiana a renewed faith in LOVE. Read his full story here.