Where the journey ends;
by Robert and Lori Gebbie
Every person’s journey through life is their own; we are the sum of our knowledge and experiences. Even when there is a plan for the road traveled often things do not end up where we expected. Each moment leads us onward into the next, an ever changing sequence of events that will one day bring a person to the end of their journey in this physical world.
As a species the human race often asks, what are we? Why we are here and where are we going? It is my belief that with all the things we have become, in knowledge and spirit, there must be a grander purpose to our existence than the limited span of our individual lives. The advances we make through one generation propel forward the children we introduce into the next, continuing to advance and evolve from the creatures we once were to what we will become.
It is my great hope that one day our species will overcome the petty differences that divide us. Individually and collectively raising ourselves above the confines of our physical limitations to discover what comes next. Perhaps what awaits is an existence outside the confines of time and our physical mortality. Could the entirety of our earthly existence simply be one stage in a much greater journey? I certainly hope there is more and greater ahead than what we leave behind.
This is the hope, for bigger and better, to be rewarded for our patience and diligence, to have the higher understanding, the greater sense of accomplishment, to achieve total enlightenment. For us to think we will “retire” once we are on the other side, fishing, or playing harps on clouds, it is a sad conclusion to a life that has been spent seeking a larger answer, a higher meaning. While ok for some, we hope to continue learning and growing, to continue evolving to become pure light, pure energy, pure love.
The road is not an easy one to maintain sure footing on. Slips and slides will happen, that is “being human”, but how you recover from a slip, the intent to continue on the correct path, instead of taking the easier way, that is what matters in the end. To recover and vow to correct the behavior that led you to the slip, instead of becoming lazy and letting it slide you right off the path.
This is not something you can pretend to do. There is no one to answer to but yourself. And you already know. There is no cheating at the end, there is no second chances once your number is drawn. So the choice is yours, to raise yourself up, or to just live and survive this life and hope for the best. How will YOU leave your mark?
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Monday, March 27, 2017
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Fremont Street Experiences
by Lori Gebbie
Robert and I were asked to help out a friend with her business. She runs a “spotter” company, watching a parking lot and having vehicles towed that park there without permits. It was an interesting experience, sitting in that cold parking lot throughout the night, watching the neon burn until morning. I was glad we were able to do it together; it allowed us to sleep in shifts and still capture a slice of life that one normally would not see.
Tourists park on this lot, for a fee, and walk across to the hub attraction area of Fremont, the Experience. They see the fancy lights, hear the barkers calling for them to enter their casinos for a “sure win” or a “safe bet”, the street vendors and the street performers with hats in front, collecting donations for their performances, the old neon signs from old Las Vegas, revamped with a new life here in this small museum area. But if you ask me, they are missing the real experience, the true to life experience, of the broken, the scared, the hungry, the homeless. This is where the real story is at. This is the true hustle and grind of the city, where the “real” people are at, the “bad” side of town. And for all that we are warned to keep away from here, to not be around the vagrancy, the crime, the poor and pitiful, we see a huge slice of humanity, as the homeless stop and offer a good word to each other, often sharing their meager possessions with those who are more in need than they are. A clean tissue, a sip of water, a smile. Once in a while, one will be fortunate enough to afford a cup of steaming hot coffee, and they eagerly approach their friends and everyone gets a sip. A shred of warmth, of kindness, reminding themselves that they are still human and have dignity. This is the part that is hardest for us to watch, as we put ourselves in their place, and wonder where our life would be if we were forced into such circumstances. How would we be faring, in a cold city, living on the streets, under a pile of newspapers we were fortunate enough to find? Where would we find the strength to continue going, to keep moving for warmth, to hope that, one day, we would once again be able to live like “real people” again?
I can only wonder at how they got here, got to this dismal place in their lives, where they lost their way in “normal” society and had to take to the streets. What drove them from leading productive lives into the madness of street wandering and scrounging for a slice of the sanity they once knew? In this city, it is easy to imagine a few of them took a chance in the casinos and gambled away their lives, pushing themselves into an unrecoverable amount of debt, fourth and fifth mortgages on their homes, pushing their families and loved ones aside as they risked it all in hopes of hitting the jackpot, pawning and selling pieces of their lives to finance their next parlay, their next hand at the table, that last quarter into the machine. And one day, they look around them and realize they’ve lost their jobs, their families, and all they have left are the clothes on their backs as they are left to wander the streets aimlessly. But some were put here for other reasons. Some are returned veterans, so disturbed by the combat and stresses they endured while fighting for our Country, that they can no longer fit into a normal society, having seen too much and lived too hard. Night terrors, horrid flashes of the realities they faced while in the service, disconnected from the façade that most of us live our lives in. Misunderstood, they have snapped and found solace in their own little worlds, where they can create their own boundaries, yet still chained to the nightmares they endured. Some have also been hit by hard economic times, the rising levels of layoffs and spiraling interest rates. Credit cards offered like candy with huge ballooning interest rates, forcing a level of debt upon them that could never be caught up to.
We live in a very twisted society right now. There are so many people who feel they are owed things, and so they live that way, always taking but never returning. They run up their credit cards to the maximum limits, then apply for another to feel like they have money again, never worrying about the consequences they are forcing themselves into, always imagining they deserve to have the latest and greatest out on the market.
I wonder where people are going to land in the next few years, as our Nation continues to struggle and grow under the recession we are in. But, this is part of living, our experiences giving us hope and direction, if we keep focused. For most, these are just stories to be read and acknowledged, but for others, there is no way to go but up. We wish everyone well in their own personal journey, and hope we all come out of it on top.
Robert and I were asked to help out a friend with her business. She runs a “spotter” company, watching a parking lot and having vehicles towed that park there without permits. It was an interesting experience, sitting in that cold parking lot throughout the night, watching the neon burn until morning. I was glad we were able to do it together; it allowed us to sleep in shifts and still capture a slice of life that one normally would not see.
Tourists park on this lot, for a fee, and walk across to the hub attraction area of Fremont, the Experience. They see the fancy lights, hear the barkers calling for them to enter their casinos for a “sure win” or a “safe bet”, the street vendors and the street performers with hats in front, collecting donations for their performances, the old neon signs from old Las Vegas, revamped with a new life here in this small museum area. But if you ask me, they are missing the real experience, the true to life experience, of the broken, the scared, the hungry, the homeless. This is where the real story is at. This is the true hustle and grind of the city, where the “real” people are at, the “bad” side of town. And for all that we are warned to keep away from here, to not be around the vagrancy, the crime, the poor and pitiful, we see a huge slice of humanity, as the homeless stop and offer a good word to each other, often sharing their meager possessions with those who are more in need than they are. A clean tissue, a sip of water, a smile. Once in a while, one will be fortunate enough to afford a cup of steaming hot coffee, and they eagerly approach their friends and everyone gets a sip. A shred of warmth, of kindness, reminding themselves that they are still human and have dignity. This is the part that is hardest for us to watch, as we put ourselves in their place, and wonder where our life would be if we were forced into such circumstances. How would we be faring, in a cold city, living on the streets, under a pile of newspapers we were fortunate enough to find? Where would we find the strength to continue going, to keep moving for warmth, to hope that, one day, we would once again be able to live like “real people” again?
I can only wonder at how they got here, got to this dismal place in their lives, where they lost their way in “normal” society and had to take to the streets. What drove them from leading productive lives into the madness of street wandering and scrounging for a slice of the sanity they once knew? In this city, it is easy to imagine a few of them took a chance in the casinos and gambled away their lives, pushing themselves into an unrecoverable amount of debt, fourth and fifth mortgages on their homes, pushing their families and loved ones aside as they risked it all in hopes of hitting the jackpot, pawning and selling pieces of their lives to finance their next parlay, their next hand at the table, that last quarter into the machine. And one day, they look around them and realize they’ve lost their jobs, their families, and all they have left are the clothes on their backs as they are left to wander the streets aimlessly. But some were put here for other reasons. Some are returned veterans, so disturbed by the combat and stresses they endured while fighting for our Country, that they can no longer fit into a normal society, having seen too much and lived too hard. Night terrors, horrid flashes of the realities they faced while in the service, disconnected from the façade that most of us live our lives in. Misunderstood, they have snapped and found solace in their own little worlds, where they can create their own boundaries, yet still chained to the nightmares they endured. Some have also been hit by hard economic times, the rising levels of layoffs and spiraling interest rates. Credit cards offered like candy with huge ballooning interest rates, forcing a level of debt upon them that could never be caught up to.
We live in a very twisted society right now. There are so many people who feel they are owed things, and so they live that way, always taking but never returning. They run up their credit cards to the maximum limits, then apply for another to feel like they have money again, never worrying about the consequences they are forcing themselves into, always imagining they deserve to have the latest and greatest out on the market.
I wonder where people are going to land in the next few years, as our Nation continues to struggle and grow under the recession we are in. But, this is part of living, our experiences giving us hope and direction, if we keep focused. For most, these are just stories to be read and acknowledged, but for others, there is no way to go but up. We wish everyone well in their own personal journey, and hope we all come out of it on top.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Age of Confusion; the End of Yesterday, the Start of Tomorrow
by Robert Gebbie
It seems pretty obvious to me that this world, our world, is in serious trouble. What I remember of history, being of deep personal interest to me, I don’t believe there has ever been a time in our human existence when the entire planet has been in such a stage of fear, conflict and confusion. Religious hypocrisy, political unrest, economic disaster and geological change, a shifting and reordering in the foundations of everything I can think of, the “Perfect Storm”.
Mankind could be standing before the pinnacle of their greatest growth and advancement, or at the edge to the pit of their greatest despair. Will we overcome the threats and obstacles that lie before us? Or be the engine that drives society and possibly all of human existence into extinction? The choices we make in these times as individuals will be the largest determining factor in the results of the things to come. It will show in the way Humanity either embraces itself and the diversity of its beliefs and ideas, or continue down the road of our history like jungle primates hurling the feces of our jealousy, insecurities and judgment at our brethren.
Which ways will we grow to evolve forward into the age of what comes next? What avenues will we peruse to diminish those that hold a faith, or point of view, that differs from our own? I hate to say, in my opinion, that I don’t hold much hope for the Children of Man. This selfish and self-absorbed species of hairless apes, with blinders on, fail to reach together for a higher existence; and instead, choose a path to our own self-destruction.
It is the sum of all that life has become, created and imagined that leads a species to greater awareness and evolution. It is the coalition and interaction as one, while, at the same time, continuing to retain the individuality of separate entities. Similar to a single cell within a body, existing and cooperating together for the life of the whole, while continuing to perform their individual functions within their smaller, interacting community of organs.
If every individual begins working within themselves to change the perceptions that society and our cultures have written upon the human psyche, and re-write the way we think and interact with each other, we may survive. Sadly, it takes a personal effort, a deep and unwavering conviction, to improve upon what we are to become what we aspire to be. Often this commitment and pursuit makes us face things about ourselves and our inner being that most people would prefer not to uncover. Guilt for words and actions, for things we knowingly have said or done, that we knew within ourselves wrong the moment we did them. Fears and insecurities that arise from the possible ridicule we may receive from our peers because we want to fit in, rather than accepting and evolving from the diversity of each other’s experiences. It can be one of the most horrific and painful things any individual could ever conceive to do, to remove the masks of our own deceptions and peer face to face at the raw truth of our individual existence.
There is no absolute for the days ahead; perhaps a chance still exists to turn the course that we are on and redeem our honor and humanity. Perhaps we may yet save a place in the universe for the children that come after us, and the age that is to be. There will be great choices to make if mankind is to finally step forward and up to the things we were meant to be. It takes hope and faith for mankind to evolve and survive, or face the madness of our own creations and become victims to the devices of our own handy work. Only when we can stand at the gates of tomorrow and look back on the results, will this world know the success or failure of her greatest adored creation, the Human Race, the offspring of her seed.
It seems pretty obvious to me that this world, our world, is in serious trouble. What I remember of history, being of deep personal interest to me, I don’t believe there has ever been a time in our human existence when the entire planet has been in such a stage of fear, conflict and confusion. Religious hypocrisy, political unrest, economic disaster and geological change, a shifting and reordering in the foundations of everything I can think of, the “Perfect Storm”.
Mankind could be standing before the pinnacle of their greatest growth and advancement, or at the edge to the pit of their greatest despair. Will we overcome the threats and obstacles that lie before us? Or be the engine that drives society and possibly all of human existence into extinction? The choices we make in these times as individuals will be the largest determining factor in the results of the things to come. It will show in the way Humanity either embraces itself and the diversity of its beliefs and ideas, or continue down the road of our history like jungle primates hurling the feces of our jealousy, insecurities and judgment at our brethren.
Which ways will we grow to evolve forward into the age of what comes next? What avenues will we peruse to diminish those that hold a faith, or point of view, that differs from our own? I hate to say, in my opinion, that I don’t hold much hope for the Children of Man. This selfish and self-absorbed species of hairless apes, with blinders on, fail to reach together for a higher existence; and instead, choose a path to our own self-destruction.
It is the sum of all that life has become, created and imagined that leads a species to greater awareness and evolution. It is the coalition and interaction as one, while, at the same time, continuing to retain the individuality of separate entities. Similar to a single cell within a body, existing and cooperating together for the life of the whole, while continuing to perform their individual functions within their smaller, interacting community of organs.
If every individual begins working within themselves to change the perceptions that society and our cultures have written upon the human psyche, and re-write the way we think and interact with each other, we may survive. Sadly, it takes a personal effort, a deep and unwavering conviction, to improve upon what we are to become what we aspire to be. Often this commitment and pursuit makes us face things about ourselves and our inner being that most people would prefer not to uncover. Guilt for words and actions, for things we knowingly have said or done, that we knew within ourselves wrong the moment we did them. Fears and insecurities that arise from the possible ridicule we may receive from our peers because we want to fit in, rather than accepting and evolving from the diversity of each other’s experiences. It can be one of the most horrific and painful things any individual could ever conceive to do, to remove the masks of our own deceptions and peer face to face at the raw truth of our individual existence.
There is no absolute for the days ahead; perhaps a chance still exists to turn the course that we are on and redeem our honor and humanity. Perhaps we may yet save a place in the universe for the children that come after us, and the age that is to be. There will be great choices to make if mankind is to finally step forward and up to the things we were meant to be. It takes hope and faith for mankind to evolve and survive, or face the madness of our own creations and become victims to the devices of our own handy work. Only when we can stand at the gates of tomorrow and look back on the results, will this world know the success or failure of her greatest adored creation, the Human Race, the offspring of her seed.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Big things coming
RGebbiePhoto - An Artistic Journey Across AmericaThe Journey Begins June 2010!!
RGebbiePhoto is hitting the road in a journey across America. Robert and Lori Gebbie, owners of Robert Gebbie Photography, are trading in the concrete foundation of a home, for the black rubber tires of a travel trailer. We will be traveling the country, spreading a little hope and charity in these difficult times. Photographing the beauty of our nation’s landscapes and capturing the personalities of her people, we share our adventures with the world from our blog and website. The journey begins June 2010.
Follow us on our RSS Feed or E-mail newsletter; connect with us on facebook and Twitter.
*************************
RGebbiePhoto is hitting the road in a journey across America. Robert and Lori Gebbie, owners of Robert Gebbie Photography, are trading in the concrete foundation of a home, for the black rubber tires of a travel trailer. We will be traveling the country, spreading a little hope and charity in these difficult times. Photographing the beauty of our nation’s landscapes and capturing the personalities of her people, we share our adventures with the world from our blog and website. The journey begins June 2010.
Follow us on our RSS Feed or E-mail newsletter; connect with us on facebook and Twitter.
*************************
Monday, May 4, 2009
RGebbiePhoto Live Radio Interview on TheMixTalk.com
Wednesday 05/06/09 TwinPsychics Radio shows on www.TheMixTalk.com - An Interview with Robert & Lori Gebbie from RGebbiePhoto
Robert’s inspirational writing has touched a wide audience, and among them is the Twin Psychic’s Network (http://www.Myspace.com/Twinpsychics). We were pretty happy when they invited us to do a radio interview! Sunhee is such a positive and encouraging force, we couldn’t help but jump at the chance of getting to know her better!
“I, Creator – a personal journey” (http://www.blurb.com/user/RGebbiePhoto) has caused quite a bit of interest, bringing words of hope, guidance and inspiration to many. Knowing that we are helping others with our words of encouragement means a great deal to us. Sunhee has asked that we talk a little about the book, but also that we tell the story behind the creation. We hope you tune in and join us!
Robert’s inspirational writing has touched a wide audience, and among them is the Twin Psychic’s Network (http://www.Myspace.com/Twinpsychics). We were pretty happy when they invited us to do a radio interview! Sunhee is such a positive and encouraging force, we couldn’t help but jump at the chance of getting to know her better!
“I, Creator – a personal journey” (http://www.blurb.com/user/RGebbiePhoto) has caused quite a bit of interest, bringing words of hope, guidance and inspiration to many. Knowing that we are helping others with our words of encouragement means a great deal to us. Sunhee has asked that we talk a little about the book, but also that we tell the story behind the creation. We hope you tune in and join us!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)