Ok, so here's the truth

Ok, So here's the truth - sometimes love hurts. Sometimes it hurts a little bit, and sometimes it hurts a whole lot. In any life - Real or Virtual, First or Second, call it what you will - it doesn't make any difference in the end. We are who we are, and when we love, sometimes it hurts.

Sometimes the hurt is because the people we love are hurting - or were hurt - and we can't stand not being able to fix it. Sometimes the hurt is because we can't contain the love we feel, and it spills out over us and our emotions run away with us. Sometimes it is because things don't work out, and the pain of separation is unbearable. But - sometimes it hurts.

The antidote for that pain and hurt must be here - we just need to find it. And the antidote has to be - forgiving. It is the Jewish New Year now - Rosh Hashana - and the "10 Days of Awe" end with Yom Kippur - the Holy Day of Atonement - and the end of the atonement is - Forgiveness. I am a Catholic - which means that actually I am Jewish - think about it - Jesus was, umm, exactly what religion again - oh yeah - Jewish. He was called Rabbi - oh yeah, remember?

In Yom Kippur the community - the whole people beg for forgiveness, and as a part of that process all debts must be forgiven first, all imagined wrongs done to us forgiven. Jesus taught that - good Rabbi that he was - remember -?? -"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Sound familiar?

Not - I'll forgive if you forgive - no bargains. Not I'll forgive if I can figure out what I was pissed about in the first place and justify it. Nope - much simpler - let it go. Just let it go. I have to let it go if I want to find forgiveness for myself - if I want you to love me, I have to love you. If I want you to forgive me, I have to forgive you. I can't start it with "you" - it has to start with "I", "me", I have to start. And if you don't forgive me, I still must forgive you, it is all I can do.

What a season - 9/11, Yom Kippur - what a time.

I once wrote a blog piece about "sometimes we don't tell the people we love that we love them often enough". It is still here in the blog somewhere - you can search for it.

There is only one cure for what ails the world - the simple statement - "I love you. I forgive you. I love you."

Try it. It might feel good, and stop the hurt.

Happy New Year 5768 everyone.

As The World Turns

So it isn't September 11 anymore. It is September 12. We remembered. We stood together in silence, in prayer or in just thoughfulness, we had special memorial services, we had masses and we sang. We heard bells. We lit candles. We saw the faces of the children who had lost parents on TV, and the faces of the parents who had lost children.

And the war goes on. Car bombings, homes destroyed, civil war. Darfur. Iraq. Destruction. Chaos. Death.

What did we learn, from standing silently? What did we do, to make the world change? How does remembering help?

The simple answer - it helps to remember so we will act. It helps to remember so we will DO.

Shakespeare had Hamlet's uncle say "my words rise up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go." He was praying for forgiveness or for guidance. It was useless - he was not really interested in understanding, or so it would seem. Is our government, is Osama Bin Laden, are any of the terrorists, praying for understanding? Or for victory.

Make a difference - today. Help an old person carry packages - deliver food - smile to someone.

It is all we can do and it is what is needed. We don't believe that - we believe we have to do more - so we don't even do that. But if we all did that, there would be no more.

Once again, it becomes quite simple - it has been said a thousand times in every language, in one form or another- treat others as you would be treated. Love others as you would be loved.

9/11 isn't a day- it is a call - it is a reminder that we dont' treat others as we would be treated.

In the end, it is all have - remembering.

September 11, 2007 - 6 years later

Today is September 11 - a day that will always be remembered as a day that the world as we knew it changed. After you read this - please go to Esmie's blog - there he talks about this also in a moving and caring post which brings tears to my eyes.

Today all over the US and in many parts of the world people will observe a moment of silence at 8:46 am Eastern Daylight Time - NYC time for me. My grandfather used to talk with people and say - "Where were you on Pearl Harbor Day, do you remember that December 7?" And my father would say - "Do you remember where you were in November, the day that Kennedy was shot?" We now have our own "Do you remember.." for our generation. I don't think we really wanted one. But we have it now.

I was in school and we received news that something had happened - it was chaos because no one knew what it was. At first we thought it was a terrible accident, and then the second plane hit and we all realized that it was not an accident but a terrible event - a terrorist attack of surprising and unbelievable brutality.

I knew two people in the building, and about a dozen in the surrounding buildings. No one I knew was killed, but my cousin and others I knew ran through the dust and smoke, one of my family friends carried a co-worker out on his back.

It was terrible - and the terror lastedl. The smell filled NYC for months. The first three days the skies were empty - all flights grounded, and it was an awesome and frightening silence.

For a long time I wouldn't fly anywhere, and refused to go anyplace that I could not, if i had to, walk home from. It was months before I could look at an airplane again and think of getting on it.

That's my story - there are millions of stories. Couragous men and women and young people helping, digging out, comforting. Thousands of people who lived and worked there - businesses which closed, people who lost their jobs. People who lost their fathers, their mothers, their sons and their daughters. And for what? For an idea- an idea that was worth more, to some people, than other people's lives.

And so the world goes. We wander through trying to make sense of it, and look for God, or reason, or sense, or randomness - we look for meaning. But there is only one meaning I can see.

We are more than one - we are here to be with each other. Every death is a tragedy. Every person is me.

If we do not learn to live together, we will surely die together. And so what is the result of 9/11 for everyone? It is Fear. It is War. It is Death and Destruction. It is Loss of Liberty, loss of Freedom, and loss of Hope.

To those who did this there is nothing to say - fanaticism is a disease for which we as yet have no cure.

To those who suffered - who lost loved ones, their lives, their possessions, their minds, their hope- what can we say?

So at 8:46 am EDT we will stand in silence for a minute and hope - hope to remember and hope to do better.

It is all we know.

Jesus said it best- "love one another, as I have loved you." It is all we need. Too bad we haven't learned to do it yet. Perhaps someday we shall.

Love,

Gabe

Griefing

Ok, it is time for this to stop. The question is, how-

All of Dreamland was griefed yesterday - here is how it looked at our home - Safe Harbor -

For those who don't know griefing is the harrassment of others - especially by trying to make life unlivable on their land. sometimes it is a specific hate crime - griefing gay people, sometimes it is just general - griefing everybody.

Don't know what this was - seems to be griefing gay people - it was pridelands that seemed to get the brunt of it.

the problem is, how do we stop it? this particular individual - if we can call him/her that - created an account, griefed, and deleted the account all in one afternoon.

So it is hard. So long as Second Life is open to all griefing will be a possiblity.

But there is a way to stop it - it is risky but it can work. Linden Labs knows the login IP address of the griefer - it is in the login logs. So the griefer's rl identity is known.

Think about that griefers - what if it were published- Joe Moake at 3293 Asshole Drive is a griefer. Phone number. Where you work.

Do we want to see that happen - no - we don't. But maybe that it can will help to stop the griefing.

Esmie made a hideaway in the sky

If you haven't seen pictures of it, go to Esmie's blog (linked on the right). He put it up in the sky over Safe Harbor. It is awesome - so mysteriously romantic and beautiful in the moonlight, hanging in the sky with the lighthouse light moving across it rhythmically.

Esmie and I hang and talk there - he put a wonderful cuddle from Pillow Talk in the crook of the tree - here are some pics.

The garden itself is shown better on Esmie's blog. It is a wonderful place.

Thanks Esmie- I love you. here are the pics

My new profile pic - Esmie is a great photographer

Look - my new profile pic - so much nicer than before.

Esmie did it for me - he will do yours too either for SL or for blogging or for whatever - he is awesome and so good with photoshop.

It is a business he is starting - so let Esmie take your pic and make it ready - it's awesome.

thanks esmie.

Smooches - I love you and I love my new pic.

Jamie's new blog -

Esmie pointed out that our good friend (mate - England talk) Jamie has a new blog. the link is now in my links - Thanks Esmie.

Welcome to Blogland Jamie - a big hug and kiss and here is the link:

jamiecheeky.blogspot.com

Posting to the Blog

well - first of all - Esmie said it is time for me to start posting to my blog again - so - here we go. I am going to be posting to my blog again. Thanks - keep your sets tuned here folks. tape at 11.





And here is a very sexy picture of Esmie - well two actually - and I think these photos put an end forever to the "what is sexy" conversation - you are looking at it. ROTFL














Thanks Esmie - Gabe gives Esmie a big smooch.



By the Way - there are a number of people who have helped to keepd me together over the past three weeks - well longer than that -


You know who you are guys - and a gal - but -

i will post for each of you individually as time goes on.

But for the record, I wouldn't have made it through without:

(in no particular order - Please - I can't order greatness and love)

Mak
Simon
Esmie
Nicho
Steph
Jamie
Celty
Masa
Dave
My Mom
My Sister
My Nephew Little Gabe
and my newest friend Ami.

All of you spent hours holding me and kissing me and comforting me and talking to me and loving me and I have to say I would be burnt toast if it weren't for you.

And special thanks to Jay and Other Micah.

Smooches Smooches Smooooches

Anyway - more later

Enjoy the sexy pictures

(Oh, by the way - I have really nice tattoos now - (Esmie picked them out for me) - next post -photos of my new Tat's.)


I will post about you all in a future post.

See Esmie- I am posting to the blog again.