I have heard a lot of negative hype about Walmart and do not really know where it is stemming from.  Most of what I hear is from unhappy folks who do not want to have a Walmart in their cities. 

So, if I were the new CEO at Walmart, I would find out what is being said out there.  I would try to clean up Walmart's act and if there were something that can be done about it, I would start there.  I would ensure that researches are done to see how opening new stores would affect communities and smaller businesses in the area.  Perhaps, widen the product line and offer to work together with the neighboring businesses to better serve the communities and make profit in the process.  I would continue to ensure that quality products are sold and made available to consumers at affordable prices.  Next, I would see about the employees to make sure that their grievances are heard and that they are well paid and happy.  Then, I would make sure that the lower management goes about doing what they are supposed to be doing.  I would then make sure that internal and quality controls are running smoothly.  Keep an eye that the profits keep going up, then, I would try to give back to the communities by offering scholarships and the like. 

I woke up this morning at 5 am with this thought that blossomed into a considerable concept before I could even get out of bed.  I am guessing that this thought started while I was dreaming last night and having this internal dialogue.  Then I woke up continuing my reflection from the dream.  I tried throughout the day to take some time to write it but because I am one who always tries to stick to my plan for the day, I pushed it aside.  Tonight, as I sit here with my fingers ready to strike the keys, my mind is blank.  LOL!  Wouldn't you know it, I completely forgot what it was all about! 

Then again, at least I had a chance to browse around Zaadz for a bit and discover that I am now a citizen of the ‘new Z. Republic.'  How cool is that!  More power to all Zaadz-ians!  Kudos to the inventors/contributors of the flag, declaration of independence, etc!

Lesson for the day:  Do not wait for the right moment to come!  The perfect moment is Now!

Penn passed away last night quietly to a peaceful dream.  She is survived by her beloved family and friends.  None of her works can be recovered, yet none of it really mattered!  She will be remembered!

Only three?  I have a running list in my Testament.  Well, here goes:

• 1) Among other things, choose love. I guess in the end, what matters most is not how much I have done, but how much I have loved.
• 2) Be aware of the lenses I wear. My perception has no weight on how things really are but they do affect the choices I make.
• 3) The heart has so much capacity to heal and be healed.

If I have the financial freedom (backed by Bill Gates) to pursue a philanthropic scheme, I would focus on today's young people living in the streets of our cities.  Young people who were driven from their homes and families for one reason or another, left without a second choice.  They walk in our cities, wearing faces aged and battered by harsh realities.

Part of this supposed organization would be devoted to immediate crisis intervention, providing a secured shelter and appropriate individual, group, and/or family counseling (detoxify and rehab, if necessary).  Afterwards, the youth would be given an invitation and encouraged to join an interim program and housing whereby the youth would be slowly introduced to various activities that engage the body, mind, and spirit in relation to others, while continuously receiving individual guidance from compassionate adult and peer advocates.  If reasonable, the youth would be registered at a local public school or an in-house-schooling program using sophisticated educational methods that rivals those of prominent schools. 

A second part of this supposed organization would be a dormitory-style housing program for the youths who have completed the interim program and have chosen to stay in the organization.  Additional programs would be offered to engage the youths in sports, music, arts, technology, etc.  These youths would be given free scholarship to pursue higher education while integrating them to mainstream society and working America, at the same time receiving continuous guidance. 

This supposed organization would employ compassionate professionals in the fields of education, psychology, social work, law, arts, sports, and many others. 

The plan is:

• - to allow displaced youths to facilitate healing to gain back what they have lost in the midst of their struggles (self-esteem, trust, etc)
• - to help them discover their potentials and empower them to nurture and strengthen those potentials
• - to help integrate them into mainstream society not only to become functioning individuals, but actively contributing members of our society.

This supposed organization would be called,

 ‘Empowered to Choose (securing the future).'

I have gone on a few too many foreign highways, unfamiliar roads

Inspirations and insights scattered like dust everywhere

Along side are way too many distracting road signs, as well

Catching my eyes... and so losing my steps

Tempting me deeper into the world of my imagination

Slowly erasing my memories

Burying my emotions beneath its lies

The echo of a call seems to grow fainter each hour, each day

I'm afraid that soon it will become nothing more than a whisper, unheard

A fraction of me fights against the paralysis started by fear

While another part of me is weary of making an error in judgment, of altogether miscalculating the jump

Still there's a hunger within me that is quietly bidding its time to devour the moment

Surely the adventure is somewhere to be found

If this journey back to myself isn't already one.

04-15-02 Penn

If I could choose a vision, one sight to see each time that I open my eyes,

What will it be?

Will it be an old familiar space that breeds comfort and security

Where every corner and nook is already deeply imprinted in my memory

So that it matters not whether my eyes are open or not?

Or will it be some unknown distant concept,

A landscape that I have not as yet imagined, that even now as I sit here thinking

To formulate, it escapes all my ideas and pre-conceived notions.

A sight that will never fail to bring wonder to both my eyes and heart

But most especially to my mind as I gaze upon

Each inconceivable shape and color that will bring a continuous current of questions

And guesswork making each moment a surprise to my consciousness.

04-16-02 Penn

It was about 14 years ago when I was in Posadas, Argentina for 2 weeks.  We took a seven or eight-hour bus ride to see the Catarata de Iguazu.  There I was standing in front of the biggest waterfall of Iguazu- G. Diablo.  I remember standing a few yards from the waterfall, feeling its spray like misty rain on a warm sunny afternoon.  The spray almost turned like clouds below me that I could not see the bottom of the waterfall.  Huge amount of water was coming down from up above and falling right in front of me!  It was so awesome and huge, its sound so overwhelming and deafening that it sent shivers all over my body and altered my breath and heartbeat.  It was such a great and humbling experience that I could not help but break into song and tears.  I have seen many quiet beauty of nature, but nothing that turned me trembling as this one did!

A movement, something caused me to look

And there he was

Sitting, staring straight ahead

Those dark eyes stared as if it saw right through me

Yet there was no hint of recognition

In that sightless, quiet gaze

Slowly he sipped his coffee

Still staring, lost in his own thoughts

I wonder what thought crossed his mind

That caused that crease between his brows

Distracted for a moment, he turned and looked to his right

Uninterested, perhaps there was nothing much to be curious about

He went back staring straight ahead

A gentle breeze danced on his hair

A sudden stillness, softness in his eyes

Was it satisfaction or quiet amusement?

Or was he so taken up running lists in his head?

Was he looking forward to this day?

Or was it simply boredom?

No tired lines marred his face

A youthful glow lost in daze

I can watch him untiringly

As he sat and stared ahead

But the lights changed

And I must go

And so must he

With blinkers on, he turned left

As I moved on forward ahead

He stared, but did not see

And he will never know

That a story was written about him

It sounds cruel, I know

It was his fault

He stared but never saw.

My Traffic life
from the rearview mirror
04-25-07 Penn