Run, run, run, run, run, run, run awaaaay.

Whatever I do, I must not let fear pervade me.  That fear - fear of everything (politics, finances, school, relationships), overwhelms a person until their every breath in screams of injustice and their every breath out demands a truth.  It is that fear that stops a person in her path, causes her to rethink, forces her to become what she never wanted to be.  Let it be, the wise ones said in the 60's.  Let it flow, I say, as I contemplate the fear that has overtaken those in their middle age.  That same fear is beginning to suck the life out of my generation.  I pray that its corruption will avoid the youth.  

And, how do we avoid this?  How do we remain enlightened, above the constant and ever-presence of the present?  How can we detach ourselves from the crisis of the moment and realize - of course - that we must be in the moment?

I forget the moment constantly.  It is easy to do in this world of constant connectiveness that has only disconnected us from the importance of now.  Is it not as important to enjoy the earth as to worry for it?  If we all learn to love the soil, if we learn to love one another, if we learn to love God, will we not also find the truth - the absolution from fear?  In the peace of now, in the quiet oak, in the calm, sweet freshness of fall - are we not at our best?  We cannot save what we do not love.  

And I - I with my frenzied class-to-job-to-homework-to-sleep-to-wake-to-class must also recognize this.  I must breathe when my schedule allows.  I must unplug and connect to the pavement, to the exchanges of my peers, to the feelings and sounds and smells that I have been missing over the years.  I must love the moment, even if I abhor the present at times.  It is, after all, a beautiful moment of existence.