The Laughter

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” ― Robert Frost

 

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When she laughed the sound filled the rooms, spilling over into the breeze and bringing a thousand butterflies to life. I’ve heard no sound like it before, it comes from her soul, places unseen in the spirit of gentleness. Her laugh sang a lullaby that dismissed my fears and loneliness. For a moment in time, I forgot the tragedy of living and remembered the beauty of life. Of all the sounds that echo in my mind, consuming my conscience like rain on a tin roof, her laugh is my mantra of peace. I’m amazed that such joy and wholehearted happiness can exist at all, in my life not so much as a faint chuckle is heard, much less the verbal deep seated happiness of a healthy giggle. It spills over from her full cup and I wipe it up with every fiber of my being, it stains my soul with colors like a tie dyed shirt from the 60’s. I know many sounds fade, more now that I’m older, but her laugh, this I need like sunrise everyday, warming and encouraging, bringing the hope of spring and it’s little births. I curled up deeper in the covers, and a smile crept over my face, all while she laughed.

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Gentleness of Strength

“Silk is a fine, delicate, soft, illuminating, beautiful substance. But you can never rip it! If a man takes this tender silk and attempts to tear it, and cannot tear it, is he in his right mind to say “This silk is fake! I thought it was soft, I thought it was delicate, but look, I cannot even tear it” ? Surely, this man is not in his right mind! The silk is not fake! This silk is 100% real. It’s the man who is stupid!” ― C. JoyBell C.

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.” – Bruce Lee

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 Gentle, striving to be easy with the hardness life brings. Being gentle when the attack is not against me is easy, but let my lover betray me, let a random act of violence occur, let my child be molested in spite of my best efforts, then it proves supremely difficult to resist hardness. When gentleness is discerned by the predators of man and beast, it signifies vulnerability, a sign that brings pursuit and attack. There is however, a side of gentleness that is contrary to weakness. Warriors learned long ago that deftness, a soft touch, is as deadly as brute force. The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. Gentleness learned is self control gained. To deny the victim demeanor and become a survivor, a warrior, requires a necessary application of gentle traits. Hold the knife easy. Squeeze the trigger softly. Bend not break, as a willow in the breeze. Bruce Lee taught the principle: be like water. Water is soft, yielding, and enjoyable to be around, but still maintains a fearful power. Gentleness is not weakness, it is power under perfect control. I’m this gentle soul, the water that gives way, and still I possess a force to overcome the most difficult opponent, whether it be in the form of man or circumstance.