When does truth feel right?

  Many of us believe and follow a philosophy along a set of terms(whether Christian, Buddha, Hindu, or Islam) that if we share the truth through our honesty, we are objectively safer and doing better for our neighbor than had we lied to them.  When we are honest, however, we can be harsh or hyper-realistic and hurt the feelings of our friends or fellow humans.  Our honesty can even be biased with prejudice or feelings of racial superiority.  What then?  If someone told you to be honest, would you remain polite?  Or worse, come forward of any unlawful doings you were up to in the past.

  In today's society, you are expected to uphold the truth to any authority, and anyone who has reached adulthood has hit a conundrum where they realize they must think for themself.  Or as I propose; they must be respectfully selfish.  Being selfish can feel good, and being honest can feel bad(more on that in a bit).  Then there is my psychologist, who told me to trust my feelings and go with what feels right in life.  For the rest of this paper, we will call him Dr. Feelgood.  And yes, Dr. Feelgood would tell an addict to trust his instincts too.  He is not my psychologist anymore; he has no aptitude for philosophy, unlike myself or you, which is why you are here.

  The truth is, truth is slightly disturbing and unsettling for most and not for the faint of heart(Gengis Khans' lineage, the holocaust, Roman genocide of the Celts).  For this reason, each person gets selective about memory, as they fill their cap with nonsense.  People do this for drive and inspiration (like animal photos) or even self-empowerment to better control their self-narration(Philosophical propaganda).  But that is the beauty of life, you can think what you want.  If you have no need for truth, good for you, but I hope you never get into a legal situation, where you may clash with giving testimony under oath.  I believe in truth as far as it's needed to be lawful, and after that, I am an easygoing person.  Honesty is my preferred practice however there are moments when I don't speak my mind.  When someone carried a bad odor with them unknowingly at work, I did what everyone else did and quietly suffered.  Imagine finding out that you stink!  However true it may be, you may be doubtful and still find it very unpleasant and embarrassing.  If I were to tell this woman that a terrible odor followed her everywhere, I would be honest as true as it is, though it would make things extremely awkward in the process.  Honesty doesn't instinctually feel good, so why is truth any more truer when it feels right.

  A feminist holds truths high about social facts.  They chose this structure of narrative for life, and they debase others and apply the procrustean bed to diminish those people that offend them.  But that applies to a lot of people who get easily offended.  If I am easily offended, and you are not, who holds the truth on the narrative if a dispute ever broke out between us?  In today's society, it can often be the antagonist that wins a moral dispute because the narrative becomes overtly twisted by conflicting egos.  It's just like in nature, you have predator and prey.  In just about any dispute or argument to ever break out, I want to place my bet that a majority of the incidents were instigated by at least one of the persons and that they did it because it felt good.  Yes, fighting feels good for some people.  It's a way of venting.  Just like in nature, at least one of these people knew a fight was coming; cause they wanted it to happen.  

  We are told in childhood to be honest, though when we get to adulthood, we realize our honesty can get us into more trouble than we need to be in, and even then we are not looking for trouble.  So what about truth now.  Is there a way to tip-toe along the line and hit a balance with your so-called honesty and serving the truth which you so humbly defend? There is if you at least show an inkling of consideration for the other person.  Dr. Feelgood might actually back me up on this!

  Is this the better good?  What feels good?  Or is it simply defined as leaving something alone?  Truth can hit hard when it does, and in not acting in a first-off event, you may have acted in the best possible manner, to wait before making a judgment or decision.  We all have battles and it is prepared to know in advance that there are 3 choices anyone can make; should I be honest?  Lie?  Or ignore the person?  Any one of these can be a table turner and true to each their own efficacy.  However, being considerate can be advantageous in any event and does not come easy.  There are truths to all responses, but measuring which is the most true will never win people in any influencing manner, but it can start an argument or fight.  So the next time someone tells you to do what feels good, think back to this coach's corner and if you need it, convince yourself that the best things take hard work, and they don't come easy.  As anyone can fall into a rut, and fail to the predictability that any bad gambler never fully learns.

Don't be honest, be considerate.

Is the Ottawa Poetry Scene good or bad?

American friends of mine have told me that they envy Canada for its Poets and songwriters.  These friends are within a couple years of my age, and I am turning 40 later this year.  But what does this mean to me, a Canadian, who remembers being told in school that Canada has internationally awarded poets; I never would have thought that Americans of my age group were learning a mirror version of our history?  They know about Margaret Atwood; though they thought Leonard Cohen was American.  I asked in turn, 'if Leonard Cohen is American, where is he from in America and why does he speak French?'.  The response that only made sense to reply by one was Louisiana.

Though beyond Margaret Atwood, they couldn't name another, which made me doubt my supposed stance that Canadian Poetry has an international standard, as I as well, couldn't name another either.  I have read some Canadian Poets, but were any as great as Atwood?  At times, yes, some poets really show innovation.  Emile Nelligan can write very inspiring pieces, but a Poet like Stuart Ross simply annoys me with his careless structure that insults the reader.  

In rereading Atwood, I found the journals of Susanna Moodie lost their charm as compared to Neitsche, or Homer, that I read a few years later on.  My thoughts now on that apparent international acclaim, it must have been a slow year as a book of free verse poetry won all the awards.  At least Canadians had another thing to feel proud about, yet I think the retelling of Susanna Moodie in free verse, might have brainwashed people into thinking that the poetry was in our roots.  Canadians and Americans alike.

I thought it best to explain what Poetry in Canada is, as simplest I could, in order to move on and give a description of the Poetry Scene in Ottawa.  There isn't one.  From the eye-soar pages of bywords.ca to the University open mics, you can only expect to be confused with the poetry you come across, as there are tons of individuals self-advertising, with little organization or preparedness in their work.  I say the Poetry scene in Ottawa isn't one, because the style of choice by most people is the free verse: no cares, day of the meme style storytelling. Like Darmok and Jalad at tanagra.  Just a small Trek reference for you if you got it, but Ottawa Poetry only wishes it were that good.  No skills, just big dreams!  Everyone is an amateur, even the people selling books.  For some reason, any Canadian that picks up a pen to write thinks they have more credentials and worth just because of their Canadian citizenship.  Which is suddenly now an identity in Poetry.

If you can name more than 3 internationally awarded Canadian Poets, then maybe you can change my stance on what I think this Canadian identity actually is, and if you can, please do share in the comments.  As for myself, I am tired of what became the modern style, with everyone trying to replicate that Canadian Gold that Atwood had been so widely preached for.  

My message to amateurs; If you can't challenge yourself in your poetry writing process, and I don't mean brainstorming, I mean the concrete writing which is a step after the brainstorming, then what worth do you truly think you will make.  Atwood crapped out gold with the journals of Moodie.  She is redeemed in my eyes however that she wrote the Penelopiad, a much more mature style of verse.  If you write Poetry, do you write poetry because it is easy, or because it always offers a challenge?  Perhaps this is the amateurs' road?