Shared Moments

I shared this moment with a people once, where their smiles were like capturing every bit of the night's sky. I shared this moment with a people once, where every exchange was honest between us. I shared this moment with a people once, where I felt the communication through their eyes at times without a spoken word. I shared this moment with a people once that was so profound it could only be explained in the sight of their tears. I shared this moment with a people once, where I'd given a piece of my heart in the service of human experiences. I shared this moment with a people once and I am loving the memories of those big bright smiles, those honest exchanges, those deep looks into their eyes, shaking their hands and sharing life in one powerful breath. I shared this moment with a people once, where I learned so much even in a dark place, that light still shines upon all of us human beings. I shared this moment with a people once, that I will always appreciate. I shared this moment with a people once and there is no doubt that I will forever remember all of you. Sincerely, Timothy

Letter of Appreciation

Hello: To all who support the ideals of restorative justice and life within challenges and possibilities. There are s- o many people who await the opportunity of being involved in the kind of programs that represent restorative justice and challenges and possibilities that never get the chance to experience it once. I know the blessings of being able to have experienced it, but also to have completed it. I really would have loved being a part of this again and again, yet for reasons outside of my control it cannot happen at this moment. So, I settle for simply letting all of you know that I carry you with me in my thoughts and prayers. I've met people like; Ms. Vanden Branden, Ms. Van Caster, Ms. Doxtater and Mr. Doruff who are great human beings and ambassadors of goodwill, giving their time and efforts to protect and provide us all with best chances of life as it relates to interacting and respecting each other. There are people like Professor Janine Geski and the survivors of crime who readily speak about the injustices of this world on all levels; physically, mentally and emotionally sharing their truths and allowing others to gain power in accepting responsibility for the wrongs that they may have caused others. It really takes heart to be the kind of human beings these people have become and I not only appreciate it, but I honor that kind of civility. There is the youthful and elder guests of all cultures and literally from all over the globe, who are all so important to the circle of life and it's value to us all. These are only a few who I have met with, but so many more who I haven't that are also important. THANK YOU Micheal and Bud for your strong fatherly examples,Bob for your goodness, Keven for enjoying life. Barbara for traveling all the way from Ireland with a basket of hope. Paul Anthony for your king strenght. Joelle for being the human fabric of caring and really wearing it on your sleeves. Monica for being so driven. Johnathan for being a visionary, Ashley for living life for each day that it brings. Cierra for growing into your dreams. Gabrielle for being awesome. Hanna for being a gem that you are to the world. Ms. Jo Winston for being undeniably a wonderful person. Alex for all of your jolly green humility. Angel for your great personality. James LeRoy for being a model of simplicity of life through a smile. Kerra for being serious and cool altogether. Ms. Corinthia for being wise and interesting. Martha for not being afraid to help others and let others help you when it's needed. Amanda for changing lives with that gentle handshake you've mastered. Christine for being brilliant and teaching me to always see there are never enough tears to be shared in the human experience. Mr. James Ferguson and Ms. Lisa Grant for the lesson of self assurance. Mr. Wa Yia Thao for educating me about the Hmong culture (Oua Chao - Thank You) Mr. Bill Mathias and Mr. Bob Johnson for all of the cirtical thinking excercises and showing me the power of thinking outside of the bos. Mr. Peter and Mrs. Sherry Galowski for having faith and hope and sharing that whenever you can with the rest of the world. Mr. Derek Jeffries for your religious enlightenment of the four noble truths. Ms. Moira Kelly for the lesson on conflict resolution and the etiquettes of good listening. Ms. Alice Skenadore for accelerating the awareness of my aspect toward learning, even under limited resources. Mr. Jim Nielson for allowing me to see the importance of creativity and seeing the world in the beauty that it represents. Ms. Natalie Juline for being an advocate against domestic abuse and showing how it really does affect us all. Mr. Harry Sydney for being a man of success and sharing with me how to get there through integrity. Mr. Bryon Lichstein, Ms. Laura Benson, Mr. Shwan O'Connell, Ms. Amelia Maxfield, Ms Renee Parton and Mr. Chris Moore for the insightful information of the criminal justice system. Mr. Wendell Hruska and Mr. Andre Brown for providing opportunites to ex-offenders. Ms. C.J., Ms. Sherry, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Don Jackson for the inspiration and the challenge presented for making a legacy worth being remembered by. Mr. Bob Morneau for sharing John Woodens 7 Step Game Plan of Life and the 5 Signs of Love. Mr. Jim Nelson, Mr. Jeffery Anslow and Mr. Richard Coss for the remembrance of forgiveness, not getting stuck on the "hampster wheel" to nowhere and for the great songs. Mr. Micheal Schaefer and Mr. Cathering Dorl for the insight on the constitution, as well as the thinking exercise. Mr. C.J. Doxtater for the spiral cycle of positive and negative thoughts, how trauma affects us and the excellent attention and expression to detail within the circle of life. Mr. Donald Zuidmulder for all your honesty and concern toward making a compliant system that will do everyone some good. Mr. James Golembeski for what you bring to the whole of the Wisconsin workforce and the opportunities you give others to level the playing fields. Mr. Joe Hilke for the work realease program and the lesson on how we control our attitudes. Ms. Amy Myska for the interviewing prep program and job searching techniques. Mr. Joshua Johnson for overcoming and teaching others how not to find themselves in similar situations by using the 4 keys (attitude, accountability, change of circle and patience). Ms. Becky Redmond_Walker for caring enough about teaching the importance of self-sufficiency and human relationships. Mr. Bejamine Murphy for having a passion for properly teaching the youth about the value of themselves and others. Ms. Ellen Mommaerts for being a wonderful example of the power that forgiveness can provide throughout a lifetime. Jenny, Ms. Jennifer Garner, John, Dustin, Mark Mr. Tom Adwell, Sandy V, Ken, Cyril Klishek, Ms. Nannette and Young Benjamine for showing your support ajnd sharing a genuine conficence in what the future can positively look forward wo with me in it. Mr. Don Stephen and Mr. Bill Miston for considering me camera worthy enough for an interview and making me a smalltown favorite. Mr. David Bertrand for the resourceful information about understanding technology and the world of business, how to recognize a problem and create a positive solution for it, and the book club program. All of you have played a unique role in the heightening of my potential as a human being. I want to say THANK YOU once again and in closing leave you with this post I call Shared Moments

Alive and Buried

Nights appear to grow darker in the fog that really is a shadow of your own insecurities... as the sun is suppressed to a tinkle in the eyes. Sparked by these bright ideas that great big minds find... but are they useful in paused time? Temperatures dropping below the body's normal capacity and it's getting colder... crossing over into the realm of seeing dead people walking around, yet they don't notice they're dead. Is this us?? You see the world keeps on moving forward without a second thought of meaning or identity beyond a memory, so what is life? Pinch yourself if you happen to question for a moment that even in strong beliefs we get lost in helplessness... pushing the heavy foot down on the pendulum of hopefulness and as years go without reward we become stagnant in imaginations toward what the future will become... this is what living has succumb to. The voice that reaches to find peace within the pieces of broken experiences... tugging against the restraints that covers the mouth so all expressions are muffled. Yet, the power of positive spirits fill the heart with that sublime kind of confidence and love which is incapable of being broken throughout it all... helping you survive without going crazy after realising that you're living a life equivalent to being thrown in the deep end of a pool and not knowing how to swim.

How Do We Say We're Sorry"

1. What's sorry to the verbally and physically abused? 2. What's sorry to the raped? 3. What sorry to the killed? 4. What's sorry to the robbed? 5. What's sorry to the exploited? 6. What's sorry to the discriminated? 7. What's sorry to anyone who's been wronged in their lives by the things that they did not choose? We'd all like to believe that Heaven is a place we'll be when we pass away but God only knows that for certain. However, can a dying wish be proper in telling the human race that we're sorry for anything left of ourselves in this world that wasn't good? Just a question for us to all heavily ponder! How can we tell a... mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, daughter, son, sister, brother, niece, nephew, cousins, friends, neighbors and communities that we're sorry? For their losses, their pains, their fears and their dysfunctions, because of something we did? Can the bottom of our hearts express it in every single word, every single thought and every single action that we live our lives to right any wrongs that we may have caused upon another human being? Is sacrificing our very last breath in the efforts to be only a positive impact enough? Or will we rather abuse, rape, kill, rob, exploit, discriminate and continue to wrong and believe that we have found a just balance in it all? I am certainly no specialist to the human experience, but to anyone that I've ever hurt in this world... If I could show you today and for the rest of my life that I am sorry for your losses, your pains, your fears and your dysfunctions...would you believe me? And even furthermore forgive me?

Are We Ever Satisfied?

Isn't it interesting how time doesn't matter in the imagination stages of a relationship. The stages where anticipation and expectation takes you places which stops everything for the purpose of being closer to that significant other. A place that's so unbelievable you never want it to end, but somehow reality pulls you back into the rest of the world where priorities conflict with those dreams of romance... and it becomes never enough time to be as close as you were in the beginning. Now doubt confronts your ideas about the stability of the relationship altogether. It makes you think and see things that are really not there, which helps form the excuses that come next... for why nothing is good enough anymore, but if you'd only pay attention you'd know that the only thing in the relationship that changed is you. Have you ever thought that the smallest gestures are the greatest rewards in a relationship? Most of the larger components are nice at times, but even those are superficial when compared to the smaller more intimate components. Which are the things that let you know what kind of person you have come to love and who loves you back. That kind of someone who makes you feel like you're the only thing that really matters and means it from the bottom of their heart. Taking a person like that for granted will be an awful lesson to learn the differences between okay and great. This has been yet another topic to think about.

A Piece of my Mind

It is in this kind of unfavorable atmosphere and experience that as a child I began growing into my maturity. The challenges of trying to become a responsible man throughout it all, has allowed me to really guard against any and everything that opposed my opportunity of being a beautiful human being, both intentionally and unintentionally for example: (old beliefs, family, friends, authorities, etc). I struggled to become decisive and secure about my decisions, but in learning to accept things personally I started to see life through new views and not by those old paradigms of the war zone style environment I observed and grew up surrounded by. So young and preoccupied with a concept of wanting to be respected or at time even feared in order to survive being victimized. When really, it was me being afraid to live life to the fullest and pursue my dreams, and that was self victimizing. To be so capable of accomplishing anything I wanted, but being so unsure and not inspired to want it enough, has been very difficult for me to erase from my mind to this day. And now, I'm so ready to accomplish everything without hesitation, to only be restricted on many levels because of the politics that rules and regulations within this atmosphere presents. That fuels my own dissapointment, but inspires me to continue utilizing my time productively and appreciating all of the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years I have been blessed to do so without losing my sense of humanity, as many others have unfortunately done the opposite. I offer this discussion as a principle from my very own experience, hoping that a parent might share it with their child. It's such a huge deal to be careful not to lose sight of what you're capable of, and furthermore, to never be in a situation that brings you to prison in order to find that out like I did. Trust me, this is not a place for anyone with so much promise and life ahead of them. Also, you'd rather have your parents rules and support, than prison rules and isolation!

In the Eyes of Once an Adolescent

Tales of the grapevine frightens me so much that I'm apprehensive about saying a word to anyone. Thoughts are already threatened by the unknown as I approach this building that appears to be a huge dark castle from the medieval times or something only seen in a movie, but unfortunately this is not a movie it's real. Clink, clink, clink... as a door opens and blam.... steel touches steel when it closes with no where to go. What a feeling of helplessness... no more privacy, controlled movement and a constant reinforcement of that same helplessness. What does an adolescent do? To not become a victim for the predators that lay in waiting to take advantage of their youth somehow.. to not lose themselves and become dependant on the readily approved psychological prescriptions by the psychologists hoping to escape it all... to not lose hope even in such a dark situation and to learn all that can be learned as a positive usage to themselves and others? What does an adult do to help them?...To gain their trust? Are you the kind of adult that any adolescent can come to for advise without being judged, but listened to? If not, you should be... just look around. We all witness atrocities in our lives... Some of us much more up-close and personal than others, but what are it's affect on the mind? Many of the things we've thought were just happening these days might very well be behavior controlling methods.... something to consider when we look at society in it's state presently and back to it's past. There's people who struggle to survive, people who are carelessly living a life of crime, and people who aren't living up to superficial standards so they're killing themselves or carrying the thoughts of not wanting to live anymore. We have all somehow become victims in a supposedly free society. The question becomes, have we believed in a free society that has merely been an illusion all along? And, if it has been an illusion... what does it mean to live in a truely free society, where the rights are not by law of a government, but of common sense in the human experience. If common sense is loving someone like we envision someone should love us... patience and understanding is present, consideration and concern is present, communication is present, emotional and physical support is present. Let's be honest... how often has this been an active thought in our free society?