Rules

 He stands before me in second place 

Almost beyond compare

Except for the uncompromising beauty 

Of the one whose love I bear

Who knows whose time is coming

When or how or where

Soon the question will be answered

The solution to problems laid bare

Unfortunately the world isn't simply

Drawn in lines straight and square

Sometimes second comes first

Often the world isn't fair

Domino Effect

So I saw a box of dominoes the other day and it started me thinking.  When I was in fourth grade, dominoes were THE thing.  My whole class was obsessed.  We spent a long time setting up a chain that went all the way around the classroom.  Now, I am a bit older then I let on.  At this time there was no YouTube, no iPhones, heck there were barely cell phone and computers.  We didn't built this domino domination for any specific purpose.(Although, there was talk of Ripley’s)  We did it for the sheer joy of building something, of having fun.  Do kids do this anymore?  Do they have fun?  Everything is done with a purpose or an eye towards getting ahead.  If you do something fabulous, you can get famous.  You can have a singing career, if someone notices you on YouTube.  Heck, even I've fallen prey to it at times.  I’m writing this aren't I?  We, as a society, have lost our joy.  Then, we wonder why we haven’t figured out solution to our problems.  Joy leads to creativity.  Without joy we have no imagination.  We need to shut out the constant pressure to achieve and simply build for the joy of building.  Our houses look like cardboard cutouts of one another, just like some of our pictures.  We take pictures for the purpose of sharing them but not for the purpose of taking pictures.  I believe we took better pictures when we had to pay to get them developed.  It all comes down to the same thing.  Our technology is making an impact on our society and I’m not sure that it is having the most desired effect.  But like the dominoes, once started the ripples can’t be stopped unless you try.