Predictable

It used to be a rule.

Predictable.

When you flip the light switch, the light comes on.

Or not.

Cause it’s burned out.

But, predictable.

Outcomes that are reliable, either good or bad.

It’s also called cause and effect.

A cause like making a touchdown makes one fan happy, the other sad.

Predictable.

The universe has decidedly turned against predictability.

It started with 9/11.

Each year, until this week, the world has become increasingly random.

Cause is not fostering effect.

Let me say that again… cause is not fostering effect.

History is no longer predictable.

For good or bad, in the past, when someone, some group, some nation did something, there was a predictable outcome.

Today it’s sheer chaos.

Every day we wake up to another level of absurdity.

Comedy writers can’t keep up.

Political satirists can’t keep up.

The news can’t keep up.

History, unpredictable history keeps doubling, tripling, quadrupling, etc., etc., every day with no signs of stopping.

Anything this White House has done since it took office 50 years ago would put them all in prison.

The lying, the cover-ups, the grift, the graft, the illegal presidential memos, the unqualified officials, the disobeying of law, the illegal tariffs, the exploitation of personal information, DOGE, every single day a tossed salad of corruption, and what is the outcome?

Nothing.

Half the nation does not react.

Half the nation does not react.

Do you understand that half the nation does not react?

It’s as if all of it only happens on TV; it’s not real.

There has been a real dislocation of awareness that has happened in the world.

Although, to be fair, it has always been there, this silent majority, but only now, the social spotlight into the corners of humanity's kitchen reveals how abjectly disassociated half the population of the world really is.

But what it doesn’t explain is what the hell happened to predictability?

Why is there a continuous flood of random events with random outcomes?

50 years ago, if an official was even rumored to be a sexual predator, it was the end of their public life.

They had to run and hide under a rock.

Now?

Now!

Nothing.

A stubborn belief in half the population that that’s the way it is and will always be.

An acceptance of corruption.

We can’t be better.

What you crying about, snowflake?

That’s really sad.

Really, really sad.

But, even here in this random darkness of the American soul, when the daylight seems so far away, there is hope.

All it takes to move a mountain is the falling of a single stone.

All it takes is that voice that says no more.

All it takes is that person standing, shouting in the wilderness of passivity.

You know what happens when it does?

Justice comes marching in.

It’s predictable.

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

Break Through

There is always a chance love will break through the darkness and be the response to fear.

Evil knows for a fact that it can make people afraid.

Evil knows what you are afraid of.

Evil uses this knowledge to shape your life.

To profit from it.

When people are afraid, what do they do?

People who are afraid do nothing.

They hide intellectually.

They hide morally.

They hide emotionally.

This three-point response lays the groundwork for your consumption by fear.

Fear paralyzes.

Fear is the soil that the seeds of hate love to grow into.

The seeds of hate will grow an abundance of weeds, so thick, you can no longer hear the real world.

Fear creates a walled garden where only darkness of the spirit thrives.

Fear rejects the light of truth.

No matter how plain, how simple, how pure, truth will be rejected by fearful people.

The light of truth doesn’t feed fear; only the shadows of darkness that feed our natural prejudices feed fear.

Simply, this is why it’s near impossible to the open door to the walled garden of fear.

As hard as  you may be trying to open the door, people who live in fear are trying just as hard to keep it shut.

I’m an empath, an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs psychology profile.

I know and understand that fear freezes people out of life.

I understand fearful people don’t want the world around them to change.

Change can be hard to cope with.

Especially if it kicks the ass of the things we believed to be true about the world.

Imagine how hard it was for people to give up on the belief that the world was flat.

Imagine that it’s 2025 and we still have people hiding under that bridge, telling the rest of the world to go away, it’s not safe out there?

Imagine in my 65 years of being on this planet, I saw Jim Crow Laws being enforced as well as the first black president.

That’s a leap the fearful can’t comprehend in their isolated world.

A world of isolation where fear tells them to do nothing.

Doing something is morally wrong.

Doing something is intellectually wrong.

Doing something is evil.

There is always a chance love will break through the darkness and be the response to fear.

Hope is a good thing, but not a dumb thing.

You can’t hope for the world to lose its fear.

You got to get into the struggle and break the grip of fear on the minds of the people.

You do that by being happy.

Happy warriors of the light.

You let the people who are throwing fits like a toddler yell all they want.

But you… You move forward and live the life you are meant to live.

Free of fear.

Full of hope.

Joyful.

Following the light of truth, no matter where it might land.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Turn It Down

Commercials scream at you.

The music bounces off you.

The sneer on a stranger’s face at you.

Turn it down.

The heat in politics is too hot.

The coldness in those who signed up to protect us.

The silent majority.

Turn it down.

Life today is so loud that we can’t hear the voices all around us crying for help.

You don’t hear them?

Did you think the poor, the hungry, the people living in fear just went away?

Did you ever think that you kept turning up the volume in your life so you didn’t have to care?

You take the kids to practice.

You watch your team.

You get high.

Drunk.

All of it, and more, so you don’t have to hear the noise.

A person said in the distant past in a land far, far away, Tune in or drop out.

Having your life’s volume set to 10 is nothing new.

If you are a human, it’s understandable that there is only so much you can bear.

What with earning a living, life events, the world is a hectic place.

What I’m telling you is if you don’t stop and listen, your life will end up being…

…

Nothing.

Everyone has a purpose.

Even you.

They may not want to know what it is and spend their entire life screaming so they don’t have to know.

But even the loudest voice in the room has a purpose beyond existence.

Right now, out here in the real world, you can hear a storm approaching.

The rumbles of thunder spread across the fruited plain.

It’s a voice in reaction.

We who can hear have been called out to fulfill our purpose.

The voices that called us out are the voices of our past, wanting to maintain a status that’s impossible to restore.

But hell, they are going to try even if it means destroying 250 years of democracy.

By turning down the volume of our lives, we can hear what the future is bringing and what the past wants to hold on to.

If we don’t turn it down, we will suffer a clash of expectations.

A past that believes it will live forever.

A future without wisdom.

Turn down the volume and listen to the cries for help.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Stand

What are you doing with your life?

Have you tried standing?

Think about it…

Don’t think too long now.

You only got so much time on this earth before your gone.

What are you doing with your life?

What do you stand for?

You stand for the National Anthem at a sports game.

You stand in line to get a burger.

You stand in line at the Post Office, the DMV, the grocery store.

But that’s not standing.

To stand means you are willing to do what’s right in the wrong time.

You will stand and hold back the darkness.

You will stand in the gap between life and death and say I stand here in the name of love.

Damn, is it all as dramatic as that?

The simple act of saying hello to a stranger is breaking with the tradition of sitting down and doing nothing.

Yes, simple kindness is a stance against intolerance.

But it’s only the beginning!

Sitting down, doing nothing, not my business, not my own is the food that the monster of indifference feeds on.

What are you doing now?

Have you tried standing?

Standing lets you see the world for what it truly is.

What it truly is there are no guarantees of happiness.

There is no savior that will release you from your personal bondage of the mind.

The only person who will set you free is yourself.

You.

When you stand you will feel maybe for the first time in your life what freedom really means.

The fear of freedom is real in all of humanity.

The darkness of indifference is the disease of our shared humanity.

To stand breaks with the past.

To stand breaks with selfishness.

To stand breaks with the compact with death to embrace the living.

You're not alone in being afraid to stand.

Imagine...

Just imagine with me if an acorn was afraid to grow?

Imagine that acorn lying there in the dirt saying I’m not going out there the world expects too much of me.

I can’t do that.

But the acorn can’t do that.

The earth, sunlight, and rain, the circle of life instructs that seed to break it’s shell, to stand, to grow into a new life, to freely give shelter to the life that takes refuge in it’s arms, the life it deserves, the life it is meant to have.

Only humans deny life.

Only humans deny the voice of love calling their name.

Pity the fearful.

What are you doing right now?

Have you tried standing?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

The Ask

The difference between good and evil is that good asks and evil tells you.

PATTERN RECOGNITION TEST:

Goodness will ask only once.

Evil will search for every possible loophole to avoid doing what is right.

An example is don’t kill.

Evil will say, except for war…

Except for peace.

Except for race, for culture, for religion, for nationality, for crime, for birth, or just because the son of a bitch deserved it.

Goodness will ask us not to steal once.

Evil will say, except if you are an employee, an employer, an investment company, a charity, a religion, or a vulture capitalist.

A parent ignoring their child.

The ask comes at us every day.

Just like the old angel and devil on the shoulder routine in animated comedy shorts.

Goodness asks us to do the right thing.

Evil says it’s a waste of time, nobody cares, you deserve what you have, don’t share, what did they do, nothing, keep what you got, you’re a good person.

Don’t be a sucker.

Notice again the pattern.

Goodness asks once.

Assumes you are an adult and can remember to do the right thing.

Goodness assumes you don’t have to be constantly reminded to do good.

Evil is the adolescent mind looking for those loopholes so it doesn’t have to do any chores.

Yeah.

Yeah, doing right is a chore.

Doing right is not always convenient.

Evil knows this.

Evil leaders, whether in the world, in your circle of friends, in your family, evil knows you don’t want to get involved.

Take it easy, don’t worry; it will work itself out. Time will tell. You’re a great person; everyone knows it. You deserve what you have. What did anyone do for you? Blame those people!

Remember this…

The next time you are listening to someone come up with multiple reasons why they did something, why you should listen to them, they are most likely not acting in your best interest.

Only their own.

Freedom, liberty, and justice take vigilance.

It ain’t easy being free.

Someone will always have a shit load of reasons why you should take it easy.

Let your freedom go.

Blame.

Watch for the pattern.

Drop hate.

Be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Strange Things

When you carry the light of truth…

The darkness will come to put it out.

The darkness is drawn to the light.

But doesn’t like it.

Doesn’t accept it.

When you carry the light of truth…

You are a target.

You are the focus of forces that will attack you.

Humanity fears truth.

When you carry the light of truth…

You are a reminder of responsibility.

Responsibility to the lost, the broken, the sick, the ignorant, to those in want.

You are responsible for what you do.

What you represent.

How you are remembered.

When you carry the light of truth…

The forces of hate will growl at you.

They’ll take a bite and see if you will run.

But like an eight-year-old running through a crowd, hate losses focus.

Hate hates everything, which is why it spins and bites even at its own tale.

And yes, I mean ‘tale’, hate will destroy its own story if it conflicts or interferes with getting what it wants.

Every day, no matter the weather, the temperature, what has happened in my life, or the world, I take a walk.

My adult son joins me, and we traverse this corner of Burbank and Toluca Lake in a mile and a half circle.

I’ve come up with a theory, which is as good as any, as to why strange things happen to me on these journeys.

You may or may not know that I died back in 1977.

I’m not supposed to be here; I’m supposed to be dead.

Ever since then, the world has prevented me from fulfilling my dreams.

From telling you what’s on my heart.

It’s thrown every conceivable roadblock at me.

It’s stopped me from working for Disney by eliminating 2D animation.

It stopped me from being a marine artist by destroying the fine art print world.

It stopped me from being a film and TV concept artist due to one industry strike after another.

It stopped me from being a TV executive producer due to intellectual property theft.

I could go on and on.

The dark forces of the world, power, greed, and indifference, have stopped me at every endeavor.

Yet I still hold my light up.

On my walks, strange things happen to me.

Strangers stop me and start talking to me.

They tell me their life stories.

The homeless stop me and compliment me, not knowing me, saying I’m doing good work.

Dogs run up to me like I’m their lost friend.

Cars constantly try to run me down, even on the sidewalks.

Branches fall out of trees, and I have to jump out of the way.

Solicitors,  no matter what they are hawking, approach me and beat me with false platitudes.

Can’t say this enough, cars keep coming at me even if I’m standing on the sidewalk.

Maybe it’s just an LA thing.

There are just too many things thrown at me to list.

However, I’ve come to believe that the few words of truth I have, drop hate be hope, attracts the stranger things of this world.

It’s like dark energy; everything in the universe has a trail, a length of chain it drags behind itself, composed of dark matter.

From galaxies to human beings, everyone drags a chain of dark energy

When you carry the light of truth, I imagine you snag the dark energy of the world and pull it along behind yourself.

These things and worse can happen to you, too.

When you carry the light of truth.

Join me.

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

Time

Not enough.

Too much when you are young.

Too little when you have built regret.

What’s a good use of time?

Being busy.

Being busy with what?

That’s the question all of our lives ask.

What are we doing here?

It’s easier to see what others are doing with their time.

It’s easy to critique.

My time spent is better than your time spent.

Spending time is the illusion that time is a commodity.

A currency.

Something that can be earned.

Something borrowed.

Something spent.

I take time away from the unimportant to spend on what I want more of.

I want more time.

Time to relax.

To sleep.

To dream.

Time to run.

To sing.

To laugh.

Time to get what I don’t have.

Love.

Time.

Not enough.

Too much when you are young.

Too little when you’re trapped inside your regret.

Time to run.

Time to sing.

Time to laugh.

Not enough.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Out of Control

Why haven't you written as much lately?

My writing has slowed due to drawing a graphic novel entitled Highway.

Since there is only one of me, I've been concentrating on that to get it done as soon as possible.

One holiday after another, a birthday party, an urgent sizzle reel, and a broken-down car all hamper the graphic novels' advancement.

Just like you, we can't control everything in our lives.

Life gets in the way of our plans.

How far does your control extend?

What are the boundaries of what you believe you are in control of?

A person should know their limits.

Although some of us appear to ignore them.

Like, I can't control my family.

My 30-something children stopped listening to me when they realized I was human like them.

My wife doesn't listen to me.

But that's the secret to a good marriage.

Don't listen too closely if you want to stay married.

My friends sort of listen to me while I'm with them, but as soon as I leave, I know they are doing what they want to do.

As for strangers…

I'm asked at Disneyland a lot where the restrooms are…

That's because I wear all black and a sports jacket, which makes me look like security.

How far does your control extend?

I don't even listen to myself.

I tell myself I'm going to do this or that, and I generally do, but not on the schedule I thought I would.

Some of us just don't realize we control nothing.

We've built up elaborate stories telling ourselves we are in control and that everyone should think and behave just like us.

Why?

Because we're right and they're wrong.

Fascinating, isn't it?

They believe they are right and you are wrong.

Yet the history of truth is on our side.

When the false curtain of control is lifted, time reveals the truth.

Our beliefs form the foundation of a compassionate and loving human society.

Like when we believe that racism is wrong.

When we believe that fascism is wrong.

When we believe that power for the sake of power is wrong.

We believe in justice.

We believe in freedom.

We believe in the brotherhood of mankind.

These things, these truths, are in our control.

We can exercise these truths, take control, or we can let them go.

I hear my wife calling me…

Love and peace to you.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Precious Ignorance

When a person is willing to ignore the truth and accept fiction, they are afraid of the truth.

They will not respond to facts because they will have to face what keeps them trapped; they are more afraid of it than being wrong.

One of the craziest things the White race has persuaded itself to be true is that it is the majority.

At no time ever on this planet did the White race constitute the majority population.

The White race has always been a minority.

Both in terms of population and race.

The reason behind the myth of their dominance, both mentally and in population size, is rooted in fear.

Fear of the unknown.

"There be monsters here," at the edges of their maps.

Not rainbows and flowers or peace.

Monsters.

To the White European explorers, everyone they met was an animal…

No soul…

Not human.

Although the people they found were good enough to take their wealth and have sex with, they could not sit at the same table with them for a meal.

They were worthy of God's pity but not of the White race.

They were to be pitied, the non-white races.

That's what purgatory was for.

That's where God makes the decision to either allow them into 2nd class heaven or send them straight to hell.

Redemption for the non-white races...

All the non-white races would be told the truth of the son of God dying for them; they would be baptized, told wealth was a sin, their gold, silver, and jewels taken, and then these people would be executed, after which God would sort them out, each to their own worth.

Ignorance.

Precious ignorance.

It's a terrible thing, always living in fear.

It will make you paranoid.

But fear is a wall that you can hide behind.

It gives protection.

Comfort.

You don't have to participate.

Fear means you don't have to deal with those people on the other side of your wall.

You don't have to hear their cry.

You don't have to see their pain.

You don't have to feel.

Staying ignorant of what this world is all about is what humans do.

This is not a new story.

It repeats over and over.

The story is more important than the truth.

We all share the same boat in this world, but some passengers believe they have a golden ticket because of their race.

There is a lifeboat for them.

The rest of us in steerage will find it tough when the ship goes down.

Damn.

Damn us for not believing and recognizing that the White race is to rule the world.

That's what Trump represents.

The last great White hope for them.

Appointed by God…

Not making that up, people.

Please take a look at what his supporters are saying to each other on social media.

He'll make America great again because he will make it "White again."

They believe the myth he peddles.

The truth is that's not going to happen.

When the first White European explorer set out to discover what lay beyond the White map's borders, it marked the beginning of the world's unification.

As the centuries passed, borders merged, and languages consolidated.

In the future, humanity will be one.

One language.

One people.

The bell of Freedom rings, calling for the past to retire and heralding the future's entrance.

The only monster left on the map's border is ignorance.

I write this as an invitation to gather together to walk boldly into that light of truth where all are equal.

If you can walk around your wall…

Let it go and be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Meeting Disney

Dreams can come true.

But, almost always in unexpected ways.

As far back as I can remember, through my broken memory, I have been an artist.

Drawing, drawing, drawing.

As a child, my grandfather gave me shelf-paper to draw on.

I would draw the characters I loved from Saturday morning TV and hang these drawings on my bedroom wall.

Each Sunday evening in the 1960s, there were two TV shows on back-to-back in Cleveland, Ohio, on good old Channel 3, NBC.

First, there was Lassie.

The second is The Wonderful World of Color, hosted by Walt Disney.

As a child, I dreamed of working for Walt.

I'm wondering why it was a driving force to make that happen.

Time.

Time would take me on a journey to be the best artist I could be.

After getting married, having two children, and becoming a stay-at-home dad, I returned to school and earned my degree in art and physics.

Fate.

I came so close, but fate would wash away my lifelong dream.

Other people made decisions that led to the end of 2D animation at Disney, leaving many artists out in the cold.

My dream was shattered.

A lot of crying in the shower.

Eventually, I pieced together the idea of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry, specifically in Hollywood.

It was there that I met an actor, a part-time world-class magician named Steve Valentine.

We became friends, worked together, ate together, laughed, and cried.

Steve would have get-togethers with many of the people he came into contact with.

At one early get-together I attended, I was standing and talking with two older gentlemen.

We talked about this and that, and I asked What do you do?

They both said they were musicians.

"You either love us or hate us."

I said What have you composed?

Richard said, "It's a Small World."

What?

Did you say Small World?

"You either love us or hate us."

I laughed and said Are you crazy?

Really!

You are loved!

You are loved!

You are Gods of music, I told them.

The two gentlemen were Richard and Robert Sherman.

They composed all the music we associate with Disney.

Chim Chim Cher-ee, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Feed the Birds, Heffalumps and Woozles, I Wanna Be Like You, Jolly Holiday, Let's Go Fly A Kite, Little Black Rain Cloud, The Parent Trap, The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down, A Spoonful of Sugar, Step In Time, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Winnie the Pooh, just to name the tip of the iceberg of their music.

This meeting wasn't just once or twice, but over many years; we would stand and sit together at Steve's parties, share stories with each other, and eat cake.

We sat down and ate cake together.

Laughing.

Today...

Today, as I walked down Main Street at Disneyland...

I stopped by their window dedicated to the Sherman Brothers at the Music Shop.

I thought about my dream of working for Disney…

Tears came down...

I shook the hands that shook the hand of Walt.

I looked into the eyes that looked at Walt.

I laughed and ate cake with the brothers, who laughed and ate cake with Walt.

I was struck…

The universe...

The universe has a strange way of making dreams come true.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Stop Talking

Observation…

Why is it that our conservative brothers and sisters feel the need to tell us who they are constantly?

Telling us even if we already know…

Conservatives can't stop telling us...

They love America.

They are Christian.

They are heterosexual.

They are pro-second Amendment.

They are pro-life.

They are pro-billionaire.

They are pro-Putin.

They are pro-MAGA.

They are pro-Trump.

They are anti-immigrant.

They are anti-Islamic.

They are anti-brown people.

They are anti-gay.

They are anti-green.

They are anti-science

They are anti-free speech.

They are anti-Democrat.

Conservatives.

I grew up in and around a very conservative, far-right Christian family and friends, and I have first-hand experience being told over and over again, as if I'm an idiot, their ideology.

Their political beliefs.

As if I'm an idiot who can't remember you don't like to drive in bad neighborhoods, White racist code for the black neighborhoods.

You don't like to send your kids to schools that aren't White.

You don't like living next to people who don't attend your church.

Over and over and over again.

I'm tired of it.

This is a rant!

There are only so many times I can hear their bullshit in 63 years of living on this planet that Jesus loves me and died for my sins.

I get it!

I understand the story.

Please, please, please!

I don't need it repeated to me over and over as if I have no long-term memory.

I saw Old Yeller once.

Once!

I don't need to see it ever again.

Ever!

I get it.

I understand that you don't like the changes you see in the world.

I understand giving anyone the ability to make a decision for you who is not a White male land owner is an abomination sent from Satan.

I understand you don't like to share.

You don't see, you don't like to share.

But I see you don't like to share anything.

You want everyone to know how important you are.

How you are better than everyone else?

I know you think that it's true.

Believe me, I know you think you are granted a special dispensation to rule the world because you're White.

I can hear you.

I can hear you!

I can hear you!

Stop talking.

Listen…

Listen to what you sound like?

Listen to the venom.

Listen to the hate.

Listen to the driver in your life called anger.

Consider…

Instead of talking to me, start talking to yourself.

Start telling yourself you can be loved.

Start telling yourself you can be forgiven.

Start letting yourself just be.

Just be.

Let it go.

And then…

Come join us where the world is full of joy.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Changes

Since the beginning, humanity has used every ounce of strength in its imagination in wanting to believe that change doesn’t happen.

Cave paintings, scrolls, religion, books, plays, philosophy, photography, film, radio, TV, politics, and war all have espoused a belief that change shouldn’t and can’t happen.

Big problem, though…

The fundamental property of this universe we all live in is change.

Everything from galaxies to microbes all change.

Evolve.

Die.

Born.

So, anyone or anything trying to stop change from happening is on the losing side of the universe.

Not in touch with reality.

Trying to stop change from happening you just can’t win.

It’s called impossible.

Now, understandably, change is not always welcome.

None of us want to get old.

None of us want to lose the people, the things we love.

But their all going to change.

It’s human not to want things to change.

It’s fundamental to the origins of humanity to want things to be the same.

Repeatable.

Established.

Regular.

Predictable.

That way, we all can make plans and not have them ruined by a rainstorm stopping our picnic.

But… shit happens.

So, if you think about it, and it’s obvious not many people do, why do we invest our time, our money, our blood, sweat, and tears into ideas that try to prevent change?

Fear.

Fear is the spider at the center of the web.

Change represents unpredictable outcomes.

What if people are free?

What if people can marry who they want?

What if people can be who they are?

What if people want to be equal?

What if people want to be loved?

All these and more represent fear to a community and the individuals who do not want the rain to cancel their picnic.

Yeah, so it was okay to free black people from slavery as long as no one was inconvenienced.

It was all right to give women the right to vote because most women couldn’t be bothered.

It was fair to desegregate schools and communities because we weren’t going to fund those schools and communities after.

My point is that change, for better or worse, will continue to happen, but not as expected.

With change, there will always be outcomes that are not predictable.

That’s what change is.

That’s why I’m trying to get the attention of my conservative brothers and sisters and help them put into perspective their fear of change.

When gays got the right to marry, did frogs rain out of the sky?

When blacks got to vote, there were no more white elected officials, right?

When women entered the workforce, no man was ever hired again, correct?

No, none of those things happened.

Life went on.

When change happens, will things be different?

Yes, they will be different.

And that’s the beauty of change.

Where once there was a dead, dry seed, once planted, from that seed grows a tree under which the children and the children’s children of the planter will live, love, and know peace.

Life is a circle always turning.

Change is gonna come…

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

We Help

What are you doing with your life?

Are you helping or causing problems?

You help.

A person is coming through the door, and you hold it open for them.

That man needs a meal you feed him.

That girl needs a new school book; you get it for her.

You help.

That woman is grieving; you sit and listen.

That young man needs a job; you hire them.

The old man at the store is lonely; you say hello.

You help.

If you're not helping, you're hurting.

If you're not lifting up, you're putting down.

If you're not caring, you're evil.

If you're not doing your best, it's a lifeless existence.

Life is about growing out of your comfortable shell and caring for those around you.

What does it take to make the blind see?

What does it take to make the deaf hear?

What does it take to make the heartless love?

The truth?

The truth means nothing to the selfish.

There is nothing any of us alone can do to make the stubborn, self-righteous, selfish person join the human race.

Nothing.

What we can do is join with the living, move forward to that bright community of love, and just in case…

We can keep that door open to freedom from fear.

Why?

Because history has shown that someday, in some way, the fearful, selfish person will open their minds and join us.

Until then…

We press forward.

We open doors.

We expand liberty, freedom, and justice for all.

We help.

Not just for those we love.

But also, more importantly, for those we don't know.

Love has no limit.

The only limit that can be put on love is in our hearts and minds.

Cut loose, be free, and see what is possible when you pursue Truth.

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

Empathy What Is It Good For?

I see things normal people don't.

I feel things normal people don't.

I hear things normal people don't.

Because of what I see, feel, and hear, it drove me to end my life.

The world was too much for me. 

I couldn't take the daily abuse after living in a world a life of hate for 55 years.

Casual cruelty bolstered with a good dose of hypocrisy.

My daily diet.

Everyone around me talks a good game but never follows through with what love requires of all of us.

I had mistakenly, it turned out, convinced myself there was no more love.

No more love in the world.

No more love for me.

My life had dried up.

I was a loser.

No career.

No job.

No money.

No friends.

No dreams.

Everything I pursued failed.

By every measure of our Western society, I'm a washout.

I couldn't understand why people were so uncaringly cruel.

Cruel to each other.

Cruel to the people I love.

Cruel to me.

Stop! Stop! Stop!

A little voice told me to stop.

Don't leave yet.

That little voice of a friend asked me to give love one more chance.

I had no more trust left in me.

I no longer knew what was right or wrong.

I didn't care anymore.

So I listened.

And listened.

I learned that I wasn't entirely wrong.

The world doesn't understand love like I do.

It doesn't.

At 55, I was diagnosed as an INFJ empath.

I was correct in being depressed with the world around me.

As Dylan sings, how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?

I had heard that song since it was first released.

Nobody was listening.

Nobody.

I pleaded with the sky…

You can't hear people cry.

You can't hear me.

What is normal?

What is normal.

Empaths are not normal.

I'm not normal.

I know now why I'm not normal now.

I see, feel, and hear things the average person doesn't.

Just like a dog who can see, hear, and smell things people can't.

You have to ask yourself...

Follow me...

Do dogs live a better life than you or not?

The dog can hear that tear that falls in the silence of your room.

The dog can see the lonely person sitting awake all night in the darkness.

The dog can smell the fear of life and death you breathe.

Dogs and empaths are alike that way.

I'm here to tell you it's not a good thing to feel the pain of everyone around you.

Empathy: What Is It Good For?

I have since learned to build filters, barriers, and boundaries over the past six years.

Boundaries that keep most of the flood of emotions from other people from drowning me.

I listened to that small voice tell me I needed to be what I was born to be.

No longer in pain, but to be free and let the world know it can do better.

To be on guard.

To sound a warning.

Now, while the world sleeps.

While the dark side of humanity works to take love out of the world.

I'm the dog in the yard.

Outside tied up…

I see that shadow at your door...

I'm the dog barking in the night.

Wake up!

Wake up!

There's danger at your door.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Beginnings

Life begins when you realize you are not the only person who needs love.

Children believe they are the center of the world.

Nothing can tell them differently.

Their wishes, their demands, and their worldview place them at the center.

Nothing exists beyond the realm of the child’s mind.

They do not understand the importance of a reasonable bedtime.

They can’t subsist on cookies.

Every want, every whim must be fulfilled ASAP.

The adult, the caretaker, is there to fulfill their prejudiced view of how the world works.

Me... me... me...

Only life experience will have a chance to break through their cosmic certainty.

It will happen when...

The first time, they feel hungry, and there’s no food that night.

The first time they see their caretaker cry.

The first time a wish goes unanswered.

Slowly…

Slowly…

Given enough time, this child will grow up and hear other voices besides their own.

The voice of despair.

The voice of fear.

Even, even the voice of hope.

The voice of love.

Every human who has ever lived or shall live goes through this cycle.

But not all come out the other side genuinely alive.

Awake.

Childhood is a type of shell.

A prison.

A shell that keeps the mind safe from reality.

Too soon.

Experience like a hammer raps raps raps on that shell, asking each of us to come out and play.

Join the party.

Not everyone can break the shell of childhood.

Forever caught in their own head, they can’t hear other people cry.

They refuse to hear the call for justice.

For freedom.

For hope.

For equality.

They know they are safe in their shell.

For love which reaches its never-ending arms around all.

Society, like a forest, is filled with life.

Some are sprouting, some are growing, some have lived a lifetime, and winter has come.

While others are still in the ground, in their shell, waiting for that drop of human kindness, that drop of reality, to break their shell and let them grow.

To begin.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Where We Stand

Right and wrong.

Right and left.

Right and doing nothing.

Right, and being alone.

Right is right.

What are the consequences of doing right?

It takes energy to do what is right as much as it takes to do what is wrong.

For the most part, most of us like to stand in the gray area.

That place in-between where we don't have to react.

We don't have to lift a finger.

We don't have to have any anxiety.

We don't have to fear if we are right or wrong.

The silent majority.

We can be left alone.

A truth.

To set a standard and to declare what is right versus what is wrong ultimately will shine the spotlight of scorn and ridicule upon you.

Why?

Do you know the old adage about the crabs in a barrel?

One of the crabs wanted to know what was outside of its world.

What was outside of the barrel that all of the other crabs were trapped in?

There were tales of the great beyond where everything you ever wanted came true.

There were also tales of monsters of dark creatures that would devour you.

This crab decided to crawl out despite being warned that it would be dangerous, as its fellow crabs had advised against it.

Well, just as the crab started to crawl out, the other crabs grabbed hold of it and pulled it back into the barrel.

Ultimately, they all found themselves on that night's menu.

They made their own worst fears come true.

They did nothing.

Doing what's right makes people angry.

Why?

It forces a spotlight upon their own lives, revealing their apathy.

Their nihilism.

Their unwillingness to put out the fire.

They don't want that hot light upon them to say what is right because they don't want to face the possibility that they might be wrong.

Even in the face of certitude, what is obviously the right thing to do.

If a child is sexually attacked, the person obfuscates and pretends they don't actually see.

They don't understand why they have a responsibility to step in and stop it.

Christians have a misinterpretation of the biblical passage of not judging others.

All recorded civilizations and societies have had a sense of morality.

What is right and what is wrong.

If judging were wrong, there would be no courts and no one in prison for theft, rape, or murder.

Anarchy would rule.

Taking a stand throughout the history of humankind against what is wrong has placed obvious targets upon these individuals who did.

But let's bring it down to everyday living?

The next time you're at dinner with your family and your uncle makes a racist joke, do you call them out on it?

When you're on the bus, and your bag is sitting on the seat next to you, do you pick it up so that the stranger can have a seat?

When you see a cop beating up on a guy, do you call for restraint?

You can see that your congressional district is gerrymandered.

Do you call out your politicians to make it fair for all voters?

If you know a neighbor is alone during this time of the pandemic, do you check in with them to see if they need anything?

These are a few examples of doing the right thing in everyday life.

They may be easy for you, difficult for others.

Doing the right thing will always bring about consequences.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Doing the right thing in the face of wrong, doing the right thing ultimately in the face of evil, will leave you in an empty space.

Separated from the crowd.

I've personally found myself many times in that lonely space.

Most days, I feel like I stand at the edge of an abyss, calling out but hearing nothing coming back.

I recognize it is a tired world we all live in.

Now, we are more separated because of this health crisis.

The effort to do what is right is neglected by many.

Given lip service by most.

The darkness of the world is borne by a few.

As Mark Twain said, "Wages of doing what is right versus what is wrong is the same."

Most of what we do on this journey called life will never be recognized or appreciated beyond our own recollection of events.

Our good works will be buried with us.

However…

Count me as standing against evil till the end of time.

Standing against the wicked.

Standing against the corrupt.

A warrior for the light.

Giving comfort to the tired, the lonely, the sick.

For it is only in that blessed light that, once shown into darkness, can it release the enslavement of man's mind to the shackles of other people's tyranny.

We are bound together.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Where Is Love

Oliver Twist in the musical Oliver laments and prays about the whereabouts of love while he's locked in the basement of a funeral parlor where he's an indentured servant.

This scene is no allegory.

There are no hidden meanings here.

He's trapped in a dark world where the light of love refuses to shine for him.

I want to ask the same question, where is love?

A lot of us think we know what it means.

We believe we have it, want it, can express it, and know when it's being shown towards us.

But knowing the definition doesn't mean we can actually do it.

I know the definition of a pole-vaulter, but if I attempted an even modest leap, my lack of understanding of its meaning would result in a spectacular YouTube-worthy fail.

I have no experience or success at pole vaulting.

Love is an ideal that many attempt, but few will be able to stick the landing.

However, you can find a few gold medal winners Mother Teresa, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Lao Tzu…

Strong voices of love are not only in the past.

You can find among all of us strong hearts who can lead a workout class in love.

Love is the hardest emotion to understand with the intellect; it defies logic because it's the language of the soul, the song of the heart.

We're all tone-deaf; we can't hear the melody or the lyric.

Like Oliver, we're all locked in a dark world that mistreats us, batters our souls misshapes our perceptions, ignites anger, walls out understanding, and whispers lies telling us we're misunderstood, alone, unwanted.

We cannot tell the difference between the noise of fear and the soft whisper of love.

Be the answer to Oliver's prayer.

Act with love.

Do it today.

Please do it for yourself first.

If you can't forgive yourself, you can't forgive others.

To love the world begins by loving yourself.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Stronger Together

One day, you may find that person you love, and they will love you back.

Stronger together.

That time when you were on top of a ladder, and that friend held tight at the bottom until your work was done.

Stronger together.

When your mother kept you home because you were sick.

Stronger together.

That night, when you got a flat tire and called for help.

Stronger together.

One night, it was late; a mother and a father got a call that their son was in an accident.

The nurse couldn't tell them what was wrong until they showed up at the emergency room.

Once they got to the hospital, the nurse could answer their questions.

Their son had been drinking, and he had run a red light and struck a utility pole.

No one else was hurt.

The father could have come down hard on his son and told him never to darken his door again.

The mother could have screamed and yelled and demanded why her son could make her life so miserable.

They both could have made the actions of their son about themselves.

However, their son was no longer a boy; he was a man.

He bore the responsibility of a man.

Of an adult.

They came to his bedside and told their son that together, they'd find the answers.

Together, they can weather the storm.

Together, they are stronger.

A storm of another kind has found its way into the heart of America.

A storm of the soul.

Dissolution of the conscious.

A thunder of misplaced rage.

A flood of half-truths mixed with a hailstorm of outright lies.

A belief that has been cultivated by activists and opportunists of a kind of White American Apartheid.

A division between them and us.

Right and left.

Good and evil.

A propaganda that your absence of economic security is because the other has taken your fair share.

The other is responsible for all your problems.

I'm here to say that's a load of horse shit.

It may grow roses, but it's hard to swallow.

This division, sewn by these opportunists, pushes the buttons of the disenfranchised.

You tell a generational factory worker their job is now gone because those union people asked for too many benefits when the truth is the owner of the company, whose God is profit, moved the company to maximize their investor's profit share.

It has been the same damn story for all of human history.

The rich and powerful, the few, continue to pit the poor, the majority, against each other.

Consequently, the majority never hold those responsible for life's misery accountable.

The powerful know they must keep the people segregated and divided to maintain their hold on the reins of power.

Otherwise, a true democracy might break out…

They know we are stronger together.

Stronger together.

The wind is howling outside.

For that matter, the wind is howling in a lot of homes across America, too.

That wind is saying we don't need those people.

That wind says we can do it by ourselves.

That wind that whips up rage, hate, anger.

There can be no peace without honesty.

One day, a man took some friends fishing.

While out on that lake, a storm came up.

The people in the boat became afraid.

They began to blame each other for even considering they could venture into the unknown.

Their fear turned to rage.

Some wanted to turn back; they were afraid of the unknown.

The others wanted to get to the other side of the lake; they were afraid of where they had come from.

Both sides blamed each other because they both believed there was no hope.

They began to fight each other.

They saw the worst in each other.

The storm was going to send them to the bottom of the sea, and it was the other side's fault.

How could we be to blame, "Aren't we better sailors than them?"

Then, the boat's owner, the adult at the wheel, told the wind to be silent.

The rage stopped.

The boat owner told his friends, Don't you see you're all in the same boat together.

Your fear is our fear.

Your hope is our hope.

Your love is our love.

We are stronger together.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Without Our Permission

Change happens without our permission.

That's a fact of this Universe.

The Universe does not wait for our approval.

You can have an opinion about it, but it doesn't change the facts.

Can you stop the tide from rolling in?

Can you stop your child from growing?

Can you stop the sun from setting?

No, you can't.

I can't either.

Nobody can.

Change is the fundamental nature of life.

We are born, we live a life, and then we die.

At each step along that path, we find that the world changes around us as we change.

Some of the changes are welcome.

The look on your child's face as they master riding a bike.

Watching your daughter's face as she marries the person she loves.

That new job you've worked so long and hard for.

Suddenly it's gone.

Gone.

Some changes are not welcome.

Your dog is ill and needs to be put down.

There's no work in your town anymore.

The McRib will no longer be sold.

The biggest unwanted change…

The death of a loved one.

Today, March 24th, 2018, in the streets of America and around the world, a collective shout demanding change was issued.

A choice, a demand that life be preserved versus the right to kill.

Why do we reserve the right to kill in this nation?

Could it be the lingering cancer on our soul of racism?

Fear of the other?

Fear of the stranger?

A new voice was raised today to join the old chorus of the past.

Its beat and melody are unfamiliar to the ears of an older generation, yet, at its heart, its driving beat is as familiar as that old gospel sung by other marchers for freedom from tyranny.

Change comes without our permission.

You can be part of the solution, or you can step aside.

A better world, free of the fear of gun violence, has always been in our hands to make real.

The spirit of their children has lifted up the eyes of a nation.

March for Our Lives.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Lift Them Up

Walking into my favorite coffee spot the other day, the hostess Josseline looked tired. 

"How are you today, Josseline," I asked?

She smiled, "No one ever asks how I'm doing. Thank you."

Lift them up.

Some girls were out in front of the grocery store the other day selling Girl Scout cookies. 

They had their learned lines down asking each person as they went by to please purchase their cookies. 

Many did.

An old woman walked by. 

They asked her if she would buy some of their delicious cookies. 

She said she liked to, but she didn't have extra money. 

One of the girls handed her a box for free.

Lift them up.

This coming Saturday, March 24th, from 10 AM to 2 PM starting at Pershing Square, 582 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA,

March For Our Lives is holding a rally and a march.

Everyone is welcome, not just students and teachers affected by the rule of the gun in our land.

Wait!

Listen...?

Did you hear that…?

Do you hear it?

People, a nation, a time when voices filled with fear call out collectively for justice.

A sound heard through the long halls history foretells of a building wave. 

A wave built upon the broken and shattered lives cut short by the tyranny of a few men over the many.

Lift them up.

Why can't some people hear other people crying?

Why can't some people see the suffering people not like them

Why do some people turn their backs when they can help stop injustice?

Fear of change clouds the eye.

Fear of change darkens the heart.

Fear of change binds the hands.

Fear of the stranger resists compassion.

Lift them up.

You can read the writing on the wall.

You can see the summer change to fall and then to winter. 

You can see the tide roll in and out. 

You can witness the sunrise in the East and set in the West.

But can you see the despair in others, not like yourself?

Can you feel what it is like to live in fear of death?

Can we as a people ask everyone to be responsible? 

Everyone.

Is that too much to ask for? 

Is that a bridge too far? 

A shore too distant? 

Are we collectively going to fall into a trap set by profiteers of death?

The profiteers who stoke the fears of the unknown. 

Who whisper horrible intent of races not your own. 

Who raised up Jesus yet tell us that even the man of peace would have a conceal-carry under his robe.

That if everyone carried a gun, we would all be safe?

I tell you that's a lie.

It is a lie made by dark-hearted men to make a profit out of the fearful.

To tell you the truth…

I can tell you there will never be a time in your whole life that you will you ever be safe.

Never.

That is the reality.

The story that many believe is if you live a good life, worship the right god, live in the right neighborhood, drive the right car, marry the right person, go to the right school, get the good job, mind your own business, mow your lawn, keep your house painted, donate to charity, care for your family, that somehow through all these things you will be kept safe by an invisible spirit.

You will not be given anything you cannot bear…

That's a story.

It is not reality.

There are some storms we cannot bear…

Bad things happen to everyone. 

You can't stop it.

Death claims everyone.

You get just one chance at this life.

But you can, with compassion, do the thing that we all can recognize as the right thing to do.

You can reach out and take a hand that reaches for help.

You can reach out and hold that person who is afraid.

You can lift them up.

Stand with us on March 24th everywhere in our nation.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Most of all, for life.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby