Category Archives: poems from bjpoems.com

A White Privilege Check

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This is from Facebook. My answer is the last section of this post.

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There was a poster that suggested doing a white privilege check. It said to reply only if you are white and have worked since you were a kid. It was posted by Annie Kay on June 8 at 10:47 AM.

Mike Phillips

July 15, 2020, at 4:13 PM

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Bonnie Jean Hern
Started babysitting when I was 10 or 11 years old. Have loved children ever since then. Was on the work study program when I was in the business college. And started working at The United Communities Fund in Norfolk, Virginia within two weeks after I graduated from the business college. I and worked in Virginia until I moved to Kentucky when I got married in 1974, and in Kentucky, until I became disabled and lost both my permanent full time job with a bank, and my permanent part time job with a security guard company. That was June 9, 1990. Once i got stabilized on my medicine, I went to a community college and after graduation started another bank job. It lasted from March of 2000 until November of 2004. I haven’t worked since then other than a few volunteer jobs. . I have done volunteer work at four nursing homes during the years, where I was either just spending time with the patients and reading to them, or I was feeding the patients and helping with other personal duties for them. So, you see, I have tried to keep going until just these past two years. My last surgery and has just about stopped me in my tracks. I now have a caregiver 5 hours a day Monday through Saturday each week. The surgeries that I still need to have in the future have been put on hold indefinitely.
4min
August 2, 2020, at 10:34 PM

I Always Get Up!

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This is from Facebook. Probably, if the truth be told, most everybody can relate to some if not all of what this says. I know that I can. To me, I relate it to “What God Hath Promised”. When life knocks you down, God will give you the strength to get back up – just ask Him. If all you ever see is the good things that you want to see, then when the bad things come, you won;t know what to do to be able to get back up- ask God. If all you ever had was success, then you would be devastated by the failures when and if they ever came-trust God. No matter what befalls you, God can help you and will carry you if you cannot walk by yourself. You may be wondering how I know this. The answer is that I have experienced it and always called on God to get me through. And He did. Why did he do that for me? Because “God Is Awesome”, and I’m a Child of God.

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Image may contain: ocean and sky, text that says 'Life has knocked me down a few times. It has shown me things I never wanted to see. I have experienced sadness and failures. But one thing is for sure....I always get up! -Unknown cure.'

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One of my talents is my ability to write poetry. I have won awards, honorable mention awards, and editors choice awards with many of my poems.The one posted below is one of these poems that is special to me.

Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win

Winners never quit and quitters never win

For if you’re a quitter then you’ve stopped trying and given in

A fighter never won a fight with delivering a powerful blow

A runner never won a race by running very slow

This is how it goes in everyone’s life

Even in the middle of turmoil and strife

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Is a phrase that helps people do a lot of growing

They say “The best things in life are free.”

And that “No one ever said the way would be easy.”

There are so many different walks in life

Here too you have to decide what for you will be right

If by chance the first one you choose doesn’t work

Don’t be a quitter but a winner and for another one look

For you can’t give up if you want to win

Because winners never quit and quitters never win

ONE WHO IS GOING TO BE A WINNER

Bonnie Jean

November 11, 1989

This poem won an Honorable Mention March 31, 1991 from the World Of Poetry.

 

You Need To Set High Goals For Yourself

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There is a poem that I heard years ago. For whatever reason, the poem has intrigued me every time that I have thought about it. The poem has helped me through things that not many people have thought that I could do.

The title of this blog is an excerpt from the introduction to the poem. The full introduction is, “Be positive, set high goals for yourself and expect the same of others.”

The title of the poem is, “It Couldn’t Be Done”, the Author is Edgar A. Guest. I have copied the poem below.

       It Couldn’t Be Done

BY EDGAR ALBERT GUEST
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
      But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
      On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
      At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
      Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
      There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
      The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
      Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
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There is one other thing that has helped to give me a push. I first heard this song and watched the cartoon when I was four or five years old. It’s the song about the little engine that could. I looked up the lyrics and copied them here. The song was written by Watty Piper in 1930 and was sung by Burl Ives in the cartoon that I saw.

The Little Engine That Could

There was a little railroad train with loads and loads of toys
All starting out to find a home with little girls and boys
And as that little railroad train began to chug along
The little engine up in front was heard to sing this song

Choo choo, choo choo, choo choo, choo choo, I feel so good today
Oh, clear the track, oh clickety clack, Ill go my merry way

The little train went roaring on, so fast, it seemed to fly
Until it reached a mountain rising almost to the sky
The little engine moaned and groaned and huffed and puffed away
But halfway to the top it just gave up and seemed to say

I cant go on, I cant go on, Im weary as can be
I cant go on, I cant go on, this job is not for me

The toys got out to push but all in vain alas, alack
And then a great big engine came a whistling down the track
They asked if it would kindly pull them up the mountain side
But with a high and mighty sneer it scornfully replied

Dont bother me, dont bother me to pull the likes of you
Dont bother me, dont bother me, Ive better things to do

The toys all started crying cause that engine was so mean
And then there came another one, the smallest ever seen
But though it seemed that she could hardly pull herself along
She hitched on to the train and as she pulled she sang this song

I think I can, I think I can, I think I have a plan
And I can do ‘most anything if I only think I can

Then up that great big mountain with the cars all full of toys
And soon they reached the waiting arms of happy girls and boy
And though that ends the story it will do you lots of good
To take a lesson from the little engine that could

Just think you can, just think you can, just have that understood
And very soon youll start to say, I always knew I could

I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could
I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could

Songwriters

Read more: Burl Ives – The Little Engine That Could Lyrics | MetroLyrics

The moral of both instances is to never give up, and always have confidence in yourself. Even if you fail, you learn from the failure what not to do the next time. You need to try, whatever it was that you failed to do, yet another time. And if by chance you fail again, do it over another time. Never, never, never give up.

 

This also backs up, to a degree, a poem that I wrote many years ago titled “Winners Never Quit And Quitters Never Win”. I have referred to the poem before, and copied it for my readers, but it is one of those things that can be copied every now and then just to refresh my readers memories. I am copying it here again.

WINNERS NEVER QUIT AND QUITTERS NEVER WIN

Winners never quit and quitters never win,

For if you’re a quitter then you’ve stopped trying and given in.

A fighter never won a fight with delivering a powerful blow.

A runner never won a race by running very slow.

This is how it goes in everyone’s life,

Even in the middle of turmoil and strife.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Is a phrase that helps people do a lot of growing.

They say “The best things in life are free.”,

And that “No one ever said the way would be easy.”

There are so many different walks in life,

Here too you have to decide what for you will be right.

If by chance the first one you choose doesn’t work,

Don’t be a quitter but a winner and for another one look.

For you can’t give up if you want to win,

Because winners never quit and quitters never win.

ONE WHO IS GOING TO BE A WINNER

Bonnie Jean

November 11, 1989

This poem won an Honorable Mention March 31, 1991 from the World Of Poetry.

 

 

Which Has A Greater Impact – Those People Known Short or Long Time?

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The article below the first divider line, and the picture with the message in it, were on Facebook a while back. I felt that the message was a very important one, and one that needed to be expounded upon. What I wrote is below the divider line.

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There comes a point in your life when you realize who really matters, who never did, and who always will. When other people treat you poorly, walk away, smile, and keep being YOU. Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are.

Impact From Short relationships vs Impact From Long relationships

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Long time friends are friends that have been with you for many years, and are always there for you. Like I have heard people say, “A Good Friend will visit you in jail, but a Best Friend will stay with you in jail.”

Some friends have been with you ever since you can remember what friends were all about. They build you up, and you learn from them constantly. They also let you know when you are doing things that are not so nice. Even though what they tell you may hurt, you listen to them, because you know that they are telling you whatever it is for your own good and with love in their hearts. They only want what is best for you. You know without a shadow of a doubt that they were put in your life for a reason. The love that you have between you is like the love I wrote about in the poem below.

THE  GROWING  LOVE

There is a special kind of love.

You find it among close friends.

This is called a growing love,

The kind that never ends.

Sometimes you think it’s gone away.

But it’s only taking a rest.

This love is here to stay.

It will out stand every test.

It starts out very small,

Like the little buds in spring.

But then it covers all,

Like a Mama bird and her babies with her wings.

With Love,

Bonnie Jean

Here is a poem about friends and loved ones that I wrote many years ago.

FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES

Friends are people who, to you, are near;

Loved ones are people who, to you, are dear

Friends may be loved ones and loved ones may be friends

But with both your love you give and theirs you win

You are a friend and a loved one too

I hope my love is shown to you

You helped me with music and music is dear

For when the heart is sad, music brings it good cheer

Music has helped me and helped you too

So when I hear it or play it I will think of you

Although sometimes we will be far away

The thought of you will never go away

I will never forget you wherever I go

I will send you letters so this you will know

Bonnie Jean

August 20 1972

Below is yet another poem I wrote about friendship. I hope that these three poems have made it clear that we all need friends.

FRIENDSHIP

F un being together

R egardless of the weather

I nterested in similar things

E njoying the happiness that it brings

N eeds are met in a special way

D oing for each other along the way

S tories and secrets easily share

H earts poured out because they care

I nspiration you give and take

P eace is the product that you make

 And when you see what is here,

It’s the best thing anywhere.

 For everybody needs to have friendship,

No matter how many people are in their kinship.

 Bonnie Jean

 July 8, 1991

Another type of friends are the ones that are usually referred to as “Good Weather Friends”. This means that they are only there when things are going good for you. As soon as things start going south, they take off. Some of them may even be the reason why things are not going very well. It isn’t until after they have left, and are no longer in the picture that you realize why they were in your life to start with. They were in your life to teach you a valuable life lesson,  to show you that not all people are good, and not all people can be trusted. Usually these “friends” ( if you want to continue to call them that) are not in your life very long. You realize that when the going became rough, they also got going, right out of your life. They didn’t want to stay around and suffer with you through the bad times. So, in essence, their staying only a short time was a good thing.

There are some times when a person is only in our lives, less than or a little over a year, and they pass away. When this happens, especially to an infant, we can’t help but to wonder why. Then we realize that it was to teach us to love and make attachments to people in a short time. In other words, to take a chance, that it is going to make a difference for us. And once the passing has occurred, we learn how to accept and handle the different stages of grief. In that lesson we learn that different people handle things in different ways and at different speeds. So this is an instance where the person being in our life only for a short time was good for us.

When we move to a new neighborhood, whether it is close to us, or far away from our current residence, we have to exhibit different qualities. These qualities include having courage, having self respect, and having the willingness to make the first step to meet the new neighbors. However, if the neighbor makes the first move to welcome us to the neighborhood, we have to exhibit the same qualities to accept their good will. The people may end up being our new best friends. Even if we only stay in that neighborhood a few years, in that short time we gained a new friend. In everything that we do, we grow and learn new things. The people that are in our lives help us to accomplish the growth that we gain.

We are the only one that has the ability to figure out just why a particular person is or was in our life. Is or was this person in our life to teach us humility and how to show compassion for someone, or to teach us not to be so trusting in people that may be taking us for a spin, so to speak? It’s all up to us individually to figure it out. We have to do our best to have a level head about our decisions, and to live with the decision that we make..