An invitation to be bold

I learned early on that words were powerful.  I knew it when I saw the locked doors of the libraries at my school and in my community.  I felt it the first time I saw an anti-Shah slogan on the walls of a London Tube station.  I believed it when a story about a little fish who wanted to see the world was banned and its author censored.  So when I got my first journal, I was afraid.  I was afraid of putting down my thoughts and feelings, lest the words get me in trouble or worse, get someone else in trouble.

It takes courage to write, no matter the genre.  Every thought put into words has the power to rearrange the molecules in the universe.  If it is a positive, constructive thought; if it has the potential to change even one mind for the better, then it is the responsibility of the writer to put it down on paper.

I haven't filled any journals yet but I too love the feel of the fresh, clean paper and the touch of the exotic cover.  All an invitation to be bold.              -Susan

Blank but full of possibilities

I walk past the aisle filled with my favorite chocolate cookies, the evidence of them still being carried in my midsection.  The vitamin aisle causes me no pause, and I ignore my moms advice ringing in my ears to buy the Women's One a Day I ran out of a month ago.  Being pulled past the aisles full of make-up, although I am in desperate need of some new blush, maybe even some new eyeshadow.  I can't fight the force.  My feet know where to go, I don't even have to think about it.  I arrive and stop in front of my destination.  The colors blend together like a a precious work of art belonging in a museum.  My fingers caress the delicate fabrics, the beautiful images, and the strong bindings that hold everything together. My chosen gem is sitting on the very top shelf.  The smell of the blank pages fills my mind with words, stories, poetry, images of things and people I want to hold on too forever.  I don't know why the blank pages of a journal call to me as strongly as they do.  I do know, however, that more than the keeper of my secrets, it opens a world full of wonder and possibilities.

~Esmeralda