Poetic Rambling

I write a lot
I read a lot
I used to cry and weep a lot
I have a tendency a lot
To think a thought
I think a lot
I like to think outside the box
I have a strong belief in God
And wear a rosary a lot
I'm into history a lot
It really interests me a lot
I'm usually fidgeting a lot
I like my friend Nikki a lot
To me she really means a lot
Honestly I think she's awesome
She's the best friend that I've got
Now I'd like to change the topic
Because I would like to comment
On the fact that now
We have a black man in the oval office
I voted for McCain and Palin
But I'm glad that times are changing
It's amazing how far this country's come
Since the days of slavery
And it's crazy how many babies are making babies these days
They can't be teenagers
Because they're busy teen aging
As a result of the toll
That raising a child is taking
Seventeen year old adolescents
Become old before they're eighteen
And who could forget September eleventh?
That was the day that hijacked planes
Crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers
Bringing down the Twin Towers and killing thousands
At which point George W. Bush called for war
And weapons of mass destruction
Became everyday discussion among Americans
Every American of middle eastern decent
Was suddenly a terrorist
It was the scariest
And I wish that all this
Would just cease to exist
So we could all coexist
Though I know it won't happen
I still can imagine what John Lennon imagined

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was born into a noble family in Naples in the year 1225. It was there that he became interested in the work of Aristotle. In 1243 he decided he wanted to join the Dominican order. His brothers tried to get him to change his mind about the order by kidnapping and imprisoning him for two years as well as trying to tempt him with a prostitute. He scared her off with a firebrand, and burned a crucifix on his door. After his brothers gave up, he joined the order. He was then sent to Cologne and Paris where he was the student of Albertus Magnus, an Aristotelian teacher. In 1257 he got his master's degree and teaching license. He traveled and taught at a plethora of European places of learning, and he wrote often. On December 6, 1273, due to a mystical experience, he stopped writing. Four months later he was ordered by the Pope to attend the Council of Lyons. While on his way to attend the council, he became sick and died. Despite being labeled "the dumb ox" because of his stocky build and slow speech, his intellegence and character seldom went unnoticed. Albertus Magnus once said of him that "one day the bellowing of this ox will resound throughout the world", and in 1323 Aquinas was pronounced a saint. Aquinas believed as did Aristole, that every living thing has a soul, and that what sets humans apart from animals is our ability to think rationally. He believed that the true nature of God can't be grasped by humans because we are limited by our experiences therefore we can't accurately describe God, who is a transcendent being; However that doesn't mean that our perception of God is false. It merely means that the qualities that we attach to God, exist in him in a more perfect way than is possible for us to grasp as human beings. That is the life and philosophy of Thomas Aquinas in a nutshell. For more information about Thomas Aquinas, read Eyewitness Companions book "Philosophy" by Stephen Law.