At The Movies

Yesterday, going to the movies became a net negative.

Yesterday, I went with my adult son and daughter to see Superman.

This is not a review of the movie.

It's a blow-by-blow, reality-based tour of the movie-going experience in 2025, in an American commercial movie theater.

What the hell, man?

It wasn't good.

This is not a one-time experience.

No.

It's been an ongoing developing story of why the general public is not attending theaters.

I've watched the decline over the past 15 years.

There is no single reason but a series of real issues primarily created by studio marketing and the people who attend.

Simply… the trailers stink, and the audience has no clue on how to behave in public.

This isn't just an old man rant.

My 30-something children, independently of me, brought up the whole disaster in the car on the way home.

Do you all remember…

Back in time, long ago, in a theater multiplex far, far away…

If the film turned out to be mediocre or less, the best part of the movie-going experience was seeing the trailers.

Now, the trailers are the worst part of the experience.

The worst you executives at film distribution.

They suck!

They tell the whole story.

There is no reason then to see the movie now.

They are marketed to exploit the lowest common denominator of the audience.

The ignorant.

Are toddlers the primary audience for all these films?

People who didn't get their preschool certificate?

Have to be led by the nose so they can be pickpocketed?

Just who watches these trailers and thinks, God almighty, I have to get to the theater to see that?

There's nothing like a remake of a remake where we swap out what was great about the past film and substitute lameness.

The lameness is what's going to make the film great.

Making our cultural icons lame is comedy.

It's funny... right?

The trailers are like a magician who performs a trick, explains how he did it, and then expects you to come back next week and pay to see the same trick again.

That's dumb.

It's no wonder there has been a consistent decline in box-office returns.

Then the audience.

Everyone is glued to their phones, including ignoring turning them off during the film, and is still glued to their social media screens.

You know, I like strawberry shakes, but I don't have a straw in my mouth every waking moment of the day.

Then the rocking and kicking.

Like toddlers in their seats, grown adults who can't keep their feet still kick the back of the chair in front of them.

Not just one person.

But a whole audience was kicking the chair in front of them.

No parent told these 20 to 30-year-olds to sit still in their entire lifetime so far?

You could see them all trembling in their seats.

What's that all about?

The audience knocks you in the back of the head as they pass by to their seats.

The stepping on your toes as they go to their seats.

Oh…

And the side issues of the cost of food and beverages being more than the ticket to the movie.

The cost of parking.

Yet…

Yet, the paramount issue that struck me to my heart…

The cost to humanity.

The cost to the soul.

The casual laughing at the bad guy and his behavior.

The laughing at casual torture.

Casual murder.

The laughing at casual evil.

Laughing at the wrong moment.

The entirely inappropriate laughter reveals the emptiness of the spirit.

My family all agreed before we even began to decompress from the experience of being at the movies.

It was our last time at the movie theater.

Society has left behind the golden halls of entertainment.

We are now all relegated to our own screens and sound systems at home.

There is still hope that the bar can be raised.

South Park got James Cameron to raise the bar once before.

The Cameron 'Bat-Signal' needs to sweep the skies once more.

We all can do better.

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

Change Is Coming

The universe is all about change.

Change happens.

It can't be stopped.

Slowed but not stopped.

It is why it is simply irrational, plainer still, stupid to believe that anyone or anything will stop change.

Who, by their will or through violence, can stop the sunrise?

It's impossible.

Yet humans' fear of change is so deep that they will believe fairy tales told to them, which claim they can prevent change from happening.

Remarkable.

Humanity will always let you down.

Two steps forward, one, sometimes three steps back.

The fear and reluctance to accept change are why we don't all have a better world.

A world where fear is not the driving force behind all decisions.

But a world where love and compassion direct our interactions.

Where sharing, not hoarding, is the rule.

Wouldn't it be nice if our leaders would do the right thing for the right reason before a disaster happens?

Change is coming.

An axiom of this universe is as follows…

The more you attempt to prevent change from happening, the faster it will occur.

You can put a dam up and stop the water.

But that water will find a way to the sea.

It can't give up.

It is inevitable.

Freedom, like water, keeps flowing to the sea.

The sea, in this instance, is the people everywhere.

What one man enjoys, all humanity will enjoy.

Freedom has never been exclusive.

Freedom, justice, and love are universal truths.

Trying to prevent them from happening, or securing them just for a minority of self-proclaimed elites, only makes the pace of change quicken.

We need to encourage our brothers and sisters who fear change to let it go.

Their yelling about the changes they hate in our American society will ironically bring about the day when those changes are permanent.

The day of love for all humanity is upon us.

This is what it looks like and feels like when fear has its last night before dawn.

Change gonna come.

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

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Wokeism.

Bad side of town.

Freaks of nature.

Infecting our Democracy.

New York values.

Our country.

Our God.

Coincidence.

Poisoning the blood of our country.

Make America great again.

Take our country back.

These and more are what is being said out loud in Conservative America.

Have you asked yourself, does it matter?

What does it mean?

What does it mean?

It means that the idea put forth by our founding fathers that America was created for White, male protestants who owned the land they took, and it was this Manifest Destiny that guaranteed that from sea to shining sea, the White man would always and forever be in control and dominate was established by their White Christian God… forever…

The concept of White Manifest Destiny remains prevalent today.

There is a group of our fellow Americans who both believe in the sanctity of their religion, having a metaphysical control on their lives, the lives of the non-believer, and the nation as a whole, as well as the real expression that Jesus Christ established this sanctity that White males are in charge no others need apply.

Any lapse of control is a sin.

These expressions are code to the true believer who is willing to fight for their Whiteness as ordained and established by their White Christian God.

It doesn’t matter if Donald Trump is scum.

They could care less.

He could be the worst human on the planet, but he has two things going for him you don’t see.

One, he’s a White land-owning male.

Two, he’s fighting for White America to re-establish a White-male patriarchy.

He can actually do anything, have sex with goats; none of it matters to these Maga supporters because he’s ordained by the White Christian God to save the White race.

Do you hear what I hear?

The media really ignores this point.

History.

I am constantly reminded of South Africa.

The White peoples of Europe, specifically England, discovered South Africa and declared it White.

Declared South Africa White?

Think about how screwed up inside and out you have to be to be in such a mindset whereby you deny reality that much.

The British were White and in control.

But, on the horizon, their hold on the country was going to slip out of their hands.

The White British population knew it was coming to the end of their lease.

However, that didn’t stop them from descending into a brutal police state.

White Apartheid.

It got far worse for non-whites as the day approached as the White demographic minority grabbed and killed to keep control.

The U.S.A. is slipping down the same slope.

That hardcore group of conservative Americans is not fighting for a political party.

Are you kidding me?

They are fighting for what they believe is their White race.

They will not go away without a fight.

Words are a gateway drug to actions.

When somebody tells you what they believe, you better damn well believe them.

So listen up!

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Shoes

When you walk in another's shoes…

You will gain a deeper understanding of that person's life.

Been told that ever since I can remember.

But what happens when you try on another person's shoes and find out they fit?

What happens to that story you told yourself about your place in society?

What happens to that ego you have believing in your own entitlement?

What happens when the shoes fit?

Somehow, since before the American Revolution, the People convinced themselves that they were exceptional.

Disregarding the French, who had already overthrown their Aristocracy, Americans told themselves a story that they were first.

They were the first to stand for liberty, for freedom.

But they weren't the first, no far from it.

They weren't the first White people who carved out for themselves a special place in the hierarchy of the universe.

American Exceptionalism is a unique kind of myth.

There are many kinds of myths that we encounter every day.

A universal myth that cuts across all cultures, ethnicities, races, and religions is that my myth is the only true myth and all the rest drool.

American exceptionalism is everywhere.

You can't see the forest for the exceptional trees.

It's a human thing.

Humans convince themselves of a lot of nonsense.

It's what keeps us from all having nice things.

What happens when the shoes fit?

When we find out the person we thought was foreign to us is just like us.

What do we tell ourselves?

What excuses do we narrate to ourselves, still believing we are different?

Those people don't feel pain; that's why they don't need health care.

Those folks don't know how to cut their lawn, so take away their property.

They buy stupid things; don't give them a bank loan.

These people are animals; they don't deserve justice.

It's all bullshit.

People and I'm telling it to you straight because I've been raised with a lot of White racist people, they tell each other whoppers every time they are together how bad everyone else is.

They are never the problem.

White racist Americans see themselves as the solution.

White people in America have an exceptional problem imagining being in another person's shoes.

Why this self-imposed ignorance?

Why the hate?

It's fear.

Fear of losing exceptionalism.

It is, quite literally, the fear of standing in line with everyone else and not being able to cut to the front of the line.

A fear that someone will catch on to all the exceptionalism bullshit and force you to the back of the line.

First come, first served.

No cuts.

What happens when the shoes fit?

When that day comes, what rejoicing there shall be.

When young and old embrace the fact that none of us are getting off the earth alive.

When we understand, we realize that we all bleed.

We bleed for the sake of love.

To love and be loved.

We bleed for respect.

We bleed for freedom.

For justice.

Take a look at your shoes.

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

The Rain Is Here

All around us, the rain is falling.

Since Dylan put it into lyrics, by the way, that was 1964, the American public has been at odds with learning how to swim versus sinking like a stone.

It appears most of us ignored that piece of wisdom.

What I'm talking about is leaving ignorance behind and learning we can do right.

The rain falls…

The rain falls, and what it's doing is revealing Truth.

In the 20th Century, the rain fell, revealing fascism.

The rain fell, and segregation was revealed.

The rain fell, and we discovered the poor were in need.

We discovered that women had rights.

The rainwater rose, and White nationalism was thrown into the spotlight.

If, by the 1980s, you didn't understand you needed to learn to swim, you were sinking.

Why?

The rain kept falling.

The rain washed away our delusion that authority figures and our leaders always told the Truth.

The rain fell.

The rain fell, revealing a rainbow of gentle souls wanting to live their lives without fear.

It revealed that religious leadership preyed upon its followers' hearts, minds, and bodies, taking their innocence.

The 21st Century has arrived, and the weather forecast suggests a storm is on the way.

The rain fell.

They're hiding in plain sight; our social servants charged with protecting us instead abused us.

The rain fell.

No justice, no peace.

No justice, no peace.

The rain fell, washing away the delusion that justice was applied fairly and evenly in America.

You are gunned down in the streets, the schools, the churches of the U.S.A., and a majority are not moved to do anything about it.

We rediscovered that some people believed themselves more equal than others.

The rain falls.

It will continue to fall.

At the same time...

Love rises.

Because love applied will never give in.

Love applied will open the eyes of the self-ignorant.

Love applied will openly ask, will you change and join us in a great community?

Or will you prefer to sink like a stone?

Wish you love.

Peace

Daniel J. Frey aka Toby

The Trouble With Truth

Truth is not widely accepted.

Truth is inconvenient.

Truth will set you free only if you want it to.

Humans have told themselves stories in place of the truth since the invention of speech.

Their stories, myths, and beliefs all seem more appealing and right and are easier to accept than the truth.

It's perfectly understandable; it's perfectly human that we prefer our stories over the truth.

Our stories feed our prejudice.

Our stories feed our selfishness.

Our stories feed our entitlements.

If we had to face and accept the truth, the consequence would be responsibility.

What would we be responsible for?

The truth reveals that we are responsible for justice.

For equality.

For freedom.

For peace.

For the planet.

For each other.

The truth reveals what that responsibility wants us to do.

We can eliminate poverty.

We can feed the hungry.

We can care for the sick.

We can live in a clean world.

We can control guns.

We can make the world and everyone living their lives fuller, richer, and free from fear.

That's if we want to.

That's if we want to let go of the stories we tell each other.

The stories that blame others.

The stories that say our deities will sort our problems out for us.

The stories that make us deaf, blind, and dumb to the suffering and despair in our world.

Our world has never been in a state of balance.

The world teeters between the past and the future.

Always believing the past will come alive and save the present.

Our stories find their origins in our past.

A past dictated by hate, prejudice, racism, and bigotry.

The future is yet to be written.

Love can see us through, but love alone won't get us over the mountain of ugly lies we prefer to believe in.

If love alone could have overcome our stories, the human race would not continually find itself on this carousel of doom it likes to ride.

It wouldn't keep worshiping fallen gods of hate.

What will break humanity from chasing its own tail of self-deception?

History, yes, history demonstrates it takes just one person standing against the darkness and saying no more forever.

Are you the hope the world is looking for?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Purpose

Do you have a purpose?

Do you care if you have a purpose or not?

If you don't have a purpose or believe in having a purpose, you are in the majority.

The majority of us do not have a purpose.

What is a purpose?

Your job is not a purpose.

In fact, anything that is a function by its very nature is not a purpose.

Function does not have a purpose, and consequently, a purpose has no function.

Many of us mistake their function for a purpose.

As I said, your job is not a purpose; it's a means to an end.

Everyone has a job.

Functions are a standard set of actions that any and all life can do.

Having children and raising them is a function.

Taking care of the sick and old is a function.

Teaching is a function.

Eating, traveling, entertaining, preaching, fighting, sex, and more are all functions.

If any living creature can do it in their fashion, then it's a function.

A woodpecker pecks.

A dog barks.

A fish swims.

These actions are not a purpose.

Do you have a purpose?

To qualify as an additional type of function, you can or could be paid for your function.

Dentists, farmers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and politicians are all functions.

To have a purpose means, by its very nature, you won't be paid for it.

As you can see, having a purpose is not that attractive.

There is no recognized glory.

However, there is an irony to having a purpose.

Having a purpose is the reason, the goal of being alive.

Having no purpose is akin to being the Walking Dead.

Wandering through life feeding on the brains and the thoughts of others without regard to who will be harmed.

Never ever think that having a purpose means it has to be grand.

Important.

No.

That would be against everything that having a purpose means.

The smallest of purposes can also be the most important.

Being kind is a purpose.

Compassion is a purpose.

Empathy is a purpose.

Caring is a purpose.

Love is the greatest purpose.

These purposes are expressed through the language of love.

These purposes are executed through the administration of justice.

These purposes are held through the application of freedom.

It is through our purpose, our corner of life, that we have the privilege to make the world better.

Not for ourselves; that is a function.

The purpose of life is to make the world better for all.

Purpose.

How are you doing with your purpose?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Friends

Who is my friend?

The proof is through what they do and what they don't do.

The person who doesn't want justice for me.

The person who can't hear me when I cry.

The person who doesn't understand peace.

The person who is entitled.

The person who lets me starve.

The person who is okay with me living in fear.

The person who hits me.

The person who doesn't care if I live.

The person who doesn't see me because of my color, my gender, my ethnicity, my race, or my personal belief.

They are not my friend.

Who is my friend?

The person who speaks up against injustice.

The person who comforts me in my despair.

The person who doesn't make 'Drama' in my life.

The person who lets me go through a door first.

The person who shares their lunch with me.

The person who checks in with me to see if I'm okay.

The person who hugs me without asking.

The person whose life would be dimmer without me.

The person who celebrates my life, who I am, who doesn't need to change me.

They are my friend.

To be a friend is both the most tremendous responsibility as well as the simplest.

True friends may not see each other for decades, but when they come together, it's as if no time has passed.

This bond, this relationship, is the outward manifestation of an inward purpose.

That purpose dramatizes our actions and inactions with each other.

That purpose is the true meaning of love.

True love and true friendship don't mean no boundaries.

True love and true friendship mean that we consider each life, each person, an individual worthy of respect, consideration, life, and love.

Friendship ends when respect for boundaries is crossed.

Yet friendship is ever-growing and will continually change.

Friendship leaves open the door for redemption even up to the last second of life.

Friendship is symbolized by the open hand.

Is your hand open?

Open to those around you?

To the stranger?

To yourself?

Who are your friends?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Indifference

Race haters believe they are the majority when they are not.

Who are the majority of people in the world?

It is the Indifferent.

The indifferent do not react the world over unless they are individually annoyed.

They will sit on their hands.

They will bind their feet.

They will blind their eyes.

They will tune out the noise.

They will box in their hearts.

They will shuffle their morality, which keeps them from any sense of responsibility.

Not until they are personally devastated will they take action.

Oddly enough, when annoyed, the Indifferent split almost down the middle on which side they will take up.

Vanilla versus chocolate.

Democrat versus Republican.

Just a tick less will become fascists as anti-fascists.

Indifference.

The Jewish genocide proved the power of the indifferent.

A nation, a world, the human race calmly sat by while millions of real people were put to death.

Their response was to do nothing.

Not in my backyard.

Until it was in their backyard, and their sons were killed at Pearl Harbor.

Not until then did we, as Americans, say we better put a stop to hate.

Indifference.

Charles Dickens wrote in A Christmas Carol how Father Christmas was warning Scrooge, the Indifferent, about Humanities' two children.

Want and Ignorance.

Want is the easier of his two children to care for.

Want needs, and once those needs are filled, hunger, shelter, comfort, free from fear; Want won't cause Humanity trouble.

Ignorance, however, will always be the root of evil.

Ignorance, both by accident and especially on purpose, is the cancer in the soul of humanity.

Ignorance will brush aside the milk of human kindness.

Ignorance only sees itself.

That is until they are personally annoyed as a consequence of its inaction.

To paraphrase MLK, he said he would rather deal with evil because you know where you stand.

Indifference will wait on time.

Putting off doing what's right.

Until time runs out.

That's the goal of indifference.

Doing nothing.

I'm also reminded of what that quiet voice keeps asking all of us.

Love reminds us that we all need to do more.

There are no alternatives.

There is no choice.

If you hear the voice of love, it asks us all to do.

To do right.

To do it now.

To do it without hesitation.

To stand, to clap, to raise our voice, and never be silent.

Silence is just as evil as hate.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Heavy Lift

Some of our brothers and sisters believe that the law is up for debate if it is not explicitly written in the U.S. Constitution.

It's even up for debate whether it applies to you and whether you will obey it.

This is why there is a job ahead of us all.

There is a heavy lift.

The Constitution has to be amended.

What does 'amended' mean?

It means that our society has grown more complex than when the Constitution was initially written.

In 1787, the Constitution was written by and for White Protestant male landowners.

Period.

That's a fact.

However, in their wisdom, the founders put in a contractual clause.

An exception, a clause, in case the minds and consciences of Americans changed in the future.

This clause stated that as the American Society evolves, it will be recognized that this document will be inadequate to meet the needs of future citizens.

The Constitution can be rewritten, amended, or repealed if a majority of States see the need.

Many of our conservative citizens believe that the Constitution is the same as their Christian Bible.

It is not.

Understand that the Constitution of the United States of America is a civil document that states the rights and protections of its citizens and outlines how they are to be governed by their elected officials.

It is not a religion.

It is not the holy book of any one religion.

It is not a book of poems.

It is not a belief.

It is not a fiction.

It is not.

Consequently, the irony is that too many of our conservative brothers and sisters believe that if it ain't written in the Constitution, that right doesn't exist.

These Constitutional absolutists are akin to the character George Costanza from Seinfeld.

When his boss fires him for having sex with his secretary, George laments, "If I had known, if it had been written down, I would never have done it."

This is the Conservative mindset: You have to have the law explicitly written down in one place, and in one place only —the Constitution.

If it's not explicitly written down, that law, that right, doesn't exist.

What about local laws?

Laws created by local governments, States, and at the Federal level are all up for debate.

They are covered in the conservative mind by the 'all-holy' States Rights clause, which is again believed to protect and exempt States from obeying Federal laws.

The Law.

Again, the debate is whether I will obey that law.

Suppose there is no sentence in the Constitution saying there is a right to privacy between a woman and her doctor. 

In that case, that right doesn't exist in their belief.

No amount of legislation will convince them.

No amount of protest.

It must be explicitly written in the sacred document ordained by Jesus Christ himself.

Yes, Conservatives believe that the Constitution was dictated by Jesus Christ to Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Constitution…

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Jefferson "did not write" the Constitution; he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

People with a belief have no room for facts.

Fact.

Jefferson was not a Christian; he was a Diest.

A Deist is a person who believes in logic over mythology.

The mythology of Western Religion in which he was born into.

What do we have to do to make a change...

Our heavy lift, if we can get the resolve together to do so, is to convince people who believe in mythology to develop the ability to reason.

It won't be easy.

Nothing good ever is.

Some people have to be dragged into the light for their own good.

I can attest to this from personal experience.

Just like a Lifeguard… 

We who understand and believe in the greater good, for justice for all, are being called to come to the rescue of our brothers and sisters.

Our brothers and sisters are drowning under the weight of their myth.

A myth that keeps them spiritually oppressed.

A myth that overlooks their economic and social sacrifices.

A myth that forces them into servitude that cares nothing for their welfare.

A myth that keeps the power in the hands of the few, not the many.

This is the good fight.

This is the good work.

This is why you and I are here, in this place, at this moment.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Why Change Can't Happen

Believe me.

That's the central problem in America.

Beleif.

You can believe me or not, but understand that there is a fundamental roadblock at the heart of gun control, abortion, voting rights, civil rights, and human rights.

That roadblock is what you believe.

There has always been an error in interpretation as to what belief means.

Belief has always been a game of chance.

You either believe or you don't.

If you believe, then you are part of the club.

You get rewarded by the club.

Belief provides immediate benefits.

If you don't believe, you are somehow out of touch, sinful, against God, against me as a person who does believe.

You don't get any benefits.

You're on your own.

No club for you.

There is no fighting belief.

Once a person has committed themselves to a story, it is impossible for them to entirely let it go.

And what does belief do for us?

It feeds our prejudice.

It feeds a monster called ego, which demands that I'm the center of the universe.

Belief tells us it is right for us to be selfish.

Protect our own.

It feeds that inherent genetic childhood psychology, that feeling that I am the center of the world and that I must survive.

My needs before the other.

I am the chosen.

The one.

Consequently, in this mix in our nation, there is a group of people who firmly righteously believe they are God's chosen people.

There are organizations as well as individuals who understand the dynamics of this prejudice and exploit it for their own benefit.

For profit.

These 'brokers of evil' keep the monster called White supremacy alive, feeding it the red meat of death and destruction.

They are the gatekeepers keeping racism on sale.

These gatekeepers can be found in legislative bodies.

Sitting in judgment on legal benches.

In pulpits.

In our places of work.

In the home.

The belief that I'm better than everyone else on the planet is not limited by class, race, nationality, or income.

Belief is a cancer on the soul of mankind.

Belief served a purpose when humans were alone on a hostile planet with limited resources.

Belief is a sickness that rots society from the inside when you live in a world of abundance.

Belief keeps the individual isolated.

Isolated from reality.

Isolated from asking who is my brother who is my sister?

Belief.

What does your belief tell you right now?

Can you see people marching for their freedom?

Or do you see thieves reaching for something that doesn't belong to them?

Do you hear people crying?

Or do you see insects who got what they deserve?

Do you defend the past?

Or do you embrace the future?

Do you hate?

Do you love?

Change can't happen unless we change what we believe.

We have to stop believing and start knowing.

What do you believe?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Madness

There are no words that will stop the madness.

Only through our actions will we gain our rightful protection from fear.

What is at the heart of gun rights madness?

What is the pillar, the rock on which some believe we have an inherent right to kill?

This country, in particular, suffers from this madness the most.

The source of the origin of this madness is nothing new.

No.

It was brought here with the arrival of Europeans to the shores of the Virginias.

It was in the hearts and minds of the Pilgrims.

It is the belief that God, the one and only Christian God, created the White race to dominate the world.

If any other race got in the way of God's will, then it was the duty of White people to put the other races in their place.

It was their duty to kill in God's name.

White people are the chosen judge, jury, and executioners of God.

The source of the origin of the gun rights madness is the belief in White supremacy.

I'm too old now to pull my punches.

It's too late to put a diplomatic spin on madness.

It's time we took the lies by the neck and kicked it out into the spotlight.

This ugliness, this vile evil fostered by timid sociopaths to keep themselves in power, has gone on too long.

Guns are tools of death.

Period.

Not everyone is qualified to work a jackhammer, are they?

They may think they can.

They may believe they can.

But they would be mad to think they could.

Tools do not have an inherent right.

WE, THE PEOPLE, and our rights to peace, happiness, and security —our rights supersede the madness that prioritizes tools over lives.

WE, THE PEOPLE, have to confront our brothers and sisters who believe in the madness of White supremacy.

You can't tell a rock to fly, no matter what you think is best for that rock.

You can't just tell a White racist to grow some compassion because it will never happen.

We have had over 2,000 years of the doctrine of love.

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

How has that worked out?

It's a slogan that's often forgotten.

100's of millions of people have been killed around the world.

Murdered by White Christians because they knew God is on their side.

If you don't see the correlation between White people killing other races by the millions in history, in the name of their God, from the beginning of the Crusades to today, you have a bag over your head.

Until we confront the foundations of White supremacy that founded this nation, the U.S.A., we will never end the madness of gun violence.

Every Sunday, parishioners in this nation are told there is only one way to God.

They are told there is only one religion that God likes.

They are told there is only one kind of person God likes.

The White, protestant, Christian male.

All others are second-class passengers and are subject to being killed for disobeying White males.

This is the madness that is taught to our children before they can even speak.

This is what they learn in Sunday school.

I know it as a fact because I'm a witness to it.

The supremacy of the White race.

They believe this is true because why would an adult lie to them?

Somewhere, somebody, and it might be us, has to stand up and say no more forever.

Forever!

Drop hate be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Brotherhood

Equality.

The word the idea of equality strikes fear in many hearts.

Not just racial equality.

No.

But intellectual, cultural, physical, and gender equality also strikes fear.

How could someone be afraid of being equal?

Being equal means I am not unique.

I am not special.

I am not chosen.

I don't get a break.

I'm not first in line.

I am not the best.

No more entitlements.

Notice how there is a lot of "I" in these thoughts?

"I" as opposed to "us."

Human beings are unique, as far as we can tell, in that they can hold two opposing thoughts in their minds at the same time and believe both of them to be true.

I am special; therefore, mankind should serve me.

The rest of humanity was placed on this earth to maintain my position as leader.

If you are so superior, you should be serving mankind, ensuring its happiness, freedom, and justice.

Equality.

Thinking and saying you are the best is a good indication to the herd that you are not.

Our journey to brotherhood has only begun.

It received some good press, including a news announcement back in the 1950s.

Like a voice in the wilderness that echoes between the trees, 'I am a Man' pricked up the ears of those asleep.

Far too many fell asleep after those voices of freedom were taken away from the world's consciousness.

Too many thought the fight was over.

The battle with inhumanity was over.

It was only a round of a fight that has no end.

Fear.

Fear is a terrible thing.

It will make people do terrible things.

Fear will make people deny the truth.

That's why it's such a potent weapon for those who profit from fear.

Realize those who profit from fear it's their only source of income.

They know not of any other trade than fear.

Fear.

Let us trade our fear for compassion.

Let us trade our fear for what love demands of us all.

More.

Love wants us to understand there are no boundaries to its reach.

Love is the future.

Fear no more, my sister, my brother.

We are right by your side together, facing the future together.

Drop hate be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

How To Recognize You Are The Problem

Originally titled, "How To Recognize You're The AS*$#@!

As an empath, I perceive, sense, and feel more deeply than a typical person.

This is not a miracle; it is not a superpower; it is not psychic.

Take a child with a sensitive personality, mix in a mentally and physically abusive parent, and what pops out of the psychological personality Easy-Bake-Oven 99.0% is a sociopath.

1.0% of the time, you get a male empath.

I see dead people.

I see their lies.

Everyone.

No matter how big or how small, I can tell in an instant you are lying.

What I can't tell you is your reason why.

You're motivation.

Before I was diagnosed at the age of 55 as being an empath with no boundaries, I believed that I was the cause of the hate in the world.

Everyone hated me so much that they lied to me about everything.

I never asked people why they were lying.

I assumed it was something with me.

People couldn't and wouldn't tell me the truth.

I found out it wasn't me.

I learned this really late in life.

It is a world ruled by hate and cruelty, kept in place by a vast ocean of indifference.

I discovered that I could immediately recognize who the problem was.

Not just the apparent tyrant.

But the indifferent, self-righteous, I got mine, you go get yours, entitled, unaware, no questions asked bigot.

Bigot, in this case, means - a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people based on their membership in a particular perceived group.

The following is a list, not comprehensive, of both significant and supportive problems I have found in the society of The Walking Dead...

You don't hold the door open for a stranger?

You don't send cards?

You don't come to a complete stop at a traffic sign?

You don't share the sidewalk?

You don't sing?

You laugh at racist jokes?

You steal?

You don't call your loved ones?

You own a gun?

You don't say thank you?

You don't vote?

You don't tip.

Everyone agrees with you?

You stop across the crosswalk?

Everyone says you're charming?

You make those around you cry?

You ignore current events?

You hit your child?

You have a vanity plate?

You give the finger?

You don't ask questions?

You assume everyone agrees with you.

You belong to a club?

You are physically violent?

You lie.

You kill.

You destroy.

You don't care.

Worrying about the world is for others.

You mind your own business?

You don't know what the problem is?

You don't ask.

If you recognize any of these problems as being you, then surprise, you have begun the process of no longer being the problem.

Well... maybe.

Recognizing that a problem exists is the first hurdle to actually taking steps to address its source.

You have to have a conscience still inside of you.

Hope.

The best thing is hope.

There is always redemption.

A chance to make what was wrong right.

There is a chance you can stop being the asshole.

That is our purpose in a real-life awakening.

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

Why Care?

Isn’t it evident that the majority of the human race rejects the act of caring?

If, quite simply, the majority agreed, then the world would be different from how we currently find it.

There would be no hunger.

There would be no one in need of a home.

There would be safety.

There would be growth.

There would be peace.

What we have is endless cycles of hunger, poverty, brutality, stagnation, and war.

We do not have a brotherhood.

We do not have a population that hears the cry of despair.

We do not feel the time is right for change.

What we have is a belief in a cultural myth telling us one race is better than the next.

No matter where we find ourselves in this world, everyone everywhere is fed the idea that they are the pinnacle of society.

We are the best.

This giant mass of malignancy corrupts the spirit.

Damns the soul.

We are the best.

It’s purpose?

To feed the wicked who profit off the resulting misery.

Entitlement.

Until we find a way to break this hold on the soul of humanity, we are doomed to repeat it forever.

One step forward, two steps back.

Our fight is with the darkness that whispers… “Might makes right.”

The profit is power.

Profit from holding back food.

Profit from keeping people behind walls.

Profit from fear.

Profit from war.

Profit from ugliness.

There is an idea that has been expressed for the past 2,000 years.

Many of us have pitched the same line.

Only love will conquer hate.

Repeat…

Only love will conquer hate.

As the wind of selfishness blows back and forth the voice of love has resisted hate.

It calls for all who are alive to care.

To care for the poor, the weak, the lost, yes, even care for those that hate us.

To be alive means to love.

To be alive means to care.

To grow.

To challenge the darkness.

To not let evil blind and deafen compassion.

To keep the profiteers of doom bankrupt.

To stand in the doorway and proclaim freedom and justice for all.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Change Happens

Standing in the doorway of the schoolhouse.

Putting up a fence between countries.

Between neighbors.

Going to war.

Stopping people from voting.

From living free of violence.

As soon as you stop progress and implement conservative ideals, you actually put into motion a cascade for change.

The conservative mind has never grasped this fact.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Stopping change will have the exact opposite of the initial intent.

No part of this universe doesn't operate around the physical reality of change.

Everything is cooling down.

Eventually, everything in our universe will reach the temperature of absolute zero.

Minus 273 degrees Celsius, or for those who resist change, minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's the temperature at which atoms no longer vibrate.

The temperature of the universe when it is absolutely dead inside.

Human beings have the unique ability to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time.

I love my mother, but I hate what she does.

I love eating ice cream; I'm lactose intolerant.

Human beings can appear alive and active, yet inside they are dead.

Their hearts, their minds have reached absolute zero.

They no longer move.

They stay where their God has intended.

Their God can be ancient in its adherence to resist change or new.

The old Gods of prejudice, racism, elitism, religion, and nationalism all preach and inoculate their believers to the ideal of not changing.

Keeping the social order dictated and carved in stone by their founding fathers.

Given the benefit of the doubt, the White man is on top of the pyramid and deserves a free lunch while everyone else below him pays cash.

The human irony.

There is real irony here.

The reality is that those who stand in the public space and declare there will be no more change forever… 

They have fired the first shot, the starting pistol, that will bring about the change they so desperately want to prevent.

Like a dam in a river, the water behind the blockage begins to build.

Through age and poor construction, the dam, no matter how large, how thick, how deep, cannot withstand the pressure of change that builds behind it.

You can't stop the merry-go-round of life.

Life will find a way.

Life will pour over that dam standing in the doorway of progress.

And what is this progress that change in our society is pushing for?

John Lennon said it… 

Imagine no heaven, no countries, nothing to kill or die for, no religion, no possessions, no greed, no hunger, no hell.

Just earth below and sky above.

A brotherhood of man where we all live in peace, sharing the world and this universe together.

As one people in tune with the true nature of life.

Change happens.

I know I'm not the only one who knows this.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby