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THE WRITING JAR

Spring 2008 Phase Two Entries

We need your VOTE! Read the entries below and cast your vote to [email protected]

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Summer 08 Phase One Writing Jar starts in June.

Congratulations!

Everyone who entered a piece in the second phase of our Spring 08 Writing Jar is a winner. You put your thoughts to paper and made your words flow because that's what writers do. Keep on writing!

Entries

Below are the entries listed in the order they were judged and the place they were given by our members voting on their choice of the entry they felt was the best representation using our winning sentence... "Every voice gives to wisdom.". The results were released at the November GTWG meeting.

PHASE TWO - ENTRY 2

Alien Heart

All kneeled before him, head bowed deeply, eyes averting his stare. The shrill of the beast pierced through the fear laden chamber a second time. Illiad, deafened by the howl, spoke slow and deliberate, weighing each word carefully. My brother, he said, gazing down at his reflection from the onyx floor of the chamber of faith. My brother, he repeated in a voice he still could not hear. One million images brought before you that prove hope of a race. We are bound by the law… Illiad started but fail silent.. We are governed by doubt and reason boomed a voice from beside him. If there is doubt in the good of extermination of a planet or reason to believe its inhabitants show human traits then…A quick burst of white hot light flashed unmercifully toward the speaker whose voice was heard no more.

The smell of sulfur and carbon filled the chamber. Grief and then anger pulsed through Illiad as he reached to touch the pile of ashes that were in arms reach besides him. Ashes where only seconds before had stood their father bravely pleading to save an insignificant planet from annihilation. The screech that now pierced the atmosphere belonged to Illiad. “Do you question the vivid, beautiful, happy heart I say is human”, he asked? As he rose so did tens of thousands as one million images of a mother holding her new born for the first time played endlessly behind the beast.

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PHASE TWO - ENTRY 3

Live The Moment

Do you question the vivid, beautiful, happy heart I say is human?

I question, even as I check the hour. In the hurry-scurry shallowness of the world, how often does beauty of life actually register on the screen of my horizon? While working, driving, shopping, how often did I stop, not to check the time, rather, just to be glad in the moment?

While working did I notice the clarity of my thought process and revel in its complexity? More likely, I wiped my sweaty brow as the clock ticked, heralding my inability to meet the deadline.

While driving did I notice the prism of color laid upon my path, the subtle hues of green or glorious majestic clouds? Or was my path filled with dread at the uneven motor shifting and angry outbursts fueled by aggressive drivers?

Therein lies the greater question. Can I use wisely my precious time that slowly erodes my vitality? Can I deepen my humanity? Am I stuck upon the digital treadmill of my own making?

Perhaps the man-made rat race is our escape from burning questions? Why are we here? What does it all mean? In accomplishing mundane tasks am I reaffirming humanity?

No one can live for me. Only I make my human heart beat the vivid beautiful happy beat. It is up to me to stop the mad pace and develop warm human understanding. I must choose to pause and reflect on my human frailty, my finiteness, and live in the moment.