REJOICE 
 

To begin this paper, I will introduce a poem about a man similar to me: 
 

      As a helpless baby Jason was in pain,

      For his body was struck upon

      By his brother who was morbidly jealous

      Of the attention he was given. 
 

      His mother attempted to protect him,

      But necessity left him unshielded,

      And crying was the only recourse

      The young infant had. 
 

      He was marked inwardly,

      But the worse was yet to come,

      For his father was a perfectionist

      Who took out his frustration

      And pain of his own childhood

      On his growing sons. 
 

      A subdued young Jason

      Approached the world

      And mingled with all

      The best he could. 
 

      The inner pain did not cripple him

      Until later teens demanded more of him

      Than he was able to endure. 
 

      He joined the military

      But because of his size and strength

      He was limited. 
 

      Yet he struggled mightily

      And sought help as best he could,

      Achieving some success in life,

      Where some of his dreams were realized. 
 

      He was able to find a job

      Where his presence was needed,

      And he found great joy

      In his capacity to give counsel. 
 

      Due to necessity he had to change

      To work he found hard to endure,

      And crying daily became his fate. 
 
 

      So he quit his job to save his life,

      Although he was forced into dependency

      Because the illness he incurred

      Left him doing his best to endure. 
 

      His anger destroyed

      His second marriage

      For he could not endure

      His own mediocrity. 
 

      After wandering about

      Examining his choices

      He selected a mate

      More to his style. 
 

      Although she too had sustained brutality,

      She was brilliant as he

      A strong woman was she

      Who had found her niche

      Serving troubled youth. 
 

      He loved her dearly

      For she was lovely and charming,

      And through her guidance,

      He became more rugged. 
 

Alas, my inspiration has temporarily run out.  I will now include what I earlier wrote. 
 

To write about “Rejoice” is extremely hard for me. I vacillate between rejoicing about my life and mocking the word, because I sometimes find it difficult to rejoice about anything. 
 

I am hopeful that cause for rejoicing will balance the difficulties I have with daily living.  The first step toward accomplishing this successfully will be not to set any goal of production if possible. 
 

Through sharing with others I know I will grow faster.  However, I must never judge myself if my ability to share is slow in occurring. 
 

Survival sometimes will be my greatest need, since becoming depressed with everyday living seems to happen frequently.  
 

With my endeavors, I must maintain a tasteful flavor to my daily activities.  I must remember to acknowledge the love I have for my wife, Judy, play with my dog, Mia, listen joyfully to the melodious rhapsodies of our cat Kado, admire the paintings I produced, and look at and laugh at the expression on the face of my reproduction of “Woodstock.”   
 
 

Originally the theme for my website was based upon the following: “Rejoice, rejoice, you have no choice but to carry on.”   However, I changed that to read, “Rejoice, rejoice, you have a choice to carry on,” because this acknowledges greater control of my life because I can shorten it by not taking needed medications or going through certain procedures (for example, I must take daily medication for high blood pressure and use a Cflex for breathing air at night to control my snoring and sleep apnea).  To eliminate this negativity, I focus on the words I said to my first cousin when she described the reaction her 90 year old mother has when she wakes up to another day:  “Why, O God, am I still alive?”  I told her that she should tell her mother, my aunt, that she should express love to everyone in her life and to praise and thank God as best she can. 
 
 

I find peace generally when I am well-rested. To maintain my fitness for daily living, I must sleep enough so I can dream about group activities that lessen my loneliness.

However, I am becoming more secure with myself, able to endure the possibility of rejection and reach out to set social engagements with my friends. 
 
 

Circumstances that cause me pain will need to be kept under control by prayer.  By reviewing my previous writings on my website, www.davidhakim.com, such as “Rejuvenate,” “Forgiveness,” “Light,” “Enthusiasm,”  “Fairness” and “Secret,” self-reproach will be kept at a minimum. 
 

Although I acknowledge that I am a neophyte at many things, I must never say never.

If I cannot accomplish an activity, I usually remember that I am not alone and that usually someone has the ability to assist me. 
 

Staying relaxed as much as possible will assist me in my ability to rejoice, because by being relaxed I can accomplish more and reach out to accomplish my goals. 
 

My greatest achievements will be to remain positive as much as possible and to understand myself. 
 

To make all of this successful, I must be entranced by the joy of living instead of subdued by any pain I may endure. 
 

                              David C. Hakim

                              Rochester, Michigan

                              January 5, 2007