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Archive for January, 2021

Darkness and Light, an Almost-Poem Approach

Posted in inspiration, positive thinking, tagged , , , , , , on January 30, 2021| 2 Comments »

I feel a very unusual sensation—if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. (Benjamin Disraeli) 

Darkness.

Because the electricity is out again. And I am accustomed to flipping a switch and accepting light. As my own right. Without any awareness of entitlement.

Darkness.

It can be a gift or a curse. Deepened colors reveal dimension in a painting. Shade provides relief from the bright sun. Or darkness can mean hatred without reason, an ignorance of color or shade.

Darkness

can be found in a moment or it can be stuck inside a locked mental space. It can be a fear, based on the past, or a fear, set on immediate danger.

Light.

The power has returned. Mechanical clocks flash and beg to be reset. They remember this moment and begin from here. A fresh place in local time.

Light.

Who do I know who needs a simple touch? Power. Start. With a word. Gratitude for who that person is. Now.

Light

joins with power. Hospitals heal patients. People can survive and thrive. A new day. And a new day in this simple, small house where two septuagenarians celebrate the gift of another day.

 

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More Than a Morning Newspaper Delivery

Posted in inspiration, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2021| 3 Comments »

We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them. (Buddha)

Eight AM. The doorbell rings. My hair is in pre-brushed condition. I wonder if delivery trucks could be on the road already.

“No, it’s a little boy,” my husband says. “I saw him come up the walk.”

A child, no more than seven years old, appears on the other side of the door, his dark eyes wide. He hands me the morning newspaper.

“Why, thank you,” I say. “That was very kind of you.”

He dips his mask for one moment to show a full-faced smile.

My paler face responds to his sweet, rich chocolate grin.

I don’t recognize the child, but my heart has taken a photograph.

He runs up the street, his backpack announcing the beginning of a school day.

My day has begun with an unopened newspaper and news of a different kind. Good exists. It lives in the spirit of a small boy made of large kindnesses.

I hope that our painted sidewalk and lawn sign make clear important facts: Black Lives Matter. People with Down syndrome have innate value. Individuals from every part of the globe are unique men and women, not alien things.

Hours later I treasure the earlier part of the morning. The blessed gift of a hand-delivered newspaper. Much more than a five-second smile.

 

 

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Woundedness and Light

Posted in inspiration, tagged , , , , , , on January 14, 2021| 2 Comments »

The wound is the place where the Light enters you. (Rumi)

The mission. To fill aching cracks. In people with warring views. In the world. With glue that connects more than bones or moments. With one glue known as truth, another known as love.

Should be, words as vacant as a cup with no bottom. Who owns the should-be privilege? A limited few or a diverse population? A political circle or a world team? Violence at the Capitol Building in Washington DC. Because an angry mob wanted a different leader. How did it help?

Destruction, obvious. Wounds, untouched, made deeper.

Light. May it find a way to reach universal suffering.

 

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More Than a Resolution

Posted in inspiration, tagged , , , , on January 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am. (Cyril Cusack)

 When a close friend asked me about my resolution for this year, I gave her one of those toothless, emotion-hiding smiles and replied, “Same as last year.” A vague answer. I haven’t recovered enough from 2020 to make a resolution.

 When my husband and I visited Ireland several years ago, we pretended to be Canadian. I was ashamed of the so-called home of the free and the brave. That situation has deepened since the mob riot attack on the United States Capitol today.

The news continues in a loop. I don’t know where or when it will end. Growth and learning can happen. The hard way, but it can happen.

I refuse to claim importance because of my birthplace. America. White ethnic heritage. I prefer saying I was dropped off by aliens from another planet. I am one human being. One. My size, shape, color, ancestry, and religion are random like an ace pulled from a deck of cards.

Growing up in the middle of the twentieth century, I was told by parents, teachers, and peers who to be. The ten commandments carried all the answers.

Life isn’t that simple.

The view from an airplane shows no detail. Areas of land have clear borders. Yet, houses, cars, and people hide. I could decide now to do a thousand things, from using time better, to writing daily, to turning into a 74-year-old muscle master.

Instead, I plan to keep my inner-eyes open. To listen to valid criticism with clear ears. To accept honest compliments. I am alive today. It is not too late. For me or for my country.

 

 

 

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