KEY TO LIFE

 

Is it possible that the key to life

could be as simple as it seems?

To surrounded ourselves with the people

who give meaning to our dreams

BEFORE THE FUNERALS

 

The next time a natural disaster strikes…whether it be a tsunami or

hurricane from the oceans, a flood from the rivers…or a tornado from the skies 

notice how, all over the world, you see the same sadness…

the same sorrow, the same tears in everybody’s eyes.

And when we kill each other because of our differences…

our different countries, different lifestyles, the different Gods in whom we believe…

at the funeral of those we’ve killed…or who’ve killed us…

notice….how similar we all grieve.

 

When a bomb or a bullet kills a baby…whether in Palestine or Tel-Aviv

notice, as you watch the mothers at the funerals,

how similar they all grieve.

All the tears we cry are the same…

whether it’s a natural disaster…or an unnatural disaster we create…

no matter our religion, our politics…if we are gay…or we are straight.

Grieving is universal…it’s something we all share…

in every corner of the world…both near and far….

I only wish….

before the funerals…

we’d realize

how similar we are.

SWEET BREEZE AND A PATCH OF SHADE

 

May we be blessed to treat everyone we meet 

in exactly the same way

As if we’re offering them a sweet breeze and a patch of shade

on the hottest summer day.

ONE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY

 

The function of our family tree is to keep us safe and cool and warm…

to offer us a comfortable place to rest and to give us shelter from the storm.

But when I gaze out on our world…it’s bittersweet what I see…

I see one beautiful planet Earth inhabited by one dysfunctional family.

Our dysfunction is how we’ve forgotten we are all part of the same family tree

and how we’ve come to treat each other not as family…but as an enemy.

Our dysfunction is when we hate and fight and kill each other…how we fail to see

we are severing leaves and limbs and branches of our one and only family tree.

And every time we cut off another limb…some of our strength and stability fades.

and our whole tree becomes a little weaker, stops bearing fruit, and loses some of it’s shade.

 

And as our hate for one another…like a fungus on our tree forms….

we are unable to offer anyone shelter from the storm.

But hate is just a fungus..which needs more hate to endure….

and luckily, like with any fungus, there happens to be a cure.

If we spread love onto every leaf, every branch and every limb…

it love will find it’s way into our roots….

our tree will grow new limbs, new branches…new leaves

and begin to bear new fruit.

For a tree that’s filled with love is a comfortable place to rest…

will keep us cool and safe and warm….

and will smile as it offers every member of our family…shelter from the storm.

STANGERS WHO BECOME ANGELS

 

Today I’m thankful for people who when it comes to my expectations

far exceed them…

Like those strangers who become angels…

the moment that that we need them

HEROES AND ANGELS

 

A salute to our every day heroes…

Any person who works hard for a minimum wage…trying to get ahead.

The single parent who works two jobs to keep a family clothed and fed.

The teachers who teach…the doctors and nurses who do their best to heal the sick.

The first responders, soldiers, truck drivers, linesmen and women, firemen and women

policemen and women

There are so many…take your pick.

We are surrounded by these every day heroes…of this I have no doubt

and after a natural disaster…that’s when these heroes all venture out.

That’s when the heroes become angels who, in a crisis, suddenly spread their wings.

Who fly around donating their time, money, clothing, food and water…

to those who’ve lost everything.

The angels who never ask your politics, your religion, if you’re straight of if your gay.

The angels who only want to help those in need…make it through another day.

In the wake of a hurricane that left so much death, devastation, and sadness behind 

We are reminded of the every day angels who are good and generous…and kind.

Which makes me wonder why it takes a catastrophic act of weather

To remind us why we were put upon this earth…

to bring us all together?

When the worst of the tragedy is over…

the angels will fold up their wings and go back to being every day heroes…

like they were before.

I only wish….when there isn’t a natural disaster

we’d all unfold our angels wings a little more.

CELEBRATE EACH SUNRISE

 May we be blessed to celebrate the gift of each sunrise

and understand how it’s up to us to find a way…

To play…to live…to laugh, to sing, to dance

and to love another day.

FINDING JOY AGAIN

 

When sorrow enters our life

and showers down on us like rain…

Why is it important to find our joy and laughter again?

Because laughter is the sunshine

That…as everybody knows…

in combination with the rain…

encourages the flowers to grow.

HOW DO WE GO ON

 

Even though we know death is a natural part of life…when someone we love is gone

we ask ourselves…what are we going to do now…how do we go on?

The answer is different for everyone…we all handle grief differently….

but I find some solace in the philosophy of my two old friends…Phil and Lee.

When I was teaching I thought…this crazy idea had appeal…

What if I my Autistic students and I served Meals on Wheels?

Everyone was skeptical…my school board, the Meals on Wheels people…everyone but me….

and when I finally got their approval…Meals on Wheels matched us up with Phil and Lee.

Phil and Lee were in their 80’s when I met them…and they agreed to share their route with us…They would drive the route in their car and we would follow in our bus.

We delivered Meals with them for years and by the time my teaching tenure came to an end…

thanks to this unlikely pairing…Phil and Lee and I became good friends.

When cancer took Phil’s leg…I was there to give Lee my support and try to help her understand

When cancer took Phil’s life…I was there to hold Lee’s hand.

I remember last time I saw Lee…what she said to me…that bright sunshiny day in May

It was a few months after Phil and passed…and she was about to move away. 

She smiled saying, “It took me a while to laugh after Phil was gone

even after the worst of my grief had faded

I thought I was being disrespectful…I thought he’d feel jaded.”

“But when something triggered a memory of him and I began to laugh one day….

I thought how he would be so sad if he thought his death took my laugh away.”

“And that one laugh made me realize how with the memory of him I am blessed…

and finding joy and laughter without him…doesn’t mean I love or miss him less.”

“So now every time I feel like it…I let my laughter through….

and I’m confident, wherever he is, Phil is laughing too.”

Lee died a few years later…and it still warms my heart

knowing they are together…and will never again have to laugh apart.