May we be blessed to take some solace in any loss…
for the reason we feel so sad…
is that our sorrow is a direct result…
of all the joy we had.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
GOODBYE BENJAMIN
My friend Brenda’s dad walked on the other day…
he turned 100 years old in June…
Why is it even when someone lives a long and happy life…
they seem to die too soon?
He was a war veteran and a farmer
who lived in the land where sheep and dairy cows grazed…
I never had the privilege of knowing him….
but I know the woman whom he raised.
He was a kind and loving person…
who enjoyed sitting in a glider under his favorite tree.
He loved his church, loved to laugh, loved music…
loved his friend and family.
He loved restoring tractors…he could, at times, be demure…
Since I never had the chance to meet him…
all these things I learned from her
You see, every now and then Brenda would toss a stone
into the lake that was her father’s life…
And as the ripples spread out concentrically..…
Some of them I’m happy to say…found their way to me.
Over the years to my delight as she tossed more stones
and more and more ripples spread…
a portrait of the man he was formed inside my head.
I learned a lot about him through those ripples…
a lot about Brenda too…
and thanks to her I came to know and now will miss…
a man I never knew.
When I look back on all I learned about him…
I am joyful but not amazed…
After all…I had the perfect teacher…
the woman whom he raised.
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
DAILY GRATITUDE FOOD
Today I’m grateful for our food…
as no meal would be complete..
If before we start we didn’t take moment
to thank the food we’re about to eat.
BE KIND TO EVERYTHING THAT LIVES
May we be blessed to stand up strong for what we believe in…
while at the same time finding it in our hearts to forgive…
and do the best we can at finding a way
to be kind to everything that lives.
WAS THERE EVER A TIME
An old couple seated on a park bench…lamenting the trouble the world is in…
wondered if there was ever a time when the hierarchy of human values
was not based on the color of one’s skin.
A time when from the mountains to the valleys…across the rivers and the plains…
membership in a society was not based on one’s sex, on race…
or the percentage of blood rushing through their veins..
A time when there were no strangers, no jails…
no toxins polluting our seas, our land…our air…
when people tried their best to be kind, loving…and fair.
When sharing was taught to the young…where it was not only encouraged but expected….
When the intelligence of plants and animals was cherished…and respected.
A time when everyone and everything…no mater who or what
was thought of as a sister and a brother….
where everyone and everything had a place…and none was put above the other.
Suddenly out of the blue…much to this couple’s surprise…
A Native Nation family, who long ago walked on…appeared before their eyes.
They were dressed in their regalia…
made from beautiful beads, feathers and multi-color threads.
They all nodded at the couple then looked to the mother…who said,
“There was a time from whence you speak,”
The couple watched the words from her mouth flow…
“In the universe of time…it was not so long ago.”
“And when your time has run it’s course…
When you’ve sung your final song…
Which as we watch the ways you treat each other
shouldn’t take you very long
When this moment comes….when your evil no longer infects this Earth
then and only then…”
”Will the next inhabitants of this land
have their chance to live that way again.”
Monday, February 3, 2025
DAILY GRATITUDE KNOWING WHERE TO LOOK
Today I’m grateful
(although sometimes I’m amazed how long it took)
that when it comes to understanding myself and my dreams
I know where and how to look
Life usually goes smoothly
If my days follow this familiar theme:
I look inside myself to find myself…
I look outside myself to dream
BOOKS AND HISTORY
May we all be blessed not to accept
banning books or history any longer…
to understand learning about history…good or bad
will only make us stronger….
that when it comes to banning books and history…
this point…this truth…should be stressed:
Those who want to ban books and history
have always been the oppressors…
never the oppressed.
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