If Stories Come to You, ...

“If stories come to you, care for them and learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” Barry Lopez, in Crow and Weasel
Our stories are not supposed to be horded and kept in the recesses of our brains, but rather, they should be thrown to the four corners of the world. Just like love, we cannot worry ourselves with the constant concern that it is returned. We know that when we give we receive if not immediately, then ultimately.
Sharing our stories are gentle caresses to the listener’s ears. They are colorful masterpieces to the reader’s eyes. We may truly never fully, completely understand the impact that our experiences have on others. I will share this story, as that is what I do:
I had a student some years back. Q.O.D., is what I use every day to encourage my students to think, share, write, ponder. Most of my stories have some degree of moral, ethical lesson embedded within it. Daily I share my own experiences. Most of the time, I choose a quote that represents something that has happened to me over the 24 hours prior to my coming into class. You see, I never choose the quote until the beginning of my school day. It is in the spontaneity of the moment that guarantees the experience to be real, and “in the moment.” Typically, my students realize this within the first 2 weeks of teaching them.
One student in particular was a bit of an outcast. She gained from my sharing of personal experiences that she can be somebody. She shared in an essay that now she believes that she can go on to college, and she can achieve because if Ms. LaLuna can with all that has happened to her, than she can too.
I never would have imagined as I looked out over my class of students that 1) I was even being heard, and 2) that it would have been her to have “gotten it.”
So my dear friends, if you have taken the time to read this little Q.O.D, then I pray you will see the value in sharing your story. It is the one thing that you have that no one else has, and it is only when you decide to give it away can you give it, and keep it all at the same time. It is in giving away your story that it becomes real.

Q.O.D

"The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost than by the stories it loves and believes in." - H. Goddard

I cannot help but connect this to the profound "change" that is about to happen, or, has already happened. B.H. Obama has been elected. That is the "change" his breaking through the glass ceiling. I think it would be unfair to say that he broke through it alone. My assumption is that he would be the first to say that he was merely the man of the hour and it was actually all of the stories that preceded him that enabled the "change" to occur.
M.L. King stated that "we are not makers of history, but rather we are made by history"
Barack Obama, was made by history, the history of his father and mother. A mother willing to break through her own glass ceiling.
Yes, there were many battles lost. But the stories, the dreams, the hopes, passed on and shared, over and over again, triggered a love in the many that held onto the dream.
Stories told over and over again of a promised land. The Lord told Moses, write it down, this is what I want you to tell generations to come.
I have seen the promise land, and it is rich with milk and honey, and yes, glass ceilings are meant to be broken, so the story goes...

ArtSeesDiner

Becoming a writer is no easy task. It requires the willingness to realize that you might not be able to write at all. So with that said, or written as it were, I am attempting to become a writer. Yes, me, I am moving away from blogdom, not to be confused with boredom, although they are both of the "doms" and in keeping with that stream of jargdom, I welcome you to the kingdom of ME, by way of The Box!

Sex, Politics and a Gender War!

Writer’s note…I was originally going to link the ABC video display of the “Crush on Obama” video, but decided that I did not want to do anything to promote it. I refuse. I have intentionally not linked the sexy politics link because I do not want to use this statement to make it easy for clicking there either.

First of all, I want to extend my apologies to Barack Obama. Clearly the “crush on Obama” video is a degrading piece of garbage that further identifies America as not being worthy to call itself a civilized society. We already have enough “sex” associated with politics, but to use it to promote and to link the idea that only R& B, bootie shaking starlet, wanna be’s is the way to get elected is over the top. I do not know the totality of the whole video, nor do I know too much about the liberal movement behind sexypolitics.com, but I can assure you, I do not want to read it, I do not want to know too much about the approach to use sex as a lure. Being informed is not sexy, people, it is smart. What is pleasing to another person aesthetically is not always, “sexy”, actually for some the constant reference to sex is offensive!

I am ready to go away from the concept that “sex” sell. It also kills, and distorts and destroys when it is not used appropriately. I am embarrassed to consider myself as a Democrat, an open minded thinker when it comes to education, healthcare, economics, the government’s role, etc. At this point I am praying that if Hillary Clinton does not get in as the Presidential candidate that a republican wins strictly because I do not know if we can handle a strong liberal front right now. (Liberal thought is not always immoral pandering!)

Furthermore, this escapade, using a video to minimize, to attract, to defile, (what was the purpose, was it suppose to be funny, is it funny to see an overweight older gentleman hanging on a robust young woman?) the political process has made me more determined to see a woman in the White house. It is time to stop using T&A to sell.

I found it absolutely hilarious that the sexypolitics.com actually promotes a book on Feminism, is that a joke or what? At what point did feminism align itself with reducing women to nothing more that T&A? Or is the newest form of feminism equated to the “sex in the city” thong wearing version?

Isn’t it plausible for Obama to be elected because of experience, intellect, demeanor, conviction, character, do we have to align him so deeply with pop-culture, as in “Obamania?” Isn’t it enough that he is worldly, a Harvard Graduate? Do we need to display to the rest of the world Is that really and truly the only version of America that there is?

Can anyone else see this charade, found in using Hooter-style models to promote politics in the United States is demeaning, and potentially damaging to what we should be doing to encourage, promote and make equal women in this country?

I say one way to bring a positive focus on women is to elect a woman as presidential candidate. Every father that has a daughter should be thinking about the future of their daughter. Every mother that has a daughter should be promoting with a firm conviction and end to the use of women as mere sex objects?

Stop the Madness!

See what your gas guzzling SUV’s, extensive square footage homes and excessive need for driving everywhere has netted for the fifth wealthiest petrochemical producing hoarder has done! Then go fill up and say oh well, “so what’s another $4 a gallon anyway, it is all about me getting around! By the way, when you can no longer afford to keep the lights on, remember - there is always a car that can’t be driven parked on the street for you and your family to sleep in.

By the way, can someone tell me why in the world we think it is okay for a family of five or less to have a 5,000 square foot (or more) home? Can someone tell me why it is necessary to build a monstrosity of a home for three people to live in (look at the newest suburban homes)? Does anyone see how we have been manipulated into investing in the housing market, when did the debt to income ratio disappear? The person making $160,000 a year and buying homes in excess of $500,000 becomes everyone’s debt as recent history has shown us! The auto industry encouraging after years of warnings regarding gas guzzling cars to buy “luxury” is a scam, who is the biggest investors into the production of SUV’s? Excessive consumer spending which has glorified into pop culture excessive spending which only has made a few on the top super rich?

Does anyone understand that if we collectively gave up just one week of income, driving, spending, that we would shut down the powers that be to the point that we could literally bring areas of the economy to a screeching halt? If small business men and women would all collectively support a job walk off, if corporations that are seriously going “green” would give up the “green” for a week that they would once again regain the control that is necessary to stop the billion dollar madness? Take action, believe me neither, McCain, Clinton, or Obama can do anything if we do not demand it, and take control. Let us learn from the Sons of Liberty and take action into our own hands collectively. It was British control in 1776, now it is the Middle East that controls this, are we sadly becoming a colony of the Middle East, the East? “Stop now what’s that sound everybody look what’s going down”…that song is a strong battle cry!

Oh, and to all of you who have the gas guzzlers, the oversized homes, the over-run credit cards…just because you make enough money to pay the bill, that does not give you the right to use more than your share! It is called gluttony and greed!

Building bridges, or is it more like the bridge found in Billy Goat's Gruff?

So that is where all of our steel, initiative and infrastructure has gone! China is building bigger and better, gaining momentum from using steel from Russia, precious metals from Africa and using our greatest minds and initiative. Yay China, you are growing in leaps and bounds. Introducing an Oreo cookie that is not the same as the Ole American one, is it better? While we are removing those “precious” metals that Chinese toy manufacturers have accidentally slipped into our children’s toys, they are utilize mass quantities to build their infrastructure. Where did the Chinese Government come up with that much money to build the biggest bridge in the world? Haven’t governments all around the world worked to sustain the longest wall, and now is it possible that we have also built the largest bridge. What I want to know is that great bridge in China a bridge to democracy, a two-way bridge or a one-way bridge? Ask yourself that question. I am still confused by the relationship between democracy and communism? But the American way is based on relationships that are determined by who you are in bed with at any given moment.

Cold Spring Thoughts

I am sitting in Cold Spring New York as I write this, and truly it is a cold spring day, rainy wet somewhat undesirable. We realize so often that the undesirable is necessary for the desirable to take root and to grow. That is what springtime is really about. The warm sunny days must be balanced against the cool, wet spring days or the force of nature upon the tender shoot would be so great that the tender root will wither before it has opportunity to fully stretch and grow and become what it is suppose to be, a strong root, a tree, a flower, a fruit.

Following a reflection (my daily one) I felt compelled to share my limited words of wisdom. Today’s focus is on being that sometimes lonely tree, that one tree in the distance that balances out a beautiful sunrise, or maybe a sunset, the lone tree that could make a difference to the horizon. We never know when we will be that tree or be called to be that tree. It is in those fleeting unexpected moments that words are spoken to us, words that can make or break a tree.

I remember one time in particular. It was right after my six and a half year old son passed away. I did not want to leave Children’s Memorial Hospital intensive care waiting room. How could I? My baby was lying in the other room only 20 feet away from me. I wanted to grab him, take him home, pretend that none of what had just happened, happened. It was devastating. I remember a social worker came up to me and just looked at me. I guess she knew, she had seen it all too many times. I looked her in the eye and said, “I can’t wake up tomorrow, I can’t!” I remember wanting to just fall into a heap on the floor, no I wanted to run, run so far and so fast away from myself that I would not have the physical strength or momentum to look back. She grabbed me firmly by both shoulders and gave me one reaffirming shake and said with a conviction that could bring down a strong oak tree, “do not let your children go to the grave with your son!” I remember how stunned I was, almost offended. How could she lack such compassion? Did she not see that I was dying too?

Later it came to me, not only was her firmness, her conviction that which could bring down an oak, it was also an unseen gentleness, the hand of God reaching through the moment to make fertile the soil for future healing and possible accepting of the sun that would follow a gentleness that could nurture a tender root to grow.

With this thought I was reminded of something that was written in the margin on the page of today’s reflection. This was my response to the reflection years past. “We get it wrong ~ a foe is the one we hurt, not the one who hurts us, necessarily ~ A friend is who we nurture, not necessarily who nurtures us – it all comes from us! It is us who determines friend and foe, “Blessed are you the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning.” Ruth 3:10