love thursday 10.28.09 ~ mom's room

(still gotta put the bar and shelf in the closet...and put the door on)

(first night in the almost finished room)

Well, I almost finished this room. We decided to get some new closet hardware, so I will have to finish it next time I come over. Probably this weekend. I have a few more hours to work in the morning. I have to be back for an appointment in the afternoon.

I love my mom. This job is all for her.

away from home

I am not at my computer. No access to my quotes or my pictures. Guess you'll have to just bear with me...or not.

I am out of town, working on the project. My intention is to get the bedroom finished. I think I can do that this trip and get Mom moved back in. My brother hooked up the heater. I have a little more woodwork to install and putty, paint to touch up. Voila! That should finish that room.

If I remember, I'll try to take some pictures to share the outcome. I think for do-it-yourselfers we did okay.

Hold the intention with me...okay? Thanks.

militancy

To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give it up ... Each of us must find our work and do it. Militancy no longer means guns at high noon, if it ever did. It means actively working for change, sometimes in the absence of any surety that change is coming.

~ Audre Lorde ~
from her book Sister Outsider

Tomorrow I am headed back to the project after an appointment. I'll be there for two half days and one whole one.

Regarding this project, I am militant: actively working for change in the absence of any surety that change is coming!

Actually, it is looking better all the time. It just keeps going on and on and on. Perhaps this trip will be the one.

Hopeful Militant

late night

I got home after midnight last night. Nope. Didn't finish the project. I am going back tomorrow afternoon after some appointments and will stay until Thursday. We'll see how much I accomplish this time.

home stretch

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.

~ Helen Keller ~

Off to do the finishing touches on the project. I'm hoping that we will get it all done. I know there will be bits and pieces that can't be finished. I'll go back in a couple days and will do those and help Mom clean the house.

Of course it took four times as long as we had hoped--and it didn't help that I was out of the country for a week in the middle of all that. Fortunately it wasn't four times as expensive--or even twice as expensive as we thought it would be--some more, yes.

I did the best I can. I hope it makes a difference.

holy

Laughter is an effervescent form of holiness.

~ Anne Lamott ~

A dream:

A large, gentle man interviews me about my spirituality. "I was wondering. Do you have a special time when you pray?"

I start to answer and my throat wells up with tears. "I pray all the time," I tell him. He tears up, too.

Have some laughs this weekend...

Be holy.

oh, i hope not....

I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states ... Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

~ Martin Luther King Jr. ~
from his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

I hope my computer problems are not affecting you...truly.

love thursday 10.22.09 ~ foggy voyage

(on the ferry from victoria: shot with my palm treo)

Feminism's agenda is basic: It asks that women not be forced to choose between public justice and private happiness.

~ Susan Faludi~
U.S. feminist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

We sailed through fog from Victoria to Port Angeles--calm water with very little visibility. Somehow, it seems appropriate that a raven rode the deck in the area of "keep out."

The voyage to Canada couldn't have been more different. My sea legs reappeared when I went aft for a couple bottles of water. Glad to know I've still got them. Sitting on the starboard side and looking out the port windows we saw water...sky...water...sky...water...sky....

What most amazes me is that the foggy return trip granted me much higher likelihood of seasickness. Riding the waves exhilarates me. Looking at the gray nothingness disorients. But Poseidon blessed me and I didn't get seasick going either direction.

I love being on the water.

found

Remember this?

It is on its way home.

on my way home to these guys

(mijo facing the camera and honeyboy in blur)*

(the blur that is probably mijo playing with bird-on-a-stick)

Prayer always thrusts one out into action sooner or later. One of its main functions is to induce one to think creatively; it stretches the imagination; it enables one to see things and people not as they are but as they might be.

~ Muriel Lester ~
social reformer and pacifist
(1883-1968)

The ferry leaves at 10:30 a.m. We must be in line at 9:00 a.m. and we are not then allowed to leave the area. Customs, you know...and I don't mean traditions. I am praying for a more benign customs officer experience on both sides of the water. For my part, I will see them "as they might be."

I accomplished what I came here to do: 1) accompany and "heave-ho" for SO; 2) rest. I slept 10 hours for three nights and 8 hours each of the others. Lovely...and apparently, much needed.

Now I am ready to go home. The kitties await me. Before long, they will be CATS. With paws the size of dinner plates that make their faces disappear when they hold up a hand in front of their faces, I expect them to be men of stature. In the meantime, I miss my kitties who I am sure have doubled--nay, tripled in size while I've been gone.

How satisfyingly odd that these little furry creatures come to live with us and capture our hearts.

(photos by LC--one of our kitty-sitters)*

magnificence

I don't find anything comparable to the magnificent beauty of a soul and its marvelous capacity.

~ Saint Teresa of Avila ~
from The Interior Castle

Kinda like the magnificent beauty of a tree and its marvelous capacity for colors.

people talk to me

(one more honeyboy shot by mr from yesterday)

I do not go to Mass to make myself "better." I go because, in the dimmest reaches of my scattered, angst-ridden mind, there is something that wants me to get down on my knees and, in spite of my own suffering and all the suffering around me, give thanks. I go because I am beginning to believe that heaven is not in some other world, but shot through the broken world in which we live.

~ Heather King ~
from her essay "Heaven and Earth"

...and I don't mean dead people. Well, maybe they do, too.

I am talking about live ones.

You may not know that I am an introvert. I can do extrovert. I can turn on the juice and interact. Since I've been sick, though, relating to people on that level requires more energy than I want to afford to spend. So I measure my interactions and choose carefully--hopefully, wisely.

Still...people talk to me.

1 ~ I am in the locker room, putting my clothes in a locker. She comes in and says hello as if she is expecting to meet me here. I ask, "Am I in your way?" "No. No hurry." I finish and as I turn to go to the hot tub, she says, "I'll be right in," as if we are together and I will be waiting for her.

We're not. I'm not.

She comes in and talks. "Why don't you come in for a swim?" (I've already been in the pool and am sitting in the hot tub.) She tells me about her week of baking, canning, and quilt making--to help her friend with a project at the friend's church--being off work because of her back pain. Her physiotherapist wants her to swim. He will be pleased that she has been in the pool six times since she last saw him.

And she talks some more.

I start to get out to meet SO for lunch. "Will you be back? I'm not sure I will be here again this week so I might not see you again."

2 ~ Several times in this and my previous visit to Victoria I passed a jewelry store and admire the custom work. Today I find time to go there during their open hours. I walk through the door and the owner starts talking to me. I am looking through the book of designs. She tells me they do custom work and can do whatever I want. Am I a ring, bracelet, or necklace person? (Ring.) "But you're not wearing any...." (My fingers are sausages today and I can't force my rings on without soap. Not a good way to begin the day.) Oh, hers are a little swollen, too. It must be the change in weather. She and her partner (who also owns the gallery next door) have had the shop for 34 years. They manage even though it is small. She has been married 34 years and is making her ninth wedding ring for herself. She gets tired of the rings after a while and--well, the relationships change, too. Her husband is used to it by now.

And she goes on until I can ask for a business card and leave.

3 ~ SO and I are in the hotel bar-restaurant for lunch. She is there by herself. The servers call her by name--a regular. Our lunch doesn't come for a long time. She starts talking to me. "You look just like a friend of mine that I haven't seen for a long time." (Everywhere I go, I look like someone a local knows.) "She's a sweet girl--so gentle. I got an invitation to the wedding. I don't know if I responded or not. I didn't go to the wedding. I haven't heard from her since. I need to look her up. I called her father." I say nothing and smile to be gracious. I look away, waiting for her to see that I am no longer listening and am engaging SO in conversation. She keeps talking. I look at her again and smile. "You even have the same teeth." (I have a gap in the front. Apparently her friend does, too.) And she goes on.

Eventually, she starts to leave. Our waiter comes with our food...finally--after a half hour or more. She waits for him to finish with us...so she can talk some more. And then she leaves, wishing us a good stay.

I don't start it.

I don't invite it.

I don't understand it.

They just talk.

To me.

I hope they get something they are needing.

I hope it is good for them.

randomness from my day

(honeyboy)*

(mijo)*

Only when enough adults practice and teach children love and respect at home, in schools, religious congregations, and in our political and civic life will racial, gender, and religious intolerance and hate crimes subside in America and the world.

~ Marian Wright Edelman ~
from her book Lanterns

~ Since I am missing my kitties, my neighbor who is visiting them in the afternoons took these pictures while they were playing and emailed them to me.

~ I love email.

~ A group of adolescents arrived en masse at the hotel today. Their meeting sounded like bad cheerleading. After I (and no doubt countless others) called the front desk to find out if I would be listening to them all weekend, they got quiet. Thank you.

~ In order to break the suction of the hotel room, we went outside the city tonight for dinner. We found a wonderful Thai restaurant where I had the best Panang curry I have ever eaten. The. Best.

~ Finally, we found a store that sells dark chocolate M&Ms.

~ I spent the afternoon reading Hope Edelman's The Possibility of Everything. Having been to Belize, I am enjoying the additional richness my experience brings to reading her book. Only about 30 pages left.

~ The hotel across the street has a pear tree in the front yard. When pears drop on the sidewalk they split.

~ www.accuweather.com was not so accu today. Okay with me. We got less rain than they predicted.

~ We are now officially half way through this trip.

~ I slept almost 10 hours last night.

*Photos by my neighbor, Monique

six degrees....do you know these people?

Posting this at the request of a blogger I read--now at 4 degrees!

"Please repost this photo. Let's see if 6 degrees works. I found a camera while biking just North of Kapalua on Maui at the end of July. I would like these people to get their camera and picture of their child back, if you know them email me at gbpniko@yahoo.com."

love thursday 10.15.09 ~ showers

Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.

~ Nolan Bushnell ~

Accuweather.com was pretty accu. Rain during the 1 o'clock hour. Big wet drops at 1:30--far enough apart that I didn't really get wet. In fact, when the first drop hit me I thought it was a pigeon dropping guano on my head. Glad I was wrong.

They also predicted rain during the 4 o'clock hour. At 3:30 rain arrived at a 45 degree angle and was over by 4:20. I am very grateful that I decided not to go for a walk downtown about that time.

On another note, the shower in the room here hurts. That's right. It is so powerful that I couldn't stick my face in it and I had to use one hand to protect my chest from the stream of water. In this age of "low flow" and water conservation the bigger challenge is getting enough water to come through the shower head.

I am not complaining. I rather like it.

What's all this got to do with Love Thursday? I have no idea.

Hope your Thursday is full of love.

is this the face of a "person of interest"?

The self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates.

~ Thomas Szasz ~
(1920-)
American Psychiatrist

We are in Canada. Whew.

However....

They did a background check before they would let us in.

Huh?

Maybe it was the face...this face. (I get pulled aside on both sides of the border for personal inspection far more often than random selection would deem statistically possible. Would that my odds were as high for winning the lottery!)

Maybe it was the car. (Red Volvo convertible--but, hey...we had the top up.)

Maybe it was the fact that our passenger forgot her passport and had to have someone fax a copy to the ferry terminal so she could even leave the US. (What can I say? All we did was give her a ride.)

Maybe it was the fact that I said we were here for a workshop and they were afraid that we were here earning money instead of spending it. (NOT.)

Maybe it was the really snarky customs officer. (I've never had a customs officer who smiled, so I suspect it is their training. However, this one seemed to go out of her way to be unpleasant. She was the crankiest one I have come across to date. The one who did the background check never smiled either. However, she managed to convey kindness and humanity through her tone and demeanor.)

Whatever.

Here we are. I plan to rest, read, and have some fun and adventures. Not sure what yet. Adventures tend to unfold as they will and I haven't ventured outside yet.

I do hope that whatever adventures I find are more pleasant than yesterday's entry.

on the road

(parliament)

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

~ Mother Teresa ~
(1910-1997)

Albanian Missionary

We are headed north today. It's a 5 hour drive to Port Angeles, an hour wait, and an hour and a half on the ferry. Then we are in Victoria.

I'm supposed to have Internet in the room. May it be so.


By the way...the loop is as closed as it is going to get. We can each only do what we can do. I hoped for more. At least we spoke to each other.

close the loop of communication

(view from the ferry to victoria, bc...where i am headed again tomorrow)

Reconciliation is the ultimate aim of nonviolence because nonviolence holds not only for the absolute inviolability of the human person, both friend and enemy, but maintains that human beings are ultimately one family, brothers and sisters to each other.

~ Niall O'Brien ~
Columban priest in the Philippines

I made a mistake. I hurt someone's feelings. My tone comes out sharp and the person I am talking to gets blasted. (I hate it when I do that.) Then I have to own it and apologize.

I recognize that I speak too sharply at times. I am working on doing it softer, gentler, better--and much to my dismay--I still lose my capacity to hold my tongue until I can modulate what's behind it. I apologize.

I apologized for this one, too. I am sad and feel bad that I hurt his feelings. Truly.

He won't take my phone calls--hasn't responded to my messages. I left two--one non-specific: "let's talk" and one specific: "I'm sorry." No response.

The loop is open and it feels bad--I feel bad.

Reconciliation cannot occur if the loop remains open. It just can't.

saint damien: canonized 10.11.09

(father damien at painted church in captain cook, hawaii)

I would not be cured if the price of the cure was that I must leave the island and give up my work… I am perfectly resigned to my lot. Do not feel sorry for me.

~ Father Damien ~
born Joseph de Veuster
(January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889)

I have always loved the story of Father Damien. His love and compassion alone make him a saint to me. Finally, the Catholic church is figuring it out.

work to do

No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's too much work to do.

~ Dorothy Day ~
The Catholic Worker

Today...the work is painting.

Yesterday, a neighbor surprised me by being verbally (racially) violent with a young man of color going door-to-door for his work in our neighborhood. We heard. We went outside. SO walked up to and talked with the young man as the neighbor went in his house. SO told the young man that he won by not resorting to violence. And he did.

Yesterday, the work was walking outside and showing up to stand for and with the young man.

I am sad and shaken...but not hopeless, for there is work to be done.

we all must be peace

It is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions by many people in many countries. It is an attitude, a way of life, a way of solving problems and resolving conflicts.

~ Oscar Arias Sanchez ~
Excerpted from his 1987 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

In a few more days, I will be headed out of town for a week. If all goes well, I will have internet service and be able to post from my destination--Victoria, BC. If not...well, I guess you won't be hearing from me for a while. I am staying at the same place I went last time, however, so I am assuming that the internet will work.

A few days fewer than that, I am headed out of town closer to continue the project at my mom's house. We are getting close. Painting this weekend. Yes!

And today...Friday...I get a massage.

love thursday 10.08.09 ~ love is my name

To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.

~ Thomas Merton ~
from A Book of Hours

From my lips to God's ears.

Happy Love Thursday. Share a thought of love today.

things i am hoping for...

Hope ...
is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.

~ Lisel Mueller ~
from her poem "Hope"

A good night's sleep--pain free.

An interesting workshop tomorrow that makes it worthwhile and not just a place filler for the CEU hours I need.

A phone call from someone who may be having a hard time, so I can urge an appropriate intervention.

Fingers that bend when I wake up.

Snuggles with my kitties.

Time to take some more photos.

What are you hoping for?

i'm back

Goodness is a process of becoming, not of being. What we do over and over again is what we become in the end.

~ Joan Chittister ~
Benedictine nun, author, and lecturer

No picture today. Sorry. Just me...and my quotes.

It's good to be back. Maybe I will have a chance to get the camera out and create some new material to work with.

The project continues. Everything is now primed and textured. Next weekend...the real paint colors. You can help me paint if you will let me hold your frog....

i wish i had mama cass's voice...

another wedding dance

I thought this was kind of fun:



I'll see you soon....

bak sun

I am headed out of town for the next portion of the project. I'll be working for the next three days and won't have computer time, so I'll leave you brief entries to remember me by.

Love ya.
Miss ya.
Mean it.

And as Winnie the Pooh says, I'll be "bak sun."

Muah!

friday list...and i've been saying this all along

To be human is to be responsible. That is the inner meaning of the "dominion" of Genesis 1:26, which is a dominion not of domination but of stewardship, taking care of the world's back yard ... God the world-maker is God the care-taker. Humans properly stand over other creatures only as they stand with other creatures, showing them love, giving them space, and granting them "rights."

~ Kim Fabricius ~
from his book, Propositions on Christian Theology

Return Grey's Anatomy (season 5, disc 3) to Blockbuster
*This season is farcical and remembering that is the only way I can watch it. As it is, I keep talking back to the TV*

Go to work: see clients, make phone calls
*Short day*

Go to the bank
*Small deposit...sigh*

Research drywall products
*Hoping that what I now have will do what I want it to do"*

Home Depot
*Remember the list this time!*

Go to the pharmacy
*Again*

...and if all goes well...
take a nap.

What's on your list? May we both accomplish the whoooole thing.

love thursday 10.01.09 ~ resistance to oppression

Resistance to oppression is often based on a love that leads us to value ourselves, and leads us to hope for more than the established cultural system is willing to grant ... such love is far more energizing than guilt, duty, or self-sacrifice. ... Solidarity does not require self-sacrifice, but an enlargement of the self to include community with others.

~ Sharon Welch ~
The Feminist Ethic of Risk

I've been really busy and out of town a few days each week. I haven't had time to write or read much. Bear with me. I'll get caught up eventually.

Thanks for continuing to visit.

And Happy Love Thursday!

animal love

(mijo)

Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened.

~ Unknown ~

I guess my soul is awake.

rats

We have a resident rat.

Sigh.

yeah...what he said

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

~ Mohandas Gandhi ~

oregon summerfall

(oregon summerfall afternoon sky)

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

~ Henry James ~

We have some of our most beautiful weather this time of year. The sun still appears almost every day and the rains haven't yet started. The days are summer-warm, yet the nights are cool enough that I have to use all my covers (instead of just a sheet) at night.

Ahh....

disappointment

We planned a Transformation game with friends for this afternoon. With the beginning of cold and flu season upon us--and I do mean upon us--we don't want to infect each other. We may not get to play today. It all depends on the collective symptoms. We'll compare notes and then decide.

If we don't get to play today, the next available time for all of us is November 14th...maybe.

Sigh.

I am trusting the timing.

conscious friday bonus: circle game

Look at these beautiful, soulful faces. Thank you for teachers like this...the kids and the teacher.

war. what is it good for?

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea.... I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed.... I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt ~
FDR Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Absolutely nothing. (This is where I break into the chorus of Blowin' in the Wind.)

May we find peace.

Soon.

Please.

love thursday 09.24.09 ~ you are the face of love

The hunger for God can only be satisfied by a love that is face to face, person to person. It is only in the eyes of another that we can find the Icon of Christ. We must make the other person aware we love him. If we do, he will know that God loves him. He will never hunger again.

~ Catherine de Hueck Doherty ~
Catholic social activist and founder of Madonna House
(1896-1985)

I find it very difficult to love someone who drives 5 to 15 miles per hour under the speed limit on a highway in front of me, won't use the slow moving vehicle turnouts, speeds up on the straight-aways, crosses the center line with traffic oncoming, steps on the brakes every 100 feet--syncopated with dimming and brightening the headlights, and intermittently turning on the left turn signal (just to tease me into thinking he would actually turn and get out of my way).

I didn't flip him off or curse him.

Guess I am making progress.

Happy Love Thursday!

wind

Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

~ George Bernard Shaw ~
(1856-1950)
Irish Playwright

Hot winds blew today. Ninety-one degrees and dry. Hot winds are blamed for Vincent Van Gogh going off his rocker and cutting off his ear. I get it.

Half of the planets in my astrological chart reside in water signs. 36% are in fire and 14% are in air. No earth. I have no earth in my chart. So when the wind blows, it ruffles my water--not in a good way. The only time I like wind is when I am sailing.

Today, I didn't have a boat.

worthy?

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.

~ Thomas Merton ~
(1915 - 1968)

Love. That's all. Just love.

monday catch you up

Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

~ Samuel Johnson ~
(1709-1784)
English Author

I wouldn't say it is the "greatest" but I do value courage.

The first irrigation box is done.

The drywall project is coming along and taking longer than we originally thought. Isn't that the way of home projects?

I got to sleep in this morning. Ahh....

How's your Monday? I miss hearing from you.

security

The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have much to lose.

~ Dorothy Day ~

Some days I feel pretty secure.

marys in my life

(mary in hawaii)

People say to us, "Oh, I grew up with your music," and we often say, sotto voce, "So did we."

~ another Mary Travers quote~

my mother
my sister-in-law (who was my best friend in high school)
my friend of 30+ years who I met in college
my former college roommate
my pranic healing teacher

...and the mother of Jesus.

One can never have too many Marys in one's life.

mary

(from the web site: www.peterpaulandmary.com)

We’ve learned that it will take more than one generation to bring about change. The fight for civil rights has developed into a broader concern for human rights, and that encompasses a great many people and countries. Those of us who live in a democracy have a responsibility to be the voice for those whose voices are stilled.

~ Mary Travers ~
(from www.marytravers.com)

I loved their music and I can't tell you how many times I have seen them in concert. "I can't tell you" not because it is a secret, but because I have lost count.

Mary,

You have changed the world by your presence and your work. Thank you.

I am sad at your passing and oh, so grateful for your life and work. May you receive all the accolades and blessings that you deserve for championing the rights of others.

My own folk singing "career" covered a lot of their songs. PP&M will live forever in my heart, my repertoire, and in my musical collection.

love thursday 09.17.09 ~ community

I think that I have never lost the intuition that community life could be a sign that God is love, and love alone.

~ Brother Roger ~
Swiss theologian and founder of Taizé, an ecumenical monastic community in France

Thanks for being part of mine.

my mary book arrived

(mary outside painted church in hawaii)

As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother. Our Father wills, our Mother works, our good Lord the Holy Spirit confirms.

~ Julian of Norwich ~
Catholic mystic (1342-1416)

i'm working on it

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.

~ Christopher Darlington Morley ~
(1890-1957)

moon

(the most recent full moon over my neighbor's house)

naughty kittens

They don't seem to understand "GET OFF THE TABLE" for more than a few seconds. We were watching a movie. This is where we found them.

ethics

(saint francis pond, franciscan renewal center, scottsdale)

The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.

~ Socrates ~
(469-399 BC)
Greek Philosopher

This morning I'm going to Eugene for a CEU class on ethics. I'll miss the kittens. I am sure they will be twice as big when I get home as they were when I left.

On another note...

I finally got the sprinkler valve installed and as of 9:00 p.m. it wasn't leaking. However, I haven't finished the job because I had to dig out the box and several inches of mud, and then put down new crushed rock. I'll set the box on bricks this time because I had to dig down so low to get below the drain valves.

Speaking of being what one appears to be (and ethics)...the builder wasn't (and didn't have any).

So--good Lord willing and the blue glue holds--if I get home early enough from Eugene, I might have some daylight to work on the project. I would love to get this part done before I head out of town for a couple days.

Have a good weekend.

exhausted

Just like him. More later.

love thursday 09.10.09 ~ things I'd love to tell you

One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the U.S. around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better.

~Daniel Berrigan ~

poet, peace activist, and priest

I completed the project in the mud. Piece of cake!

The doctor says my foot/ankle will be fine with a little more time and rest.

My phone is ringing off the hook with new clients.

I finally fit into my skinny pants.

I won the lottery.

I'd love to.
Really I would.

the flies of summer

(red banana with water dripping from the sprinkler)

Do what we can - summer will have its flies.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

I have a big ol' fly on me today. The sprinkler system leaks. The valves for each zone are worn out. The low pressure drain valves are now "any pressure" valves--yeah..blown out. And the valve boxes are full of mud.

Seems our contractor was...less than stellar on his performance on this system.

Given my current lack of funds for hiring help, I'm going to fix it myself. Either that or Mary* will have to send help my way.

Stay tuned.


*Yep. I'm in.

(Oh, and happy 09.09.09!)

we have laws for a reason

These practices are not just morally reprehensible, but they’re bad for the economy. When unscrupulous employers break the law, they’re robbing families of money to put food on the table, they’re robbing communities of spending power, and they’re robbing governments of vital tax revenues.

~ Annette Bernhardt ~
Co-director of the National Employment Law Project
and an author of a study showing that low-wage workers
are routinely cheated out of overtime pay and workers'
compensation, and are often paid less than the minimum wage.
(Source: The New York Times)

Seems to me that when people work a full time job, they should be able to live on it--and by live, I mean be able to take care of their basic needs.

Food
Shelter
Clothing
Health care
Disease prevention

Or is it just me?

health reform continues

I am leaving the brilliant world where I occupied a high position, and now.... I am about to ascend into a much greater world, the world of the poor.

~ St. Elizabeth Feodorovna ~

(1864-1918)

The issue of health care reform continues to bring up debate--as it should. I have a lot of feelings about it, having been through several years of illness myself and with my family. I am sure you will hear more about all of that as the days go on, but that's not what I want to talk about here.

As I said, I am empassioned about this. Yet I will try to stick with information and not get carried away with my feelings here. While feelings are important, they are based on information. If the information an individual has is inaccurate, the feelings are inaccurate, as well. I support the other side's right to have their feelings, too. But if their information is inaccurate, then...so is the passion behind their antagonism.

Today, I am addressing some of the comments that I am reading and hearing in response to the Facebook statement* that went around cyberworld last Thursday:

"I work in the ER. We stop people from dying who don't have health care every day....and we don't make them pay! Your tax dollars pay for them. We already have free health care.....it is called the ER."

Wouldn't it be nice if the ER could be used appropriately for Emergencies and not "health care"? And wouldn't it be nice if more people could afford health insurance so that those who do don't pay for others' "free" ER visits through their premiums and the price tag for their doctor and hospital visits? I prefer to have a system where more people are covered so that their insurance isn't hidden in my premiums. Are we paying through taxes? Maybe a small part, but more of it comes out of the pockets of those who can pay for health care because the cost is spread out to the payers.

"No one should die because of socialized health care, and no one should go broke because they have to pay for everyone else's healthcare. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."

Let's start by saying that no one should die because of shoddy care whether it is socialized or free market.

The reality is that there are about 200,000 deaths per year in the US due to medical error according to an investigation by the Hearst media corporation. Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US. In Canada, I found differing reports--one saying that medical error is the 3rd leading cause of death and another saying it is 6th. So we are not doing anything better, and maybe not as well as Canada. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that the US ranks 14th in preventable deaths, behind several countries with socialized medicine.

We are now paying for everyone else's healthcare...through higher premiums, loss of human power in the work force, and probably taxes, too. Again, I am all for creating a system that is up front about it all. I don't like paying through higher prices of my own at the hospital/doctor's office any more than I like paying for shoplifters at the grocery store. The truth is...we all pay in so many ways already.

"Nothing socialized works. Show me a government ran [sic] program that is able to do as well as a program in the free market. ...What makes anyone believe that the government can run a health care delivery system when it can [sic] run getting our mail to us without being severly [sic] over budget."

That's a pretty broad generalization. "Nothing socialized works." Clearly, many people who live in socialized countries disagree. According to WHO, the US ranks 37th in health care, again ranked after a number of countries with socialized medicine. (See here.)

"He [Obama] is trying to run this country like he is a community organizer."

So? Is that a problem? The way I see it, a community organizer tries to get everyone involved. The greater number of people who get heard, the better. Isn't this supposed to be about all of us? Why shouldn't we all be organized and involved? I know that I am more interested and involved than ever, because, finally, someone in power is listening. He is everyone's president. Mine and yours.

"The people are speaking and it is a resounding no to his socialization of this country."

We are so far from socialization. The reason that word is tossed around so much seems to be that it carries a lot of political clout. I am not afraid of our becoming socialized. I am afraid, however, of the continuation of lack of balance and the rich getting big financial breaks on the backs of the middle class and the poor.

We have laws and programs to protect people. If we could trust that everyone in the free market system had morals and valued interdependence, we wouldn't have to have that kind of system.

I have long said that no political or economic system is all bad or evil, any more than any system is all good. The people in it are what make it good or bad. If those who had money willingly paid good wages and gave good benefits to their employees, we wouldn't be having some of these discussions today. Unfortunately, not everyone does what is right, my friend.


I don't claim to have the answers but I do know these things:

We all are paying right now.

The system we have is broken.

A lot of misinformation about the actual proposal is being bandied about.

This will be much more successful for all of us if we can get accurate information and be responsible with our emotions. Really.


*"No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick."

ripples

(honeyboy...sabbathing)

Maybe I’m not making big changes in the world, but if I have somehow helped or encouraged somebody along the journey then I’ve done what I’m called to do.

~ Sister Thea Bowman ~
African-American Franciscan
(1937-1990)

We don't often get to know the ripples we create with our actions. In my work, I usually see one person at a time, yet each one of them touches more people than I know. If I make a difference to the one--I make a difference to all the rest, too.

Nice.

make the world a better place...

No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.

~ Phillips Brooks ~
(1835-1893)
American Bishop

...one person at a time.

we gotta do something

(an accidental photo, untouched)

This made the rounds on Facebook yesterday:

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

I did.

What good will it do? It will let those of us who agree know that we are not alone. Even if we don't agree on how to get there, perhaps it will help us keep our eye on the goal.

In Oregon, the state passed a bill that will place a 1% tax on health insurance premiums in order to provide coverage for the under-insured and uninsured. I got a letter today that my health insurance company is raising my premium by 1%. So for the second time this year, my premium will increase.

Which one of us do you think makes more money? Me or the insurance company? I am willing to help those who can't do it for themselves. I believe in that kind of help. To tell you the truth, however, I'd like to see that come out of some of the executives' salaries or bonuses. At this rate, I could become one of the uninsured or under-insured.

I'm just saying.

love thursday 09.03.09 ~ i love saint francis

(saint francis on my back deck)

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received ... but only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage.

~ St. Francis of Assisi ~

He had his foibles. Just like the rest of us. But it didn't stop him from acting in Love.

I wonder if he would have flipped people off in traffic. I wonder if he was cranky and fed up with oblivious people. I wonder if he used language that would have curled the toenails of a nun's corpse.

I know I am not a saint. (Ha! I first wrote, "I know I am a saint.") I don't know if non-Catholics can be saints anyway.

The point is, I believe in love. I believe in acting in Love whenever I can. And even when I screw up--in the next moment, I can choose again to act in Love. I get to start over...as many times a day as I need to.


Thank God.

(And thank you all for your supportive comments yesterday. I appreciate your coming along for the ride.)

be what you must be

(butterfly)

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.

~ Abraham Maslow ~
(1908-1970)
American Psychologist

...or a woman.

For more than 25 years, I've been in a profession where I was expected to be a tabla rasa--a blank slate. The less I let people see of me, the better--or so we thought.

I don't think I can do it any more. I haven't sorted out all the edges of this. I know that I must still maintain professional boundaries. I know that once I open myself to being seen, I can't take it back. So I reveal myself tenuously...gingerly.

I just know that I can no longer keep as much of myself to myself. What that will look like, I don't know. I just know that Maslow was right.

Guess we'll find out together.

great and noble things

(mijo)

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.

~ Helen Keller ~
(1880-1968)
American Writer

If you've been here before, you know that I struggle with wanting to do more than suit up and show up...which on most days is what I can manage. It's not that that's not okay. Certainly showing up is important.

For me--within me...sometimes it doesn't feel like enough.

Today, I will do what is set before me and know that what I do matters. How I approach what I do also matters. And I will hold the thought that because the day before me is what was given to me to live, this day and these tasks are great and noble--the ones I have been given to do.