Tuesday, January 19, 2010

SURMOUNT ORDEALS

Hickman suggests in "Healing After Loss" that we take up the threads of our lives and begin weaving again. One might say, take up the colors of your life and begin painting again. Or take up the page of your life and begin writing again. Move on with purpose and meaning.
Mae Sarton's elderly neighbor Eleanor Blair had survived being stranded in a four day storm. No heat, no lights, no hot food. She said she'd gone to bed fully dressed, wearing two sweaters. Her cat had helped keep her warm. Mae wrote, "It must be wonderful to do the impossible, as she has done, to surmount the ordeal." Eleanor had a small fireplace in the parlor and kept that room at 50 the rest of the house was at 40. So her water pipes didn't freeze.
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is a very good read. Under grossly inhumane conditions some people retain their humanity. In fact, it is magnified and multiplied. some people evolve upward where others degenerate. I think that's why the elders said not all two-leggeds are human.
Concerning human views of truth Arthur Schopenahuer (1788-1860) stated there are three stages: first it is ridiculed, then violently opposed and finally accepted as self-evident.
My friend Mike M reminded me today that a relative of Haiti's former Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide had come to the reunion of Camp Justice White Earth in the mid 1990s. I recall his bright red shirt, expressive hands, excited voice... but not a word did I understand. Although Aristide was deposed and forced into exile amid allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of his office, in Dec 2009 protesters marched in support of his return from exile in South Africa. On Jan 12, 2010 he sent condolences to earthquake victims and said he wanted to return to help rebuild the country.
I have been making regular visits to bear.org to see if Lily has had her cubs yet. I feel that I'm waiting for new grandchildren to be born. I might have to pay them a visit this coming summer. Cedar would like that. UPDATE On Jan 21 Lily had one cub and named it Peace.
Today I walked to the underground library and back 6262 steps..

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