Kindness, and More

I ran across a cool new blog today and want to share it.  "That's Write," is a writer's blog of course, but what drew me to it was this great button she has there as well as the explanation I found to describe it (Which by the way is now on my blog on the top right.).  She is right about kindness being relegated to the back of the bus in our lives, and I think we need to be reminded that for many of our small, simple kind acts or comments are the only real meaningful contact they have some days.  And of course those of you who know me know that I am more than passionate about being kind!

Why not stop by her blog and take a peak?  You won't be sorry!

http://leightmoore.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-schedule-and-big-congratulations.html

Saturday, mid-November 2010

Conversations are good.  I certainly missed my written ones when my computer was causing trouble for so long.

I really enjoyed the weather here and staying at home and out of the rain this Saturday!  I got some sewing and mending done as well as that ever present laundry.  We had lovely 60 degree weather all week and now we are heading into winter.  I've been following a storm that's dropping snow all over Minnesota, Wisconsin and other deserving states.  I think it is heading our way by the end of the week from what the weather predictors have said.  Ah, well...it is November.

Today we had a slow steady rain, and with it came a wind that gently tumbled most of the remaining leaves off many of the trees around here.  I still have a a tree that has way too many leaves on it and after cleaning up a pile of the fallen ones yesterday my poor husband felt almost defeated by the growing piles that have taken their place on our lawn and by the back door.  The dogs remained indoors since their run has only one dog house and they crowd in it in the rainy weather...not much room for either of them especially now since we piled in the straw-filled burlap sacks just a few days ago in preparation for the winter months.

I have to share how much I'm enjoying playing with my new techie toys these days.  I also love the calendar on my Touch since it has an alarm on it to remind me of important events.  That's for the terribly forgetful person in our household - ah, that would be me!  I hope this new handheld will keep me on track since my Palm was dying and I kept losing power after only 4 hours.  (When you do that you lose ALL the info, and that can be a yucky experience!)

Life continues to be good for us here in West Michigan. I  enjoyed two of the grandkids all day yesterday.  One granddaughter shopped with me during the day which made for a fun time, and my oldest was here for 5 hours from the afternoon and on into the evening.  We got to plan for our coming trip in the Spring of 2011.  I'll share more about that in future posts, we're certainly excited about!  :-)

A Special Find

I enjoy used book sales, and our library has one every year in the bowels of the building that seems to be overflowing with tables that only really attempt to contain the mountains of books they have to sell.  This year I went from room to room, and table to table enjoying the feel, the smell, and of course the many titles that were there for perusing and buying.  To me, a book is alive with the thoughts and friends that people the flat worlds on its pages and I enjoy the discoveries I make at events like this one.

There were three books I picked up while getting to know some of the toms that leaned together on those tables to make a part of my very small collection (I haven't much room, so I have to truly love a book to make it part of my family.).  One of the books was a small gem that I know I'll be quoting from for a long time.

Leo Buscaglia was a college professor who was loved by his students, and also by the many viewers who got to share in his lectures that were taped and shown on PBS stations around the country during their pledge drives over the years.  Known as Dr. Hug, he spread a message of love...love by stepping out of yourself and really getting involved with people you come in contact with, as well as with life itself.

He touched my own life through those lectures.  I use to watch them in the middle of the night during pledge drives from my local PBS station.  Often repeated over the years, those lectures were absorbed and loved by many who saw his message as totally opposite of what we're hearing from leaders now so many years later.  Today, we are told that this group is evil, or that group is out to get us.  Maybe so...but how does that kind of fear help us, or change anything?  Reaching out from your heart is the ONLY way to change lives and often times that can cost you everything, but it also can change everything.

Leo caught me unaware in the depths of a nasty part of my life and changed the way I look at the world, and live in it.  I can honestly say that it changed the way I look at the people around me every single day.  When I began to read this tiny book called Papa, My Father, I was once again drawn in by how the man lived his life, what he said, and how he used examples from his own family to tell a story about what is really important in life.  I laughed and giggled in parts, and did more than just feel like crying in others.  He often would cut his own life open so you could see everything.  It was the way he shared what gifts he had to give to the world.

I finished the book yesterday and the last few lines in one of the last chapters have become my own life's mantra.  Words on a page are nothing until you somehow chew on them a while, and digest and find that warm glow of life from them for your own life.

A Code For Life
by Dr. Leo Buscaglia
Dance, sing and laugh a lot.
All things are related.
Don't waste time trying to reason with pain, suffering, life, and death.
An animated person animates the world.
Find a quiet place for yourself.
Don't ever betray yourself.
Birth and death are part of a cycle.  Neither begins or ends with you.
Stay close to your God.
It's crucial to love.
Idealism is strength, not a weakness.
People are good if you give them a chance to be.
Discrimination, for any reason, is wrong.
Self-respect is essential for life.
Except in the eyes of God, people are not created equal, so we are 
       all responsible for those who can't help themselves.
Cruelty is a sign of weakness.
Commitment and caring are the basic ingredients of love.
Love is indestructible and therefore the most powerful human force.
Change is inevitable.
People who think they know it all can be dangerous.

I know my motto is a bit long, but I think it really says it all.

Thanks for the reminder, Leo.

A Poetic Dream

I went to be a part of poetry reading session offered at the college I graduated from this week and fell in love with it all over again. We heard the words from many poets - Frost, Dickinson, e.e. cummings and even some newer poets as well all were read by an excellent poet in his own right who also happens to teach English and poetry at a local high school.

The tenor of the morning was soft, and quietly academic. That's something I was a bit disappointed in since this was an event I would love to have seen offered to the whole area so we could encourage people to embrace poetry as a way to express or be a release valve that could carry us well beyond our own often mundane lives.

The readings and then the discussions that followed brought out again, for me, various poets who have touched me over many years. I wrote their names near the poems to draw the words closer and wrap myself in their beauty, an emotional fire that carried me over many difficulties and through many years. Those poems that day - those words gave me thought and invigorated my life walk in ways I never thought this type of writing could again.

From the older more stylized ones that are so much a part of what most of us use to see as poetry, to the free forms words that dominate today's written poetic form there is really a true sense of love for many of us who live this language.

If you get the idea that I LOVE poetry more than just a little you are right!