Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to any of you reading this who have lost loved ones and comrades in service to our country and to our value of freedom. We are indebted to you. May your great loss never be in vain.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:
1256. Do you believe in fate – or that a person shapes her own destiny?
Sundays are devoted to poetry on the blog. Today’s poem is written by Nathaniel Bard:
Fields of white stones, each a silent tale,
Flags flutter softly in the mourning gale.
Honor their memory, sacrifices cast,
In quiet gratitude, forever vast.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:
2158. Do you think a person can always depend on the kindness of strangers?
On a day that so many celebrate with picnics, I decided to look up the most popular picnic foods here in America. Besides the obvious hotdogs and hamburgers, I noticed that there were foods listed from every ethnicity. Empanadas, muffaletta sandwiches, chick pea hummus, caprese salad . . . . . This kind of “filled me up” a little. Our country is so great because so many cultures have created it. Interestingly, the most popular picnic food in our country is supposedly potato salad, and the reasoning for this is that you can make so many different varieties of it, that appeal to all different people. (French, Korean, German, Southern Style, Greek etc.) Our country is quite literally a melting pot.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
This quote below is poetic enough for Soul Sunday (a day that we devote to poetry on the blog.) When worded just right, the shortest of statements can hold a volume of poignancy and emotion that would otherwise get leaked and lost in unnecessary ramblings. “Unknown” is perhaps one of the greatest wordsmiths of our time.
None of us truly knows who/what we would die for (no matter what we think, or what we casually and dramatically declare), until we are actually faced with the ultimate, dire choice. Thank you, fallen soldiers. Thank you for your last breaths. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy Memorial Day. Happy Start of Summer! I know that a lot of you northerners are opening up your pools today. Jump right in! I was always so excited about the opening up of pools when I was kid living in Pennsylvania.
This weekend has been deliciously lazy for me. I’ve slept in, all three days and I make no apologies for it. I’ve done very little in the way of chores, and I have done a ton of reading, which is one of my most favorite activities in life. I’ve read an interesting book, and half of another good book, and I am all caught up on my stack of magazines. Here are a few tidbits that I gleaned from my magazine reading over this weekend:
+ Avocadoes are berries. (No wonder why I like them so much!)
+ Crepuscular animals are animals that are most active at dawn and dusk. I was reading about red pandas at a zoo and the keeper mentioned that they were crepuscular, so she advised that it was best to view them in all of their glory, at dawn and at dusk. It then occurred to me, that squirrels are also crepuscular (they are – I looked it up) because every morning my dogs go nuts (dumb pun intended) at the squirrels hanging out on our fence, running along it and teasing our dogs mercilessly, as I am trying to write my blog. And then, once again, every evening, as I am starting to cook dinner, I noticed that my dogs also start whining like crazy at our back door, because the squirrels are doing wondrous Cirque du Solei acts on our bird feeder, without fail. So now you have a new word in your vocabulary – crepuscular. (and you also now know that avocadoes are berries. Jeopardy, here you come!)
+ And my final knowledge drop of the day, comes from an article by Kevin Anderson from Spirituality & Health magazine. He says that we do not heal and solve the problems which we ruminate on. Rumination just causes extra anxiety, stress and even depression. He recommends using the visual of a dog, wearing a cone. Dogs wear those cones on their heads after having surgery in order to avoid constantly licking and biting at their sutures. (I can still picture our adorable Josie, the collie puppy, after her spay surgery. She was such a good sport about wearing the cone, despite running and bumping into everyone and everything!) Anyway, any time that you find yourself stuck in agonizing rumination, put on your proverbial dog cone and do not allow yourself to “lick those scabs.” Anderson suggests actually putting your hands by your neck to symbolize “the cone” and bring your attention back to your breath and to the moment. Most of our problems are solved naturally and organically, after we have taken the steps which we are able to do about our problems. After taking the steps to do what you can, put on your “cone” and get into and stay in the flow of life!
I’ll end with these wise words that Rami Shapiro wrote to a reader who is overwhelmed by all of the sadness and atrocities in this world. Rami quoted the first century Rabbi Tarton, “While it is not up to you to complete the task of perfecting the world, neither are you free to abandon it.” This goes right along with a reader of Real Simple magazine who wrote in to answer the question, “What was your mom’s mantra during childhood?” Sallie Rupe answered, “Be a blessing.” I heard it every time I left the house.”
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you to any of you who are veterans, family of veterans, and to any of you who have lost family members who were serving our nation. We are indebted to you.
My family is chockful of veterans and I am extremely proud of that fact. My father and my father-in-law (who is deceased) are veterans. None of my family members, who are veterans, had to pay the ultimate price for their service to our country, and I am exceedingly grateful for that fact. But, they were all willing to pay the price. They all believed that our great nation, and its ideals of freedom and liberty, is worthy of protecting and preserving, even if it meant their untimely deaths.
I was watching a comedian this weekend, and he talked about the fact that if you ever have to question about how diverse the United States is, compared to any other country in the world, just watch the Olympics opening parades. Who has a more diverse team than us? Sweden? Japan? China? Nigeria? Jordan? Bolivia? The United States is the ultimate test room. We are trying the grand experiment of a democracy that our forefathers carefully laid out. I am sure that our forefathers were mocked. I am sure that their ideas were considered too idealistic and utopian.
No nation is perfect. No country does everything right. The preamble to our Constitution, starts with this:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, . . . . “
Are we doing our best, individually and wholly, to form “a more perfect union”? It doesn’t say “perfect”, because that’s not possible, but it does make its first sentence about aiming to be “more perfect”. Our Constitution’s starting sentence talks about justice, tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty. Are we doing our parts, individually and as a whole, to promote these sacred qualities for each and every one of our citizens? Service people have died for almost 250 years, to make sure that our citizens are provided these ideals which are set out in our Constitution. Are we truly doing our best to aim towards “a more perfect union”? Can we look a mother in the face who has lost her child in combat, and say that we are doing our best to be the great nation which we are intended to be? Can we look a child in the face, who will never grow up with a beloved parent because that parent died in defense of the United States, and honestly feel that we are fully putting forth our highest efforts to be the essence of what the United States is intended to be?
I think that these are questions that must be pondered on Memorial Day, and every day. What can we the people do, as a group and as individuals, to help form a more perfect union? What can we all do to make sure that all of our citizens receive justice, tranquility, common defense, general welfare and the blessings of freedom? What can we do to make sure that we deserve the many, many lives that have been lost, in order to preserve our country and its highest ideals, which it was founded upon? Instead of divisive finger pointing and righteous obstinacy, we need to face our challenges full on, together, using our rich, diverse heritage, as a mighty power and a formidable strength. We need to have one aim: to form a more perfect union. We must do this. We cannot let our fallen soldiers’ deaths be in vain.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
https://www.facebook.com/NorthGeorgiaVapor/videos/377365622880358/?t=0
My brother-in-law shared the above video. It says more than any words could convey. Thank you to all of you who have served our country, and for those of you who have lost loved ones, because these people had to pay the ultimate price for our freedoms, my heart goes out to you in gratitude. No wonder why you feel such a deep, deep loss. You loved some of the most courageous, giving people the world has ever known. You are in my heart today.
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day, friends.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
