Literacy in America

 

"Illiterate and semiliterate Americans are condemned not

only to poverty, but also to the powerlessness of

incomprehension. Knowing that they do not understand

the issues, and feeling prey to manipulative over-

simplifications, they do not trust the system of which they

are supposed to be the masters. They do not feel

themselves to be attractive participants in our republic,

and they often do not turn out to vote."

 

Saying No

 

Caught part of the Diane Rehm Show on NPR as I drove home from the gym today. She was interviewing Jane Fonda, whom I've grown to respect. She is a fine actress, and has lived an interesting life.

The interview centers around a newly released book by Fonda-- "Being a Teen: Everything Teen Girls & Boys Should Know about Relationships, Sex, Love, Health, Identity & More."

This particular excerpt really caught my attention:

 

(Jane Fonda)

I want you to use protection, so forth. If you can't talk that way, then you can't, you're not ready to have sex. If you don't trust the person you're with, it's not a good relationship. There should never be pressure or abuse or force. No is a complete sentence. I mean, we've got to keep saying this to our girls and boys.

No is a complete sentence.

Really.

Profound.

I'm going to use that; remember that; apply it.

 

The Wind is Not a River

(source)

 

The Wind is Not a River

Brian Payton

Some men have the great misfortune to stand at life's continental divide and see that the land beyond is barren. There is no hope of turning back. What does one do with this view?

It takes the rest of the day, but then the answer descends on him like a revelation. Easley's eyes open wide, he stands to greet its arrival. It is the phrase, the riddle he has been repeating like a prayer. It is, of course Tatiana.

The wind is not a river.

Her chain of islands that dares to separate the North Pacific from the Bering Sea. A chain through which the wind whips into some of the world's most fearsome storms. One minute it's a hurricane, the next a breeze. But rivers! Rivers flow throughout the seasons--under bright summer sun, plates of winter ice--morning, noon, and night. Wind rises up and fades away, but a river flows endlessly.

And our suffering? This too shall pass. The wind is not a river.

pg. 186

If John were with her now, he would hold her hand and tell her not to fill the void with fear. Be realistic, he'd say, but do not jump straight to catastrophic conclusions... There are enough hard facts to confront each day without letting our imaginations get the better of us--without letting worry drain our real lives away

pg. 264

Just posted a review of this wonderful novel on my First Paragraphs blog. Need to capture these quotes here, as they are a necessary reminder and a caution besides.

 

Unglued: A Prayer

 

"God, I'm so tired of being hurt. I'm so tired of feeling distracted and discouraged by this(these) situation(s). Pour your lavish mercy on my heart and into this(these) hard relationship(s)... help me see how to separate myself graciously from this(these) constant source(s) of hurt in my life. It all feels impossisble...Reveal clearly how I can best honor You, even in this."

Lysa TerKeurst

Unglued

 

 

 

Melancholy

mel·an·chol·y

noun /ˈmelənˌkälē/  A deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness

Sometimes I think melancholy can be an addiction. A certain wistfulness can permeate every hour. I wonder if it is, in fact, a form of happiness, as the person who has this sadness clings to it against all evidence, while all around there is abundance, stacks of grace, like paddocks in summer. I spent years like that. Here my work is to learn to live with vulnerability, nose to nose with the world, unprotected by melancholy, not letting the weeds give me anything but the pleasure of the dignity of work. And to sit, from time to time, in the garden with nothing in my hand or head but pleasures.
Playing with Water, A story of a garden
Kate Llewellyn
p. 309



No, I don't actually think that I suffer from melancholy as defined on Dictionary.com. But as I read this section of Kate Llewellyn's Playing with Water, A story of a garden, I paused to consider her words.

I believe that I often (and others have affirmed my thoughts on this) mis-identify my feelings and emotions--believing that I'm possibly sinking into depression or at least too much rumination.

What is it about life experience or our busy-busy world that makes me feel guilty if I spend too many days in a row almost alone or quietly at home?

Often, I find myself saying, "I love being at home." Shouldn't that be a virtue, rather than a character deficit?

Still, too much alone time makes me want more, and then it is easier to sink into a tiny bit of melancholy.

LIFE HAPPENS

Two striking and memorable passages, especially, resonate with me as I read Paula Butturini's book Keeping the Feast:

Violence, blood, depression, and death are, I know now, part of life. Today I recognize them, respect them, fight them, and try as much as I can to keep them at bay, but I no longer pretend that they are not as much a part of life as birth or joy or love or the laughter, comfort, and strength that grow out of a simple meal shared with family or close friends.
pg. 251

All of us cook, I think, in part to feed our daily hunger, but just as important, and perhaps more so, we cook and eat to feed our spirits, to keep us all in the same orbit of life. As the generations turn our family expands, the table and its simple pleasures--never just the food, but the food and the talk, the food and the laughter, the food and the tears, the jokes, the memories, the hopes--still hold us in place, well anchored in a safe harbor. There may very well be another depression or endless other troubles, big or small, lying in wait for us, but rather than freezing in fear about what may come, we try our best to live and enjoy the lives we've been served forth.
pg. 53-54

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.

ENOUGH FOR THIS MOMENT

"Everything in our lives," she said quietly, "leads up to everything else in our lives. So a moment in the present has a reference point both in the past and in the future. I want you to know that you--as you are right now and as you ever will be--are fully enough for this moment... "
With No One as Witness, pg. 597
Elizabeth George

GALLOPING PONY

www.gophila.com/assets/dmt/images/32

Life wasn’t a continuum of events, although it wore the guise of exactly that. Instead, it was actually a carousel. In infancy, one mounted a galloping pony and started out on a journey during which one assumed that circumstances would changes as the expedition continued.

CATCHING UP

An interesting comment in the recent Patricia Cornwell book, Scarpetta. In referencing Kay Scarpetta, her husband Benton mentions that it takes awhile for her emotions to catch up to her intellect.

I love that! I identify with that. Why have I not heard or read something like that before?

PICKING A LANE

"Living is like driving," my grandmother used to say. "You have to pick a lane."

Kathleen Flinn

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

Sage. But, the good news is that you can (and will) change lanes! As an adolescent I remember people saying, "Her (and, yes, it always seemed to be a her at that time in the culture) life is ruined." Un-uh. One event does not ruin a life unless it is a death sentence or a life in prison sentence and then I guess you've got me there.

A LITTLE CHAOS IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL?

Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.

Oh, God, why don't I remember that a little chaos is good for the soul?

Both by Marilyn French

Lay-offs, terminations, down-sizing... The news is full of thousands. My dear friend just lost her job. Her first reaction is relief and acceptance--the full force of the loss will hit soon. We, the good workers, take such ownership in our jobs and careers that being made redundant is a tsunami. We see the wave coming, even assume it will make a direct hit, but still think there will be no devastation. After all, isn't hard work and loyalty rewarded?

The first rule for grief is to grieve, and the second is don't set a time limit. The third is that we will repeat the grief cycle more times than one can guess. And, months and years later we may be tempted to ruminate through the circumstances leading up to and following the loss.

We have work friends--friends because of proximity and shared experience. These friends don't usually make it into a world outside of the workplace. We will miss them. And, the stories... every day in the workplace generates stories. Some are ironic, some bitter. Some are just downright laughably ridiculous. We will miss these stories.

There is comfort in the routine, the familiar and predictable. Even if the workplace is dysfunctional--it is dysfunction we have learned to live with. And, the environment must have worked for me or why would I have stayed?

Ah-h-h... The truth is that we stay even when we are in pain and are frustrated beyond belief, because we fear change. We fear the tunnel of chaos that surrounds change. Even if we can be guaranteed that life will be better, simpler, less emotionally draining, many times we continue to hold on to the known rather than to take that step into thin air required by faith.

I remember a John Ortberg message--I think in his original series on Flow. He addresses just this topic saying that we stay in situations long past the time they work for us just to avoid taking the risk to step out in faith and trust that God will lead me through and teach me along the way. He will help us uncover lots--our character, priorities, and dreams. He will sustain us by his unending and unconditional love. And, we will find him sufficient. Every single time.