Friday, January 28, 2011

good in the world

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

Defining who we are

It's been a crazy week.  
The excitement of one of the top belly dancers Mira Betz in our stratosphere coming for two days of workshops and a gala show - being home in my own bed for a whole week...  so happy - content with my world.  
Then a near miss in the car with a jolting swerve to miss the truck turning left into us before he heard our horn....  the doctor telling me to take muscle relaxants and not dance after a trip to check out the increasing pain in my neck and shoulder...  but it could have been so much worse.  I am alive.  My children are safe.  The person in the truck is safe.  I can still dance, sing, watch my children grow into the men I see them becoming....  I can still hold them in my arms.
Not so for a missing 18 year old girl up Island found today dead in her own local woods... Not so for the dearly loved mother of my friend at work who struggles with her own feelings, with the daily facade of work all the while knowing her father grieves dangerously alone on the other side of the country.  While my cousin in England grieves and struggles to change the manslaughter law in England after the man who murdered her love is sentenced to a pathetic amount of time.  While people continue to die in political protests or bombings or floods or any myriad of things around the globe....
What is it that defines a person? our ability to dance? to sing? to teach? would I be less of a person - less of my essence exist if I ceased to dance or perform?  less of a person if I ceased to exhibit my photography or write?  
Or is what defines our essence as people in how we interact with ourselves and others in the things we do? how we are kind to others as we work, shop, dance, sing, write? how we reach out to those in need? our capacity to show compassion?  our capacity to love? 
every day - every moment we have with those we love is a gift. yet how many of those precious moments slip away arguing about silly things - clothes, homework, what to eat for dinner, who does the dishes tonight.   Remember that ever moment is a gift.  hold your children, your lover, your friends close. cherish them. tell them how you feel. don't suffocate, nourish them and let them grow, watch and celebrate - and just cherish how incredibly lucky we are to have each moment...
 

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

stars in your eyes

happiness is time with your best friend...
happiness is looking up and seeing things a new way...
happiness is stars in your eyes....

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Maybe just for a moment....

Yesterday I packed my bags, ate breakfast, said goodbye to the lovely people at the Dakota Ridge Best Western and headed to the airport.  I was excited for a quick trip to Toronto and visit with my cousins before continuing to Ottawa.  I hadn't seen them for several months and had FINALLY finished knitting baby Lenny's sweater - a colourful fusion of bright red, orange, blue and yellow.  Heck, even a matching toque was waiting.  For fun, I had saved my bright pink Betsy Johnson shopping bag to put it in because face it, I thought - every girl should have a bit of Betsy Johnson in her life. (more on that another time).

I was at the airport in gobs of time.  I wandered it happily - discovering stores full of JUST the right kind of beautiful happy things I always delight in stumbling across - not one but multiple in this airport!  and SNOOPY! there was a Snoopy statue (turns out Charles Schultz was born in Minneapolis and grew up in St. Paul - COOL!).

I snapped pictures and browsed and made my way to the appropriate gate.  No plane.  A weary looking stewardess called up people who had connections to say the plane still hadn't left Toronto.  Weather and mechanical issues.  Expect a 2-3 hour delay.  Sigh.  Text to Jim and Tracey giving them the news that I wouldn't be there.  No hand off of a sweater to Lenny this trip.

Feeling tired for the wait but still content to be in a city where all my encounters with people had been really pleasant (Minnesota Nice they call it) I remembered seeing a United Airlines lounge and wondered if my Air Canada card would let me in.  It did.  Coffee, crackers, a comfy chair.  She tried to reroute me through Denver or Chicago but both flights were full.  I settled in for a wait that turned into about four hours.

CNN was on all the tv's and very quickly news of the shooting in Arizona became the primary and then only focus of the coverage.  And all of a sudden, the fact I was in a foreign country where the office I'd been in all week had a sign saying no guns allowed on the premise - hit home.  I tried to read, knit, write, anything but the news pounded through anything I tried to focus on.  It is said I feel too much, too deeply...  I wish somedays I could turn it off.  When news of the 9 year old girl (just elected to her school's student council and was there to learn more about the local polical scene) being one of the casualty's was announced, the tears started.


How can we as humans who call ourselves educated, enlightened, democratic - how can we live in a world where violence pervades everyday.  In the toys we buy our children, in our television shows, cartoons, slang.   Is there a time and a place where violence is necessary as a defence for human rights?  Yes.  I will stand by what I have always said, that for every girl, for every child who is now able to go to school in Afghanistan, that is a victory.  Should we strive to enforce western ideals and culture on other countries?  no.  but should every child  be able to learn how to read and write?  yes - in their own native languages, their own history, their own culture.  should women be allowed a place to give birth in a safe sterile place with medical assistance at hand?  yes.

I ramble and am probably not wording that right.  And like religious views, I will not push political ones.  People have the right to believe what they believe.  Live and let live.  In peace.

My cousin Tracey posted this today on facebook - a commentary on the Arizona shooting by Keith Olbermann.  It speaks volumes to me and as I watched it, the tears began again.  I mourn with the people of Arizona.  I mourn for the families of the victims, the injured, the eye witnesses.  I mourn for a society where things like this can happen.  Canada is not excempt from violence and there are days I mourn for my own society.

Commentary on Arizona Shootings

The politicans in this commentary are American and the examples are specific to the US.  But I think his words should speak to all of us.  What he says applies to every person every where. It applies to how we treat each other. It applies to how we raise our children and the example we live and are every day.   Maybe the hidden blessing in this tragic event is that it will increase more positive dialogue on gun control and violence in the United States and elsewhere.  Maybe, even just for a moment, people will put down their hatred of each other and try to get along more peace.  Maybe, even just for a moment.


As for me, it was a 13 hour travel day of missed flights and delays for 4 hours in the air.  It will be another week before I see my own bed and can hold my children.  But knowing they are safe, healthy and that I can continue to try and give the tools to be strong peaceful loving men is a gift.  Today I treasure that gift even more.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

through the door

Blessings, joy, love, snuggles, kisses, health and happiness to you all in this new year full of promise... ♥
Happy New Year...
 
 


Here we go
through the door
that promises
a new year

bring it...