Don't judge a book by its cover,  
A cactus by its thorns,  
A person by their disagreeable nature. 
One never knows if, just if, there's a secret bloom.

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“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow?” 

~CG Jung

We all have a shadow side. The place in our character that's tarnished. It doesn't mean we are bad, or wrong, or broken. Our shadow usually holds the parts we struggle with. And, if we are bold enough to look at those parts without shaming ourselves, if we can invite the icky stuff out and understand what it's about........then we can become even more substantial.

 

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Patience

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“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” 

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the higher desert, where I make my home, we learn patience.  We wait for the summer rains to open the desert flowers.  We wait for the late afternoon sun to cool the earth.  We wait for the midnight sky to reveal one thousand stars.  We learn that the rhythm of the days and the seasons is dependable......we must simply be patient.

Reflecting on March for Our Lives.......Now The Elders Must Step Up

“The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.” 

― Kurt Cobain

NOW THE ELDERS MUST STEP UP....THAT'S YOU AND ME

The young ones are awake. They've created a call to action - - - which should come as no surprise. When issues impact us on a personal level and threaten our very survival, we fight back. 

It's now time for the elders to help the young ones. It's time for us to offer them our wisdom without harming their spirit or extinguishing their light. They have a battle ahead. They want to win. We want them to win. We must step up to help them win. 

It's now time for us to guide them, encourage them, offer them our insight.

It's now time for us to remember that these young people are, indeed, young. Yes, they have faced unimaginable brutality, but they have not been out in the adult world as many of us have. We know about shortcuts and we know all about endurance. 

It's now time for us to offer our children tools, reasoned thinking and help. 

The elders of the tribe have always played an essential role in training the next generation. It's a role and a responsibility which has been lost in our chaotic world. Too often we shrug and think, "Those stupid kids will just have to figure it out on their own." But we don't want them to do that. We want to help them, to move them forward, to see them be successful, to watch them thrive.

We, the elders have a role to play. If our children are victorious, it will be because we have cheered them across the finish line. 

Now we, the elders, must step up.

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“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”

― Leonardo da Vinci

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There Are No Strangers

I sat next to her on the plane.   We said almost nothing after I asked if the middle seat was already taken.   It wasn't taken.   I sat down.

She ate some humus and crackers out of a little snack-pack.   I'd had that same snack earlier in the week.    

She was wearing a blue sweater in a color blue I love.   A kind of chalky blue that looks good with jeans.   

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I was tired after a long week of work, too tired to strike up a friendly conversation and find myself trapped in an hour of talking.   I'd made that mistake too many times on plane rides.   Most conversations were friendly but few were really memorable and I was never able to find a way to shut them down without feeling badly.   So I said nothing.

I liked her.   The sweater.  The humus.    And, when she drifted off to sleep, I felt happy knowing that she was getting some rest.   

She had no name, no career, no opinions.   But she felt just familiar enough to be known . . . and she became company on my short ride home.  

People tell me all the time how they don't know themselves, how they are strangers to themselves.  But they are not strangers to themselves.   They simply have parts that remain mysterious.   They know some things and don't know other things.   

Perhaps strangers are not even strangers.   We know what we know and don't know what we don't know.   But what we do know might be enough to feel something familiar.  And that familiarity takes the strangeness away.  

So there we were.  Together.   The same.