Cultural Commentary
As I see things …
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Giving Time to Mourn in Order to Move Forward
The losses in the past year have added up. Lasting longer and costing more than anyone could have conceived. And now it’s time to mourn. While Ecclesiastes denotes times and seasons in life, including a time to mourn, also in chapter 3, the writer says that “God makes all things beautiful in its time.” Time. Working through human emotions takes time. Again, quoting from the book Necessary Endings (see last week’s post), words written about grief help me navigate amid my own stirred-up, murky emotions as well as help me empathize for the pain I see other people experiencing. “The grieving process is a mental and emotional letting go. What that…
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Necessary Endings: Coincidence or Providence?
Mark Twain advised writers to slay adverbs, so I pause to consider whether to write, “Coincidentally, I am currently reading a book titled, Necessary Endings, by Dr. Henry Cloud.” Two adverbs, not slain. While the book aims primarily at business strategies for handling relationships, the author makes application to personal relationships and decisions as well. Sometimes, life can force upon anyone a decision they would rather avoid. Each of us will face difficulty deciding to end something we have invested ourselves in. Dr. Cloud’s book alerts readers to recognize signs of when it’s time to quit. Sometimes the time comes when something has to give. Whether a business venture, a…
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2020: The Year that Made Us Hold Our Collective Breath
The calendar pages turned to a new year. Are you starting to breathe again? Are you counting on a vaccine to spare you from COVID-19? Have you hoped that 2021 will unfold with new beginnings that eclipse the losses of the year referred to as “unprecedented”? A dictionary definition of unprecedented includes “novel, unexampled,” which parallels the “novel coronavirus” that made its unwelcome appearance in 2020. And so the world turned upside down on its head as fear of death intensified and amplified the anxieties of everyday life. Oxford English Dictionary designated several Words of the Year in what the editors called an “unprecedented year” [1]. The first known use…
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The Bells: “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem has been ringing in my head. Longfellow wrote his poem on Christmas Day 1863, during America’s Civil War. The words walk through his emotions of sorrow, grief and despair. His words echo to today, prompting me to write about bells. A Bell Collage “Said the little lamb to the shepherd boyDo you hear what I hear(Do you hear what I hear)Ringing through the sky shepherd boyDo you hear what I hear(Do you hear what I hear)A song, a songHigh above the treesWith a voice as big as the seaWith a voice as big as the sea …” [1] ***…
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To See or Not to See, That Is the Question
Whatever you read, watch, or listen to requires discernment in order to recognize and be aware of attempts to confuse, delude, or even deceive. Ideas transmitted to the brain come from various sources where thinking does the actual work to process inputs. The word discernment means to see what is not evident to the average mind, accurately assessing character or motives. My daughter suggested a book for me to read. When I told her that I didn’t agree with the writer’s basic argument, she said, “Spit out the bones.” My daughter made the point that the book had some helpful and valid ideas, trusting that I could discern those and…
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How Full Is Your Love Tank?
Love is something you do for someone else, not something you do for yourself. – Gary Chapman When a friend commented following my birthday, “Your love tank is full,” I thought, Well, I guess it is. Only, I didn’t know I had a love tank (looked it up), and I could not have imagined how having my four grown children with me and their dad would fill my heart. What had kept many families from celebrating Thanksgiving together this year hung like a cloud over all possibilities of being with my family to celebrate a Big-O birthday. Expect Anything Except What Happened When the original plan––a surprise no one could…
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Giving Gifts: “Nothin’ says lovin’ like . . .”
Like what? If you can finish that sentence quoting the commercial with the Pillsbury Dough Boy, then that’s one way to answer the question. This time of year, as people consider giving Christmas gifts––to whom and how much to spend––traditions will give way to practical concerns. While money can always be used, that doesn’t mean it’s always appreciated. Money Talks but Does Money Communicate Love? If you want to know why I don’t give money as a gift, watch the movie The Apartment. In this film, the personnel director of a successful Manhattan agency with 32,000 employees is having an affair with the office building’s elevator operator. These characters are…