Category Archives: acceptance

Jun25

look for the whole person.

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The Sun (Solen) by Edvard Munch, 1911

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“If you write, fix pipes, grade papers, lay bricks or drive a taxi – do it with a sense of pride.

And do it the best you know how.

Be cognizant and sympathetic to the guy alongside, because he wants a place in the sun, too.

And always…always look past his color, his creed, his religion and the shape of his ears.

Look for the whole person.

Judge him as the whole person.”

-rod serling

 

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 The Sun is a departure from Munch’s darker themes, focusing instead on themes of light, life force, and energy through intense, radiating colors.

It is a monumental work, measuring approximately 4.5 meters high by 7.8 meters wide, originally created for the Oslo University assembly hall.

 

Apr30

oubaitori.

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none of the flowering fruit trees in the ancient idiom 

are in this photo

 but some of my native plants are doing as they please

blooming and flourishing at their own rate

 

 “Oubaitori” comes from the kanji,  (Japanese characters), that symbolize four flowering trees: cherry blossom, plum, peach, and apricot. It’s an ancient idiom meaning that people, like the flowers on those trees, bloom and flourish at their own rate and in their own way. The overall takeaway: Don’t compare yourself to others, instead, celebrating your inherent uniqueness.

I’m on it.

 

Oct2

let it rain.

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at the moment of kickoff

at my grandson’s game

the skies opened up

serving up a main course

of biting sideways rain

with a side dish of high-winded temperature drop

no lighting or thunder

so the game went on

 having just taken the umbrella out of my car

at least there was a rain jacket still on the seat

yet quickly apparent that it wasn’t built

for sudden deluge-level weather

nor were the fans’ soon to be inside-out umbrellas

but they kept on playing and playing

while they didn’t win

they stayed in the game

as did the families/fans

showing a lot of heart

 when we got to the car

as we  made our way out

and onto the road home

the weather left

just as quickly as it had arrived

not one more drop of rain fell

not a wisp of wind was blown

not a chill in the air to be found

as we dripped and dropped in the car

laughing about the crazy storm

 so looking forward to hot showers, warm food, and cozy, dry pajamas

our just desserts

after a game

well-played by all.

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‘the best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.’

-henry wadsworth longfellow

Jun14

abstract mess.

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 getting ready in the morning

i made a quick decision

to throw one light piece of laundry

down the stairs

rather than carry the extra three ounces

down seven stairs to my washing machine

tucked away in a little closet

such a brilliantly lazy choice

i instantly realized my mistake

when it caught on a piece of art

hanging along the stairway

ripping it off the wall

sending it reeling

into another wall

creating a divot

the art tile on the wood

cracking in two

the nail lost deep in the carpeting

went down the seven stairs

now easy

with three ounces less

than i would have had to carry

stepping over it all

walked into my kitchen

flipping on the light

 which answered me with a sudden ‘pop!’

a lightbulb had chosen that moment to blow out

i took in the spectacle of it all

sat down with a cup of coffee, a piece of chocolate, and a bit of music

another day had begun.

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‘i think you have to let go of this idea that you can be precious about everything,

and let it be the abstract mess that it is.’

-ryan reynolds

Feb3

learned.

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“i have learned that to be with those i like is enough.”

-walt whitman

 

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art credit: olga soldo 

Feb1

best way.

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“the best way to get along with people is not to expect them to be like you.”

-joyce meyer

 

 

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art credit- L Józef Wilkoń – Leopanter

Jan6

tribute.

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during the wake

we all gathered inside

close together

to talk, eat, laugh, cry, listen to music, tell stories, remember

celebrate a life

the children from 4-10

all played together

went outside

chalk in hand

 wrote a beautiful welcome to all who would come

and loving tributes to the one who had left.

“tears are words that need to be written.”

-paul coelho

Jan5

time runs out.

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“It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.

It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do the people we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.

But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy.

We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.”

—

in memoriam of r.s. – you will be greatly missed and thanks for the music

—

credits:

text: Matt Haig – The Midnight Library, 2020.

art: Grant Haffner – Into the night, 1978

Oct29

warning label.

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this is the kind of note that we sometimes see at arrival

pinned to a child’s school bag

giving us a heads up about how things are going so far.

i think adults should also be able to wear these as needed

in our lanyards or clipped to our clothing or bags

a simple statement of fact

 a quiet warning

when we arrive somewhere

no questions need be asked

just a smile and a nod will do.

—

“i really should come with a warning label.”

-tom upton, american author

Oct27

like books.

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“we are like books.

most people see only our cover,

the minority read only the introduction,

many people believe the critics.

few will know the content.”

-emile zola

 

 

 

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image credit: newton free library