Easter Every Day!

Easter Lilies

 Easter Once More!

June 30, 2013

Easter lilies fill the Church on Easter morning,

Announce the word the world cannot accept,

That death overcome gives more than life,

But life in Christ the risen Son.  The day ends

All too soon and we go our separate ways,

Yet within my garden the seeds of life grow,

and bloom blessed words from robed angels

of light, need know persuasion to say again,

Jesus Christ risen from the dead

It's a great family tradition that has bloomed for many years.  We bring home the Easter Lily plants and plant them in the side yard.  Every year they come back to us and bloom once the Sunday of Easter is long gone.  How wonderful that plants do not have to be convinced of their lives and their purpose to just show up each year with their message!  I suppose it would be a good prayer to ask that the Easter message would be as fundamental to us as breathing.  And yet, Easter was never a done deal--it is supremely a matter of faith, that once caught, blooms in us. 

Arlington National Cemetery Blooms

Arlington National Cemetery

I stood behind the hearse as the body was lifted into mortal hands,

prepared for eternal rest with the nation's warriors in Arlington,

and beheld no weapons as the casket made to the place where it 

would receive the traditional white marker for the dead. When 

the broad white flower of the magnolia superimposed itself,

in the line of my vision as if all the graves suddenly blossomed 

into new life. 

The REAL You!

"You'll never guess what I saw!" 

My son came in the front door and told us to guess what he just saw--a fawn jumped out of the front bushes and headed around the corner of the house.  "The mother's got to be there some place," he said, "it's too young to be out on its own."  We have had all kinds of critters out there, but never a fawn.

I am going to draw an analogy between the rarity of seeing the fawn in the front yard---and--letting the real "fawn" or child out in us.  Truth is that we never lose the child in us--but we work hard to either ignore it, cover it up, or we let it out on impulse at the wrong time.  Sometimes we will do whatever it takes to keep others at a distance from our child because it is wounded from childhood.
Look at the picture below.  Do we let out the fawn, the child in us or do we "skunk" people to keep them away?

All I know is that it is a deeply moving moment to catch sight of the real person, sometimes it is a child who can step out from behind the masks, make-up, and masquerades to be the genuine article.
I once caught sight of just such a person.  Try as I did to catch in verse, I can never pay it justice except to end with emphasis on "splendor."

The Actress

For the longest time I only saw the actress,

And marveled at the ease with which she slipped

Into her character like a pair of well worn shoes,

And turned any place into a stage from where

To walk and work the crowd into the complicity

Of conspiracy that held her fragile and fearful self,

Which one day I beheld out of the corner of my eye,

The momentary revelation of what had been withheld,

Now suddenly given like the sun to break the darkness,

Of her days with light that shot out in all directions,

With a brilliance that blinded with one lasting sight,

of splendor.

Sail the Day Away!

 

On a day when the wind is perfect,
The sail just needs to open
and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a day.

Jalal al-Din Rumi, 1207-1273
13th Century Persian Poet

 

The Stuff of Vocation

Called Again: Love and Triumph 

on the Appalachian Trail

In 2011, Jennifer Pharr Davis became the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail. By hiking 2,181 miles in 46 days – an average of 47 miles per day – she became the first female to ever set that mark. But this is not a book about records or numbers, this is a book about endurance and faith, and most of all love. (from www.blueridgehiking.com)  

Crossing Deleware Water Gap---NYTimes Photo

 I admire and respect Jennifer Pharr-Davis because she heard the call of the Trail and time and agin stepped past her fear to the ever increasing life that beckoned her. it started as a seed and became her mustard seed, so that she founded the Blue Ridge Hiking Company in Asheville, NC with this mission statement:

“Making the wilderness accessible and enjoyable through written and spoken word, instruction and guiding.” 

 

 I always hold my breath as people go from their passion and joy, such as Jen’s first Thru-Hike in 2005, to turning it into an accomplishment.  She has struggled along the trail in that first hike to be known for herself, for the beauty she felt inside her; then suddenly, the Trail became the equivalent of a Nasscar Speed Race complete with obstacles and pit crews.  In fact, the 46 Days book is so shallow that just about any entry could be interchanged. I just could not appreciate the constant comments about "being married to a beast" and comparisons of her anatomy to the flat terrain. Her husband’s book greatly detracts from what Jennifer is about. I fear they do not get that by publishing it.  So I look with anticipation for HER next book,  Called Again:  Love and Triumph on the Appalachia Trail,  and the depth of personal reflections I found in Becoming Odyssa. 

It is a remarkable journey that Jen gives us...showing how she made the Trail a part of her soul and how she matured as she engaged it.  Who would have known that the very young 21 year old would go from fear of sleeping in a tent by herself to taking us beyond our fears to the Trail to which God beckons us. 

The last word is Jennifer's--she said that she did each and every hike because that's where her heart is. That's the stuff of vocation. 

What Am I Here For?

"These are the two greatest days of your life.

The day when you were born.

The day you figured out what you are here for."

                Mark Twain

Well, I guess that is he question.  Why are you here?  But I submit that why you are here is bound up in the first greatest of days--your birth!   You are here because of your parent's reproduction.  Now, we can heap all kinds of interpretations on that event that take us all the way to "trailing clouds of glory" as the poet says and we quote.  But the bottom line is that our parents got together and that's why we are here. 

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

I have always appreciated Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs."  The pyramid begins with the most basic of physical needs and moves upward to our psychological needs.  The actualized self achieves a moral system, creativity and problem solving to enhance living.  It moves from the basic needs to survive to the pinnacle for the way we live.  What are here for?  To move through that pyramid--and in so doing--we define for ourselves the answer of "meaning"--why we are here.  Of course, that is entirely different for everyone!

 

My concern these days is "outsourcing."  Not for industry.  For our souls.  I think it is time to revise Maslow and add our "Faith Needs" into the pyramid.  We are so drawn outwardly by technology that it is called "the daily ME" at MIT and ridiculed--that the best we can do is our own preoccupation.  We simply savor the comments that we think build our self-esteem, for example, which can only come from true engagement in the world.  Prof. James Fowler, from Emory University, includes faith needs in the hierarchy.  He claims that faith needs can only be met by genuine engagement with each other and the world.  After the resurrection, what does Jesus do?  Form a monastery?  Or send the apostles into the world?  Ditto for why we are here.  It is in the GOING that we will find our unique selves and among all the needs--our ultimate need of God. 

The Peace of Wild Things

I come into the peace of wild things....
                                                       Wendell Berry
I came out of the door of a facility for post-operative rehabilitation and for senior citizen residents....and there before me, stepping out of the woods---a doe and two fawns.  The fawns danced across the back yard, very much alive in the moment drawing sustenance in some deep way from their mother.

I just paused, stopped in my tracks and soaked it in--trying to be present in the moment myself.  The words of Wendell Berry came out of my being--"the peace of wild things."  I backed slowly into the door of the facility, wanting to leave the deer in the joy of that moment.

One inside, I wondered how many of these people--the patients, residents and staff in this very luxurious place found that "peace" of being in the moment--not captive to the past nor dwelling on the fate of the future.

When I left, I caught it out of the corner of my eye and just stood there, again in the moment.  This time, a five pt buck was stepping out of the woods, just far enough for me marvel at his majesty. He stood stone still, fixed and fastened on me.  Once again, I backed slowly into the building and took the elevator to the front door--leaving with a taste of the peace of wild things.

Wendell Berry, Poet & Essayist

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Paula Deen: Painful Farewell

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness.

Only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate.

Only love can do that.”

                                                    Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The sudden firing of Paula Deen from the Food Network after 11 years says more about that Network and probably our society than about Paula herself.

We are blind if we do not see the LIGHT of grace in her farewell words:

"I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories. "This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of ya'll."

That's right--she gave a bouquet to the people who fired her at Food Network!
Let's put it out in the open. Paula was being sued for a racial slur and harassment in the workplace.  She admitted under deposition that she had said the "n" word, but nothing else was publicized from that interview.  Now, let's set the context: the statements have not said when she used that language, only that it was a long time ago, and as she said, in a very different world.  Okay.  The comment was not current nor was it used on TV.  Let's state the obvious: Paul is no Don Imus or those "Shock Jocks" recently fired in Atlanta for on-air, live bigotry.  Listen to her own apology:

"Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners – I beg for your forgiveness. 

Please forgive me for the mistakes that I've made."

  My turn at the mic....
 
So how exactly does her past effect what she models now?  There are two answers:

(1) What she said in the past is then, now and ever shall be an incrimination that forever invalidates her FoodNetwork contract,
OR...
(2) Her response was a complete apology for a time past which could serve as a redemptive example for a broad TV audience and culture--which is filled with violence, abuse and demeaning of human dignity. 

I do not run the Food Network.  They have their right to hire and fire employees. I suppose that they could have suspended her pending outcome of the suit.  We can only wonder what the Food Network would do if it placed all employees under a deposition?  For this reader, this is not Martha Stewart on her way to jail. This is a lawsuit from many years ago.  Food Network has missed the chance to set an example for TV culture sadly missing in daily broadcasts. Paula will rise again because you can't keep that kind of forthright apology and  love of her profession down.  She let the light in. 

Greyson Clamp: Hearing Beyond Words

Greyson Clamp hears his father's voice for the first time

"I Love You!"  

Imagine the first words heard are "I love you?"  That was true for all of us when we were born.  The words were said in many ways--we just did not understand them.  Like Greyson Clamp with his new implant, we were "sound aware"--but did not understand the words literally.  Only later on would we put together the literal content with the meaning that we had already experienced.  So Greyson was not handicapped, really...because he got the message of love without being "sound aware."  That is not to take one iota away from the miracle of hearing because of modern science.  Let's just remember what is most important--that we get the message of love.  And I suppose that we also give that message in ways beyond words.

All too often I hear parents say--"I am not going to baptize my child until s/he understands.  I will not give Communion until s/he understands."  Only really?  The literal content is the way we understand each other and God?  Or is it in the experience of being loved that we understand at any age?  How painful to see a baby "fail to thrive" because of the lack of human contact, or the inability to access it through some physical disorder.  So too remember the lesson of Jesus as the WORD of God, speaking love through his life beyond any literal content.  

James Gandofini: It's Business!

James Gandolfini, dead at age 51

"It's Business!" 

 "We're soldiers. Soldiers don't go to hell. It's war. Soldiers kill other soldiers. We're in a situation where everyone involved knows the stakes and if you are going to accept those stakes, you've got to do certain things. It's business."  (Tony Soprano to his psychiatrist) 

Last Words....

CNN said it best for the character of Tony Soprano:

Tony Soprano was a bully and a lover, a lightning rod and a superstar. And thanks to scripts crafted by David Chase and others, he was also, at times, prophetic, wise, even poetic.

 What do we learn from the real person, James Gandolfini? 
Life is also serious business.  Do you suppose Tony recognized that during his life?  Or, is it only important that we recognize it every time a life passes from us so prematurely?  Death is the great equalizer, no matter what we have achieved in life.  

James Lipton interviewed Gandolfini just a few years ago.  Of course, give big Tony some slack, he knew he was on TV and he was in character...but it is worth remembering:

Lipton:  So what will you say to God when you get to the pearly gates?
Gandolfini:  Take over.  I will be right back!  

That's a joke, of course.  But I truly wonder at what point we no longer take the leading role in our lives and step back and let God step forward.  To make the essential change in life to be led by God instead of leading God around....

Pay the Stranger's Bill!

Saying Grace,  Being Grace....

A young couple caught my eye in a restaurant.  There weren't many people there--but I could not miss them.  Mind you, for all the couples making-out in public places (PDA-public display of affection)--this was a tender moment that opened my heart.  They took each others hands and said the blessing--both of them speaking words to each other.  It could have been a bride and groom moment taking vows and giving rings.  Right there, right then--their hearts were grace--that free unconditional gift of openness to each other.
 
As I tell you how I responded....remember this is me and may not be genuine to you.  In fact, it may be this side of crazy to you.  But I think the point is worth making.  I paid that couple's bill as I left the restaurant.  That's right!  Even the waitress did not believe me at first.  Why do that?  Because I felt it in my gut.  Their blessing blessed me.  Their saying grace puled grace out of me.  Grace upon grace. 

No, they never knew who paid that check.  I never saw their reaction.  This was grace after their grace--love drawing out love of neighbor within me.

I see it this way.  We live in a world that robs us of humanity, depersonalizes--we are a number in the government data bank because of terrorism.  What do we breathe into the world?  What goodness do we offer?  Perhaps they will do the same thing at some time in their lives.

There is also the central fact of Christians.  We were bought with a price.  The bill was paid.  No demands are made on us, no settling of accounts--pure grace.  Do follow God's grace with ours?
Our lives are a gift from God, it is said, and what we do with our lives is a gift for each other.  Pay the bill, pay it forward and see how you feel for the rest of the day!  

NSA: Big Brother in the Family

1984 becomes 2013!

The Snowden revelations showed us nothing that we did not already know. It just bothered us more to know that it was really going on.  We act with shock that our own technology would be used to gain access to us to protect us.  The 1984 thesis that technology used for one purpose could eventually be used to gain power over us is hardly new.  Let's beware, however, what Orwell said that "power once gained is never relinquished."  To be certain, the dragging for information to protect us is also power over us.  We are no longer living in the Little House on the Prairie. The question is: where do we draw the line between the power to protect the nation and to preserve privacy rights?

Just my opinion--but the fact is this:  fail to protect the nation and we also fail to protect the basic human rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" from terrorists. 

Surveillance cameras have become the logo, the brand for this new age of data drag netting.  We certainly saw it work in Boston after that tragic event at the marathon.  Now, I ask you....were the cameras used to spy on us, the long arm of totalitarian government? Or, to protect us from further harm? 

For me, the single most important matter is who makes the decision about where to draw the line between protecting privacy rights and protecting the nation.  Is it the choice of the citizenry in a democratic process? Or, is it imposed without legitimate claim to the decision making power? 

Now think about your relationship to God.  In the Middle Ages, the great windows in the Cathedrals were called "the Eye of God."  He sees us and lets in heaven for us.  Parker Palmer speaks frequently about "being known as God knows us."  God opens life to us and gives life to all.  The Collect for Purity in The Book of Common Prayer is read at the beginning of worship to remind us that true security is found in God's open relationship to God's people.

"Almighty God, unto who all hearts are open, 

all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid...."

Struck by Lightning Twice

"Hey, I was just struck by Lightning!" 

Sorry, I am still talking about Jennifer Pharr-Davis and her experiences on the Appalachian Trail.  She went out in the rain to change clothes behind the shelter--and when she did--wham!  the current ran right through her.  Fortunately she was grounded and the lightning also took many routes into the ground.  But for somebody who has never experienced it, we can understand why Jennifer just starting out on the Trail had quite the experience with it

What I am not sure about however is this: she experiences the Holy Spirit in a Church service but does not seem to catch the comparison between the two events.  (and maybe because I am stretching things!)  She was at a meeting and members went into a frenzy, falling to the ground and fainting.  Then it hit her, she grew faint herself, so she reached forward to hold onto the pew.   What struck me is that she knew it and called it the Spirit.  One of the marks of the Spirit in my experience is that I have never had to wonder what it was or explain--it just IS and you know IT. 

Slain in the Spirit

What she seems to miss is the possible similarity between the experience of the lightning and then feeling the sudden jolt of the Spirit so that she reaches to grab onto the pew.  It is for me as if both follow the nerves and channel that power of Powers.  

So what do you think?  A greater likelihood to be struck by lightning or the Spirit?  One thing is for sure is this:  to endure on the Trail took the charge of her faith that she would complete it.  

"Hey, I was just charged by the Spirit!"  

Depok Chopra & St. Paul

Walking in the Rain?

Or 

Walking toward the Light?  

I absolutely love this picture because you cannot tell at first if he is walking in the rain--or, is he in the rain (hence, the umbrella) but the light is breaking in?  Either way--he walks TO the Light.
How often in the midst of the worst do we convince ourselves that we are only walking in the dark and in the rain?  Seen from our limited vision--I guess we could talk ourselves into the very worst.

Listen to Depok Chopra, Indian Author and Physician: 

Not every sky will be blue and not every day is springtime. So on the spiritual path a person learns to find this kind of happiness without needing nice things to happen on the outside. Rather, you find happiness by being who you really are. This isn't mystical. Young children are happy being who they are. The trick is to regain such a state when you are grown and have seen the light and dark sides of life.

From the Christian standpoint, St. Paul says that what you put in front of you to guide you can shape your perspective.  Like the polestar or due north, it sets the compass.  For St. Paul, he claims that placing Jesus in front of you and walking toward him reframes and redefines where you are.  In 2 Corinthians, Paul says he has learned the secret of how to live and thrive in all maters—“having nothing and yet possessing everything.”  Or in Philippians, Paul says that despite the circumstances, he focuses on Jesus: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” .. 

which sometimes leads to a rainbow, and once there, we remember amidst the rain, what the light promises to bring....and we toss the umbrella and raise arms in praise.   

Happy Father's Day!

"How can this be," asked Abraham of God, "that I continue childless and was promised to be a father of nations."

"Go outside and look into the heavens and count the stars," said God, "For such will be the number of your descendents."

Genesis 15: 1-6, adapted

God never says how the blessing will happen.

He only promises that He and His word will be the future.  

We are not the source of our lives, though we act as if we are.

At one point in our lives do we turn our lives over to God--

our lives as the sign of God's promise for the blessing of God ... 

made the instrument to bless others. 

Jennifer Phaar-Davis & The Trail of Faith

Jennifer Phaar-Davis --AT Record Holder

Finding the Trail of Faith in YOU!  

Yesterday's post tells a lot about this remarkable woman with unsurpassed hiking record on the Appalachian Trail. Her first outing was a trail toward maturity--and she gives us a very honest and open appreciation of her faith.  Let me add very quickly that what I care to make of it may be instructive for us---but her story is just that, her own unque story. 

At first there was the tentative sharing by metaphor that she was not a "squirrel" along the tail--a left wing skeptic of anything religious.  But neither was she a zealous evangelical without doubts--which she labeled as a "bear" because there are so few of them.  After that--don't push the analogy! 

She explains it to one hiker--that for her she has made this deal to walk with God and she trusts him to keep up his part of the deal.  Okay!  But then the testament to this belief came after the sheer shock of finding a suicide victim and then spending the night in shock alone in the shelter. You can hear and feel her reaching out.  And though no magic trail angel arrives, tangible gifts left along the way--she lies there sustained, albeit in shock, with the knowledge that the dawn will come.  Indeed--somehow God will be there.  Does she recognize it in the people she reaches out to?  Does she feel God's presence in the two hikers who join up with her?  As she completes the hike, one feels happiness for her and respect for her resolute spirit.

Celebrating her Summit to Mt. Katahdin in Tar Heel Blue Shorts

 I personally respected her on the 700 Club interview when she is pushed to witness for the Lord.  She sticks to her genuine spirit.  God was there walking with her and still does.  He did not rescue her from the pain of finding that young man as the victim of his own hands.  No, instead...God went with her and when she reached out there were people there to uphold her.  One wonders how many more sleepless nights in shock she will ever have to spend again.  We pray none.  But she showed herself to be "Pharr" more than a trail hiker! 

Jennifer Pharr-Davis Finds the TRAIL

Find the TRAIL in YOU! 

 Jennifer Pharr Davis tells her audiences that she felt the Appalachian Trail called her.  I wonder.  Was it the Trail or was it the Spirit calling her to find the trail of life, beginning with a new maturity of coming to terms with herself. 

Let's be clear--nothing I say should even remotely detract from her remarkable, "wonder-woman" accomplishments as a hiker. This woman is to hikers what Cal Ripken, Jr is for consecutive games--endless perseverance. Soon after college graduation, she "felt called" to the  Appalachian Trail.”  (the “AT”)  By the time she finished about 4 months later, a book was in the offing called Becoming Odyssa.  

Keep in mind who she  "becomes;" record holder for completing the AT in shortest time and now an accomplished global hiker of more than 11K miles.   Interested in her book(s)?  You can find it online or go to www.blueridgebackpaking.com and get to know her more personally through interviews (or just google “Jennifer Pharr Davis”). 

Here's the bottom line.  The AT  represented her inner "trail to maturity"  as a young adult.  All the naivete of the tenderfoot hiker is there--so if begin by knowing who she "becomes," that makes the initial challenges ironical and amazing. Not knowing how to stake a tent?  Fear of sleeping in a tent? Blacksnakes with fangs?   (There's hope for me who can't hike to get the newspaper!) And the tender adolescent moments when she steps out of narration to address the audience like a sidebar. You feel her blush at using the word "menstruation," instead of my period made the day difficult; or, "You see, I sorta liked the guy," instead of just saying..."Despite the hike, I realized I liked the guy."  There was a lot of growing up here!  In that respect, yes...she did grow up as she stripped off the clothes and dove into crystal clear water at the base of Mt. Kathadan, a baptism of a new life. 

But this is far more than a post-grad coming of age book.She begins to find the Trail in her--a Way of life in her that will later blossom into her vocation as a hiker. Her awakening comes when speed-runner David Horton passes her on the trail.  Later they talk, and the seeds of going for the AT speed/time record are sown, instead of the wild oats of many post grads.  (Notice how he writes an endorsement for this book!)  

She might agree that the meeting with Horton was pivotal.  But I think she would argue that her traumatic encounter with a suicide victim hung in a shelter (of all places!) was really the walk's pivotal point.  Although she carries the baggage of that death with her, later...she is able to reach out for real help from somebody she met along the trail and then by that person's two sons.  Isn't that the mark of real maturity?  The ability to reach out for help and to know who you can trust your life with?  

The illusion of the AT and of life is that we walk alone. The truth is that we do not have to walk the Trail of life alone.  For me, that's what leads to the new baptism in the shadow of God's holy mountain. 

Tower Hesit

The Heart of Comedy
             Speaks to our Hearts!  

This is a long way from Shakespearean comedy -- certainly no Puck flies around in it--but it has all the makings of it. The formula is there!  People are swindled out of money by a greedy guy who does not even need it--can this really be Alan Alda?  And then Stiller and Murphy go to work with some other misfits to pull off the impossible heist by swindling the swindler, catching him at his own game.  The slapstick humor and impossible events all boil down to one dialogue between Alda and Stiller.  First, Alda's line cuts to the quick: 

Arthur Shaw: You people are working stiffs, clock-punchers. Easily replaced. 

But Stiller comes right back with the magic spell of comedy:

Josh Kovacs: I don't care what it takes. I will find a way to make it right. 

And with those words, he tells Alda that he has found his Ledger that proves everything Alda has done wrong.  Opps!  Alda has stepped in it and he knows it.  So he does the only thing he knows how to do--he tries to buy them off.  But comedy roars back to flip the swindler's world: 

 

 Josh Kovacs:  Devro, will you please remind Mr. Shaw?

Rick Malloy: [to Shaw] I'm very sorry, Mr. Shaw, but we don't accept tips at the tower.

 

Comedy is the force for Good in the world.  In some ways, it may answer the single biggest question o f our century--"Why do bad things happen with a God who is good?"  The answer is the voice and action of comedy.  When we can laugh, we let go and pray God takes hold. 

Happy Birthday Duet!

Will with 8 month Emma! 

June 12th
Birthday Cheers for Will!

I always thought that nothing could mean more than holding my first born and walking him to the nursery in the hospital.  Then I watched him walking downstairs to introduce her to me for the first time....and I saw the joy on his face!  

― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

Today you are You, that is truer than true. 

There is no one alive who is You'er than You.”

  If we didn’t have birthdays,
you wouldn’t be you.
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you do?
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you be?
You might be a fish!
Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob!
Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of
hard green tomatoesOr worse than all that…
Why, you might be a WASN’T!
A Wasn’t has no fun at all.
No, he doesn’t.

A Wasn’t just isn’t. He just
isn’t present. But you…
You ARE YOU!
And so is Emma!

A

The King's Speech SPEAKS!

"I am trying to keep you from being ruled by fear."

Lionel Logue to Berty
future King George VI

This movie SPEAKS to the heart of fear that binds the tongue for stammer-ers.  Although the future King wants to remain in an official, formal relationship--not so for Lionel.  Experience teaches him that stammering is learned and inherited.  If he is to help the future King, he must release him from the fear that binds him.

King George VI: If I'm King, where's my power? Can I form a government? Can I levy a tax, declare a war? No! And yet I am the seat of all authority. Why? Because the nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. But I can't speak.

Lionel gets right down to business and the heart of the matter:  "You don't have to be afraid of when you were five."  

 Oh Really?  

How painfully often do childhood fears nail us down with thousands of spikes?  Don't miss the single most powerful irony in the movie.  When Berty does tell Lionel what happened in his childhood, Lionel himself is "tongue tied" and mute.  The past does strike the heart of fear strikes and imprisons the present.  We don't need the technical name of phobia to know what it is when we live with its destructive power. 

 So how is Berty freed to be King George VI? 


The grip of the past is broken by the friendship that forms between Lionel and Berty.  Indeed!  Berty believes and trusts more in Lionel than he fears the people of his past.  In this friendship, Berty walks out of the past and speaks in the present with a new sense of self--no longer the victim, now the King to speak for his nation.  Remember how he gave the speech--with Lionel present and speaking in the cadence of that relationship.  Lionel looks like a band leader actually conducting his student he has come to regard so personally.

There could be no fitting lines for this relationship than when Bertie sits at the desk for the stock press photo by the microphone, and says to Lionel, "My friend" and Lionel steps back and says, "Your majesty...."  Out of the friendship, a king comes into being and Lionel receives his credentials now recognized by the elite of the court. 

Sarah Murnaghan's Lesson

Sarah Murnaghan and Parents

Of course we all want Sarah Murnaghan to get a new set of lungs and live.  We want everyone on that transplant list to get transplants and live.  Yes, there are real human lives at stake.  

Perhaps the lesson here is really about viability for transplanting adult lungs into a child--if viable--then equal access for youth and adults alike depending on their severity number.  I know it is not that easily done.  Many differ on the viability issue.  Should lungs be given, for example, if we know they will only last a youth an extra year?  A transplant to wait on a transplant....

The current buzz is to avoid medical panels to make these decisions.  But really--do you want a judge or a medical panel?  God bless Sarah to get her transplant and everyone else to get theirs.  That can only happen if WE step up and put our own names on our licenses to be donors.  For example, you can give a blood sample and be on the list as a potential bone-marrow donor list.  

We see in Sarah the face of human need--ultimately depended on others to live.  That's the lesson for us on any level--ultimately dependent, just the way we came into this world. 

Washington Nationals Lesson

Jayson Werth

Jayson Werth and a Worth-while Lesson

The Washington Nationals have never once called me for my opinion.  But that does not keep me from spouting it!   I've been reading a lot of criticism lately about the Nats and their policy to allow players say-so about playing after injuries.  Each example made the same point--the player misdiagnosed the injury, came back too soon, and made matters worse. It's also bad business for multi-million dollar investments.  No wonder other teams like the exemplary Atlanta Braves have a trainer and management veto rule.  You play when we tell you.  That does not mean that players aren't consulted--of course they are.  It means management and not players make the final decision.

 

This is more than baseball.  A lot more.  How well do we know ourselves to take ourselves out of the game and to know when to start up?  If we want to listen to examples above, the best advice is to get advice.  What are the warning signals to get to the doctor?  (Do you need to find every rest-stop on the interstate to know the signs of diabetes--like I did?  Well, that was before my annual physicals and maybe I should have gone sooner, huh?) Or, when
do we take a day off, visit with others, and listen to our own stories? What do those stories tell us about who we are?

This story is so old and known--but here goes:  the man was chopping for weeks to get firewood. It became impossible for the axe to cut the wood.  So he turned the axe around and used the blunt end!  It is one thing to wear down and out.  It is quite another to know what to do about it--and to do it soon.