8 fractions down
It’s bedlam, right? I mean, the world is spinning in a way I’ve never seen before. Not since September 11, 2001 have I felt so confused and unsettled about the future of the world–though this time the terror comes from within the power structure.
Last year I thought radiotherapy would be the worst part of my January. Ha. So today, Carol’s poem of the day, to en-courage us all.
For Courage
John O’Donohue
When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,
When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That is is your own thinking
That darkens your world,
Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.
Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.
Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
25,000 dawns 
the world is spinning in a way I’ve never seen before.
For me, one of the blessings of getting older is that it becomes easier to make sense of current happenings. That is because my direct experiences of past events, and the retained memories, make available a range of lenses through which to view the present.
I remember being excited as a young university student during the Prague Spring of 1968 with Alexander Dubček, and in particular my mother commenting from her memories of the death of Jan Masaryk. That made available to me a perspective of the past on the current.
In a similar way, you refer to 9/11 as a yardstick against which to measure the present. That is also vivid in my recall, as I watched the live news feed on the internet at school and said to my students that the world would change as a result. Yet in so many ways it didn’t — it continued on the same trajectory. That is, to me, both amazing and troubling. Much to process every day. But thank goodness the earth still spins on its axis!
So I’m wondering about the notion of courage, what it means to you and what it means to me.
17 to go. Hang in there, dear friend!
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Hello, My Dear Courageous and Beautiful Friend!
A simple addition to the notion of courage…perhaps an action for our courage.
“Our job is to love others without stopping
to inquire whether or not they are worthy.
That is not our business;
and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.
What we are asked to do is love,
and this love itself will render
both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.”
–Thomas Merton–
Like you, “confused and unsettled” — Merton’s words help bring some focus and direction.
Merton’s words sound easy, but, of course, they are not and they are a life’s work.
I keep you in my heart and breath…each day!
love, michael
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