Good old Mark Twain. His humor has the bite of truth to it. This one struck my funny bone, considering all the political mud-slinging:
Tag Archive for family
Keep Them Close
Today’s Thursday Thought quote suggests we should remember to treat family as we do others. We tend to nurture friendships and business relationships but take family for granted, knowing that they’re stuck with us. Yet, practicing humility, compassion, respect, courtesy, and love with them is good practice for dealing with others in our often frantic world.
“Keep your loved ones near you; tell them in their ears and to their faces how much you need them and love them. Love them and treat them well; take your time to tell them ‘I am sorry’; ‘forgive me’; ‘please’; ‘thank you,’ and all those loving words you know!” — Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez (“Gabe”)
Idea for a Party
Here’s an idea: have an Immigrant Party and invite your immigrant friends. Don’t have any? Sure you do. All of our kinfolk came from somewhere other than the U.S. Ask your guests to come ready to share their family history—why they came to the U.S., where they landed, what type of community they lived in here, the support system they had (church? neighbors from the same part of the world?), languages spoken at home, hardships they encountered here, what they went through to gain citizenship. Maybe each guest could bring pictures of people, places, and documents, as well as a family keepsake that reminds them of those times. You might even want to ask people to bring food to share from one of the cultures each guest represents.
Spend the evening sharing your food and your stories. By the end of the night it will be very clear why you are all friends—because we’ve been given the oceans not as an obstacle to divide us but as a path to bring us together.
More than Just Remembering
Sept. 11 is more than just a day we remember the horrific attack on our country and all the devastation and loss of life. It’s a day when we banish division, hatred, animosity, self-centeredness, and all the evils that are tearing our country apart. Let’s let today be the re-start of a nation-family that honors, respects, and listens to each other and has the highest good for our fellow Americans–and the whole human family–at heart.
Inter-Religious Peace
All the news stories about people angry at religious attire someone wears, or their beliefs or way of worshiping have made me realize one thing: that we need to educate yourselves. So I propose this to you:
Sit back in your easy chair and learn about how other people worship. Read books, articles, and the weekly Religion section in the Sunday paper. Watch “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” on PBS or record it for more convenient viewing. Want to get out of the house? Visit a synagogue, temple, or mosque, or go to a worship service there. Attend a class in a certain faith or comparative faiths. Research a faith in the public library or online. Look in the newspaper under “Lectures” and “Events” for a festival or celebration hosted by another faith, then go and enjoy yourself. No matter what you do, learning about another’s faith strengthens your own while fostering understanding in you–and that understanding helps make us all part of the Human Family.
Follow Them on Vacation
Have something you want your Congress persons to hear? Then, follow them on vacation. August is their “vacation” time—away from Washington but closer to their constituents. During the entire month, they come home to get back in touch with us. They’re more available and open to contact in August than during any other month of the year. Now is the time, in other words, to get them to listen to you about that issue that is so important to you, your family, and your community. Call, write, email, send smoke signals, or whatever to their local offices. Write a letter to the editor (they’re more likely to read and respond to it in August) and send a copy to your representatives and senators. Arrange a meeting with them. Go onto their websites to find out when they’ll hold a town hall meeting you can attend. Start right away composing those letters or arranging for meetings. Why are you sitting there reading this? Get going!
Grow an Environmentalist
Because today’s children seldom get out of the city, when they grow up, not many choose environmental careers, resulting in fewer people to care for our planet. Help reverse the trend and have family fun doing it. Plant a garden with your kids. Watch it grow. Enjoy the colors, smells, and textures. If you grow vegetables, cook them together to enjoy at a family meal. Or take the family on walks. Many cities boast of several beautiful easy-walk trails where you can share nature’s sounds, sights, and smells. Probably, there are parks nearby, too, for picnics or just experiencing the wonders around you. While on your outings, pick up trash you see and explain to the kids that, even if we didn’t cause it, we should show respect for our lovely surroundings. That night your children should be tired enough to sleep soundly—and dream happy dreams of butterflies and forests.
Uncategorized
career, child, City, environment, family, kid, smell, trail
I Could Have Lost My Son
I was very shaken. I’ve seen news of mass shootings in various cities. I’ve prayed for the victims and their families and felt a lump in my heart for them. But this was different. My son and his girlfriend decided at the last minute not to go to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. If they had gone, they would be there when the shooter killed three people, including a 6-year-old, and injured a dozen others. Life is such a precious gift, one we must make an effort to protect from the rampant violence in our country. Each of us must put pressure on our lawmakers to make fair and equitable laws that address issues of mental health, gun safety, responsible gun ownership. In our own lives, we must confront violence in any form we encounter—bullying, domestic violence, road rage, animal cruelty, taunts on social media—because those things perpetuate the culture of violence that is killing our loved ones and our souls.
Family–Personal Note
I’m excited. Family I love very much is coming for a week’s visit in a few days. We haven’t been physically together for two years. Phone calls, emails, and texts just aren’t the same.
Anticipation of the visit has had me thinking a lot about family, whether blood-related or friends we consider family…how much of an impact they make on our lives. They’re there, if only in spirit, in my joys and sorrows, to bounce ideas off of when I’m making a decision, to agree to disagree with on issues and concerns, to remind me to take better care of my health (because it matters to them), to respect me as a person, to let me be me and still love me.
Dear readers, I wish for all of you FAMILY!
Accentuate the Positive
Studies have been done on the effects that comments have on people. It’s obvious that negative comments are hurtful. We all know the gut-feeling when someone says something that cuts us down, lumps us into an unpopular category, refers to our loved one in an unkind way, makes our work seem meaningless, or otherwise shows contempt toward us and disrespect for us as a person. Those studies indicate that a single negative comment takes five positive ones to counteract. Herein lie two lessons: 1) We should try to avoid those soul-tearing words, yet notice when we slip and say them…it happens to all of us. 2) We should practice saying five positive things daily to each person we live with or have frequent contact with. In this way, we work toward showing more respect for other members of our human family. And our emphasizing the positive makes us a happier, less stressed-out person.