Poem: “What is Broken Is What God Blesses,” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
The lover’s footprint in the sand the ten-year-old kid’s bare feet in the mud picking chili for rich growers, not those seeking cultural or ethnic roots, but those whose roots have been exposed, hacked, dug up and burned and in those roots do animals burrow for...
Happy Birthday To . . Julia & Hubert
May 27, 1819 Julia Ward Howe "Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build." May 27, 1911 Hubert Humphrey "Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism."
Poem: “The Seven of Pentacles,” by Marge Piercy
Under a sky the color of pea soup she is looking at her work growing away there actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans as things grow in the real world, slowly enough. If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water, if you provide birds that eat...
Poem: When the world goes mad,” by John Roedel
when the world goes mad be wildly kind to everyone everyone everyone ~ you can’t control much but you control how you treat others in these breaking news heartbreaking times when nothing feels certain let your raw kindness be a certainty allow your compassion to...
Happy Birthday To . . . Ralph & Ted
May 25, 1803 Ralph Waldo Emerson "The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself." May 25, 1908 Theodore Roethke "Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley."...
Poem: “Never Again,” by Stevie Smith
Never again will I weep And wring my hands And beat my head against the wall Because Me nolentem fata trahunt* But When I have had enough I will arise And go unto my Father And I will say to Him: Father, I have had enough. *Because fate drags me, unwilling." Me...
CONTINUE: a poem, by Maya Angelou
My wish for you Is that you continue Continue To be who and how you are To astonish a mean world With your acts of kindness Continue To allow humor to lighten the burden Of your tender heart Continue In a society dark with cruelty To let the...
Happy Birthday To . . Harry & Roger
May 24, 1878 Harry Emerson Fosdick "He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end." May 24, 1928 Roger Caras "There are only three sins - causing pain, causing fear, and causing anguish."
The Wooden Bowl
There once was a grandpa who lived with his family. As Grandpa grew older, he began to slobber and spill his food. So the family had him eat alone. When he dropped his bowl and broke it, they scolded him and got him a cheap wooden bowl. Grandpa was so unhappy. Now one...
Happy Birthday to . . . Tom & Margaret
May 23, 1799 Thomas Hood "Some minds improve by travel, others, rather, resemble copper wire, or brass, which get the narrower by going farther." May 23, 1810 Margaret Fuller "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
Poem: “One Morning,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
One morning we will wake up and forget to build that wall we’ve been building, the one between us the one we’ve been building for years, perhaps out of some sense of right and boundary, perhaps out of habit. One morning we will wake up and let our empty hands hang...
Happy Birthday To . . Betty & Coleman
May 22, 1943 Betty Williams "We believe in taking down the barriers, but we also believe in the most energetic reconciliation among peoples by getting them to know each other, talk each other's languages, understand each other's fears and beliefs, getting to know each...
Poem: “If You Could Go Back,” by Danny Bryck
I know, I know If you could go back you would walk with Jesus You would march with King Maybe assassinate Hitler At least hide Jews in your basement It would all be clear to you But people then, just like you were baffled, had bills to pay and children they didn’t...
Happy Birthday To . . Arthur & Harvey
May 22, 1859 Arthur Conan Doyle "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." May 22, 1930 Harvey Milk "The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason....
Coexist
This story taken from Buddhist Boot Camp is a PERFECT illustration for Step 6 of Karen Armstrong's book, "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life" -- ACTION. The streetlight turned yellow, so he stopped his car at the crosswalk instead of accelerating through the...
Happy Birthday To . . . John & Margery
May 20, 1806 John Stuart Mill "The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people." May 20, 1889 Margery Allingham "If one cannot command attention by one's admirable qualities one can at least be a...
Poem: “Some,” by Daniel Berrigan
Some stood up once, and sat down. Some walked a mile, and walked away. Some stood up twice, then sat down. “It’s too much,” they cried. Some walked two miles, then walked away. “I’ve had it,” they cried, Some stood and stood and stood. They were taken for fools, they...
Happy Birthday To . . . Shunryu & Pope John Paul II
May 18, 1904 Shunryu Suzuki "If your mind is empty, it is ready for anything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few." May 18, 1920 Pope John Paul II "Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it."
Poem: “Politeness,” by A.A. Milne
If people ask me, I always tell them: "Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say." If people ask me, I always answer, "Quite well, thank you, how are you to-day?" I always answer, I always tell them, If they ask me Politely..... BUT SOMETIMES I wish That they...
Happy Birthday To . . . Bertrand & Malcolm
May 18, 1872 Bertrand Russell "War does not determine who is right - only who is left." May 19, 1925 Malcolm X "If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything."
Poem: “Resilience,” by Keith Westwater
Mathematicians have worked out how to calculate the bounciness of a ball: (the coefficient of this x the cosine of that) + the differential of today's weather all ÷ by a piece of string (and the speed of the train) = the same as dropping different...
Happy Birthday To . . . Anna & Tara
May 17, 1794 Anna Jameson "In morals what begins in fear usually ends in wickedness; in religion what begins in fear usually ends in fanaticism. Fear, either as a principle or a motive, is the beginning of all evil." May 17, 1953 Tara Brach "Feeling compassion for...
Poem: “True Justice,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Enthroned upon the mighty truth, Within the confines of the laws, True Justice seeth not the man, But only hears his cause. Unconscious of his creed or race, She cannot see, but only weighs; For Justice with unbandaged eyes Would be oppression in disguise.
Happy Birthday To . . . Frank & Bruce
May 15, 1856 L. Frank Baum "There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid." May 15, 1935 Utah (Bruce) Phillips "The Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have...