HAND-IN-HAND

Children Holding Hands, Chicago, IL

I recently ran across one of my favorite photos showing children at Millennial Park in Chicago on a field trip helping each other stay safe.  The scene immediately caught my attention and I had to walk over and quickly snap this image from behind so that they would remain anonymous.  I was moved by this image and photo of children protecting one another and walking hand-in hand all the while learning how to achieve progress and harmony in the process.  The image is even more sublime to see the smallest child walking securely between her two older classmates. 

Later the scene called to mind a quote from the 13th-century poet Rumi:

 "We're all just walking each other home."

I sent this image to our church staff because I’ve been troubled by all the polarization and discontent in our culture lately in hopes that it might be shared with others, like this post.  Our Senior Pastor sent the following response that stirred the depths of my soul:  

“At a recent service commemorating the 40^th anniversary of the Greensboro Klan/Nazi Massacre, Rev. Frank Dew (a long time Presbyterian Pastor in GSO) told a short story of a search for a missing girl in winter time.  Rescue teams scoured the area the afternoon and early evening the first day of the search.  They feared for her in the bitter cold nighttime temps.  As darkness fell, they resolved to resume their search first thing in the morning.  As they gathered at dawn to begin again, someone suggested they join hands as they moved through the wood and fields.   About 3 hours in, they came upon her lifeless body in the dense undergrowth.    Grieving the loss, one rescuer commented, ‘We should’ve joined hands sooner.’  Indeed.”

"Raise your words, not voice.  It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." --Rumi

CLOUDSCAPES

Cloudscape, Over Chicago, IL

We live out the vast majority of our lives gazing up at the dark shadowed under belly of overhead cloud formations. And yet only in this period of human evolution can we insert a credit card chip, casually walk aboard a jet powered cylinder and observe a magnificent cloudscape shining down below us that has been blind to all landlocked generations before us.

It never ceases to amaze as we defy the gravitational pull that prevents us from flying uncontrollably off of the planet’s surface!

NAVIGATING AIRPORT TERMINALS

Airport Nomads, Chicago O'Hare

I’ve walked countless miles through airport terminals in my day weaving in and out of the endless columns like African army ants on their relentless march to anywhere. These jungle nomads are either blind or have just one focus lens and consume everything in their path. The antics of these migratory humanoids also never ceases to amaze!

On My long trek to the very end of a concourse at O’Hare today a woman stopped dead in her tracks to check a text ding, a man stood still in the middle of the stream perusing the flight monitor and another exited a restroom at full gallop pulling his earthly belongings headlong into the fray. Europeans, I assume, entered the flow going the opposite direction and a young woman on the arm of her guide guy walked right into a trash cart.

All once again validating the eternal truth that many folks march to a different drummer, amusing and keeping everyone else on the alert lest we are overwhelmed by the madding crowd!

SOMETHING TO LOVE--REVISITED

October Blue Ridge Parkway, Linn Cove, NC

I’m still lovin’ the lyrics from the songbook of Jason Isbell’s album The Nashville Sound.  Some of the lyrics from the track Something to Love include:

“I hope you find something to love,

Something to do when you feel like giving up.

A song to sing or tale to tell,

Something to love,

it’ll serve you well.

Just find what makes you happy,

And do it till you’re gone.”

I enjoy singing along with relatable lyrics or music that matches my mood at the time, but I’ve never been encouraged to seek a recording contract or join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!  Of course, many lyrics to songs also tell a tale, especially country songs.  Those tales become relatable when they touch home with our own life experiences.  Jason has a good message.  I believe it’s important for good mental and even physical health to focus on something we love and it doesn’t have to be just one thing either!  If we have a life partner it’s good to share some of these things, but having a few apart from one another can be healthy also.

I learned this lesson many years ago and it has served me well through those ensuing years.  Its nice to find a job you love so you never have to work another day the rest of your life, but that may simply not be available or not pay enough to support your family.  That’s where it’s important to find something off the clock that doesn’t have to pay anything.  In fact, it will probably cost some bucks which can be funded by your regular job.  And if that activity gives you pleasure and frequently takes your mind off the issues of your primary job for a short time, that’s an investment worth every cent.  As my wife used to say, “that’s much cheaper than therapy”, although therapy can be beneficial at times!

I’ve observed that the things I love doing the most involve being creative.  One of the key attributes of our creator is that he is always creating and we were created in His image, so that figures.  Everything in this existence including every sunrise is a new creation!

I’ve always enjoyed yard work and planting since I’ve reasoned that I still have a bit of inherited dirt coursing through my bloodstream.  All of my grandparents were raised on rural Kansas farms and managed farms to sustain their families which included my father and mother.  My good fortune along with my other cousins was the inherited DNA those good folks bequeathed to all of us, as we were the first to be born and raised in the postwar economies of our urban lives. 

The game of golf has provided a diversion for most of my adult life.  It gives me the opportunity to get out into nature and enjoy the company of people that I can be around five hours or so on a regular basis, provided the temperature is above fifty degrees.  Playing the game has opened endless opportunities to expand my personal and business social network way beyond anything I could have imagined.  I enjoy researching and trying all the changes to golf improvement equipment which has kept me in the game all this time.  And trying to keep in the game by staying fit gives me the incentive to join a gym and actually attend it!  Every golf shot requires us to be creative.

I’ve also written about my life-long romance with vehicles.  I’m certain that I’ve driven a multitude of vehicles over a million miles so far and I still enjoy the freedom of the open road with “nowhere to go and nowhere to be”, to quote another one of my favorite country philosophers, Kenny Chesney.  I like to drive and listen to instrumental jazz that suits the moment like Dave Brubeck’s Take Five when driving a sports car and pushing the limit out on the endless concrete ribbons of interstate highways.  Or I’ll select a meditative version of Miles Davis’ Generique while chillin’ out on the colorful Blue Ridge Parkway curves in October.  

I’ve had the privilege of living a full life which has provided a lot of tales to tell as I press pause and look in the rear view mirror.  If I didn’t enjoy the creative process of writing, I wouldn’t have been encouraged almost ten years ago to start a blog.  This blog has provided a lot of enjoyment and the release of creative juices that would have probably never been realized without this avenue.  It has provided an outlet combining two interests of both writing and photography.  It inspires me to read more current news articles and human-interest stories, including new releases of non-fiction books.  If I’m going to exchange my limited life hours for the pleasure of reading a book, I not only want to be entertained, but I want to also learn something in the process!  Photography and creative writing also keep me alert to the world around me for inspiration, including traveling, volunteer work, teaching classes and listening to music.

And once I discover something to love, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll serve me well till I’m gone!