28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 13/28: PEACE

Cathy

Haiku: Guardians

28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 12/28: PEACE

Cathy

Friends Around Us

As I was about to type my story, I was presented with a new topic. Since the new story is in keeping with the theme of ‘friends’ I had to follow this new lead.

Today is the start of the Pan-Mass Challenge 2011 with opening ceremonies starting last night. As I watched the hour long special on “Chronicle” on Ch. 5, I was glued to the TV. All the people involved from the organizers to the volunteers were truly a cut above in their dedication to the cause of finding a cure for cancer. As fundraisers go, this is the largest single athletic event in the country with 100% of the funds going to the cause.

LARGEST FUNDRAISER

In its 32nd year, the Pan-Mass Challenge is the largest athletic fundraising event in the country. Since its inception in 1980, the Pan-Mass Challenge has raised $303 million. One hundred percent of the dollars raised by cyclists goes to research and treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This year, 5,300 cyclists from 37 states and eight countries will participate in the ride with a collective goal of raising $34 million.

Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/28741207/detail.html#ixzz1UClq1wsy

In an earlier post to the blog I mentioned ‘unknown friends’ as we will never know or meet all the people that volunteer to the numerous causes out there. There are so many people that touch our lives without our firsthand knowledge. These are friends just the same.

Kudos to all who volunteer. To volunteer is to give of oneself. Most of all the volunteers are amateurs. An amateur is one who loves what they do, to give from the heart. To combine these two concepts into one would be ‘one who embodies old ideals’. This translates to the definition of ‘avatar’…to be one with each other and the world around us.

Cathy

http://www.pmc.org/

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/26821321/detail.html

28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 11/28: PEACE

Cathy

TV Family & Friends

 When we were young, anyone older than us was a grown- up. Babies were younger & adults were older. Siblings were a jumble of ages pending the years, but still under the jurisdiction of grown-ups. I think we mostly counted two things for the right perspective: the candles on a birthday cake & the class you were in. Numbers put everyone in their place. It made life simple.

Then came the age of ‘age propriety’. You should be doing this for this age. This is the way a grown-up behaves. ‘This is your goal’ was written between the lines. Fortunately we had a much broader spectrum of role models to follow than the previous generations. That’s right, we were not limited to our parents, neighbors, teachers & parishioners …we had TV families to set the right examples for us. Oh the good fortune of watching Ward & June, Ozzie & Harriet and of course Lucy & Desi to set us straight. It probably didn’t always agree with our parents though. ‘How come Beaver got away with it and I didn’t’. (You got caught!) ‘Lil’ Ricky got bongos & Wally got to go to the dance’. (You got grounded!) Our grandparents didn’t have to deal with this when our parents were growing up. (No TV!) Things were simpler then.

A bit of a twist was added...  the macabre of  ‘The Adams Family’ and later ‘All in the Family’. New plots & twists were added to the traditional family values. We were slightly older by then & in the ‘age of questioning’ as Mike & Gloria were doing. We were leaving high school, getting jobs, going to college, getting married & doing all the grown-up stuff we were prepared for at an earlier age….but with a twist. This twist was ‘our way’. Time to explore doing things while breaking a few rules of the establishment. Just in case we still needed help, there were a number of new characters added to the TV line-up to help us along. Many were from TV spin-offs from ‘All in the Family’: Maude, The Jeffersons   &  Good Times.

Our mile-marker in family living came with ‘The Cosby show’. Some of us were parents by then and it was nice to have this family with current issues being addressed with a sense of humor.  It incorporated all that we needed to know about being adults, adult children, grand-parenting and dealing with kids at any age.  It could be summed up in one sentence: Laughter is the best medicine. 

As life comes full circle in both TV and reality, you do need a sense of humor to pull you through a lot of stuff.  Marriage, divorce, jobs, sickness & family need something to soften the edges. This is where ‘The Golden Girls’ comes into play. Here we are twenty years of reruns later with these ladies of comedy still tickling our funny bones. Their storylines are still relevant & antics hysterical.   Now I hate to be the one to break it to you, but we have become the ‘golden girls’.  I mean that in the kindest sense. We are friends through thick & thin, understanding & empathetic to all that life throws at us. We’re also willing to charge ahead into uncharted waters of new projects while treasuring the past.

We sit, we laugh, we cry & reminisce with lifetime connections to our TV families. They were a great comfort to us over the years….and still are. These memories are also our bond to the masses as  we continue to watch the reruns over & over again. All these retro channels are a confirmation that there is still a connection through the airwaves and we are not alone. They have become our friends. It’s quite the emotional bond. It’s as if we expect them to recognize us should we pass on the street. We have them as we have each other. Friends forever.

  Cathy

28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 10/28: PEACE

Cathy

Friends in Nature

Photo credit:http://www.capitolint.com/Fairs/weldes/bear.htm



28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 9/28: PEACE

Cathy

You’ve Got a Friend

For friendship week, I shall continue on this theme. We usually think of friends as someone very close, personal, and very often a lifetime acquaintance. Sometimes personal friends and work friends are in separate categories, separated by activities & things in common. What we don’t usually think about are the nameless friends. Examples are: the person holding a door for us, a person giving up a seat in public transportation, a smile while waiting in a long line, someone letting you go ahead of them in a shopping line and a driver letting you go first at a stop sign. Friends, plain & simple. No names attached. You may never come across these people again for the rest of your life. BUT…maybe you will and you will return the favor or pay it forward to another. It’s how friendship works. The rules are simple: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Then there are those friends that you just don’t seem to be close to, a bit removed from them, not in the same routine until they touch you in a way you didn’t expect. Every once in awhile a new friend steps forward with a unique presence & integrity. This person goes the extra mile, most of the time it is done without recognition. Sometimes a person goes to the exteme limits to make a difference. We witnessed this difference this week by a friend of the American people. I am speaking of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

"I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what's going on in Washington. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics," she said.

Giffords, who is still undergoing outpatient therapy, added: "I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."

Seldom do we see this strength of character in public office. Her commitment to her state of Arizona and to the entire country may possibly be unprecedented considering her recent history. She is the living example of the definition of ‘friend’ in the highest degree.

I like to think our prayers for Gabrielle helped her through her difficult times and that our continued prayers will see her through to her complete wellness. Her effort to return to Washington DC to cast her vote was like a prayer for her constituency & country.

 

That’s what friends are for. 

 

Cathy

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCjPswL3WE6EqxmS3OgisrDDFc6g?docId=f20c4385fefc4df3af254365d47d3302

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/02/gabrielle-giffords-disappointed-debt-ceiling

 

 

28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 8/28: PEACE

Cathy

Haiku: Friends

28 Days of Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Today is Day 7/28: PEACE

Cathy

International Friendship Day

To Friendship

Dear friends,
It is my belief that we, SM Fairies, as a group have lived up to every expectation of friendship that exists. Through thick & thin, highs & lows, ebbs & flows, we have stuck by each other with love & kindness over the years. Fifty years & still climbing! It just doesn’t get any better than that unless it’s sixty years…but not so fast! We’ll get there in our own good time.
This week as a planet we celebrate friendship. In more recent years International Friendship Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of August which proves to be Aug. 7th of this year; however, this year the United Nations has officially moved International Friendship Day to be July 30th. (I missed this discovery by one day!) So, we can choose to go with a ‘friendship week’. This too has more than one week listed on the search engines. It’s nice to know that friendship is celebrated often. It does the heart good. There’s no time like the present, so let’s celebrate in our hearts & minds even if there are other things to do. If email is all you can do for the moment, I suggest forwarding the following website to your friends.
 
http://www.joke-archives.com/inspire/nationalfriendshipweek.html

And to all the SMFs, here’s to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbo4OYSLTdI

xoxoxo,
Cathy