Poet, Author, Composer....
A Henry James Quote
332, A Henry James Quote
I found this quote quite a while ago. And I lost it. Then I found it a couple of months ago, and…you’re right—I lost it again. Now I’ve found it once more, so this time, here it is.
Henry James said: Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.
A Little Street Theatre
331. A Little Street Theatre
I was remembering today for some reason some of the stories my daughter Dara would tell me about the street theatre that she and her friend did on the streets of New York. They shared an apartment but sometimes when they were out together—these two young women—they’d stand on a Manhattan corner and start talking about one of their boyfriends and how they were on the brink of breaking up. Their goal was to gather a crowd who leaned in to listen. Inevitably they were successful.
One time I experienced a little of this myself with Dara. She and I had met and were going to get on the subway together. We went down the steps and she went through the turn-stile and waited for me. I had gotten several tokens, put one in the turn-stile, and as I walked through, I dropped another one. Quickly, I bent to pick it up and Dara came toward me saying loudly, “Lady, that’s my token.” I said, “No it’s not—it’s mine.” She escalated and said, “Lady—anybody can tell you that I just dropped that token and it’s mine—give it to me.” My voice got louder too as I said, “Well, you’re just wrong because I just dropped it.”
Dara turned to look at a policeman who was heading our way, and she scooted toward the steps down to the subway. I looked up, saw him too, and headed down after her.
End of improvised play.
Starting Over—and Over—and Over
330. Starting Over—and Over—and Over
—
started over
held intention
for a day
for two
three
a week perhaps
intention frays
into muddle
—
starting over
happens many times
does . not . hold .
—
because
—
it starts
from pulled-together
will
backed by iron
determination
that melts
eventually
every time
—
start again
this time
focus
—
breathe
—
and let the start
come from your
center
—
© Copyright 2013 by Ann Freeman Price
The Importance of Copyrights
329. The Importance of Copyrights
A couple of months ago I wrote a piece called “Annyway.” It was #270. I used something that was evidently going around in a lot of places but where I read it said that it was found on the wall where Mother Theresa lived. It turned out that it was something called “The Paradoxical Commandments.”
Well, it turns out that these were written by a person named Kent M. Keith when he was a sophomore at Harvard. He wrote them for student leaders. They have gone around the world and many people have been given credit for them. And I’m giving credit to Kent Keith. He later published them in a book titled Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments, and then still later a book I bought and read called Do It Anyway—Finding personal meaning and deep happiness by living the paradoxical commandments.
Copyrights have always been important to me and I do my best to honor them. I also do my best to give belated credit and I do that here. They are a good set of commandments and well worth thinking about.
Mother’s Day Proclamation
328. Mother’s Day Proclamation
Mother’s Day hasn’t always been a Hallmark holiday. It had its beginnings as an activist day. Julia Ward Howe in 1872 wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation, and for thirty years, we celebrated Mother’s Day for Peace on June 2. It feels pretty powerful to me. Here’s the proclamation:
—
Mother’s Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
—
Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
—
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
—
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
—
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.
—
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
—
Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870
My History with Mother’s Day
327. My History with Mother’s Day
My history with Mother’s Day began of course when I was a little girl giving things to my mother. And I did that—buying her books or something with strawberries, many cards which she very carefully saved.
When I became a Mother, and had four children in six years, Nelson helped them get things for me when they were little. By the time we moved to New York, they were in school and in Sunday School, and began coming home with little containers that they had fashioned out of clay and painted and I graciously accepted them. I have two or three of them still which I keep paper clips in. On the bottom of each etched in the clay are the initials D.P. which helps me not at all. The children’s names are Donna Price, David Price, Debra Price, and Dara Price so you can see who D.P. stands for.
When that phase was over, I gathered the kids and said to them, “You know I think it’s a hokey holiday, just drummed up to sell cards and candy and knick-knacks. I want to be loved all the time. So let’s just drop this Mother’s Day thing.” And we did for years. I continued to send my Mother the cards and gifts but we did nothing special at our house for the occasion.
In 1984 in April my Mother died. And as May approached and I realized I had no Mother to send a card to, or to buy a gift for, it hit me hard. I called each child and said, “I changed my mind. I want you to observe Mother’s Day—the whole bit.”
And they’ve done that ever since.
Clutter and a Haircut
326. Clutter and a Haircut
Scene 1: When I’m too busy, I come in, put papers down, do the next thing, and pretty soon it’s time to go somewhere else and I gather up what I need, and when I come back I unload the bag and put the papers down in a new spot, and if that goes on too long, and the papers make clutter, then I start to lose things, I start to not get things done and eventually I almost get paralyzed.
Scene 2: I have very short hair. I have it short by choice. When I think it is long, a lot of people don’t think it’s long at all, but it is for me. And I frustrated and eventually I get down in the dumps and very close to depressed.
These two scenes don’t always happen simultaneously. But I don’t like the end result of either of them. The magic is: clear the clutter for scene 1, and get a haircut for scene 2. The paralysis and the depression disappear very fast.
Would that all things could be solved this simply.
Sing and Breathe It In
325. Sing and Breathe It In
On days that seem a little wobbly, or on days that are going just fine, or even on days when I see someone else who is struggling, I sing this folk song and breathe it in:
—
If anybody ask you who I am,
Who I am, who I am,
If anybody ask you who I am,
Tell them I’m a child of God.
—
It’s too short to sing once—so sing it twice or three or four times—until it really sinks into the deep of you. And then sing it once more and when you get to the last line, just keep repeating it over and over until you’ve got it.
—
If anybody ask you who I am,
Who I am, who I am,
If anybody ask you who I am,
Tell them I’m a child of God.
One Minute Poem
324. One Minute Poem
(This is a poem to acknowledge the length of one minute. Use a timer and say each word on each second. The minute starts with the title.)
—
The – One – Minute – Poem
—
our – days – are – filled – with – seconds
—
they – move – one – at – a – time – like – this
—
no – stop – keep – on – no – stop – keep – on
—
the – seconds – turn – in – to – minutes
minutes – turn – in – to – hours
hours – turn – in – to – days
days – turn – in – to – years
these – years – are – our lives
—
so – love – and – use – the – seconds
just – love
—
Copyright 2013 Ann Freeman Price
Just a Minute
323. Just a Minute
I’ve been doing Egoscue exercises and positions since August of 2010, and I wrote about it in #53 in this series of postings. There was something that happened this morning as I was doing one of the timed positions. There is one position called Static Back and you lie on the floor with your feet up across a chair for five minutes.
Now I’ve gotten pretty good at counting out a minute. I know just about what speed to count. But today as I held my timer, I decided that I would not count, and I would not look at the timer. Instead I would just lie there until I thought one minute had passed and then I would check the timer. Five succeeding times I did not give it enough time.
When we say, “Just a minute…” about something, it seems like it’s going to be a very short time. The reality is that it isn’t that short. Check it out yourself. Get a timer, and start it, and then without counting in your head, let a period of time go by which you think is about a minute and then check it.
What impressed me this morning is that most of my days are about sixteen hours—from 7am to 11pm. That adds up to 460 minutes in each of my days. That’s impressive!
I’ll cherish them just a tiny bit more now—and I’ll see how well I can use them—or splurge them!
New Release!!
Daybook of Personal Faith
Mama and Me
