We sought the solace of Mt Jefferson, site of my very first backpacking trip 36 years ago, to celebrate Amber's birthday and mark her Dad's 81st, 4 months after his death The radio, following the Republican National Convention, offered the usual recitation of the dismal: violence, division, cynicism... so many causes for despair.
Then, a lifeline: an interview titled Finding Solace in a Chaotic World. The Takeaway host John Hockenberry spoke with Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, presidential advisor and former New York City Police chaplain, a first responder in 9/11 and mother to two black men in their early 20s.
From her years on the front lines, she offered this:
"The thing about solace: you take it without permission."
"Strengthen yourself for the struggle. You have to have those moments."
I've been seeking solace in wild places this summer, in time with the children in my life, and in the practice of gratitude.
To that end, I'm pleased to share a poem for our times, written in 1988 but especially apt for our current news cycles, presented recently by poetry-whisperer Danna Schmidt, a gifted Celebrant colleague from Washington State.
Then, a lifeline: an interview titled Finding Solace in a Chaotic World. The Takeaway host John Hockenberry spoke with Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, presidential advisor and former New York City Police chaplain, a first responder in 9/11 and mother to two black men in their early 20s.
From her years on the front lines, she offered this:
"The thing about solace: you take it without permission."
"Strengthen yourself for the struggle. You have to have those moments."
I've been seeking solace in wild places this summer, in time with the children in my life, and in the practice of gratitude.
To that end, I'm pleased to share a poem for our times, written in 1988 but especially apt for our current news cycles, presented recently by poetry-whisperer Danna Schmidt, a gifted Celebrant colleague from Washington State.
Thanks
by W.S. Merwin
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
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