Tag Archives: democracy

I was going to write about looking back at 2022…

Posted on by
Reply

and post some of what I’ve created and done in the last 12 months. However, when I woke up on this last day of 2022 and read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American daily email, I shifted gears.

“In their fight for their right to self-determination, the Ukrainians and their defenders reminded the United States what cherishing democracy actually looks like.”

—Letters from an American/Heather Cox Richardson

________________________

—Ukrainian President Zelensky when the U.S. offered to evacuate him.

“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” 

What this quote meant to me:  I will grow in maturity and understanding when I stay close to conflict(s), even when confusing, painful, and messy.  Fleeing is easier...and lacking courage.

________________________

“The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please. Be kind, especially when we don’t know what’s going on.”

—Waymond Wang from the film, Everything Everywhere All At Once

It's far too easy for me to get defensive and act unkind when I am uncertain or pushed.  This quote is a good reminder to lead with kindness...the universe clearly needs this from all of us now.

Evelyn Wang, the heroine in my favorite movie of the year is a badass middle-aged female superhero. She gets to see and experience her many lives out in the multi-verse. The film is all about hanging in there with people we love even when the relationship is messy, painful, and complicated. I guess I gleaned almost the same message as the quote from President Zelensky.

There are so many versions of me that have already existed and will exist in the future. I believe I can summon the creativity, wisdom, skills, or total dumbassery of all of them when needed.

Evelyn Wang : There is no way I am the Evelyn you are looking for.

Waymond Wang : [as Alpha Waymond]  Every rejection, every disappointment has led you to this moment. Don’t let anything distract you from it.

When a version of me is doing something not particularly interesting, I sometimes wonder what the other Lisas are doing. In 2023 I plan to explore my desire for more theatrics out in the multiverse. I’m not quite sure what that will look like yet, but if I lead with kindness to myself during this time of uncertainty I think I’ll be in good shape.

Thank you, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for creating Evelyn Wang and this story.

LETTERS from an AMERICAN: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-30-2022?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=93881839&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email

Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians.

if you give an insomniac coffee & predawn time alone…

Posted on by
3

This morning I remembered a thoughtful quote I heard recently during Vermont Recovery Advocacy Day. I made coffee and started searching. I often think of the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff.

One thing leads to another and sometimes you don’t know how you got there. This happens frequently to me.

Today, I thought I would follow the trail. If you give me coffee and some time alone…

OK, the author of the quote, I think his last name was hummmm…Chesterfield. There were some real gems from him. I thought I must have the attribution correct..Lord Chesterfield.

“Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.”

“Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.”

I kept reading and then this one popped up:

“Women especially as to be talked to as below men, and above children.”

Lord Chesterfield, you obviously were not the author I was looking for…and maybe kind of a prick, but hey it was the 17th century when you were writing, so I won’t “cancel” you—context is everything.

The sun is up now, it’s snowing and I’ve had my second coffee…I finally found the correct quote.

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

—G. K. Chesterton

Thanks as the highest form of thought and gratitude doubled by wonder—so beautifully said. What other quotes about gratitude can I find?

I needed to know a bit more about G. K. Chesterton. He was an English author best known for creating the priest-detective, Father Brown.

Then, I next read on his Wikipedia page that his best friend from his St. Paul school days was Edmund Clerihew Bentley, inventor of the clerihew. 

I didn’t know what a clerihew was. Should I have? Do you?

A clerihew (/ˈklɛrɪhjuː/) is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually, a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. (Here is a well-known clerihew of his.) Sir Christopher Wren Said, "I am going to dine with some men. If anyone calls Say I am designing St. Paul's."[1]

I wrote my own clerihew after reading Mr. Bentley’s example.

To the courageous people of Ukraine, I humbly offer my thanks, gratitude, and compassion for what you are against-all-odds bravely doing to protect your families and defend democracy around the world.