Mending

Louise Erdrich

"Your life feels different on you, once you greet death and understand your heart's position. You wear your life like a garment from the mission bundle sale ever after -- lightly because you realize you never paid nothing for it, cherishing because you know you won't ever come by such a bargain again." - Louise Erdrich

Karen Louise Erdrich, known as Louise Erdrich, (born June 7, 1954) is an author of novels, poetry, and children's books with Native American heritage. (Erdrich is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. Tribal membership requires at least 25/100 Certified Degree of Indian Blood quantum documented by agency geneaology according to Bureau of Indian Affairs policy statement.) She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.




"If you think you're enlightened go spend a week with your family." - Baba Ram Dass (!Oh yes! Snap! - Christopher)

Ram Dass, also known as "Baba Ram Dass", (born Richard Alpert, April 6, 1931), is an American contemporary spiritual teacher, and author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is well known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s. He is also known for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. Religion: Jewish (until 1967), Hindu (since 1967)



Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions. - Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( Dag Hammarskjöld (help·info)) (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish diplomat, economist and author. He was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. He served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. Hammarskjöld remains the only U.N. Secretary-General to die in office. U.S. President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld “the greatest statesman of our century.”



"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -- myth is more potent than history -- dreams are more powerful than facts -- hope always triumphs over experience -- laughter is the cure for grief -- love is stronger than death." - Robert Fulghum

Robert Lee Fulghum (born June 4, 1937) is an American author, primarily of short essays. He has worked as a Unitarian Universalist minister (at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship in Bellingham, Washington from 1960-64, and the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church in Edmonds, Washington amongst other communities well into the 1980s). During this same period he taught drawing, painting, and philosophy at the Lakeside School in Seattle. Fulghum is an accomplished painter and sculptor. He sings, and plays the guitar and mando-cello. He was a founding member of the authors' collective rock-and-roll band, "Rock Bottom Remainders". Previous to his professional careers, he also worked as a ditch-digger, newspaper carrier, ranch hand, salesman for IBM, and singing cowboy. He grew up in Waco, Texas. He came to prominence in the US when his first collection, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1988), stayed on the New York Times bestseller lists for nearly two years. There are currently more than 16 million copies of his books in print, published in 27 languages in 103 countries.

Mending

When you show your tears
I want to mend something worn.
I want to take thread
and needle, thimble
and do it right with stitches
I would have to learn.
I want to touch you,
tell you the damn dust will stop,
settle, and the sun
will shine through again.

September 26, 2009 7:39 PM