"He will know he's not worthy
Because he will die alone you see
That's his reality
But I'm not sick
I am lovely
And hatred is the curse of man
And I will not feel unworthy
Because I have washed my hands you see
That's my reality." ~Zac Brown Band
We are tested in this life, in this world. I don't know if it is a matter of earning wings, or proving worth, or merely surviving.
We brace for the unexpected, but even the anticipation of the unexpected is no consolation--or diversion--when it arrives. A singular event leads us to question, to doubt, to search.
We go day by daybyday in relative normalcy until some THING happens to disturb this--or destroy it.
That's what I want to talk about.
Sometimes that THING is so catastrophic, so aberrant--so beyond what we ever could have anticipated, so revolutionary--or devastating, that normal shifts. It's as if the earth shakes and the poles tilt, Greenwich is displaced and relative time takes an international holiday and makes a permanent move to a new residence. It's as if latitude and longitude go out of style in a blink and gravity becomes suspended. We live in limbo, with vertigo.
September llth, December 7th, August 6th and 9th. New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia. Hawaii, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. There are others. And, while these resound in collective memory, for each of us, or at least most of us, there are others still. Defining moments--ones not sought or desired, but endured.
There are moments for which we wait a lifetime: graduation, marriage, birth, promotion, nirvana....moments we covet. But these are not those. These moments define us--or interrupt us--or in the least produce a ripple.These moments affect, impact, concuss, and scar. These are not the moments we live for--but these are the moments from which we emerge to survive.
Our homes are sacred. Our homes are ours. Our families are sacred. Our families are ours. Our children are sacred. Our children are ours. There is finality in such statements, such truths. Such things go without mention--without need of mention. And yet, there is evil in this world--a thing to which nothing is sacred.
Doors and windows and locks don't build a home any more than these protect us. We live with false security, but the facade is as fragile as the glass inside the panes.
A paradox exists within humanity. We are innately as strong as we are fragile. Humans--in our physical, social, spiritual, psychological selves. Society itself--the idea of strength in numbers--the idea of mass casualty, suffering, the capacity of violence and oppression but of also regeneration, rejuvenation, revitalization, integration, and prosperity. Amazing and horrifying. Miracles come from such curiosities. Children, our children, reveal this simply by living.
I know a girl
who earned her wings
even before she
lost
all of
her
teeth.
I know a girl
who deserves a medal
for
saving her mama
from the bogeyman.
The lion and
the tinman
and the
scarecrow
received medals
for bravery
and love
and
smarts.
This little girl's
eyes are big
and bright
and brown like topaz
or
tourmaline or amber.
And
she saved her mama
with bravery that
burst out of her little
body like
magic from a wand.
She saved her mama
by thinking quick
and smart and
LOUD
when
I think my grownup self
would have been
too scared to shout.
The bogeyman
woke the beautiful
princess
and the princess
woke
her beautiful
mother
who raged
and charged
and braved
and won
and sent the
dragon, beast, bogeyman
far, far from their home.
She saved her mama
because her heart
and her soul
and her spirit
are big and bright
and bold--just like her mama's.
She earned her wings
before she'd even lost
all
her
teeth
and saved
her mama
who
saved her
too.
I love you both. You are my heroes, always in my prayers. You are lovely <3....
xoxoxo
Because he will die alone you see
That's his reality
But I'm not sick
I am lovely
And hatred is the curse of man
And I will not feel unworthy
Because I have washed my hands you see
That's my reality." ~Zac Brown Band
We are tested in this life, in this world. I don't know if it is a matter of earning wings, or proving worth, or merely surviving.
We brace for the unexpected, but even the anticipation of the unexpected is no consolation--or diversion--when it arrives. A singular event leads us to question, to doubt, to search.
We go day by daybyday in relative normalcy until some THING happens to disturb this--or destroy it.
That's what I want to talk about.
Sometimes that THING is so catastrophic, so aberrant--so beyond what we ever could have anticipated, so revolutionary--or devastating, that normal shifts. It's as if the earth shakes and the poles tilt, Greenwich is displaced and relative time takes an international holiday and makes a permanent move to a new residence. It's as if latitude and longitude go out of style in a blink and gravity becomes suspended. We live in limbo, with vertigo.
September llth, December 7th, August 6th and 9th. New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia. Hawaii, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. There are others. And, while these resound in collective memory, for each of us, or at least most of us, there are others still. Defining moments--ones not sought or desired, but endured.
There are moments for which we wait a lifetime: graduation, marriage, birth, promotion, nirvana....moments we covet. But these are not those. These moments define us--or interrupt us--or in the least produce a ripple.These moments affect, impact, concuss, and scar. These are not the moments we live for--but these are the moments from which we emerge to survive.
Our homes are sacred. Our homes are ours. Our families are sacred. Our families are ours. Our children are sacred. Our children are ours. There is finality in such statements, such truths. Such things go without mention--without need of mention. And yet, there is evil in this world--a thing to which nothing is sacred.
Doors and windows and locks don't build a home any more than these protect us. We live with false security, but the facade is as fragile as the glass inside the panes.
A paradox exists within humanity. We are innately as strong as we are fragile. Humans--in our physical, social, spiritual, psychological selves. Society itself--the idea of strength in numbers--the idea of mass casualty, suffering, the capacity of violence and oppression but of also regeneration, rejuvenation, revitalization, integration, and prosperity. Amazing and horrifying. Miracles come from such curiosities. Children, our children, reveal this simply by living.
I know a girl
who earned her wings
even before she
lost
all of
her
teeth.
I know a girl
who deserves a medal
for
saving her mama
from the bogeyman.
The lion and
the tinman
and the
scarecrow
received medals
for bravery
and love
and
smarts.
This little girl's
eyes are big
and bright
and brown like topaz
or
tourmaline or amber.
And
she saved her mama
with bravery that
burst out of her little
body like
magic from a wand.
She saved her mama
by thinking quick
and smart and
LOUD
when
I think my grownup self
would have been
too scared to shout.
The bogeyman
woke the beautiful
princess
and the princess
woke
her beautiful
mother
who raged
and charged
and braved
and won
and sent the
dragon, beast, bogeyman
far, far from their home.
She saved her mama
because her heart
and her soul
and her spirit
are big and bright
and bold--just like her mama's.
She earned her wings
before she'd even lost
all
her
teeth
and saved
her mama
who
saved her
too.
I love you both. You are my heroes, always in my prayers. You are lovely <3....
xoxoxo
Copyright © 2011. Carrie Ellen
Campbell. All Rights Reserved. http://carriellencampbell.blogspot.com. Please respect Carrie's intellectual property. Sharing
blog posts is permitted, but no part of this material may be copied,
downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Contact
Carrie at: carrieellencampbell@icloud.com.
Beautiful!
ReplyDelete-Martha