Category Archives: Words

Humility

Sayings, Words, , ,

IMG_20150928_214439_burst_01 You see the source of this quote from this photograph.  It is definitely a contradiction to seek humility as a source of power.  See number six below.

IMG_20150928_214801 Here are six of the fifteen quotes.

Reflection on these and other quotes is helpful.  When one succeeds in internalizing humility,  probably move in circles with all people.  This may be one of  Pope Francis’s qualities, which allows him to move with ease from talking to heads of state to serving lunch at the Catholic Charities to the poor.  He definitly has humility.  It shows in how he asks the people to pray for him, as he prays for the people.

It was a new insight for me from the pope, that if one is not humble, one runs the risk of being  a hypocrite, which is saying one thing, and doing another.  I am going to think a lot more about humility, and its implications.

So Many Shootings

Regulation, Words, , , ,

I could not believe it when I saw an online report that two journalists were killed while on live television.  Then it soon became clear that this was indeed a new high profile shooting.

.DSC07553  This shot from Anderson Cooper 360 shows people grieving from this loss, which occurred in such a very public way.  On the average, eighty lives are lost per day in this country due to this gun violence.   Andy Parker, father of the young reporter has gone on many shows since the death of his daughter yesterday morning, to appeal for better regulation of gun possession.

Don Lemon’s show tonight was excellent on this topic this evening.  He had Andy Parker on with a panel of others who have lost children in this way.

My heart went out to Andy Parker, because I know he does not yet know how much he is going to grieve and suffer.

Take this suffering, and multiply it by at least 100 for the suffering of those who knew his lovely daughter Alison, and by another 100 for the suffering of those who knew her less well, but are reminded  yet again, of their own past unnecessary losses, and by another 100 for all other people in the USA who also lost people they love on that same day.and the result is a deep suffering perhaps equal to 1,000,000  (if one can quantify suffering at all).  Add in all the days of the rest of Andy Parker’s life, because he will suffer for the rest of his life, and so on.

The  burden of  senseless suffering from gun violence in the USA is staggering.

I favor regulation of gun ownership for the sake of us all.

 

Dorothea Lange and the “Migrant Mother”

Food, People, Words, , ,

Recently PBS portrayed the  life and work of Dorothea Lange.   Known as a vital vibrant woman, Dorothea Lange lives on through her work showing the human condition as it is.

Migrant mother from wikipedia SEP 1, 2014 Image by Dorothea Lange in 1936, this phtotgraph was downloaded from Wikipedia on September 1, 2014.  This woman kept her identity secret for the rest of her Dorothea Lange’s life.   The woman did not want to embarrass her children by publicizing her name.   Ben Phelan posted the story of the woman who revealed her identity  as Florence Thompson, late in life, at which time she made the following comment.

DSC04214  The Migrant Mother’s retrospective comment, made close to 40 years later.  Interestingly,  this much distributed photograph became part of the lore of this country, being much copied.  It was taken in the tradition of Dorothea Lange’s work, to include a larger story with the subjects of every photograph.  However, it seems 100 percent certain that Dorothea Lange did not know at the time that this work was going to become perhaps the most iconic image of her career.