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Tag Archives: see


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seeing. not seeing. [kerri’s blog on merely-a-thought monday]

i wear one contact lens. it’s in my left eye and it is to correct minor nearsightedness. wearing only one contact allows me to use my other eye to see close-up – to mostly be able to read without the aid of readers. somehow my brain figures this all out and i don’t have to close my right eye while driving or my left eye while reading – because all that would be awkward and weird.

clear vision – particularly at night in the rain with orange construction barrels and no streetlights and lane lines worn to little or no paint – is essential. it’s my least favorite set of circumstances to drive in, discounting white-out snowstorms and ice. it’s nice to be able to see.

and for those days when contacts are not working – the days of allergies or tired eyes – i have a pair of backup john-denver-glasses to don while driving. because it’s essential to see.

we just read the little prince aloud together. i don’t remember crying at the end any other time i have read this book. but this time i did.

as the prince’s soul was whisked away – his body dying on the earth by snakebite – back to his tiny planet where his tiny beloved rose waited – i wiped tears from my eyes.

this simple book – supposedly a children’s book but so much a necessary read-every-once-in-a-while adult’s book – was just the thing. the nature of love. of relationship. of responsibility toward each other.

the louisiana governor just declared that the ten commandments shall be displayed in every school in his governance. for heaven’s sake. how is it that we have become this narrow? for starters, how audacious he ignore every other religion’s tenets. this is not visionary. this is not seeing.

perhaps he would be better served to declare the little prince essential reading. he would be better served to encourage his populace to look with their hearts, to value the basics of goodness and fairness and loving one another. but in these days of politicizing every single thing, i guess he just decided to go with narrow bigotry to see where it might get him. narcissistic power is on the rise. as is the popularity of meanness and aggression. and the little prince shudders.

i’m pretty sure the little prince made me cry because of just that. there is so much – out there. we are hearing every single horrid thing. media is having a field day and it’s horrifying just to phone-scroll the “news”. what we see…what we find there…unconscionable.

instead, we will find the richness in the elderly woman pushing her walker on the trail, her son by her side, chatting. we will find the generosity in the gift of a garden flower. we will find kindness in the invitation of inclusion. we will find concern in the check-in text of an old friend. we will find hope in the little-less-lonely uplift of voice on the phone. we will find resilience in the planting of trees, the naming of stars, the grieving expression of loss. we will find forgiveness in time spent together. we will find healing in turning toward and not away. we will find love in another’s eyes.

the little prince – tiny, tiny. but with a giant and sighted heart.

we need to really look and see – what is transparent, what is truth, what is life-giving, what is equitable and not limiting, what is sustaining, what is fair, what is kind, what is loving – with clear eyes and whatever wisdom of the ages we might summon. we need to ponder and sort and be honest. what we may lose otherwise are the essentials. the basics. the geared-down actual heart of humanity.

read the little prince. you’ll likely weep a little.

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this MERELY-A-THOUGHT MONDAY

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seen. [kerri’s blog on d.r. thursday]

still life: leaf in snow.

chestnut against the white, you could see every nuance. every curve of the leaf, each vein, tiny sooty mold spots, drops of melted snow, it was still – landing from above and poised on its side. it was an oak leaf. no doubt about it. the starkness made the leaf’s characteristics clear, identification easier. the austerity made the image striking.

hiking in the snow is rewarding that way. all the background noise is gone. what is left are images of greater clarity, vulnerable honesty. i’m considering this as we continue down the trail – upon some of which we are lucky enough to be first to make tracks.

in a world of great complexity, it is much harder to see people with such certainty. peeling back the layers to such an overt degree meets resistance. people wish to reflect forward a certain image de soi. transparency fears enacted, one tries to create that which one wants others to see. it’s a natural phenomenon among thinkers – that which sets humankind aside from leaves.

when the leaf is viewed against the snow, we are able to see all of it. we cannot grasp all the intricacies of its actual living time on tree, but its remaining outerness is pure and we can – with some study – discern – from observation – what it is and much of what it has undergone.

in a world of opaque-ness – in these days of heightened division – i’m guessing it is important to study, to discern, to observe, to attempt to be cautious.

just as trees reflected in a puddle are not actually trees – they are merely a reflection – people are capable of the same puddling behavior. with caution we should give attention to the words others say or meme-post or quip in conversation. with caution we should discern the source from which they have carried these words. with caution we should give consideration to spreading these forward, always measuring against truth and intention that which we quote, post, argue, even pontificate. though i suspect leaves are pretty much pure as the driven snow into which they have fallen, people – unfortunately – aren’t. and there is much background noise from which others may cherry-pick the image de soi que les autres voient – self image others see – their perception.

each day now i am surprised by agenda-riddled life in so many arenas. i wonder if the leaf stops to consider all before falling into the snow. does it realize it will be easily seen? in the process of nature, it doesn’t have a choice.

it is an oak leaf in the snow.

how seen – truly seen – as who and what we are – are we?

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this D.R. THURSDAY

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tattered heart. [kerri’s blog on not-so-flawed wednesday]

i ask that you hold my tattered heart gently

and that you stand with me in the wind

so as to tether me to something

beating

i ask you to see

the rips and the holes and the rough edges

sometimes peering at them closely

sometimes from afar

bringing salve to open wounds

and light to dark

i ask you to be real

love

to not expect a heart not battered

by storms and swells

by fallow and failure

to not expect a heart not swollen

by riptides and windshear

by tears and deluge

by uninhibited adoration

by wavering pride and ever-present bootstraps

i ask you not to be reckless

it is more fragile than you realize

and stronger than i imagine

and its wrinkles in time

mark life

and land next to my eyes

where you can see if i laughed

or cried

and i am again open to float

to feel the passing seasons

and to hold the passion of the sun

and the cool rest of the night sky

it is not threadbare

it is merely tattered

yes

but it is whole

in its ragged

and alive

and beating

with yours

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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spring stripes. [two artists tuesday]

nature's stripes copy

stripes copy

you have to admit – the first set of stripes is way more interesting than the second.  the first set. in the woods.  the color combinations.  all alive with hue and subtlety.  the second set.  static.  no air.  no depth.  no variance.

this weekend, on a warm-day hike along the expanding des plaines river, the colors were spectacular.  the blue-purple of the water late in the afternoon.  the fresh-baby-grass-green of the small island across the river.  sky blue, white clouds, golden sunlight.  it wasn’t capture-able on film.  you just had to stand there and breathe it in.  stripes, patterns, shadows, delicate light, elusive dark.

by hiking often on the same trails, we can see the minor changes along the way.  we take note of them, commenting on a felled tree or more water in a pond or a new nest high in some branches.  there’s more mud, there are goslings, the daffodils are in full bloom, the groundcover is rich.  the earth coming back out of fallow.  winter’s rest is over; spring’s explosion has arrived.

for us, these winter-spring-summer-fall hikes are necessary.  they allow us to see, outside of ourselves; they allow us to process good earth growth and change and color.  for us, these hikes are like a security blanket.  they soothe worries, sort problems, wrap gently around us.

read DAVID’s thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

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