I Did Survive
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WHO and WHAT WE ARE
Who and What we Are by Keith Laidler
Looking up into the Milky Way on a clear moonless night is a revealing experience. Try counting the points of light. Impossible, for every ‘star’ we can see there is at least a million that are out of reach for the ‘naked’ eye. They are hidden from view behind the massive groupings of gas, rock and dust making up the first layer which, by the way, could be up to a half million light years deep. The huge telescopes used in the science of astronomy have a way of sectioning the sky in order to ‘estimate’ the number of stars, asteroids and black holes. All told our brain strains to comprehend the vastness of the universe in which our world orbits the sun.
Turning now to the microscopic ‘universe,’ scientists believe they have reached into about a tenth of it up to now. Speaking of brain strains, trying to get our minds around ‘what’ is the human body is the big one. Consider just one part of it, the human eye. How intricate. How miraculous. How mind boggling. “To see or not to see; that is the question.” My optometrist examined my left eye the day it went ‘bad.’ I was nervous enough sitting in his exam chair but referring me to a specialist for an MRI ‘asap’ made it worse. Beads of perspiration popped out in various places on my body. When I was back in my doctor’s chair a few days later, he explained that I’d had a stroke in the optic nerve. It hadn’t affected the whole nerve which is made up of hundreds of tiny strings. Kind of like a hemp rope or even binder twine. The stroke had blocked about 40 to 50 of the strings making the eye blind only in the upper half (which included the focus point). If it doesn’t dissolve in 3 to 4 weeks the condition becomes permanent. The bad news was it did become permanent. The good news was the other eye took on the job of becoming dominant.
In the late 50’s and early 60’s a group of medical scientists decided to study the process of human birth. The result was, they learned 11 new things previously not known, and discovered 1,104 more things to add to the list of facts still not understood. Wow! Imaginations working overtime can barely scratch the surface of ‘what is’ the human body. Beyond that, the whole human person includes two additional ‘live in’ facets, mind and spirit.
Together these three combine to make what has been called the ‘crown’ of all creation/evolution. The human being contains a universe of its own, the description of which rivals the Universe in which we live.
VISION OR DREAM?
WAS IT A VISION OR JUST A DREAM?
Comments and questions by readers will be food for dialogues with the author
WAS IT A VISION OR JUST A DREAM?
IT WON’T BE LONG NOW
Year’s ago I used this phrase expressing the expectation that waiting for something was soon coming to an end. My friend responded quickly, “That’s what the monkey said when his tail got caught in the lawnmower!” That struck my funny bone and I burst out with laughter. We are beginning to hear this phrase now that Ground Hog’s Day is past. Today’s temperature, for instance, is is in the high 30’s and the snow and ice is melting away. Tomorrow is promising to be in the high 40 to 50 degrees. Soon I’ll be washing the car at home again.
Our daughter gave us a pre-potted planting that held a variety of spring flowers. Just transfer this menagerie to a proper size pot and water it to watch it grow. O.K. that sounds like fun. The crocus’s popped thru first, then tulips and I don’t know the names of the three or four others, but we were so amazed at the rate of growth and blossoming we saw. For a week I was taking pictures of its progress and sending them to my daughter. It still sits on the pub table in front of the kitchen windows. The hyacinths are so blossom heavy that they should be propped up somehow.
But I use this story to illustrate how quickly is the passage of time. There are things on our calendar that seem to be so slow coming but it really isn’t long before we are looking back on them. It is income tax filing time as I write this and I can hear my wife running the adding machine. We each make lists of those things that can be used as deductions and then she does the totaling and filling in the forms.
On another subject; I have just recently published a book of memories. The past several years I’ve taken a memoirs class and then a Creative Writing Class. I wrote so many things about my growing up years that I decided I had to ‘self-publish’ this book. It was to be for my family mostly but some friends heard about it and it wasn’t long before I decided to triple my order. I called it, WALK WITH ME; Bits of My Life Journey. I have been ‘walking’ with JESUS for many years and used a visual of two figures walking along a path that leads over hills and through valleys to a distant destination. At my age (born in 1932; you can do the math) the title of this article/blog has an impact on me. As I began writing this article today I got a call from the pre-surgical testing department at the hospital. One week from now I am scheduled to have my Thyroid removed along with the 2″ nodule growing in it. When a CT scan discovered it about a month ago it was the size of a chick pea. It won’t be long now before we know whether it has cancer cells (the biopsies were indeterminate). It won’t be long before we know whether I’ll wake up with a breathing tube or a feeding tube. These are some of the things the surgeon has to brief the patient on just in case. These scenarios come from documented surgeries of other patients and make up the percentages they use for what can or could happen in the aforementioned surgery.
My father died just weeks after his 103rd birthday. Mother preceded him after a major stroke combined with her congestive heart failure…she was three months shy of 100. I have thought I would live another fifteen or twenty years at least. However, medical science has revealed that your longevity is not determined by heredity. SO, just in case ‘it won’t be long now’ for my entry into the afterlife, I have been getting my ‘house’ in order. That saying has an inference that our houses aren’t in order as we live day to day. Think about it.
Today I want to talk about love. Love is a many splendored thing! But first I need to know who I’m talking to. So let’s begin with a very brief survey. Keeping in mind that love is not only many splendored, it also has many definitions. It’s probably the most versatile word in the English, or I should say all the languages of humankind. Even ‘body language.’ A) Show of hands..Who has ever been in love? Who will own up to being in love now? B) Who has ever been loved? C) Who has ever felt conditional love? D) Who has ever felt Unconditional love? Aaahhhh, yes. The love that has no pre-requirements. I should ask how many here feel they’ve had to earn the love of a parent, a teacher, or a friend? That’s the way I was introduced to God. As a 9 year old in a summer Vacation Bible School I learned that God and Jesus would love me as long as I was pleasing them by the way I acted, the way I thought, and the things I did for others. During the last of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century Christian churches sent missionaries to the ‘pagan’ people (That’s what they called them) in Africa, South America, Central America, Asia, and more. The written history of that era tells of the Conditional Love that was laid on the people they went to help. Various branches of so-called Christianity are still doing it today. It our own country the down-and-outers who are homeless, or living in poverty and have to ask for hand-outs from food pantries and other helping organizations, have learned how to play the game of going along with the requirements to get a meal or to get their rent paid. Worldwide Mobility, the new name of PET that began in 1994 by the creative efforts of the United Methodist missionary Larry Hills, has a different view of love. Their outreach, to the leg and feet handicapped persons in developing countries, was and is with Unconditional LOVE. Which is the way God and Jesus loved, and loves the world (John 3:16). So the first leaders of PET requested a signed covenant with their Affiliates and those mission organizations working with them as partners. One of the commitments in the covenant was this unconditional love we’re talking about. They would not preach to the recipients of the PET carts and require and commitment to Christ before they’d get their wheelchair cart. They’d instead show love by their actions and answer the questions about why they’re doing this for them?
OCTOBER
OCTOBER by Keith Laidler
October is ‘trending’ in all the media. Festivals of every kind, beer tents, apple cider mill tours, fall color tours, tulip bulb plantings, hunting trips, snugging up the house before heading for warmer climates, head to head battles on the football fields, head to head battles in politics, preparation for Halloween with pumpkins, new costumes, candy and such.
I’m reminded of an event that took place on a Halloween night in 1955. My wife Jackie and I took our two children, Sherry who was almost three and Joey who was almost one, to grandpa and grandma’s house so we could help hand out the candy. We lived in a house trailer on a lot that had no sidewalks or streetlights almost no one came to our door. This would be a chance for the kids to see what fun Halloween really was. So after an early supper, the candy dish was filled and the porch light was turned on. We gathered in the dining room to wait for our first caller. Sherry was excited with anticipation and just could not sit still so when the doorbell rang she was the first one to the door. Grandma was right behind her and asked Sherry to open the door while she turned back to the little table where the candy dish was setting. We heard a scream and the rustle of clothes and jumped up to see what had happened. There we saw three masked trick-or-treaters with their faces up to the storm door and Sherry was screaming and scrambling to climb up the back of Grandma. Grandma had put down the candy dish and was trying to pick Sherry up but Sherry was not about to let loose of the back of Grandmas apron. She actually had one leg up on Grandmas back because Grandma had knelt down to get a better reach for her. It was pandemonium for a few minutes because Joey joined his sister in very loud crying too. Jackie got there first and picked up Sherry, Grandma was laughing about the predicament so hard that she forgot temporarily about the tricksters at the door. I picked up the candy dish and, opening the door, invited the children to step into the entry so we could get a look at their costumes. I wanted Sherry to see that they were real kids like her so I asked if they would remove their masks and choose their piece of candy. I explained that this was Sherry’s first Halloween for the benefit of the two parents out on the sidewalk. Sherry finally stopped crying but she did not want to examine the costumes or hand out candy the rest of the night.
After those first visitors had gone, Grandpa and I took care of the door and the candy. Jackie and her mother spent the next 20 minutes explaining to Sherry that this was what kids do on Halloween and that next year she might want to dress up and go out gathering candy and stuff herself. They got her to come back to the dining room and watch, from a distance, the many children that came to the door that night. We expected that event might traumatize her for future Halloweens but there was no sign of that happening the next year or the many trick-or-treat times they collected candy as they grew up.
Well, it’s still October and I will close my story by saying it is our time for evaluating the summer goals we had planned. How many did we reach and what events will have to wait until next year? Did the ‘bucket list’ become smaller? Did the grandchildren get to know us better? Are we satisfied with all that was accomplished? Did we have more ‘fun’ than ever this summer? Will we continue to live life to its fullest as the seasons change before us?
Care rhymes with Dare
[Beyond Caring] A Blog by Keith Laidler
“Care Rhymes with Dare”
I heard a motivational speaker say we are more than “human beings,” we are ”human doings” as well. Still true, however, that ‘when it’s all said and done, there’s a lot more said than done.’ Many of us are known by the things we do, our hobbies, interests, and what we care about. Caring is a motivator for action.
As Dean of a Senior High camp one summer I gave the arriving g campers small wooden blanks and asked each one to create their own name tag. First names only but then underneath it they were to add one or two virtues that described themselves, and be serious about it. We’d found some white birch branches that had fallen to the ground and took them to a table saw and made thin slices by cutting through the limb like slicing bread. By drilling a small hole along one side and including a leather thong we had a name tag kit for every camper and each counselor. They could use the Arts and Crafts room to create their ‘identity tags,’ and then wear it around their neck for the week.
What would you write down under your name? The question floated into my mind as the 10 minute quiet time began. I’d done something similar to this in a “Permission Workshop” a few years earlier and in another seminar on “Identifying our Motivated Skills.” So, I began by writing my given name in block letters on a paper, then gave my hand permission to spell out two of my virtues….About three minutes of ‘mulling’ I looked down to see what I’d written. There were the two words, ‘Loving’ and ‘Giving.’ Yes, I could own that this was me. KEITH loving & giving
Every baby is born with a ‘slate.’ It soon has characteristics written on it. Certain ‘givens’ begin to show up in the toddler stage. Someone observes, ‘She takes after her dad,” and another will say, “He’s got his mother’s eyes.” Inherited traits along with those learned from surroundings contribute to who we become. As we ‘human doings” mature, the awareness creeps in that we are the most important factor in determining our identity. Certainly mitigating circumstances play a role as well as parenting by our mother, father, older siblings, grandmothers and grandfathers, etc.
Late teens to post graduates should have an opportunity to list their gifts, or virtues. With proper guidance, the list will reveal the stockpile of assets upon which they will draw upon as they ‘become’ who they were gifted to be. Learning the inner truths of “who” we are is a plateau on our journey of life. It’s a place where we may want to set up camp and consider what we’ve learned.
“Who am I?” has been partially answered, now the inner child with is heard to cry out, “Why am I here?” “Do I really matter?” “How can I know what to do…now that I know who I am?”
Having come this far without mentioning the second trait in our title, I turn now to show how “Caring” sparks “Daring.” The courage to Dare an act of service or compassion is truly a virtuous gift.
For example: Dare yourself into taking action on something you Care about but that is out of your comfort zone. Try volunteering at a Rescue Mission because you deeply care for the homeless and the extremely poor. Go with your service club, Sunday School Class, Youth group, other…on a service project to refurbish a falling down house….on a week-long project to an inner city ghetto to hold a Summer Bible School. Hand out good used clothing to children and adults in need. Really, we don’t have to look very far to find a challenge to serve those we ‘care’ about.
As part of a ‘Study Group’ or ‘Support Group’ you and I have the support of, and accountability to the rest of the group. That’s a must in the Twelve Step groups that I’m familiar with.
If you are faced with a need that calls forth the virtue of Caring in you, the rubber hits the road when you Dare to respond to it.
BELIEVE IT, or NOT
Journal 12-3-15
Believe it or Not by Keith Laidler
It seemed so weird at first when I’d see a spot of color on the back of my closed eyelids. During meditation periods these kept coming to me so regularly that one time I ‘talked’ to one. I asked whether there was a message for me or whether something was expected of me. By thinking the question it felt like I was communicating with something or someone. An answer came back to me that was the beginning of periodic sharing with people who have died. My sister Bev was first; her color is “maroon and white.” My son Joe is black and red, my mother is turquoise and white, my father is blue and red, my friend H.K. is brown and white, my step-son Kyle is green and yellow, and so on. It is weird isn’t it? These who I have mourned are ‘available’ at a personal, but spiritual level. I can hardly believe what I’m writing, it seems so strange. There isn’t supposed to be anything but memories and keeping them in our hearts after they are ‘gone.’ But, as sure as I’m sitting here sharing my story, these experiences are now a regular part of my personal inner life. My telepathic communing is encouraging, comforting, and enriching. Do others have similar experiences?
At first I thought this was a figment of my own imagination. That it was all happening inside my own head/spirit/soul.
Then it dawned on me that years ago I was tested for gifts and abilities and my intuition level is higher than average. Those tests, that measure certain levels of wit and wisdom, revealed that I have the next thing to a sixth sense. After reading two authors on the subject I became more comfortable with this new awareness.
Over time, as this communication continues, I am beginning to widen my meditation community. The proper grieving experience, which is unique to each personality, stretches and bends us into ‘more than we were.’ The acceptance phase of grief is often misunderstood as an ending. Closure is essential for moving on with our lives. Acceptance empowers us to live life with new and deeper meaning. BELIEVE IT, or, NOT!
Beyond Caring 