Category: The Spirituality Center

It is all about the human spirit or soul

It’s All About Perspective

The other day, in a community I am part of, a person asked “If you could describe your life in colour, is it colorful or black and white?” Many, including myself, said our lives had been colorful. There were some, however, that said their’s were black or grey. Some even said they wished or hoped to see color one day. This broke my heart. So I came back with a comment, as did several others, about perspective. Today, I want to define what that is, and share my perspective on perspective.

Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines perspective in this way; “to look through, see clearly, to look more at”. I recognize that this definition seems like it is all about what is seen with our eyes. As someone though, who has had constant eye or vision issues; years of eyeglasses, then lasik, then shingles in the eye, then a disease that effects my eyes, I came to the realization that someone or something did not want me necessarily relying on my eyes. So I am learning how to be guided, how to see clearly, and what the truth may be, by using all of my physical senses, my spirit, and my heart, more than, or in addition to, using my eyes.

Perspective can change anything in our lives depending on how we choose the view. Now I could choose to say why me, and believe me there were times I used those exact words. Not necessarily, only about my eyes, but about other happenings in my life; near abductions, cheating boyfriends, losing my best friend to death. A laundry list of happenings that we all have experienced at one time or another. Some of what some experience is worse than others, we might think. I believe though, that there are always lessons to learn, or positives that come out of it all, if I choose to see them, if I choose to change my perspective.

For me, the eye issues heightened my other senses including the sixth one. An ego crushing incident increased the size of a loving heart. Near abductions brought awareness of rescuers or heroes. Cheating, jealous, or envious people brought a desire to be truthful, honest, loyal, and generous. Although a long way away from family and life long friends, opportunity abounds for me to meet new people, share my life, make more life long friends. Work opportunities have allowed me to meet people of all different races and different religions, from countries all over the world. To attempt to learn at minimal a word or two from different languages, or to converse somewhat broken in a language other than my native. I’ve learned to speak in the universal language of love with kind gestures, and respect, and when necessary use other skills, and all the senses, to help bring understanding. Yes, when I change the perspective of all the negatives in my life to positives, I have lived and continue to live a colorful life indeed.

As I commented to the people in my community, I hope that each of you, in retrospect can find the positive in the negative things that have occurred in your lives. Even if that positive was only an awareness of strength or courage. I hope that you can remember someone’s kindness, help, smile, understanding. I bet, if you can find a way to change your perspective, you too will see that you have also lived a colorful life. As humans, we tend to focus on our beginnings and our endings, sometimes to the detriment of the colorful journey we took in between. May we all learn to appreciate our journeys, and see and live them in full color. With that, if you want to add color to my life, or our lives, by joining the conversation or posting a comment, please do. Until next time, may you realize you are, and are on, the rainbow if you choose to be. Peace, love, and joy to you all.

We Are All Models…

I apologize for being away so long in between posts as I try to balance my life. It really is a dream of mine to know that you are reading what I write. And a bigger dream, and hope that my experiences, and the revealing of them, have some effect on you. Today I want to tell you about my childhood dream and my realization to achieving it in ways I never possibly imagined. It took me redefining the word model in my existence, and to shining the light on an event that I thought damaged me. Instead I am realizing how it has truly helped fulfill me. No more crying tears for what I thought that event took away from me. Now only crying tears of joy knowing that forgiving myself, and the others involved, has shown me that I needed that event to happen, to become who I am, and to learn and recognize what I needed to.

You may have figured out that as a child I wanted to be a model. And although I may have had the body for it growing up, I suppose my face was not magazine material. The high school boys involved in my incident, when I was 8 or 9 years old, apparently thought the same in their pointing out of my ugliness. Since that day, I have never thought of myself as being physically beautiful. Although I have learned that inner beauty radiates and does make the outer shell appear to be more beautiful. Knowing that I have learned this, you may just believe me when I say, you could not imagine how grateful I am for those boys. Feeling this way about my outer shell, has allowed me to work on my insides my entire life. It has allowed me to enhance the beauty of my soul, the true model we all should be. Yes they took away my confidence, and shattered my ego, and I thank God. Because what they gave me were humility, kindness, and goodness for starters.

As I write this, and think about other influential people in my life, whether what they did to me was negative or positive, I can clearly see the lesson I was supposed to learn. They taught me that I was lovable, beautiful, humorous, strong, courageous, and that soul connections are limitless. They also shined the light on things that have needed repairs, and may need to continue to be worked on, like how stubborn or argumentative I can be, times of jealousy and envy, as well as, moments of contentiousness. I have never been one to really hate or harm since that day, but I now recognize when it is I am truly not loving either. It is sad that we all feel we must protect ourselves from the outer shells of others. Even sadder that many still do not know the joy of letting their soul light shine and connect to other souls.

Something I read recently, and what put the thought of this post in my brain, is the lesson for today. I read that the flesh sins. It always has and it always will. We cannot avoid that. Whether the sin be conceit, envy, jealousy, greed, hate, selfishness, or worse, does not matter. We will always sin, we are human. The trick is to keep minimal the sin. On the other hand, the Spirit or Soul, if you will, is love. When we choose to walk or grow in spirit, we choose joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness to name a few. My epiphany was that, my entire life, I had been a model. But so haven’t you. And when we chose to, or choose to, walk in the flesh, we model or show others, how to hate, how to be greedy, how to rob, cheat, steal, murder, etc.. Oh and when we walk in the Spirit, we model to others – God’s Law – Love thy neighbor as thyself. For when we walk in the spirit of love we model joy, peace, patience, kindness, forgiveness, and faith.

I know which model I choose to be and have chosen for a long time. I hope after reading this, you will think about the model you want to be. Life of temptation is hard to resist, and will never be fully resisted, we can only do the best we can. I hope we all choose wisely, our souls, if nothing else, depend on it. May we all be or become beacons of the Spirit of love.. Have a thought, an epiphany of your own you want to share, please do. We invite you always to participate. Until you are ready – love to you all..

Open The Heart & Love

In prior posts, I have shared with you, an excerpt from an Ann Landers (Dear Abby) column, that I have carried around in my pocket for decades. My mother cut it out of the newspaper when I was sixteen, and handed it to me to read. I have kept it with me at all times since then. It is an article in which a woman wrote asking what love is. Ms Landers used something written by Laura Hendricks as her response. “Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past. It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is , it is not enough.”

Many people view today as a day to celebrate the relationships with their spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, significant others, etc. Me, I view today, as a day to celebrate love in all its forms. With that said, it was important to let the girl who drew my blood, know I appreciated her. She got a Happy Valentines Day from me, along with a thank you, and a have a great day. Isn’t she as deserving of my love as the next person? I also wished my co-worker a Happy Valentines Day. She too is deserving of some of my heart. If there is one thing this journey has taught me, it is how to redefine words, or terms, I have been taught in my life. It has taught me to broaden my perspective. To think, look, and feel outside the box.


Although I do love what I have carried with me for a great portion of my life, and read it often, there are things I so wish to add to it. For instance I would say love is the opening of a heart to feeling. I would say the only limits and boundaries it has are those that we individually put on it. I would say it is uncontrollable, and like the wind, blows to us, from us, past us, around us, and through us. I’ve learned you cannot grasp it or hold it, it is and always will be free. And most importantly, although it may fade, it truly never dies. It may separate and fluctuate. But, if we are open to it, it will always find its way in, and will grow stronger with time.

I wrote something twenty-five years ago today, I’d like to share with you. It is called: 

My Valentines Poem 
                                                                             The rose, when its red, is a symbol of love
When its yellow, a symbol of friends 
When its white, its like peace, as in the flight of a dove
When one is given the smile it brings

Whatever the color, the pedals unfold
Always a sight of great beauty
For each and every eye to behold
And appreciate in the midst of life's duties

The rose, is just one of the symbols, of Valentine's Day
A day that is all about love
A day when we show those we care about them
through our smiles, our laughter, our hugs

I wish for you everyday like today
A day filled with smiles, laughter, and more
But most of all a day filled with love
Shared with friends, and those
Who make life such a joy.

by:
Laura Standrowicz
c: February 1994

So today, open your heart and let love in and out. Celebrate loves existence. If you do, I am sure, you will feel a little lighter and brighter. As I have shared with you, if you would like to share something of your own with us, please do. It matters not if it is your thoughts, feelings, a story, poem, or simply a word. We are here waiting to share. If you are not ready, that is okay. I will simply say: Happy Valentines Day!! From my open heart to yours.

Are Walls Immoral?

I always like to begin by defining words, so that I know if I have to redefine them in my personal existence. With that said, I want to define the word immoral. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines immoral as “inconsistent with purity or good morals”. What then are morals? Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines them as “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior”. Now that I know this, the question then becomes do I believe it to be right or wrong behavior to erect a wall.

If I am going to speak honestly in answering this question, then I will begin in this way. As a human, more than once, I have built a wall around my heart to protect it from pain and breakage. Recently, I was in a discussion with a couple, whom I both enjoy the company of, and respect. In that discussion, I had to deal with a truth, that I had lived, where I live now, for 14 years, and I have never felt comfortable enough to ask anyone to go dancing, or shopping, or to a movie. Did I have friends? Did I have people that liked me? Of course, at least I thought so. So why wasn’t I inviting them to do things with me? To share my life? In this journey, and in my awakenings of what love is, I realized that I had built a wall. I had kept people at arms lengths. I had them close enough to enjoy their company on my terms. But, far enough away that losing them, in whatever way that term means, wouldn’t crush my heart. In my journey, I am making the attempt, to bring these walls down. However, evil does exist on this planet, that means that I will always need some sort of barrier around my heart, to protect it from total devastation. I guess then, there is a need for walls to protect. At least until the only thing that exists, is love.

As I write, my mind wanders to the affluent and powerful. Business leaders, athletes, singers, actors, politicians, national leaders, world leaders, religious leaders, and to some extent homeowners, many of whom erect walls around their nations, their fortunes, their properties, their homes. Why? Is it because they want to protect themselves from harm? To protect their fortunes? Do they want their deserved privacy? Is it all of the above? And if they think in this way, then why is it not right for the impoverished to think the same way? Do the affluent and powerful believe they have more right, than the homeless, who are far more often prayed upon? Is any of this truth? I am finding in our separation from each other, the truth is much harder to come by and find. I cannot, and will not, speak for anyone else, but myself. In honesty, I have put up barriers to protect my home, my property, my fortune, my privacy, to keep myself from harm and possible evils out. Does it work? To some extent, very possibly and/or probably, as a deterrent if nothing else, or maybe just for peace of mind.

Here is where I find myself, having to admit, if I use any kind of wall in my existence, then others deserve it in theirs. Sadly, as long as evil and hate exist, there will probably be a need for them. I have said before and will say again, that the only thing that is more powerful than, and removes evil, is love; true and unconditional, not what comes out of our mouths, instead what comes out of our hearts. Maybe one day, I will be more Christlike or Godlike, and be able to walk in a pure, fearless, unadulterated love. To be able to stand in love, no matter what the evil is presented to me, even if that evil means death. For now, as I take baby steps in learning how to get there, do I think walls are immoral? Not necessarily. A necessity? I guess, sadly. So what do you think? Have any thoughts? Truths you want to admit to or share? Have any walls in your existence? Are your walls immoral? Let us know what you think whenever you are ready.

Victim To Freedom

Earlier today I was in a conversation about a man who is operating at a very high physical level for his age. His job, or what it is he gets paid for, is something that he loves, as it should be. I made the statement “he may be able to do this because he gets massages to help himself physically, he meditates to help himself spiritually, he takes the things no longer serving him and writes them down on a piece of paper, burns them at the beginning of the year, and sets new goals to help himself energetically and mentally.” The response to me was “well, he can afford to do all that because he is rich”. My add in “what does rich have to do with it? Maybe that is why he is rich, because he changes his mental attitude from victim to freedom”.

A little while later, watching a game, one of the announcers says “if they lose, do you think they will blame, being a victim of their having to travel so much, for their loss?” Then he added, that he is sure it will come up. This made me think about yours, as well as, my life choices when we are victims of situations. In my earlier conversation, I had said something to the effect of “If I choose to mentally stay stuck in the thought that I am a victim, then I will stay stuck there.” I further went on to say “that the announcer had a point, that the losing team could choose to be the victim and say their circumstances made them lose, or they could just step up and say they were out played, turn the page, and move to freedom.” I guess we will see what they choose in the coming days.

Point of this post is to pass on to you, a few things I have learned in my life, or that I continue to learn. These are: that when I no longer view myself as the victim, and I make even a small insignificant change, that change can bring about huge results and definitely a little more or a lot more freedom. Also, that even these small insignificant changes have or are risk. And lastly, what is needed with risk is a little bit of faith that the outcome will be positive.

I will use a current situation to give you an example of my points above. I have an autoimmune disease, which means I have a pre-existing condition. My last insurance expired approximately a month ago. In the months leading up to it’s expiration, I felt like the victim to a system of competing powers, neither of which, was keeping a person like me in mind; so it seems. I could be wrong. You see, it did not matter whether I went direct to the insurance provider or through the governments website, they both were the same policy. A policy, at a cost I could not afford, based on my income or lack there of, with a deductible higher then the price of a compact car. Add to this, the policy would not cover any of my doctors, hospitals, clinics, and only two of my cheapest prescriptions. What was I going to do??

First and foremost, I was going to have to let go of the fear, anger, and feeling of being a victim of a system, I may not be happy with. Once I could manage to do that, I could realize that I did have other options. And with each option, came risks and costs, some of which were going to be non-monetary. All I knew is I couldn’t stay so paralyzed in how I felt any longer. I decided to have a little faith in God to help keep me protected, a little faith in myself to be confident and fearless in making decisions that would bring about changes and consequences, and finally faith in my fellow human beings to do the right thing and help or work with me, when and if I needed it.

So, here I am, and I survived that first decision to stop feeling like a victim. That led me to a second decision, which was to take a little time to weigh the plus and minuses of each choice I had in front of me. Doing that, lead me to making a decision that saved me financially, allowed me to keep my doctors, medical facilities, pharmacy, etc., and gave me a greater sense of freedom, like the constraints and restraints had been removed. Now, there are definite consequences to my decisions, that I hope will not cause me great pains in the future. With all risk there is a possibility of that happening. But, there is also a possibility that I gain much as well. At least I know one thing I have gained already, that is the knowledge that choosing to not be a victim, allows me the freedom to do what I want and become who I want.

My hope for you, is that if you too feel victimized, you find a way to take that first step out towards freedom, to find faith in God, yourself, and the rest of us. It may not be an easy journey or a quick one, but as they say, it can and will be worth it. Good Luck, Good Love, and if you want to add commentary, thoughts, or your own example, please do. Rest assured someone is here waiting for you to join in.

My Word To Live By..

Admittedly I have been feeling a little heavy this week, a little dense, and/or a little heartbroken. I am feeling nothing like the word I chose as my word for 2019. I am determined not to stay in this type of day or week for much longer. But, these types of days or weeks do not like to let go very easily, so fighting I am. With that said, I mentioned in my last post, and I started last year, a tradition of picking a word to live by instead of making a New Years resolution. I find a word is something I can aspire to, as I know from experience, that I might never live up to completing or sticking to a resolution. So last year my word was giving, and I did not do to bad with that either. I even learned that it is important for me to give to myself, in order to have enough to give to others.

Before I bring in my word for this year, I thought I would tell you why I picked it. Towards the end of last year, I had the opportunity to do something I had not done in a long time; dance. It was at that moment that I realized, there were quite a few things that I had not done in a while, that I loved to do. My life had been missing much of the laughter and free spirit of a year or more ago. This is why my letter to Santa and my word for the New Year go hand in hand. In case you missed it, I asked Santa for fun. For the ability to do things with a child like abandonment. Can I make most things in my life fun, including work? I suppose it is all about how you look at it or the attitude you walk into it with. I certainly am going to try. That leads me to my word for this year; JOY.

You know I always like to define words and then see if I need to redefine them for my life. Thus, Websters Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires, a state of happiness, a source or cause of delight”. If I live by my favorite quote “Happiness is not in having what you want, but in wanting what you have” ~ Rabbi Hyman Schachtel, then I suppose I could or should be living in a constant state of joy. I suppose we forget sometimes to count our blessings and live in gratitude for that which we possess. Time to get back to that.

A few days after I had chosen the word joy, something was presented to me that made me know I had made the right choice. I was watching an interview, and the person being interviewed said something to the effect of us all living in joy (Jesus, Others, then Yourself). Good advice I believe. I always feel a bit of joy in my heart when I know I make someone else happy, when I freely give my love as Jesus did, and when I follow the laws before me “love God, and love thy neighbor as thyself”. I guess truth be told, joy comes to the heart of those that love.

Just sitting down and writing this has brought a little more joy to my life, as I enjoy sharing myself with you. So I thank you for stopping by, taking your time, and visiting. But, my goal is to have you participate, to leave a comment, or join the conversation. Maybe today will be the day that you let us all know the answer to one of these questions: What New Year’s resolution did you make? Or do you do like I, and choose a word? If so, what was your word? Do you think you will keep your resolution? Do you have another thought you would like to leave? Whatever your add on is or will be, will be accepted by those of us waiting. Feel free to leave an answer, a comment, a thought, some advice, whatever you want, just try to keep it positive. Until next time, or until you are ready, I leave you with this; may all your days be filled with JOY..

Goodbye 2018..

Last year’s New Years Day post began with me asking questions. Would I lose the minimal 10 pounds I need to lose? Should I resolve to finish my courses? Get my health in order? Or spend time on my career? As I end 2018, and try to hold myself accountable, I thought I would also make myself accountable to you. So here is an update for you as to my successes and failures.

The first I will say is a failure, as I did not lose any weight in this last year. However, I also did not gain any weight and am happy about that. This last year has me recognize my need to, and I am learning how to, stick to routines. I will have hope for this year to be active enough to drop what I need to drop, whether that means a walking routine or not.

I will not say my course work has been a complete success. But, I will take credit for some success. Although I have not completed my major course work, I am learning how to fit a few pages, slowly, in between all my other life things. And though the major stuff is slow and go, I did manage to add in some webinars and smaller courses to the year. Any expansion of my knowledge base is a good thing, and I take that one day at a time.

I will also consider getting my health in order a success, maybe also not a complete one, yet one just the same. I say this, as I have been fortunate to not have had a cold, the flu, a virus, or anything like that, in the last year. I also have found ways to maintain habits that are seeing me able to wean myself off a medicine I have been taking longer than a few decades. I am hoping 2019 will find me completely weaned. I am getting so close. Add in to these, that I am trying to find more holistic ways to keep myself healthy, and you can’t get better than that.

As far as my career, maybe I will let you decide where I land. I have managed without a steady income this year, as I try to add more knowledge to my former career path, as well as, shift into writing, which is something I enjoy doing. I have spent a little time heading towards becoming a certified bookkeeper, and using and learning how Quickbooks operates. I have also spent the year doing blog posts, and in recent months more often and with more consistency. I have begun making changes to my blog, and have been, and am researching ways to possibly make it an income source. I have taken some time writing, and putting in order, the pages to a book I hope to see published one day. I have a few more chapters to finish the writing for, then off to edit, and to find an illustrator or illustrators. In order to reach my goals I also must have a more steady income. Thus, I have spent much of the last three months looking and steadily applying for work. Nothing yet, but I remain hopeful in the what is meant to be will be. It gives me some peace in the realizing that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Not sure why, but excepting, it is what it is, and pushing forward.

I spoke about wanting to bridge divides last year, if not on a grander scale, then at minimal, in my own life. Have I made any progress in this area? Again this is something I am unsure of. What I am sure of, is I am making the attempt with each blog post I write. I also am making the attempt in conversations I have with every new person I meet. I will fight to continue to do so as time is fleeting and I believe unity is necessary.

Most fail to follow through with, or complete their resolutions; I am no different. That is why, last year I introduced something new into my life, thanks to another blogger who gave me inspiration. Their tradition was to choose a word on New Years Day to live by the entire year. WOW!! what a concept. So last year I started that same tradition for myself by choosing the word “GIVING“. True to my word, and my desire to feed someone hungry, help heal someone sick, give clarity to someone who could not see, and make sure someone who felt alone and lonely knew they were not alone, I gave. If not directly, than indirectly via the charities I chose to donate to. I donated to everything from disaster relief and firefighters, to education for children and sick children, to diseases of the elderly, cats, and wildlife. 2018 was a year I chose to give, to as many as I could, as often as I could. Major success.

I am learning that baby steps to goals are steps in the right direction. As long as I continue to make progress and keep courage, strength, fortitude, and love, I will get there. And if I realize I no longer have those goals, I still have the qualities to help me make the shift towards the new direction. That is me, so what about you? Do you have a story of success in your year? A failure you want us to know about and help you with? Was your 2018 a good year or a rocky year? and why? If in the last minutes of 2018 you are ready to share with us, please do. We are here waiting for when you are ready to share. If not, see you in 2019, with my word for the year. May 2019 be a year of great happiness, great health, and great prosperity for us all.

Our “Christmas Eve Gift”

Dear Santa,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am sending it with a lot of gratitude in my heart. Today, your busiest work day, I thought it would be nice to give you a little something; my appreciation. I want to let you know how much I appreciated your answers to last years Christmas Letter.

I am not sure if you remember what it was I wished for, but last year I asked you for time – more time, and boy did you deliver. For starters, I got to spend more time with my man. And as we never know what will happen in the next second, minute, or hour, I am learning to make precious memories, even if it is raking leaves. With that said, you must know that we accomplished a little cleanup and decluttering, and although we have much to do, I am being thankful for what we did get done. You gave us time to make some much needed repairs on everything from the home, to the autos, to the property, and you further gave us a little break time to spend with my husbands siblings, the significant others, and friends.

As for my family and me, you cannot possibly imagine what the impact of the weeks I got to spend with my siblings, nieces, nephews, and old friends did for me. The fun, love, and laughter that occur when we are together brings my soul to new heights. So thank you again, and again, and again for that time. You gave me time to write my blog posts, to work on my book, and to be creative, and you know I love all that. You gave me time to learn new things and connect to new people, and had me realize that every new thing I learn is a new opportunity. There are far too many things I can thank you for, too many for this letter for sure, so I will end my gratitude with these two things: time you gave me to search for employment. I may not have found anything yet, but I remain hopeful for the right thing to be brought into my life. Lastly, for the realization that time is an illusion and I choose what to do in increments in the now. Let me find ways to begin to choose wisely.

I was going to include in this letter my wish for this coming year, but you must already know what that is, as it has already begun today. My Christmas wish for this year was to have more fun, to live with childlike abandonment. My day started off in that direction for sure, as I got to defeat my first opponent right out of the gate. I wonder if you, Mrs Claus, and the Elves play the same game. My husband says the farmers used to play. Because money was tight, they would try to sneak up on their neighbors and say what they needed to say. Whoever won, got a pie, a casserole, some produce perhaps, or maybe just an extra hand for a few hours of work. Today we play for bragging rights. But, I wonder should we keep from giving unnecessary stuff and go back to the way the farmers played. Time maybe will tell that.

As I close my letter Santa, I thought I would leave something for everyone; information about the game we play. We call it “The Christmas Eve Gift” and it goes like this:

                       CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT

The clock has struck the midnight hour
The second hand ticks away
Taking us to 12:01 am
Of the day before Christmas morn
With everyone acting peculiarly 
As if they have something to say

From this point on, until the midnight hour
When Christmas Eve slips away
The phones will ring, and anything goes
In a game we all love to play

The players have changed over the course of the years
But the game remains the same
The quickest one, is who everyone fears
So try to get me first
Before I win the game

The funny thing is there are no rules
Or object to this game
Bragging rights is what you win
If you are the first to say:

"CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT"

By:
Laura Standrowicz
Copyright: December 2004

With a generous and appreciate heart, I wish you much luck and a whole lot of love to take with you around the world. Merry Christmas Santa ~ “Christmas Eve Gift”… Love You, Laura

Virginia, I Believe Too

It is that time of year that a question presented to an editor, and his response, again are published in articles, books, magazines, newspapers and yes blog posts. Mine will be no different. To follow you will see both the letter to the editor, and the editor’s response. I wanted to share them, to remind all of us, that there is more to life than what can be seen. It seems this editorial is more fitting in my life today than ever before. That is because, if there is one thing this journey has taught me or continues to teach me, it is to recognize divine right timing and synchronicity or serendipity if you will. Like, putting me in a place to be able to interpret, as broken as it may be, for someone who does not speak the language presented to him, but needs critical information, or like me receiving a text checking up on me, on a day I felt so unloved and so not supported. I always say we never know how a minute can change a life. I hope you begin to recognize your minutes. I hope you will also enjoy reading these as much as I. And I further hope you will take the time to really think about the message. Here goes:

             "YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS"

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in THE SUN it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? ~ Virginia O'Hanlon - 115 West Ninety-Fifth St. New York, NY - September 21, 1897


VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no chiildlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. ~ Francis Pharcellus Church - The Sun - Nassau & Frankfort Sts. New York, NY

Like Virginia, I used to find it easy to be skeptical about things in this life. I have found and am finding that there is truth and lies to everything in our human existence. Separating the two is pretty much impossible. But, in my stillness and silence, with an open mind and open heart, I gain more clarity. The things I cannot see and find hard to define are the things that give me faith, and it is with faith that I walk through my human existence.

Virginia, wherever you may be, I want you to know that One Hundred and Twenty-One years later, there are still people questioning the existence of Santa Claus, and there are still people, like Francis, letting them know that Santa Claus does exist. Given your chosen profession, I am sure that you believed the response in THE SUN to be true and thus believed in Santa Claus. I am here to tell you Virginia, “I believe too”.

It is my wish my dear readers, that this year and every year you experience some of the unseen wonders in this world, that you are able to celebrate them with childlike abandonment, and that you never forget to believe.

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Concept Of Inequality

However you choose to believe we were created, I can only hope that you also believe it was with good intentions. It is in this thought, and in what I believe, that I say.. God is the good in us all. Imagine how life would be if only we believed or remembered this always. In the moments we realize this to be true, we find ways to love each other and to endure the struggles together, we are willing to sacrifice our own happiness in order to provide happiness to someone else, we are willing to look past the emptiness in someone to try to remind them of this fact, and we are more willing to forgive indiscretions and those that may persecute us. 

What happens in the moments we do not realize this fact, which by the way are far too many, we do just the opposite. We find ways to continue to hate, we separate ourselves so as not to feel the other’s pain, and we do anything but sacrifice; I’d say we protect ourselves, try to enrich ourselves, and worry about our own happiness before we think about the happiness of anyone else. Even worse, we allow someone’s emptiness to fester and grow until they do unimaginable things. And in our attempt to define words based on our status in life, forgiveness comes to the few, and persecution comes to many. 

Words like inequality. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines this as “the quality of being unequal or uneven, disparity of distribution or opportunity”. I am sure the founders knew all to well mankind’s definition of inequality, as every time nations of the world forget who and what God is, they further the divide in their citizens. Hence, their attempt to build a place with the good of God in them and also governing their creation. As they say in the Declaration of Independence “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states”. They further declare “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”. 

Their attempt for a free society was to build a system of checks and balances, of separations of powers, and a system in which it’s citizens had some say and/or power in it. So, how did we get where we are? I think we got here because we completely forgot that God is the good in us all, and we have made every attempt to remove God from every public part of our lives; first and foremost our government and schools. Nations cannot control inequality. They never have been able to, and they never will be able to. And they further cannot force people to minimize it. Because, in the lack of appearance of good, we will always fight to survive. It is only when, we, individually, remember that God is the good in us all, that we will freely make the choice to bridge the gaps of inequality.

So as I go about my day today, I am going to desperately try to remember what and where God is. For when I do this, I also remember that God is in you too. Maybe one day together we will find a way to bridge our gaps. I hope you’ll do the same. Until next time, I would love to know how you feel, or what you think. If you get the desire to comment please do, we would love to hear from you.