To Life
You might have noticed that I haven’t posted in a week. I have been stuck. Not blocked. Stuck. I was going to go into a long diatribe against corporate life and how no one believes in anything meaningful. Diatribe. Reminds me of the time in grade five when we were making a diorama, but I said diaphragm and I got in trouble. HOW SHOULD I KNOW WHAT A DIAPHRAGM IS? I AM IN GRADE FIVE!
Well, I salvaged part of that post and I wanted to share it with you and I will tie it back in somewhere near the end.
The problem with belief is that it requires something of you. Belief in anything. And that sucks. As if I am not busy enough already—I have to do something more. I believe in stories. Curtis believes in ecology. Leif believes in love. Rob believes in thought. Tracy believes in poetry. Brenda believes in meditation. Dad believes in chemicals. Mom believes in people. Leah believes in innocence.
This blog is a place of joy and sorrow. I was stuck with last weeks post because I wasn’t adding a new story and I wasn’t really adding anything important. I was going to be didactic. I was going to rant about the users and abusers. But you know all about that already. You and I are those people too. I know that the post was wrong. There was no sharing or caring.
Lately, I have been reading Henri Nouwen’s Can You Drink the Cup? I have to say I usually keep myself as far away from Christian literature as I can, but (1) I trust my mom’s opinion (actually that’s not even remotely true—you should see the “literature” she reads) and (2) I like Catholics, they are strange but wise. I love when I am reading a book and it changes my perception of life. I would say, while reading last night, my perception on the nature of life changed. Maybe only a millimetre, but it changed. Henri says:
When each of us can hold firm our own cup, with its many sorrows and joys, claiming it as our unique life, then too, can we lift it up for others to see and encourage them to lift up their lives as well…
But when we lift up our cup to life, we must dare to say: “I am grateful for all that has happened to me and led me to this moment.” This gratitude erases bitterness, resentments, regret, and revenge as well as all jealousies and rivalries. It transforms our past into a fruitful gift for the future, and makes our life, all of it, into a life that gives life.
I was joking last week with Leif and I said I had to get back to writing the funny stuff. My serious and sad blogs just weren’t selling the same. This blog is a journal of my joy and sorrow. I can’t and won’t ignore either. I lift up to you my life, all of the parts, as an act of sharing and friendship. I won’t be ashamed of it.
There are plenty of people that don’t like personal bloggers. Or personal people. We should keep our life to ourselves. I don’t think this is the case. And that brings me back to the beginning. I know my little list wasn’t a sum of the whole, but all of those people have shared themselves with me and I know those things about them because of it. I could have gone on and on. More people, more traits. But, it’s just the start. A start. I have been made a better person because of all of them.
So I love my life today for all my successes and failures. I wish the same to you. I wish you life. Zum Wohl, A votre santé, Na zdorvia, L’chaim—to life.

One of the great things about Facebook is that it allows me to remember things that I would not have remembered. Today is
In the case that you don’t have a clue what this image is—and most of you, if not all, won’t—it’s a screenshot from a really old computer game called Colonization, a Sid Meier’s game. A game that I used to play and enjoy. You got to be a colonial nation, bring Christianity to the heathens, burn Incan cities to the ground for gold and war with other Europeans. Great fun.



Recent Comments
Sara: That made me smile, thanks.
Ian Elford: I love these videos, too, but I’ve got to be honest with you, there’s nothing very impressive...
Jana: It’s funny that you feel this way about reading and writing–that you just want to write and...
Brenda Schmidt: Ya, I entered a nursing program straight out of high school. I did well, but was far more excited...
Rhett Soveran: @Brenda - Yes, I think there would have been some significant benefits to waiting until I was older,...
Adam Snider: Dude, you are me. Seriously, this post pretty much describes me exactly, especially the part about...
Curtis: I love reading, glad to hear you are in again, that always surprised me that you liked writing and English...