FootprintsintheWind.com

I’m on the trail of parent and child finding new ways to care for one another.

:- Doug.

Our society specializes
In seeing the separation
end of the spectrum
When do we make effort
To see the other end
—Or the whole compass?

:- Doug.

Are you infinite?
Like Walt, do you contain universes?
Either way, you can be you,
Infinitely

:- Doug.

How can I know about G?
My mind cannot comprehend
Everything I read
—or write, for that matter!
And here we have a shape-shifter G

:- Doug.

Papa has “a touch the dementia”
Mama knows better than the doctors,
The financial planners and the lawyers, all
Daughter’s emotions have static electricity
Social Security says son’s intellect disables him
The other daughter is overwhelmed
By the financial numbers, the
Complexity of the family dynamics,
And the distance she lives apart
They may seem to pull in different directions
They may harden their opinions
Even fight
But might it be that
Sometimes people just don’t know
How to agree
And a good heart and a good head
Might be the logjam loosener?

:- Doug.

The slope:
Narrow your aim
Focus your attention
Analyze
Separate
Like what’s inside
Hate what’s outside
Hate novelty
Hate difference
Hate them
War!
Terror!
Constrict imagination
Strangle life

:- Doug.

We’d hoped 2000-2009 would be
The ooh decade
We got
The Y2K whimper
9-11
Dot com bubble bursting
Enron
War in Iraq
War in Afghanistan
Bernie Madoff
Pandemic influenza
Tsunami
Maybe we got
The ow-ow decade

:- Doug.

Questions we can ask our children to start the conversation:

Do you remember when X died? What did you think of the decisions made?

How would you like to be treated then?

To what age would you like to live? Why?

Help me figure out where to draw the line

Help me figure out when to say when

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1392

The way to learn is to let in something new.

Please pass it on.

© c 2014, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/342-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Footprints AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

Am I a palliative care lawyer? Alleviate pain, find wholeness where the old paths are no longer open….

:- Doug.

What is the environment that person brings with him or her? What is yours? What feelings come with this person? See.

:- Doug.

If the money part of life were easier, something else would be more difficult. I’d rather have this than some of the other challenges I see people confront.

:- Doug.

Let us call a demonstration
In the center of town
In favor of life!

:- Doug.

I’m no bigger
than anyone else
still, oceans surge within

:- Doug.

Offspring have we
In this we live immortally
Offspring of the heart have we
—Spouse and friend and enemy
—Student and reader and coterie
Stuck forever in just this form
Why would I want my soul to be?
Give me flexibility for oh so playfully
Shifting shapes in my immortality!

:- Doug.

Criticizing constricts our vision, but seeing the amazing allows us to see more, because it opens our field of vision.

:- Doug.

I am the instrument of the blessing.

:- Doug.

Seek a marvelous vocabulary of the eyes!

:- Doug.

G is curious.

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1391

Rediscover, redefine
Your living, playful path
But larger than that, remember
Your birth is your terminal condition
So rediscover, redefine
Your dying path
Fill it, empty it
Paint it with colors subtle
Dance it with steps nuanced

Please pass it on.

© c 2014, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/342-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Footprints AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

If you are trying to find the bridges between persons, you are the one who first has to lay aside assumptions and exercise curiosity.

:- Doug.

Each car and truck
A shuttle pulling its gossamer
Weaving us together

:- Doug.

God
Complexity
No is

:- Doug.