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National Puppy Day

Bella!

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”                 – Charles Shultz (cartoonist, Peanuts)

Today is National Puppy Day!

Just about everyone loves puppies. They are cuddly, playful, fun-loving and so interested in everything that we do. They see us as the leader of their pack, and they follow us around wherever we go.  They greet us as best friends without judgment or dishonesty. They can actually help us be healthier and happier! Check this out!

But we all know they can also be very challenging. They put everything in their mouths and are a near constant threat to themselves, our home and our furniture! This is especially true if we are not a stay-at-home-worker.  So, here is a great article on how to work with your new puppy when you work away from home.

There can be a dark side, though. The welfare of puppies and dogs should be all of our concern, for “man’s best friend” can become “man’s worst enemy”, as in this article about a city in India, when they are not managed properly and they terrorize the people.

An education and mature development of our sense of human concern, responsibility and even intervention in the upbringing and care of dogs is often much needed. There are so many voices on this subject that I will leave you to an easy hour or two Googling that topic.

But there was one more fascinating thing for me over the years. I own Huskies, and often they are confused at first with wolves by my neighbors. It’s probably because we live in Florida, where they are not as common.  And humans have a poor history with wolves for many reasons.

But did you get a chance to catch up on this story on the 1995 re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone Park? It is a remarkable example of a trophic cascade that renewed a life-giving space and illustrates the amazing Balance of Nature.

So, enjoy that puppy, and help him or her to be a great companion and you to be a happier, healthier and more complete human!

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Fingered Speech

“It’s a beautiful thing, the Destruction of words.” -1984, George Orwell

Texting- will it destroy our ability to write and the very foundations of our language? Will the next generations grow longer thumbs and shorter vocabularies?!  ha!

Probably not. In fact, blogging shares a lot in common with texting! To quote from an interesting TED talk with linguist John McWhorter, texting is just another dialect of language. It is fingered-speech, writing like speaking!

I’m one of those who forgets this, constantly going back and trying to error-correct, capitalize and punctuate – a real grammar nerd. 

But at root, texting is just casual speech, loosely held together and free-flowing, as natural as any other language. 

So, we are fine, as long as we realize that there other kinds of writing that are important as well, such as literary novels, sonnets and poems, editorials and journals, – all dialects of our complex ways of expressing language. 

It is still really important to use our voices, though, if we really want to speak to one another. “Speak to Me” – Amy Lee

In a couple of days, we will also look at music as language! 🙂

 

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The Well

What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far –
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar

Whose limit none has ever seen,
But just his lid of glass –
Like looking every time you please
In an abyss’s face!

The grass does not appear afraid,
I often wonder he
Can stand so close and look so bold
At what is awe to me.

Related somehow they may be,
The sedge stands near the sea –
Where he is floorless
And does no timidity betray

But nature is a stranger yet:
The ones that cite her most
Have never passed her haunted house,
Nor simplified her ghost.

To pity those that know her not
Is helped by the regret
That those who know her, know her less
The nearer her they get.

— Emily Dickinson

Water, feared and dangerous at times, but also the source of life. Without clean water, we can die in a matter of days. And the destruction of floods, hurricanes, typhoons, torrential rain, sleet and hail can bring destruction and death in minutes and hours.

Ironically those most susceptible to its force are also those most in need of  its sustenance.

All of us need both physical and spiritual water to sustain our lives, and we are called to share both as well.

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” To quench one’s thirst here is an image of giving and receiving the water of life that flows under the city of God.

Water is a basic human right, and also a divine privilege.  Let us share both generously .

Take a little time and listen to the Rainforest!

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St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day! 

Since the 1600’s, this has been the feast of the death of the greatest patron saint and Catholic Bishop of Ireland in 461 AD. It commemorates the arrival of Christianity to the country of Ireland, and carries with it their heritage, their culture, their food, their celebration of life!

If you are blessed to have Irish men and women among your family and friends, you know that they are a lively bunch, a vigorous and energetic breed. And they might just have an opinion or two.  🙂

Because it is normally celebrated in the Season of Lent, when food and alcoholic consumption were restricted, this was often lifted for the holiday.  And this somehow led to the excessive alcohol abuse we see now on this day, which is an unfortunate turn for the holiday.

What we are really celebrating is the strength of the faith, life and commitment of this great people, and the strong influence that they have had throughout the world, even as poor, desperate immigrants to our own land. It’s a good day to celebrate all immigrants and all people who are faithful and committed!

As usual, we do this here at RitA with pictures and Riverdance music.  Amazing!

And here is a great article from the NY Times.

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Communion of Persons

Communion, commun-ism, communicate, community, commune, be-come, come, com- … sometimes, it’s good to go back to the roots of words.
 
At least one true meaning of “com-” is “with”.
 
It is said that the best way to destroy a culture is to destroy or twist the meanings of its words, because without the core meanings, the most basic of human function ceases, the ability to “communicate”.
 
So, for a moment, we want to talk directly about Roses in the Alley, and our vision of “community” (being securely and freely “with”; to “build” “with”).
 
If you type in rosesinthealley.com in your browser you will get rosesinthealley.net. Why is that? because .com means business in this day, and .net meets community. Networking is the new word for Communing. So, if you want community, you don’t use .com; you are .net. You don’t commune; you network. I’m not sure how that happened, or whether this particular thing is good or bad, but it is true. 
 
But there is a coldness to the word “network” that is not the normal sense of the word “community”.
 
Communion used to mean coming together as persons, in love and relationship, freely and securely with granted permission to do so. Now, in the political sphere it has been replaced with Communism and Communication, neither of which are about these things. And in religious realms, it now means something exclusive, where permission is withheld until granted by an authority.
 
And when one talks about coming into community, it is often attacked, seen as coming against, not coming together.
 
Can we for a moment just go back to the core meaning? It might help our ability to speak to one another.
 
Here is one really sincere expression of community in music :-)! 
 
How would you express community?  We welcome your comments. May they help us build together… communion of persons!
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Snowbound in New England

Winter in New England

“So all night long the storm roared on:
The morning broke without a sun;
In tiny spherule traced with lines
Of Nature’s geometric signs,
In starry flake, and pellicle,
All day the hoary meteor fell;
And, when the second morning shone,
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below,—
A universe of sky and snow!”

― John Greenleaf Whittier, 

Today we simply give the warmest of wishes to our family in Haverhill, Amesbury, and Salisbury, Massachusetts and many others in the Northeast part of our country. You most likely will be snowbound tomorrow or the next day.

My brother Phil was born close to this day during a blizzard like this in ’56. Right when we thought Spring was upon us.

Know that our thoughts are with you, and we sincerely hope that you find solace in a warm home with a day of rest. Call it a gift of a day off, sit back and enjoy your coffee! 

And may those who have to get out there to help with power, emergencies such as new births and the many other needs that come up on days like these, return home safe as well.

Stay warm and share time with each other! There’s precious little time it seems, after all.

Maybe George Winston’s December will help you find joy in this day.