Another thing is that no matter how many constraints I put upon myself and the blog - telling few people, not allowing comments -- I am still constantly chewing my nails wondering what people think. I just cannot stop. The stupid "stats" option that is now built into blogger is killing me. Honestly, there are like 12 people who know about this thing, but somehow I keep thinking more might be there!
Here are some topics I am playing with for upcoming Sunday entries:
- Compassion
- Birthdays (There are a total of 8 combined birthdays in the Kramer & Brenengen families in September, 3 of them in my family of 4!)
- Ambiguity and learning to love shades of gray -- why absolute rights and wrongs, black and white can be dangerous.
- Loneliness
- Parenting and humility
For the moment that's all I have. I will need to find a way to lighten it all up I think as well.
For the compassion entry I'm reading a bunch from Jean Vanier's website -- Jean Vanier is the founder of the L'Arche communities. Not sure if I'll have that one ready to go on Sunday or another, he is incredibly inspirational. Here's a quote to give you an idea of his take on life:
"To love someone is to reveal to them that they are beautiful"
"What meaning can be found in life in the modern world? So many people today are searching, so many seem lost and no longer have any kind of ethical reference points; so many are dissatisfied with a purely materialistic life, with ephemeral pleasures or with a quest for power and success.(...)
Openness does not imply weakness, nor a tolerance which ignores truth and justice. Being open does not mean adhering to others' ideologies. It means being truly sympathetic and welcoming to people, listening to them, and in particular to people who are weak or poor or oppressed, so as to live in communion with them."
Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p 145
I'm also going to add some end of article notes to my entries now, instead of hyperlinks embedded. We'll see how that goes.
Thanks for reading!
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I love your comments and feedback, send it all my way at amy.brenengen@gmail.com.
In this entry I reference Jean Vanier and L'Arche. Vanieris a Canadian Catholic philosopher, humanitarian and the founder of L'Arche, an international organization which creates communities where people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them share life together. His website is at: http://www.jean-vanier.org/home.en-gb.116.0.index.htm.
