Monday, January 18, 2021

Meandering and Moral Compasses


 This posting meanders down three streams running through my heart and brain. They make up the landscape of my life right now.

First: Elisa had her second immunotherapy infusion on December 31. On February 9, the doctors will do a total scan of her body. Elisa is matter-of-fact about the outcome: “Either the tumors will have shrunk after radiation and two infusions,” she told me, “or they won’t. One of the two.” 

She exhibits great equanimity. On Facebook, she’s been posting snippets of her journey with Stage 4 cancer: the pain, fear, hope; the laughter when she and Mike and their children play board games; the freelance editing she continues to do; the questions about death and mortality that trouble her children. 

Donna begins her 24-day radiation treatments on January 25. One of the removed lymph nodes was concerning. She exhibits a serenity that inspires. Both she and Elisa have a sense of humor that is like a broad seam of gold in the dark mine of cancer.  Both of them appreciate your holding them in the belief that expresses your concern. Thank you.

Second: Last May, I began listening to both fiction and nonfiction books on my iPad.  Since then, I’ve encountered many “translators” of the written word. Their voices can present the words in such a way that I’m drawn into another world. For me, that world since last May has been the historical period of the American Revolution and the Constitutional. 

I just completed the lengthy Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter Edmonds. His historical novel, published in 1936, was on the best-selling list for over two years. The movie, based only loosely on the novel, starred Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert



The book details the lives of the frontier settlers in the Mohawk River Valley of New York state. During the years of the Revolution, the settlers fought Tories, British regulars, and the Native Americans who took the king’s side. Other Native American, members of the Iroquois confederation, helped the settlers. 

I never realized what war had been like in the hinterlands beyond the Atlantic seaboard. Whole settlements—three or four families—met death. Laboriously built cabins, harvested crops, and fields fashioned when settlers took an axe to the forest were set ablaze. Much violence. Much revenge. Much terror. Much diminishing and then swelling hope. 

And, little reflection in the 1936 novel on why Native Americans would take part in the skirmishes and massacres that bloodied the ground they’d lived on for centuries; moreover, a racist portrait of the few slaves “owned” by settlers. But amidst these concerns, a history little told to us in school. A history that perhaps reflects attitudes not only of the 1770s but of the 1930s.

Third: Right now, I’m reading His Excellency, Joseph J. Ellis’ biography of George Washington. Although I’d read about his leadership in the revolution, I knew little about his ambitions, mistakes, and possible deficiencies of character and personality.  A man of his times, he saw nothing wrong with slavery or the taking of Native American land. 

Yet this man was a "Founding Father" whose courage, wisdom hard won in battle, and understanding of human nature led to a Constitution that has served our country well for nearly 235 years. He was a man who learned from his mistakes and mastered his own flawed attitudes. He is, truly "the" founding father.

What of today? What do we mean when we say, “He is a man—or she is a woman—of his/her times”? What will future biographers have to explain about these times and how their subjects acted? About their deficiencies of character and personality?

In 1970, Professor Cooperman, in a political science class I took at the University of Minnesota, said, “A statesman considers what’s necessary for our country fifty years down the line. A politician’s interested only in the next year or two.”  

We seem today, especially in one party, to have, unfortunately, not statesmen or women, but politicians who put party before people; present before future; power before common sense; money before mercy. What will future biographers say of them?

Peace.

29 comments:

  1. Thank you Dee.
    I will continue to hold your dear friends (and you) in my heart, and wish you all nothing but the best of things.
    History (and it is so rarely) her story is told from the very subjective viewpoint of the winners.
    I long for statesmen and women and hope that biographers present the current crop of politicians in a 'warts and all' way. Sadly I think that there are more warts than more positive features.

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    1. Dear Sue, I'm so hoping that President Biden and Vice-President Harris will show themselves to be among those who consider the long view and not simply the short. They must pay attention to the pandemic of today and the economy, but I'm hoping they will not just look at solving today's problems but will look for the underlying reasons that explain why so many businesses have gone defunct and so many people have dies and so much discord and even hatred is alive in our country. I hope, that is, that they will deal with the systemic. Peace.

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  2. Aren't they unbelievable these politicians? Well said in your last paragraph. Elisa is so young, she's been through so much, suffered terrible loss, and now it sounds like she's found happiness. And then her children. I am keeping her in my thoughts, her children too. I'm sending lots of love her way and to you as well. This must be so very difficult for you. I know how close you are. Life....

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    1. Dear Inger, at the deep center of Elisa's being--her essence I think--is a wellspring of joy. I trust that somehow that will weave itself into whatever happens in February at the cancer center and onto the path she now is walking to a place around the bend. A place not mapped for her yet. Peace.

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  3. I continue to follow your friend's health through your blog. It's hard to understand why some people have to go through so much while others seem to skate through life.

    Love your book reviews.

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    1. Dear Jean, yes, in my forties I began to realize just how mysterious life is. We cannot control what happens beyond us, we can control only how we respond to the vicissitudes of life. And she has chosen to respond with her whole humanity--from tears and sobbing to great joy and music. For all of us, it seems to me, life is a great mystery that slowly unveils itself to us. Peace.

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  4. I too am holding your dear friends in my heart. We all need love and hope in our lives, and they seem to have plenty of that, even with all they face. Thank you for introducing me to them, and thank you for all the love you spread throughout the internet. Those books sounds interesting!

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    1. Dear DJan, what a kind thing to say about my spreading love throughout the internet. You brought tears to my eyes because I do so want to share with all in Oneness the great gratitude I have for the wonder of existence. And you, in every Sunday posting, always share your gratitude with us. That is a great gift you give your readers. Peace.

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  5. Will continue to keep Elisa and Donna in my prayers. Their attitude will greatly help their healing.
    Thanks for the reviews of those books. I saw the movie and didn't know it was loosely based on the book. Probably should give the book a shot now.
    Totally agree with the difference between a statesman and a politician. About time we hear for a few statesmen.

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    1. Dear Patti, I so hope that both President Biden and Vice-President Harris will find the ways to lead us to becoming the human beings we all--at our deepest center, the one without fear and pain--want to be. Peace.

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  6. This has caused mix emotions I do not know why just has.

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    1. Dear Jo-Anne, not sure how to respond. I find myself wondering just what emotions you are feeling and if the posting brought forth in you some feelings that affect you negatively. I hope not. But if they did, then I trust that you will simply ignore my posted words. Peace.

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  7. I’ve not read the books that you have been reading and wrote about here. I did just finish a fascinating book about Mary Magdalene and her writings that were rejected when the Bible was compiled, and I think my next one will be some fiction. Too much “reality” in the last couple weeks for me! I continue to think of your two friends and send loving thoughts their way to as they go through illness. My heart breaks for the family of the young woman with cancer.

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    1. Dear Cynthia, thanks for the tip about the Mary Magdalene book. Have you ever read anything by Elaine Pagels? A friend suggested to me--when I said I wanted to start reading something beyond mystery novels--that I read Louise Erdrich's "The Beet Queen." So that's next on my list of books. That is, if the library had it as an audio! Thank you for continuing to send your loving thoughts to Elisa and her family. All of us are, I so believe, united in Oneness. Peace.

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  8. My prayers are with Elisa
    Thanks for sharing the reviews.
    Take care of yourself and be safe

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    1. Dear Munir, thank you. I hope that you, too, are safe and in good health and spirits. Peace.

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  9. my heartfelt best wishes and prayers for both amazing and brave ladies ,may they recover soon and enjoy rest of their lives with complete heath and with love of family ,amen!

    such a powerful way to say things with so ease and yet in an impressively effective way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    your reads sound amazing and greatly insightful my dear Dee

    this is good that you could learn more about father of your nation
    i agree that it seems painful when we read that natives were treated inhumanly by invaders who decided to stay there
    yet decisions were made and applied and later everything proved for good of new nations who knew how flourish the world with art,knowledge and civilization ,nobody is perfect nor can be as human but yes learning from mistake take us to the better standard of humanity
    just like you i too wonder about "great people " who do not seem to born or exist anymore and i truly wonder why and i really wonder what the future historians will write about us ?
    thank you for thought provoking sharing always dear friend!
    much more peace ,health and happiness to you !

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    1. Dear Baili, when read your blog postings, I always wonder at your deep and, yes, provoking thoughts. You always make me stop and consider. Often your posts help me find the beauty in my own life and the goodness that is within all that happens to us. Thank you. Peace.

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  10. i love reading books, it's can be my references. thank you

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    1. Dear Intan, like you, books are a reference for me. They help me understand the world in which I live and also help me understand the person I am becoming. Peace to you in your reading.

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  11. I don't think history will deal kindly with these recent past years if it’s truthfully described. Just as we wonder and sometimes ridicule attitudes, beliefs, actions in the past, I think future generations have been given fodder to do the same toward us.

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    1. Dear Joared, I so agree with you. What is happening now is truly "fodder" for future historians to ponder and to find the decisions that led to these happenings. Those decisions go far back--I can go back to the Vietnam War and the early '70s and see the seedlings for todays lack of integrity among many of our leaders and also for the deep-seated thirst for power. Peace.

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  12. Thinking continued good thoughts for Elisa and Donna! x

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    1. Dear Bea, thank you so much. I share with Elisa the comments readers have left about her and she feels great gratitude for you and others who--for some reason she cannot understand--are praying for her. The essence of joy within her reaches out to others, I think. The truth is that all of us have some quality that affects the Holy Oneness of All Creation. Her's is joy. I'm still searching for mine! And yours, I suspect, has something to do with the acceptance of what has been and is and the willingness to move forward, knowing that the threads of your life are being woven into a beautiful and meaningful tapestry. Peace.

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  13. And one who didn't read, knew nothing of American history nd placed his inflated ego above all else...

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    1. Dear Ray, yes, he didn't read and that became so obviously even when he was running and before--as the Apprentice "Master." I feel, in a way, sorry for him because he is so lacking in the human qualities that I most admire. Yet even with that feeling, I want him to fade away--something like "the old soldier" that MacArthur spoke of before Congress back in 1952 or whenever. He, too, was a man grasping at power. An ego-maniac. Peace.

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  14. Love you, Dee! Thank you for always being so good to me. I need to check out that book—or maybe I’ll just watch the movie. I love Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert!

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  15. Dear Elisa, the book is long but it held my attention as it was the only book I've read about the frontier fighting during the Revolutionary War. The movie, I understand, is based on the book but took liberties. However, I agree with you about Fonda and Colbert--both always worth watching! Peace.

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