Sunday, October 28

Quote of the Day:  “Promise me you’ll always remember: you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think!”  Christopher Robin to Pooh

I love the power of positive women’s groups.  They can accomplish miracles.  I love being surrounded by gracious, thoughtful and motivated women.  I owe so much to them.  They have shaped my character and life.  I have such a group in my neighborhood and they are a source of wisdom and comfort to me.  On Friday, some of us gathered at Rattlesnake Gulch for a birthday celebration walk/hike.  It had snowed the night before, temperatures had dropped so the trail was icy. We gazed up into the sky and it was dark and clear.  The stars were worth getting up early for.   Since the trail was unusable, we started to walk up the road but found it too slippery to continue.  We ended up at Einstein’s sharing quotes and then it came to Lori, who apologized for not having a quote and then proceeded to tell us a much more important message of how much we all meant to her and how much richer her life was with all of us in it.  It felt so great to be sitting around this table surrounded by dear friends expressing our gratitude for each other’s lives.  And really, when it comes down to it, our relationships rank above everything else because I really believe that these relationships live on, transcending time.  And I love this group because it’s so cooperative.  It doesn’t feel like we are competing in a way that some women’s groups do.  I think it’s because its members won’t allow for that, friendships are too important to be wasted on trivial matters! 

And so if I had just one wish, I would wish for world peace and this is how I would get it.  I would start from this group and move out and we would take people into the fold, every person would have the opportunity to become their best self and instead of this “scarcity mentality” where just a few can thrive, we would have a world where everyone was valued and everyone had a chance to fulfill their dreams.  

Because as I see it, it seems that we are doing just the opposite.  I’ve had it with negative political ads and aren’t they all negative?  Is that really what we’ve become?  A nation where people want to win an election so they can govern the people so badly that they would say anything they possible could to bring down their opponent?  And doesn’t that trickle down to all of us.  Doesn’t it feel like we are all being taken hostage because we have to hear their claims over and over?  And let’s face it, neither side is being “truly” honest.  And I just want to make my point that it is coming equally from both sides.  We have become a nation of either Republicans or Democrats and if we are one, we can’t tolerate the other.  When did this happen?  When was it a crime to have a different viewpoint than your neighbor?  Isn’t that still what is so great about our country; everyone’s different and entitled to that difference?  

I don’t know about you but I don’t want that negativity around me.  Instead, I want to feel touched that youth around the Salt Lake Valley are going door-to-door searching for a missing 80 year old man who disappeared a few days ago.  His family is sick with fear and worry, temperatures are plunging at night, and someone realized they could use this group of youth church-goers and get them on the streets, going door-to-door, making people aware.  This is what we’re about, helping each other not bringing each other down.

On top of Reynold’s Peak, Millcreek Canyon