FINDING MEANING IN 2018: WELCOME 2019!

What gave meaning to  2018  as it ended?   Ii was the action of people that had meaning for me.  Family, friends, and strangers whose words and deeds warmed my heart and gave me hope for a brighter future. People like these:

 After going to the theater to see a corny holiday show we went  to get something to eat.  We  went to a local, nearby restaurant.  When we arrived a group of people were coming out.  One was profoundly handicapped.   He recognized me and called out my name.  This simple gesture was a major accomplishment for him that  gave my evening greater importance and gladdened my heart.

In August I traveled with Don to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for the North American Sundial Society's 25 Th Anniversary  Meeting.  I had not to been to Pittsburgh since I was a child. At that time there was great fascination with the  newly opened Tunnel which went underground through the Mountains.
That fascination remained the same when I went back with Don in August.

I was excited to take The Sundial Society's Historic Tour through neighborhoods. One site was Squirrel Hills.   The Tour took us past the shopping center near the Synagogue  where my family used to live.  Weeks later the horrific sense less murders of Jews in that Synagogue took place.  In the face of all this needless horror, of the grief and anger of people, politicians told the President of the United States he was not welcome to come.  Then other voices were heard. The Rabbi said, "Tell the President, he is welcome to come."  The wonderful memory of the Sundial Society Meeting has not been overshadowed. The irony for me is that the same sense of reason required for the science of sundials and respect for our laws was used by the Rabbi when he calmed his turbulent congregants.

Most recently I came upon three little girls dressed to have their  pictured taken with Santa Claus.
They were excited with the pictures.  I stopped to speak to them.  They were sisters between 3, 5 and 6 years old.  I stopped to speak to them and ask what they thought the holiday was all about?  The little one told me it was about the baby Jesus.

The older child asked if I had Christmas lights too.  I said no  but I do have lights that I enjoyed.  The middle sister shouted "Hanuka Mexican lights".  I told her yes and thought how wonderful this country has always been.  We allow each one of us to celebrate those things, religious or not, native born or immigrant, to enjoy the fruits of our own decision making even when it appears we are less than we could be.

So as 2019 begins to each of you I extend good wishes.  Keep well and keep in touch.

Beverly

MY FRIEND DELANEY: WRITER & POET

Her smile is broad, ever-ready as is her good humour

she will do things her own way

she succeeds, crossing all boundaries

religion, traditional customs, marrying her husband

spontaneously on Sadie Hawkins Day with hundreds of others.


We are two women who enjoy writing

sometimes working, many times not

but always looking for differences

in colors, hues, in painting, clothes

people and nature and in the hats we wear.


Her credentials are impressive

taking her from one city to another

writing for businesses to public institutions

to the love of a tree in her backyard.

All described in poetry,


We met because of aspiring to careers of our own

but kept in touch at writer groups.

She writes with a passion and consistency

about the life she builds with her husband

and in journals she keeps on their travels.


In September she published a 5 Volume Set of her Poetry

each one expressing another facet of her life.

On a snowy day in St. Louis I began to read Volume 5

"Shifting Gears"* because I am in the middle of doing just that

with my own life.


As I read I see clearly some of the feelings and surroundings

she describes. I recognize how wonderful it is to be alive

and be a part of the time in which we live even in times of great distress.

It is not politics nor party which can diffuse people like my friend

because she sees and appreciates life.


*"Shifting Gears", Poetry by Delaney (c)Copyright 2018 FlagshipPress
Philadelphia, Pa. 19147

LAST NOVEMBER DAY CAB RIDE TO HOPE?

On the last week in November I took a cab to get to my appointment in another neighborhood.  The driver was a big, broad shouldered burly man with very large hands.  He had his radio on. He barely turned his head as I got in.The news coming from Washington, D.C. was fast-breaking. I asked him what he thought of all we heard.

"I don't know.  I watched this President since I was a kid.  I idolized Trump.  He was slick, successful and I wanted to be like him.  Then he went to Washington and I don't know what happened." As I listened my driver spoke of his disappointment and dissatisfaction with our President's behavior and language . The driver told me that he worked all his life, had two "kids" and one grandchild and had began to drive a cab because he lost his job about six months ago. 

This time, when I reached my destination he came around to open the door and said, "Thanks for listening." 

My belief in the strength of our laws for justice and people's ability to use common sense gave me hope for the future on the last rainy day of November 2018.

THANKSGIVING 2018

THANKSGIVING 2018

LET US WELCOME FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND STRANGERS  TO  OUR TABLE

LET US SING OF MEMORIES AND STORIES NEW AND OLD

 LET US TASTE DISHES FAMILIAR AND DIFFERENT, BLAND OR SPICY

LET US SHARE THE STRENGTH WE HAVE TOGETHER TO OVERCOME ADVERSITY

AND LET US DO ALL THIS AS WE REMEMBER THOSE NOT HERE.



BEVERLY D. REHFELD

SO WHAT HAPPENED IN MISSOURI ON SUNDAY?

People came together to be with each other after a horrific murder happened in another city many miles away.  The gathering was held in a barren auditorium. The expectation was that there would be a few hundred people there.  The day was warm and sunny.

The program was put together quickly.  The people grew from a small number to hundreds and they
came in a steady stream until they filled the 1200 seat auditorium to capacity.  Many stood in the back.

Some people came from neighborhoods close by.  Others came from distant areas.  They were young and elderly people with canes, with walkers, some in motorized scooters.  Sturdy parents and grandparents pushed carriages and carried children.

The program began later than expected because the stream of people kept coming.

Leaders representing all facets of American life were on the platform. There were educators, clergy of all denominations, and political candidates and incumbents, and state and local police and guards.

The names of the people murdered in Pittsburgh were placed in front of the platform and the audience was asked to remember them and their families and their communities.

Is it comforting to ask why?  I don't think so.  We can no longer overlook the physical and mental anguish that words and ignorance produce.  We can no longer allow death and destruction to keep us
from thinking.  Neither walls nor guns nor elaborate schemes must be allowed to entice us away from    speaking out.

What happened in Pittsburgh will happen here in St. Louis unless we can recognize that the stranger in our midst is not the threat. The threat is our reluctance to accept words that claim otherwise, whether uttered by elected officials or ourselves.  

REMEMBER TO VOTE NOVEMBER 6.

HOW SHALL WE REMEMBER?

There is a drawer in my cabinet that I seldom open.  It contains very old files.  One of those files holds letters in a language I cannot read.  The letters were from my Grandmother to her family whom she and my grandfather left when they came to this country

 I was fortunate to know and visit with all of my grandparents, there were four all of whom  came to this country legally. I thought of them and of a conversation I had today at lunch with a friend who had returned from a trip with her daughter. My friend told me of her visit and the places she had not seen since childhood. She spoke of the memories she recalled and how startled her daughter was to hear about those memories.

My sons knew first hand of their great grandparents.  They knew too of the memories and the circumstances that had brought their great grandparents here.  Among those memories were stories  of  turbulence and persecution  and vicious edicts.  Memories that included kindness, help and the opportunity they found in their new country.

I thought of all this when I opened my newspaper and saw the pictures of the immigrants at this country's borders.  The same words and actions that were used against my grandparents are used now but for different people.

How we treat and understand the stranger in our midst will color our lives.  The memories my friend shared with her daughter also included memories of neighbors and neighborhoods. Memories that were joyful yet may have been harder to recount but are stored now in the memories of my friend's daughter.

It is time to recognize that we live in a period of major world-wide migration.  How shall we recognize this historical moment?  With bellicose words and saber rattling? Or will we have the wisdom to learn about the memories of the people making up this migration?

REMEMBER TO VOTE NOVEMBER 6, 2018

REMEDY TO OVERCOME "FRIGHTENING TIMES"?

So what should we do if we live in "Frightening Times."

Begin by turning  off the noise!  Go to the movies to see "Science Fair" the award-winning documentary written and directed by Cristina Constantina and Daren Foster.

The film features a group of students, their friends and families and depicts what happens to them when they all undertake impossible challenges, individually and collectively.

It is the story of who we are as Americans working with other "citizens" from around the world.  The film demonstrates that  we still live in a country dedicated to justice and opportunity.  And it shows the willingness of the young and old to listen and respect each other as we work to achieve a common goal through education.

Yes, we are living through changing times.  Sometimes we move a step forward and sometimes a step backward but we know from our history we need not be afraid.  We will prevail! We will do so not because we live through "Frightening Times" but because of our constant quest to better ourselves.

We will do so with the courage of young people.  We will look to their inquisitiveness and persistence to welcome change.  We will do so because they and we know and agree that we live in a country that is ruled by laws. We and they will take all this and march toward the future, leaving a past filled with turmoil and "Frightening Times."

 Go see "SCIENCE FAIR" and VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6.