What do these words mean?

 Let's make a pact. Yeah, y 'know, a declaration. A promise,... that we'll be kind to each other.

The world is in a mess. Has been for a long time.  Not that there's anything new on the horizon, but between tic tok, twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, nothing is kept under wraps for too long, nor can it be. Perhaps, even , nor should it be. We're more in touch in this era than we ever have been. And maybe that's the rub: since we're in contact more, maybe we should be more intentional about being kind to each other. Couldn't hurt,.. may even help.

Russia and Ukraine are at war with each other. Palestine and Israel are at war with each other. Countries on the African Continent are at war with each. The U.S is in conflict about the war between the races and assault weapons in neighborhoods. The internet makes no apologies for its openness to predators both sexual and financial. Nor do any of us make apologies for our inhumane treatment of other humans. Courtesy. Respect. Integrity. Dignity. All of these words are burdened with meaning. But we sometime talk in generalities.  Do we really know what's involved in giving respect to someone?

Carl

 

 

 Carl is a unique guy. Literally, one of a kind. He's a Catholic Priest. No,.. wait, he's a Priest of the Mennonite Church. But then, he tried for the Episcopal Church,... was told he wasn't Catholic enough,,..  whatever that means. But here's a man who believes in himself, --and his cooking-- and stands firm on those beliefs. Above all, he is the Rev. Carl Yusawitz, ordained to Ministry, and he's my friend. 

 

And he's a friend among friends.  Let me tell you a story.

Several years ago, my wife Pat, had gastric bypass surgery. It was a melancholy day since, on the same day, my beloved God-Sister Betty Ann, passed away. We expected Betty Ann's death since she had long been on a decline since her metastatic colon cancer diagnosis. So the  phone call from Betty Ann's daughter Joy, while I was in Einstein's waiting room during Pat's surgery, was not surprising. In fact, we expected that she would die that day. But since I couldn't be in 2 places at the same time, I wasn't at her bedside, I was with Pat.

The surgeon came out of nowhere.  I don't remember him approaching me, but there he was.

"She did fine", he said, with a warm surgeon's smile. "But her liver looks a little funny, almost speckled, "We'll keep an eye on it, and she'll be in recovery for a couple of hours and then she'll go to a room", I thank him for his care and the update. The he's off.

A couple of hours pass, I ask the people at the desk for her status.  They have no record of her, and certainly can't tell me where she is at that moment. 

So the situation is this: Betty Ann just died, my wife is out of surgery, her liver looks funny and no one knows where she is. And I'm in a state of confusion, my mind almost in a complete state of disorientation.

Except that Carl had come to sit with me for part of that and even though he had left before I received the call about Betty Ann, his spirit remained. What he stood for, was with me. His aura of friendship and  love, clothed me.  That's HUGE, and remains with me to this day.

Its true what they say, that true friends are hard to find. You know them by their aura of love. 

Thanks, Carl.