Judy Reed Guyot 1939-2016

Judy and I shared an apartment in Liberty, Mo., when we were nursing students doing a public health practicum at Clay County Public Health Department. I responded to the statement in her obituary - "Judy was passionate in her views. . ." Indeed, that is the Judy I remember! She once got furious with the School of Nursing and changed her major for a day or two. How she was able to manage this and change it back again with all the University red tape, I cannot imagine. But I suspect that she was such an outstanding student, that the School of Nursing made some allowances. When she believed in the principles of justice in an issue, you had better just stand back! I always admired her and I regret that we did not see each other much after we left Columbia. I am sure her life made a difference to others. 

Things that Never Die by Charles Dickens

Things that never die. . .The pure, the bright, the beautiful that stirred our hearts in youth, The impulses to wordless prayer, The streams of love and truth, The longing after something lost, The sprit's yearning cry, The striving after better hopes.  These things can never die.

A timid hand stretched forth to aid a brother in need.   A kindly word in grief's dark hour that proves a friend indeed.  The plea when justice threatens high, These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand must find some work to do, Lose not a chance to weaken love; Be firm and just and true, So shall a light that cannot fade beam on thee from high.  And angel voices say to thee. . .These things can never die.  

My grandchildren, Grace Anne and John Haug, have sung this poem in their high school Choraliers group and I am especially fond of it.

African Proverb

If you think you are too small
 to make a difference, you have 
 not spent a night with a mosquito.

Reconnecting with Earth

Leaving Pella, Iowa, Monday after visiting an important friend from the past, we saw a tree with 5 bald eagles on Red Rock Lake! Hard to believe that in 1978, the species was endangered and the country feared our national bird might become extinct.   We have seen them along Salt Fork creek below us and we have even sighted a pair on our farm over on Highway 240.    Lately I have been alarmed about the plight of monarch butterflies.   For the past two days, I have gone out and planted milkweed seed balls along fence rows near our home.     Herbicides have eradicated most of the milkweed, and the monarch populations are way down.    I am eager to see if my milkweed grows and the butterflies find them.    Also this afternoon, I located some hollow twigs and amassed a group of them on the log fence under the mulberry tree.    Homes for bees, also a species mysteriously depleted.   My efforts are infinitesimal compared with the scope of the problems, but I feel I have made a tiny contribution.   

 

A Home

A military chaplain told the following story:
A soldier's little girl, whose father was being moved to a distant      post, was sitting at the airport among her family's meager belongings.
The girl was sleepy.   She leaned against the packs and duffel bags.
A lady came by, stopped, and patted her on the head.
"Poor child," she said, "You haven't got a home."
The child looked up in surprise.
"But we do have a home,'"she said. "We just don't have a house to put it in."
                                        Mitch Album, quoting Rabbi Albert Lewis
                                                       in Have a Little Faith                                                   

In Memory: Don Rutter 1931 - 2016

 Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing 

can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity 

to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel

that there is something in them

To look at the sunny side of everything 

and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,

and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others

as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past

and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times

and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself

that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, 

and to happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,

not in loud words but great deeds.

To live in faith that the whole world is on your side

so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

                                               Christopher D. Larson