trE over at A Cornered Gurl invites all of us to join her in sending a little “love, light, peace, and kindness out into the ether.” In no more than 7 words, what does this picture spark in you?
Go ahead, take a look!
Scintillating Saturday Share#1
Tag: Kindness
Kisses and Eggs
Glad you could join us for the next kooky episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Walter never stopped to question why he had opened his heart (and his mouth) to the little stranger lying so helplessly on the river bottom. It was his nature to care. Ask anyone.
Ask his wife, Darlene. She had seen his compassion and compulsion to nurture everyone he met when they were just small fry in school. But it had been during their senior year, when they had both worn Kissing Fish masks to the Enchantment Under the Sea Masquerade that she had known he was The One. He was the one she chose to bear the ultimate responsibility of carrying their adorable roe to term.
Every spawning season since, Walter had protected his soon-to-be progeny from marauding pike and sinister scuba divers. And he had never — even accidentally — swallowed a single one. Around the reef they called home, he had earned his reputation as the World’s Greatest Dad. Ask anyone.
Ask Darlene — if you can find her.
Running with the Dogs
Hugh and Mina loved to run, and I might be in my early-ish 60s, but I wasn’t so old I couldn’t indulge them. The summer evening was dark, but still warm. Running felt like flying with 30 pounds of dog pulling me along. Old neighborhood, tall trees in the tree lawns, their roots shaping the sidewalk. No street lamps.
The Cycle
#PoetsForPeace will accept your poem until August 31, 2016.
We will combine all contributions and welcome suggestions for what to do with the resulting collaborative Poem…”The Poem Heard ‘Round the World” something that would make Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King Jr. sigh.” #PoetsForPeace
The Cycle
by S.T. Ranscht
Dark Age
ignorance, destruction, violence
the fearful band together
to contain, restrain, constrain
civilizing this Time’s
Golden Age
to question, create, explore
achieving complacence
once again
Shadows creep unnoticed from horizon
into unwary hearts that have no fear
or sense of other
or of love
Their first act shocks the world
to flurry anguish settling
to comfortable couch outrage
binge-watching shoot-em-ups
from the fifties
Was that the news
or just another episode
of mass shooting senseless violence reckless hate?
What can we do?
What can anybody do?
It is insane.
I see no hope.
Yes, this is a very comfortable couch.
Until it isn’t
Springs poke through
Too much anger, frustration, discontent
the hundredth monkey finally arriving
after the third act
or the fifth
or tenth
Standing to make room
swallowing their fear with the blood flowing
past their homes. along their streets, in their veins
until it boils
over
away
to purify us all
and birth
another
chance
for
hope
Being Kind – Week 4
What did I do this week that was kind? Um, no. I am not gonna write about any kind thing I may or may not have done.
“Why not?” You
Maybe my perception of behaving kindly reflects my parents’ generation and their admonitions:
“Don’t brag.” “Don’t fish for compliments.” The Greatest Generation
I do kind things out of the goodness of my heart, and I think telling people about the kind things I do diminishes the goodness of my heart. It’s fine if nobody else feels that way, but I do, and hey, I’m the one I have to live with.
But because of something that happened yesterday, I have a single exception I’m willing to make to share a single story.
Through a Lens Kindly — Week 3
Myopia creeps up on you until one day, you realize you’re squinting at the blackboard just to read the assignment. But because squinting solves your problem, you don’t even think to say anything about it to your parents. They usually have to notice you squinting at something else unless an observant teacher alerts them first.
And you end up with glasses. They make your eyesight great again, but now you have to remember to wear them. You have to make a new habit. I’ve done it. It was hard at first, but the improvement those glasses made to the quality of my life was so great, it wasn’t long before putting them on was a no-brainer.
Living kindly is like that. You have to see the world through a kindness lens, but that doesn’t mean you have to see the world through Rose Colored Glasses.
Finding the Spirit of Kindness
This is Week 2 of the Kindness Challenge.
Like looking for the good — or bad — in people, you will find kindness if you look for it. And often in unlikely places. Who thought to put these furry blooms in a stairway post two days ago? A child or a grownup? It was certainly a deliberate choice. There isn’t even one of these plants close by. Today they weren’t there, but they weren’t scattered on the ground, either. Where do you suppose they are now? In someone’s living room? Lining a bird’s nest? Strung together like a fuzzy crown gracing the head of a three year old Prince or Princess of the Playground?
Space, Time, and Raspberries 
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