Problems with the Dictionary

Image credit: Vincenzo Rizzo

Shouldn't the distance between impossible

and improbable be widened? Might miracle

deserve its own appendix: the ease with which night

becomes winter? There must be a word for it,

a term unique and apropos to star-pocked sky

and village roads blanketed by snow,

a good-natured—but stone drunk—schoolteacher

leaving a warm bar. It is improbable she will drive.

She does. North of town, wind uncovers ice-sheets.

A drift swarms ditch to ditch and the street

becomes impassible (see also impossible). She cannot

u-turn and begins walking home. She forgets

her headlights and roadside crops go miraculous:

snowed-in corn pastures awash in shadows

from her halogen bulbs. Another driver

would not see her. None come. The night is nothing more

than boot-prints in fresh powder, a wobbly path

tracking to back-patio where she frees the latch

and lets herself in. Her high-beams will burn

to sunrise. Her frozen steps will melt beyond definition.

~ Luke Johnson

Problems with the Dictionary

Image credit: Vincenzo Rizzo

Shouldn't the distance between impossible

and improbable be widened? Might miracle

deserve its own appendix: the ease with which night

becomes winter? There must be a word for it,

a term unique and apropos to star-pocked sky

and village roads blanketed by snow,

a good-natured—but stone drunk—schoolteacher

leaving a warm bar. It is improbable she will drive.

She does. North of town, wind uncovers ice-sheets.

A drift swarms ditch to ditch and the street

becomes impassible (see also impossible). She cannot

u-turn and begins walking home. She forgets

her headlights and roadside crops go miraculous:

snowed-in corn pastures awash in shadows

from her halogen bulbs. Another driver

would not see her. None come. The night is nothing more

than boot-prints in fresh powder, a wobbly path

tracking to back-patio where she frees the latch

and lets herself in. Her high-beams will burn

to sunrise. Her frozen steps will melt beyond definition.

~ Luke Johnson

Quote about your importance

Image: imagerymajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Without realizing it, we fill important places in each other’s lives. It’s that way with the guy at the corner grocery, the mechanic at the local garage, the family doctor, teachers, neighbors, coworkers. Good people who are always “there,” who can be relied upon in small, important ways. People who teach us, bless us, encourage us, support us, uplift us in the dailiness of life. We never tell them. I don’t know why, but we don’t.

And, of course, we fill that role ourselves. There are those who depend in us, watch us, learn from us, take from us. And we never know.

You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.

~ Robert Fulghum

Quote about your importance

Image: imagerymajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Without realizing it, we fill important places in each other’s lives. It’s that way with the guy at the corner grocery, the mechanic at the local garage, the family doctor, teachers, neighbors, coworkers. Good people who are always “there,” who can be relied upon in small, important ways. People who teach us, bless us, encourage us, support us, uplift us in the dailiness of life. We never tell them. I don’t know why, but we don’t.

And, of course, we fill that role ourselves. There are those who depend in us, watch us, learn from us, take from us. And we never know.

You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.

~ Robert Fulghum

Quote on teachers

Monk and Cat in Wat Sangklaburi, Thailand  © Tristan Savatier

In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I…I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So, you see, our teachers come in many forms.

~ Joseph Goldstein

Quote on teachers

Monk and Cat in Wat Sangklaburi, Thailand  © Tristan Savatier

In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I…I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So, you see, our teachers come in many forms.

~ Joseph Goldstein