Distinction

photo by grassrootsmsw

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Marian Wright Edelman

Looking up...

photo by J.A.S.
NYC

"We've removed the ceiling above our dreams. There are no more impossible dreams."
Jesse Jackson

Bittersweet

photo by grassrootsmsw

“I remembered the rose bush that had reached a thorny branch out through the ragged fence, and caught my dress, detaining me when I would have passed on. And again the symbolism of it all came over me. These memories and visions of the poor—they were the clutch of the thorns. Social workers have all felt it. It holds them to their work, because the thorns curve backward, and one cannot pull away.”

Albion Fellows Bacon

Bounty

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Abundance is not something we acquire.

It is something we tune into.”

Wayne Dyer

Self architecture

photo by grassrootsmsw

“To be authentic literally means

to be your own author.”

Dan Millman

Augmentation

photo by grassrootsmsw

“When the Japanese mend broken objects they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold, because they believe that when something has suffered damage, and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.”

Barbara Bloom

Ever after...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And happy ever after isn’t so important… just that it's happy right now. See, once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you , and once in a while people may even take your breath away.”

Meredith Grey, “Grey’s Anatomy”

Remaining grateful for all those who continue to "take my breath away." Ever after, is as precious and valuable, as we choose it to be..........

-grassrootsmsw

For S.C. / Faithful guide and mentor

A reunion in S.B.
May 2007

"My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

S.C. offered me my first practicing MSW job, straight out of graduate school in NYC. I was green and eager.

From our first interview, in her small office above an old Episcopalian church, I was mesmerized and engaged. As she told me of the work and mission of the non-profit she had helped to launch and create, she already had me wanting to rush out and serve the needy and poor in their 20 city block catchment area. She captured me then, and through the years encouraged and inspired my commitment to real social work.

If I ever lost my way or focus, S.C. was always there to remind me of what I was capable of and provide a tender but focused nudge. She was my first mentor, and there isn't a day that passes in my work that I don't hold to the core of what she taught me and helped to nurture.

Years can pass without seeing one another, but we still jump right back in with our "human stories." We share a fascination and interest in people...their stories...our gifts of witnessing...human resilience in every form...how we are always changed as a result...the honor of being a social worker and serving.

Our connection is timeless and faithful...in a way that only two true social workers would understand. There is deep and soul filling abundance and silent recognition of this.

Thank you, S.C. for your guidance, mentoring, and faith. It is with me, always.

Slanting the view

photo by grassrootsmsw

“A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. “Never leave that till tomorrow,” he said, “which you can do today.” This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying.”

Meredith Grey, "Grey’s Anatomy"

Staggering chapters...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self-evident.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

"The Peaceful Warrior"

photo by grassrootsmsw

“When you begin your transcendental training, focusing your best efforts, without attachment to outcomes, you will understand the peaceful warrior's way.”

Dan Millman

Excavation

photo by grassrootsmsw

"I look at the Augusteum, and I think that perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic, after all. It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated. The Augusteum warns me not to get attached to any obsolete ideas about who I am, what I represent, whom I belong to, or what function I may once have intended to serve. Yesterday I might have been a glorious monument to somebody, true enough - but tomorrow I could be a fireworks depository. Even in the Eternal City, says the silent Augusteum, one must always be prepared for riotous and endless waves of transformation."

Elizabeth Gilbert

Diffuse awareness

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.”

Frances de Sales