Celebrating J.T.

photo bygrassrootsmsw
June 29, 2007

"The hero, in living her own life, in being true to herself; radiates a light by which others may see their own way. "
Laurence G. Boldt

She is the celebrated protagonist of a story.
An exceptional, unique, and humbling story...
a story filled with
pioneering causes and beliefs;
compassionate giving and care;
and immeasurable commitment and devotion.

Those who have had the honor
to even play a small part in her story,
recognize the life gift in that.

Mentor,
Teacher,
Selfless guide,
Pioneer,
Advocate,
and Believer.


With gentility, warmth and grace
she is a humanitarian
for all humanity.
The varied characters in her story,
swirl around her,
hoping that her energy
is slightly contagious
or somehow permeable.

While her story continues
in new directions,
the legacy she has created
continues to shine brightly,
with permanence and distinction.

Our beloved protagonist
is now on Volume II of her story...
the characters are all still there,
now,
just waiting to toast her,
and share in lots of unadulterated joy and fun!

-grassrootsmsw-

Tacit protectors

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a being.”
Kahlil Gibran

Impossible contradictions...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”

James Allen

The Vulnerability in Loyalty

photo by grassrootsmsw

"Loyalty cannot be blueprinted. It cannot be produced on an assembly line. In fact, it cannot be manufactured at all, for its origin is the human heart-the center of self-respect and human dignity. It is a force which leaps into being only when conditions are exactly right for it-and it is a force very sensitive to betrayal."

Maurice R. Franks

As a social worker, I am committed, devoted, and truthful to the goals of my work. The core of those goals come from my deep beliefs in serving and working with an intent to empower, advocate, and make unheard voices heard.

I am and have been loyal to many causes, people, and organizations. I have stood up, when noone else would, because I believed I recognized soul, integrity, and truthfulness.

Lately, my interpretations of who and what is honorable has proven to be skewed. Suddenly, I find myself on the 'pulpit', hoping to uphold truths and purpose, and those I am standing up for, are not there...they have missed the plot.

I am standing on uncertain ground. My core will continue to pursue the value of real and hopeful intent. My vulnerability in owning that, provides fear and sadness. The only consistency is my internal intuition and compass of morality.

Tweaking Chapters...

photo by grassrootsmsw
Casco Viejo, Panama

"The interval between the decay of the old and the formation and the establishment of the new, constitutes a period of transition which must always necessarily be one of uncertainty, confusion, error, and wild and fierce fanaticism."

John C. Calhoun

Extracting the abstract...

photo by grassrootsmsw

"That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect."

Kate Chopin

Weathered and Stained...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“People have scars in all sorts of unexpected places, like secret road maps of their personal histories; diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our wounds heal, leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don’t. Some wounds we carry with us everywhere and though the cut is long gone, the pain still lingers.”

Grey’s Anatomy

Metamorphosis

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Beauty is the moment of transition,
as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Providence

photo by grassrootsmsw
Solana Beach, CA

“There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence, in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song - but in this dance, or in this song, there are fulfilled ancient rites of our conscience in the awareness of being human and of believing in a common destiny.”

Pablo Neruda

Perimeters

photo by grassrootsmsw

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

The Wilderness

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Why wilderness?

Because we like the taste of freedom;

because we like the smell of danger.”

Edward Abbey

We walk forwards…
through and towards,
the haze and mystery
of our undetermined futures’.

Obstacles
of the past,
and
STILL,
the present;
veering the route.

These hurdles
stimulate
our self protective natures’.

Avoidance and denial…
possessing our being,
yet
asking us,
to dare and risk
facing our own truths
and
contradictions.

We can attempt to
forestall,
evade,
conceal,
or RUN
to escape.

Still,
the wilderness
calls out…
prompting our
id,
ego,
super-ego, and
our cosmology,
to ANSWER.

This territory
is the
exclusive and
private wilderness,
of each and every
INDIVIDUAL.

It is
asking,
inducing, and
triggering
the frontier
of our own creation,
to be
AWAKENED.

-grassrootsmsw-

Resolution

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Any tool you use is legitimate. The key to the tool is whether it has the dimensions to deal with what have become your questions. I consider art as a thought form more than anything else”

Robert Irwin

Tangled

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”

Agnes de Mille

Changes...
thrusting forward,
fast paced,
breath taking,
altering,
shifting.

Our reality,
once known,
is now filled with
the imbalance
of not knowing.

The mind
muddled, cluttered, overflowing...
the heart filled with
gratitude, pride, hope,
and fear.

Where does one start
the untangling?

How does one re-establish
the equilibrium?

One tangle at a time...
slowly, gently, and
with care.

Each tangle is waiting,
for the depth and beauty
of it's purpose...
to be discovered and seen.

All in time...
All in time.

-grassrootsmsw

Tender potency

photo by grassrootsmsw

"The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world."
Lao-Tzu

Sometimes, the most painful decisions, come from one’s deepest tenderness…

Hard and soft…all at once…

-grassrootsmsw-

Thrive

photo by grassrootsmsw

“We are all broken and wounded in this world…some choose to grow strong at the broken places.”

Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt

Chi...

photo by grassrootsmsw
Schiermonikoog, NL

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use.”

Carlos Castaneda

Happy Friday!

photo by J.A.S.

“We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?”

Grey’s Anatomy

May your weekends let the inner child come out and play! We can always be adults on Monday, again...

-grassrootsmsw

Admission vs. Closure

photo by grassrootsmsw
Haren, NL

“There are things known, and there are things unknown, and in between are the Doors.”

Jim Morrison

When we are confronted with uncontrolled CHANGE,
we still have CHOICE.

Our basic human instincts,
will initially leave us kicking and screaming...
"Get me out of this foreign territory...
Keep things the way they were!"

The ground underneath us shifts.
We want immediate solutions
to bring safety and assurance.

Our best and worst
coping mechanisms,
present themselves...
Front and Center.

The DOORS
offer a right of entry...
Admission to something that can be
altered,
modified,
variated,
transformed,
and maybe,
just maybe,
Revolutionized.

We have the choice
to believe and trust...
or just,
Walk away.

It is,
all about CHOICE.

-grassrootsmsw-

Stella's blessings...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace…only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.”

Anne Lamott

Vitality

photo by grassrootsmsw

“Here something blooms;

from out of a silent crevice

an unknowing weed emerges,

singing into existence.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

Thoroughfares...

photo by grassrootsmsw

“At the end of all the roads,
there is only a sound-life
that does everything;
and a silent-life,
that becomes everything.”

Sri Chinmoy