Gone but not forgotten

Challenge accepted.

Listening and understanding a wise person is just darn invigorating. Like a mini baptism. Haven’t yet done the hard work, but ready, willing and able to put in the time. And do the

Hard Time. The hard way.

The Hards Times. Are what make us. But what about the loved ones who left here before us. Do you ever stop to think about what they would think about the,

Now. The here and now.

Stepping up to the plate whether it be inside, outside, full or finished with crumbs is always worth a second thought. Not in the interest of the dwelling.

”Under Attack” takes on a whole new meaning. Weapons of warfare are just about everywhere around us. And some folks are simply not afraid to use them at their disposal, any of them, on any of anyone, at any time. Good times. Bad times.

Survival of the fittest?

You betcha.

How would you know if you were a little crazy? Or a whole lotta crazy? I know what I think. And will happily take you on any minute of any day. I am really not afraid to look crazy. But I will explain the differences in my mind’s eye. And invite you to go ahead and laugh at me as much as you wish. Wish.

Just today, this early morning, one of the wise person(s) I seek out to listen to spoke about “wish”. But it was in a broader context. Steadfastly used the word “covet ness” to be precise.

If you happen to run across a practicing Catholic person, to covet is one of the Ten Commandments. As in. Don’t do it. There are various forms of the word covet. For me, I got the point straight away. Have spent a moment or two of my youth sitting in a pew.

The various forms of covet include: ache, crave, desiderate, desire, hanker(🙃), hunger, itch, jones,(😳)long, lust, pant(🐶), pine, repine, salivate(😋) sigh, thirst, want, wish, yearn, yen.

Time to wake up.

Covet is a strong envious desire. To wish for earnestly, To desire what belongs to another. The words listed above are a few of the ways to get there.

Unfortunately, there are others, as well. But to clarify:

Want, wish, covet, crave, desire all define a longing for. Crave specifically meaning a force of physical appetite or need. Wish specifically meaning the longing for the unattainable. Desire specifically meaning a strong intention or aim.

Deliberately means to do so on purpose. With a purpose. Intentionally. Oftentimes, the behavior takes root in childhood, oh say with slippery socks, a push of another that proved fruitful, a whisper in the ear of a friend to knock the blocks down of another—and to see how they react—a push back, a cry to their mommy or daddy, or a shrug of the shoulders (God not far behind those shoulders, mind you—but we did not always understand this while young.)

And even as adults, we do not understand the best reaction is to shrug and walk away. “In it to win it!, “You betcha”, we think.

IT IS So very easy to forget what the fight is all about, because the fight is everywhere around us. If I see another adult flip the bird at another adult, I will not think I am the crazy one after all. You see, continually providing slack to such persons has a very high price. One we are all finding out the costs of now.

So, to pick your poison also means the same thing as to pick your way to covet, but hey, keep it under wraps so no one knows, thinks you are the crazy one and the other more crazy person is to be on the bus to the looney bin. Or the bin, bin for dump off. And looking over our own shoulders can sometimes make us seem, well, crazy.

Where am I going with all this? There is an old, and gross phrase, “You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you cannot pick your friend’s nose.” Ick.

But you can be a good one. A good friend. Pick good friends. Sometimes easy. Sometimes not easy.

One dear friend who left this earth too soon, taught me a lot about friendship. Wasn’t perfect. But the friendship was low maintenance and high regard, for each and one another.

A friendship borne in youth and neighborhood that was just plain easy and fun. Easy and fun to be around one another. I miss the person dearly. Whenever I visit the final resting place of my friend, I pray, high five the beautiful picture left of their beautiful smile, and tell her I will see her again, both at this final resting place and hopefully “up there” too. (I am still working hard down here to earn a place up there). In heaven and earth.

You see, what happened, a quiet war was quietly ravaging inside of her. Through teens, young adulthood and middle age, joyous times occurred, challenges and silly problems too. But then, a cancer began to grow and ravage inside. In much too short a time, when it became time to seek help and attention, it was too late. The illness had grown too strong inside. Although it was not a cancer to “catch”, an infection to not catch, an illness to spread to another to weaken them. It nonetheless dreadfully could weaken the spirit.

There are no words. However, my friends’s strength was. Infectious. And graceful. Showing strength and grace in the face of tragedy is not easy to pull off. But because she was who she was, she pulled it off. There were no words. Seeing a person so young and full of life unable to walk because of the effects of the cancer remain etched in my mind.

That is why I get out and walk.

And you should too. If not for yourself. Than for another. We all have so much to share, even if and when we think we do not. Instead of whispering a non-truth or a mean-fib into the ear of another. To covet what they have, to deliberately desiderate on the weakness of a person, a family.

Take a walk.

It’ll hopefully recalibrate the thought process of what is important. And help to see we have all that we need. God gives us all we need. We just need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves or another with our “wants.”

Do you want to laugh with the sinners or cry with the saints. Your choice. Your move.

I will leave you with this poem about the “rules” of friendship, as well as some of the rewards:

Friendship needs no studied phrases,

Polished face, or winning wiles,

Friendship deals no lavish praises,

Friendship dons no surface smiles.

Friendship follows Nature’s diction,

Shuns the blandishments of art,

Boldly severs truth from fiction,

Speaks the language of the heart.

Friendship favors no condition,

Scorns a narrow-minded creed,

Lovingly fulfills its mission,

Be it word or be it deed.

Friendship cheers the faint and weary,

Makes the timid spirit brave,

Warns the erring, lights the dreary,

Smooths the passage to the grave.

Friendship—pure, unselfish friendship,

All through life’s allotted span,

Nurtures, strengthens, widens, lengthens,

Man’s relationship with man.

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