Learning

     David Von Drehle, an opinion writer for The Washington Post was in a conversation with his daughter about her college philosophy assignment regarding two ancient Stoics. He writes about that conversation: "Stoicism is too often misunderstood to mean surrendering to helplessness. As I heard it in my daughter’s reading, the philosophy taught almost the polar opposite: a radical embrace of individual responsibility. Stoicism puts its students into a given circumstance and issues a challenge: Do the best you can. Here’s a billion dollars: What good can you do with it? Here’s cancer: What dignity can you mine from it? Here’s fame: What humility can you foster through it? Here’s grief: What compassion can you learn from it?"

      "Here’s grief: What compassion can you learn from it?"  Reading that led me to ask "What have I learned from my sojourn in the land of grief?" Have I become more compassionate? I hope so. Certainly I've learned to take less for granted, be more intentional about relationships and, I hope, less judgmental.

       Cemeteries have always fascinated me. That's no less true now that there is one in which my name is found. Twice I've visited that cemetery, where Joanne reposes, today. It was a stop on my morning walk and also an afternoon destination.  It's a bit surprising to me how much comfort I find in those visits.

    So, what have you learned from your grief? What do you need to ask of a loved one before it's too late?

Takk for alt,

Al