It may be freezing outside, but spring is peeking through.
Spring is Peeking Through
Caturday
Marceline awaits Easter.
How or Why and Peace of Mind
Last night I dashed out to the local CVS to get some candy. I admit it. A quick trip, three miles or less.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a car, different make but similar style and color to mine, parked in the same corner I was headed. Then I noticed something else. The license plate number was almost identical, save for one number. Instead of an eight, hers was a zero.
A second later the driver of this car appeared. An attractive yet otherwise unremarkable young woman carrying a prescription and another small bag (maybe candy, who knows?). Yet it got me to thinking.
What if she’d just robbed the place? In the rush and panic that would ensue, what if someone mistook my car for hers?
Now that’s my active imagination, no doubt. Here’s the problem: these things do happen. Given that she had long blonde hair and was clearly a good twenty years younger than me, chances are I wouldn’t suffer the worst. Still, in the world we live in today, I could.
The odds are worse for minorities, and we’ve all seen the stories. I remember one particularly troubling report on a news magazine, perhaps Dateline, of a man who was imprisoned for nearly 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Some might say, well, maybe he didn’t commit that crime, but surely he was guilty of something just as bad. Only in this case, there was no evidence of that.
He could have gotten out on parole years earlier if he’d confessed and shown remorse, but he refused, saying the only thing he had left was his name. I hope he was able to find peace once he was released, but odds were still against him after all those years of incarceration.
I hope others helped him find dignity, because he’d lived a long time without it.
We learn when we’re young that life isn’t fair. Yet we can’t live life with a constant awareness of our alibi for that moment or our excuse for doing something others might find odd. That, in and of itself, is going to raise red flags for some.
Why are our lives at times devoid of justice and peace? I don’t know. I don’t understand the imbalance in the world. But I do believe in a God who is just, even if we can’t comprehend how or why.
And that’s my peace of mind.
Photo Credit: ©Anna – stock.adobe.com
Help in an Abyss
A woman I worked with is being abused by her boyfriend. I can’t help her.
She came into work with an injured wrist and a bruised face. She laughed off the injuries with semi-plausible excuses, but when I saw her today, she had no excuse for her two black eyes.
“I’m worried about you,” I told her.
“I’m okay,” she said.
But she’s not okay. She has an infant son along with two preschoolers and struggles financially even with her boyfriend’s help. I’m guessing she feels trapped.
I don’t know if she’s someone who needs a man in her life, or if she simply longs for a happy family. Along with her three little ones, he brings two older children, and she loves all of them.
She is a good person who is allowing someone to beat her for reasons I can only guess. I want her to go to school, even if it’s just to get a certificate in some marketable skill. I want her to break away from this abusive man and find someone who will treasure her.
It hurts. I can’t help her, but I can be her friend, and stand by her when she decides she’s not going to take it any more. I hope soon she finds the strength to believe there is a way out of this abyss in which she’s trapped. I pray soon she seeks the help she needs.
Image Credit: © Bigstock
We Were the Lucky Ones (a brief review)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s unusual for me to do a book review, but this is an unusual book.
Perhaps it is my own Polish — and nominally Jewish — background that brought this story home for me. It is a fascinating tale, told with love, compassion and raw truth. Meticulously researched, the heartbreak and strength of the Holocaust survivors is made real in both emotion and circumstance. I feared the details would be too difficult to read, but the spirit of the characters brings hope to their story. I was compelled to read it — and I’m glad I did.
It’s based on a true story, and the core of it is absolute: they were the lucky ones. But luck means something different in the middle of a war.
My World With Words 
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