Tag Archives: change

June 4, 2015 · 11:23 pm

All created in God’s image

There is no crying in baseball. Everyone who has viewed A League of Their Own knows that.

There should also be no racism in baseball. Or at least as little racism as possible. And there certainly should not be racism in teams names, mascot, and imagery.

For that reason I, who have owned a home in Cleveland Heights since 1985, believe it is time for the Cleveland baseball team to change its name and mascot.

I was delighted to see, and honored to sign, a petition to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and the Paul Nolan, the CEO of the Cleveland team.

The petition, started by Toni Buffalo, a Lakota person of faith and a member of the United Church of Christ and posted under the name of the the Justice & Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ states:

Our faith tradition teaches us that we are all created in God’s image. Holding on to racist images and inappropriate names only serves to injure our common humanity and to disfigure God’s image in all of us.

I urge you use your power to change the name of the Cleveland baseball team and to eliminate the use of its current mascot, Chief Wahoo.

Amen.

I signed. I hope you will too.

It is time for this change.

It is past time.

See you along the Trail.

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May 14, 2015 · 6:59 pm

Smoke stack

Soot-stained
it stands;
once busily
belching smoke
over a bustling plant;
now a solitary, silent
witness
to the days
when sugar was king.

14 May 2015
Maui, Hawai’i

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May 6, 2015 · 11:56 pm

Change must I

Like a poorly working neon light
that flickers sporadically off, then on,
while rain beads on the window pane,
the awareness flashes across my consciousness
then fades.

Things
must
change.

Change
must
I.

Not for a moment,
not for a season,
but for now and for always.

Change
must
I.

3 May 2015
Atlanta, Georgia

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December 6, 2014 · 5:05 am

The long goodbye

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
in the marrow of my bones
I know.

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
partly me,
partly you.

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
too much said and done,
undone, unsaid.

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
too many years,
not enough tears.

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
what is, is and
will be.

Nothing would have happened,
nothing changed,
and yet,
in the morning’s wee hours
I wish I had tried
before you began the endless slide
into the long goodbye.

6 December 2014
Manhattan, New York

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August 28, 2014 · 4:54 pm

Reenter the past

Memories rise,
unexpected, unbidden:
haunted, haunting specters
from days before.

Ancient pains recur;
old wounds ache, ooze;
what was, and what was not,
pierces the heart.

Old patterns emerge,
crystallize, gain strength,
seeking to shape behavior
yet again.

Old habits appear,
shatter new resolutions
with ease,
reasserting former ways.

All occur as we
cross the threshold
of once-lived places,
reentering the past.

28 August 2014
Cleveland Heights, OH

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August 28, 2014 · 4:34 pm

New creation

The facade cracks,
slowly falls away.
The truth,
only the truth,
painful, wrenching truth
remains.
Naked, vulnerable,
do we
retreat to old pretenses,
erect new falsehoods,
renew delusions?
Or do we dare
open ourselves to
resurrection,
new creation?

28 August 2014
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

 

 

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October 18, 2013 · 11:03 pm

The day

Tomorrow
becomes
tomorrow
becomes
tomorrow.

Day follows day
like pages
turning in a book.

Tomorrow
becomes
tomorrow
becomes
tomorrow.

Until tomorrow
becomes today,
becomes the day,
and we act.

18 October 2013
Shire near the Hudson, New York

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May 11, 2013 · 12:20 am

Friday ride to work

I watch from the subway platform
as below, the workers
disembowel what remains of
my dry cleaning store. Piece by
piece they remove the innards
making way for who knows what.
The other would-be passengers
stir restlessly on the platform.
Then I see him.
Leaning against the railing,
eyes closed, he thrusts his face
expectantly toward the sky
trying to absorb every ray
of the early morning sun.
The moment breaks as the platform
begins to vibrate, signalling the
approach of the train. The doors open.
As I enter, Brother Willie comes on my iPod.

11 May 2013
125th Station

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April 10, 2013 · 10:54 pm

Now that the Shire has sold

Now that the Shire has sold,
concern,
frustration, and
anger melt as icicles in winter sun.
Warm,
bright,
life-giving memory
washes over me as summer sun.
Moments fill my heart,
people, beloved people, dance across my soul.
Sadness dissipates.
Joy suffuses.
And I know
it was good.
It is good.

10 April 2013
DL 4065

 

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March 30, 2013 · 3:08 am

Not the same

Watching movies on a plane usually does not work for me. I fall asleep or just give up from boredom.

But Asiana flight 222 from Incheon to New York takes a long time. Long time. I decided to give it a try.

I went with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I had seen it at Christmas with Tricia and Eric. I knew the plot, more or less, and I will buy a copy when it comes out on DVD. If I fell asleep, little would be lost.

It worked. I watched the whole movie. Some of the special effects and scenery were a bit lost on the small airplane seat screen, but it held my attention. I enjoyed it.

A snippet of dialogue from a scene where Gandalf urges Bilbo to journey with Thorin Oakenshield and the others on their adventure to the Lonely Mountain stood out for me:

Bilbo: Can you promise that I will come back?

Gandalf: No. And if you do , you’ll not be the same.

That is the way of adventures in fiction and in the real world. Whatever else happens, we are changed. The change may be obvious. We may have to ponder long and discern carefully the change. But change there is.

I have had adventures in the Republic of Korea. I have, in the words of Tolkien, gone there and back again.

I have new knowledge. I have made new friends. I am not the same. Of course I am still processing the knowledge and I need to discern what other changes there may be. Interesting days lie ahead.

See you along the Trail.

 

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