Some people never change. And some change constantly. Me, I change in these small bursts irregularly spaced through out my life. Not all change is good, nor is it bad. And I've had chunks of both. Some people don't want you to change, even if it is better for you to do so. And maybe those people don't want to be "your people" anymore. They may not like the newer you, and sometimes the newer you may not like them anymore. Sometimes the parting is mutual, but usually it is not. So, I have changed a lot through my life, both for the better and for the worse. I have lost some good people and shed some bad. Ultimately I am the sum of my experiences, but "non sum qualis eram", loosely translated "I am not who I once was". And that, my dear, is simply reality. And I choose to see it.
Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts
Monday, June 12, 2017
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
The Smallness of the World
Coincidence? Or not. You be the judge.
There are these ideas of "pay it forward" and "random acts of kindness". I try to participate in these when I can. But this isn't about tooting my own horn. This isn't about me at all. It's about the how it all happened. So in that spirit....
I try to make it a habit that when I donate to someone I know on Go Fund Me, I find a stranger to donate to also. I don't chose someone haphazardly, usually I look through the creative category or the "near me" filter. I scan the funds and find something that resonates with me. A dancer with a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey school. An independent film maker invited to show at a film festival in Europe. A woman with health issues living in my city fixing an old car as therapy (same model car as the first car I bought).
This time I start with the "near me" filter and scan through several pages, click on a handful of "read more" buttons, looking for one that just "feels right". The only thing that makes me click on this particular one is their first name...Kitten. Not strictly local, it's in SF...but close enough to check out anyway. A story of starting over, in a safe place, away from an unsafe situation. It stirs enough in me to check out any links to get a further feel of "rightness". There is a link to a Facebook account, so I click and read about his story, snooping through the public posts. There is a lot of love and support being offered and appreciated, so far so good, but I'm still not convinced this is the "right" one. I see a comment, a rather blunt one, in a tough-love kind of way. It's from a person with a very common last name, but a little unusual of a first name. It is also the name of someone I was acquainted with (but not FB friends with), funny that there might be two of them. I don't for a second think it might actually be the same person. But then I glance at the "Friends" list and see that Kitten and I do have a mutual friend. And because of how small the world is, and because our mutual friend once did a cancer run event in my honor, and because our mutual friend passed away much too young, and because I went to a memorial service this past weekend for another woman who passed away much too young because of cancer, I give a small donation to help Kitten with his new life.
Life is not a Disney ride
There are these ideas of "pay it forward" and "random acts of kindness". I try to participate in these when I can. But this isn't about tooting my own horn. This isn't about me at all. It's about the how it all happened. So in that spirit....
I try to make it a habit that when I donate to someone I know on Go Fund Me, I find a stranger to donate to also. I don't chose someone haphazardly, usually I look through the creative category or the "near me" filter. I scan the funds and find something that resonates with me. A dancer with a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey school. An independent film maker invited to show at a film festival in Europe. A woman with health issues living in my city fixing an old car as therapy (same model car as the first car I bought).
This time I start with the "near me" filter and scan through several pages, click on a handful of "read more" buttons, looking for one that just "feels right". The only thing that makes me click on this particular one is their first name...Kitten. Not strictly local, it's in SF...but close enough to check out anyway. A story of starting over, in a safe place, away from an unsafe situation. It stirs enough in me to check out any links to get a further feel of "rightness". There is a link to a Facebook account, so I click and read about his story, snooping through the public posts. There is a lot of love and support being offered and appreciated, so far so good, but I'm still not convinced this is the "right" one. I see a comment, a rather blunt one, in a tough-love kind of way. It's from a person with a very common last name, but a little unusual of a first name. It is also the name of someone I was acquainted with (but not FB friends with), funny that there might be two of them. I don't for a second think it might actually be the same person. But then I glance at the "Friends" list and see that Kitten and I do have a mutual friend. And because of how small the world is, and because our mutual friend once did a cancer run event in my honor, and because our mutual friend passed away much too young, and because I went to a memorial service this past weekend for another woman who passed away much too young because of cancer, I give a small donation to help Kitten with his new life.
Life is not a Disney ride
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