Saturday, December 31, 2016

Approaching this New Year and potential Darkness...

Approaching New Year's I always think of this poem.  But this year it seems to have a special verve.

 I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.”


~ 1908, by Minnie Louise Haskins, who taught at the London School of Economics





10 comments:

  1. Thank you, Listener. ♥

    Let's shake the dust of this lousy, rotten, stinking year off our feet! My only fear is that next year will be worse.

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    1. I hear you, Cat. We are the older generation now. We have to BE the light that leads each other out of the coming darkness. Hang on tight.

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  2. The right is emboldened, yes. But it’s not in the ascendancy [Click] Gary Younge
    "We must draw comfort from the fact that people on both sides of the Atlantic have not rejected the chance of a better world. They haven’t yet been offered one"

    The lead photograph is one of the greatest ones ever--it clearly communicates the fear of the armored storm troopers confronted by a slight, unarmed, unaggressive young woman--weakness vs. strength, cowardice vs. character.

    --Alan

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  3. Happy New Year, everybody. Be like a duck. Calm on the surface but paddling like mad underneath. We're going to be okay, we'll make it so.

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  4. Happy New Year! Nurse Teri became a grandmother on the 31st! :-D

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  5. I use fluticasone nasal spray for my chronic rhinosinusitis. I'm fine with the idea of topical steroids, although oral steroids are something you have to be careful with.

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  6. Looks like the New Year thread is late posting. I had intended this to be the first message there. Anyway, Happy New Year, everyone! I toasted in the new year with a glass of very fine oloroso sherry, so at least the year started well.

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    1. I toast with you in spirit, Bill.

      Alan

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  7. Yes, that is true, Bill; I will retain the fluticasone as a potential remedy, but first will try at least one non-steroidal alternative, because whatever remedy I end up with will probably be used on a chronic basis. Once in a while, no problem--all the time, possible problem, I think. The list of potential adverse effects in the FDA circular disturbs me.

    Alan

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