The Parting Glass ~ by Liam Clancy

 

 

The Parting Glass 

~ by Liam Clancy ~

//////// 🇮🇪 🇮🇪 🇮🇪 ////////

 ... and may joy be with you !

 

The Last 4 Years ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

The Last 4 Years 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~

FC ===> The last four years are in the category of life experiences. They are neither good or bad, as they are simply events from which other events will emerge.

HG ===> FC, ... Sometimes, I can't swallow neither "good" nor "bad" despite the connectivity between them. But right now, it feels like a respite from whatever situation we've been in; and I'm aware things could change back. I'm thinking positive thoughts to maintain my current state of calm and tranquility.

FC ===> Changing back is impossible, and it's not desirable either.
Change is the constant, let's adapt to it.  😉

HG ===> FC, ... You are right, of-course, 'changing back' is not a plausible concept.  I should have chosen my words carefully.  What I was striving to get across is the idea of a reversal of direction, i.e. going backward instead of forward as in physical motion.

Despite the futility of attempts to affect 'change', as humans, we never tire of trying ... we think and believe that under similar sets of conditions, similar outcomes can be achieved again and again.  But isn't that what scientists believe in when they keep trying to simulate a situation?  Politicians want to take us back to a former time (e.g.- MAGA).  Then, on the other hand, there are those who want to move us forward to a utopia of sorts, and they don't want their idea of 'a perfect world' to change.  

The whole point of my post is to state that I did not particularly like our experiences of the last 4 years, and my subjective prognostication for the years ahead is :  relief and continued improvement.  We'll see !!! 🤔 

 

Most Impressive ! ~ by TPO

 

Most Impressive ! 

~ by TPO ~

This young Ethiopian gal competed in Norway's version of "Idol" ....
~ At the end, she does the "Eskesta", the Ethiopian crazy dance !
~ She is a free spirit !!!~
💚 💛 ❤️  🇳🇴  🇪🇹

   

               

A Smile Multiplied! ~ by Anonymous

 

 

A Smile Multiplied!
~by Anonymous~ 

 Someone gave me a smile today.
I tried my best to give it away
to everyone I chanced to meet,
as I walked down the street.

But everyone that I could see,
gave my smile right back to me.
When I got home, besides my smile,
I had enough to reach a mile.

 

About the Unresolved ... About Doubt ~ by Rainer Maria Rilke

 

About the Unresolved ... About Doubt 

~  by Rainer Maria Rilke ~

~ I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

~ Your doubt may become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become critical. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perplexed and embarrassed perhaps, or perhaps rebellious. But don’t give in, insist on arguments and act this way, watchful and consistent, every single time, and the day will arrive when from a destroyer it will become one of your best workers — perhaps the cleverest of all that are building at your life.
 

An Uneasy Moment ! ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

An Uneasy Moment ! 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~ 

I'm not sure how the following memory bits just floated to the surface of my consciousness.  Yet, it is neither probable nor even possible that they could ever have been erased completely!

I was maybe six-years of age at the time, tops.  I had just been worshiping with my father at our neighborhood's St. Marcos Orthodox Church in Sidist Kilo, Addis Ababa.  It was not only an important bonding moment between father and son, it was also, for me, a first serious introduction and immersion in our family's religion, the Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox Christian Church.

My father had coached me on what I was expected to do at the end of the grueling hour-and-a-half long prayer and hymnals called Kidassé (ቅዳሴ ).   So, as is customary to most Christian churches, what came next was the Eucharist or Holy Communion.  I approached the priests and mimicking my dad, I received the sacraments without a hitch.  Then, my dad and I exited the church and walked out into the warm and deliciously sunny morning air.

We came out of the church's compound and headed home. Not even five minutes later, as we were walking up the concrete side-walk, my father noticed the fidgety discomfort and fear on my face.  He stopped and, bending down, examined me closer.  He asked me what was wrong and if I was ill or something.  

I must have looked more guilty as I tried to respond, but words  couldn't come out of my mouth.  My dad looked sternly at me, and all I could do was open my mouth wide and point inside with my finger.  I shall never forget the shock and fright that fell over my father's face.  He dropped to his knees, and made several signs of the cross with his right hand.  He looked at me with the greatest worry and  care, then ordered me to chew and swallow immediately the Holy Host that was lodged in my mouth.  As I was doing that, he prayed fiercely and hurried us home.  He instructed me to stay inside the house all day that day, no questions asked.  Meanwhile, he said he was going to go back to the church and get some Holy Water for my protection.  Then he dashed out of the house, loudly mumbling prayers in Geez, which he could speak better than many priests.

So, that Sunday, that whole day, I was incarcerated at home after drinking the Holy Water that my beloved dad brought.  Every moment was fearful as I stayed alert for any signs of Evil.  None came.  I believe I have been blessed even up till this day !

~~~~ /// ~~~~

Pranked big time ! ~ by TPO

 

Pranked big time ! 

~ by TPO ~

 

 

" Leaning on the Everlasting Arms " ~ Iris Dement

 

❤️  " Leaning on the Everlasting Arms " ❤️

~ by  Iris Dement  ~ 

  

 

Nibble and Gnaw ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

 Nibble and Gnaw ~ by Hénock Gugsa 

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Here It Comes ~ by C T R

 

Here It Comes

 ~ by C T R ~

"Here It Comes" - by Chance the Rapper