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This will be the last column I am indulged to pen for the Cook County News Herald. The time has come, not by volition but by submission, to quiet the opposing voice under carefully cast malignment.
Since my first “Letter to the Editor,” in March of 2014, I have been privileged to lend my voice in hopes it, in some way, might produce enough discussion venues that those with minority views might feel freer to express their opinions, thereby broadening public discourse and adding new perspectives to everyday discussion of various issues.
That first “letter to the editor,” some seven years ago, began with these words, “What a person writes – and often says in conversation – is best understood in context.” Unfortunately, as a society, context and syntax bear little resemblance to their former selves.
As our daughter, Jessa, expressed, “there are 360 degrees to a story, and I am the kind to spin myself silly to see ALL the views.”
In the words of controversial and imaginative prose writer Henry Miller (1891-1980), “Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, then to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”
“Cherish the moments.” It is among the many things our dear departed daughter taught me.
Georges Duhamel (1884-1966), French author and public orator who promoted the idea of a civilization built on the human heart rather than technological progress, held, “We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory.” I have personally found it is very often in remembering moments, that we find our salvation.
Other lessons learned from Jessa’s writings …
“know what you value”
“believe, even when circumstances say otherwise”
“bore down through the lies to mine truth”
“maintain reverence for the sacred”
“be divinely aware”
“nurture relationships”
“savor eclectic foods”
“seek adventure”
“be grateful”
“express your creativity” “live deeply”
“live authentically”
“live without regret”
“It costs you to stand up and speak out”
“somethings in life live only in the past”
“choose to forgive”
“love God with all your heart, soul and mind”
“stay the waves”
“smile broadly and sing”
A heartfelt thank you to executive publisher, Jeremy Gulban, and editor, Brian Larsen, for your advocacy and forbearance.
And to you, as habitual or casual reader—both those who resonated with the content of the column and those who recoiled at its reading—I leave you with a discerning footnote from Jessa: “life is not solitary but crowded with hope.”
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