Ok, like many of you, I have had it. I confess. I quit. I’m worn down. 45 and his gang of mind marauders have done me in.
Not my spirit, but my attention.
So starting this week, no more 45. My protest is going to be devoted to anything worthy of our attention. And my hope is that we can sustain one another this way.
Always the context is, of course, the Despots and the Cowards of Congress, but our days will be no longer wasted on what we can’t do a damn or holy thing about.
I had lots of responses to last week’s post, many of which wondered what the coach and his family had to say about it. So I asked their permission to offer their comments to you and they said,
“Take absolutely anything.”
So here is some of what they had to say. Oh, and one correction: I neglected to say that Coach Morehouse achieved 600 wins faster than any coach in history from any division. Now, what coaches come to mind? Rupp? Wooden? Summitt? Krzyzewski, Smith? Knight? Nope. It was Brian Morehouse. And his daughter, Meg, plays as a first year player on his team.
Here Coach/Dad’s own words:
Delicate balancing act. Sometimes the coach’s kid gets the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes she’s held to an unrealistic expectation.
What we really need is for Jack and Meg to hang out as coaches’ kids 🤔😁
Today is a new day. We are one more ACL tear into our season, coach thinks a new offense will work, assistants think and think and think, and meanwhile somewhere in England or Rome or Munich or Shanghei, no one gives a shit if we win or lose. So coach goes to work early because, well, you have to win the next one.
And from wife/mother Liz:
A coach — always the topic of conversation.
No matter where his wife sits…..
by the parents–my kid doesn’t play,
by some fans–your daughter should play more,
by [others]–the player needs to shoot more,
she needs to stand up faster,
the coach needs to give her an opportunity.
The player hears her teammates and wants to fit in,
the player wants to please her dad.
The Dad wants to play her more,
the dad’s ability to access her talent is blurred in all directions–playing her too much, not enough.
They win together. They lose together.
TOGETHER~Yes, win/lose let’s stay together. Till next week with a whole new, kinda, approach
Aubade for Today
When the morning comes,
that’s when you can do
what the morning hopes
you will do. You don’t
have to. If you do
though, it will then
all change. And it will
be noon and time for
a sandwich, or you might
keep going until the moon.
–Jack Ridl
We are working at rescheduling the reading at The BookNook & Java Shop in Montague thanks to the kindness of owner Bryan Uecker.
On Valentines Day at The Bookman In Grand Haven there will be a heart-fun reading with Greg Rappleye, Jane Bach, D.R. James, and moi.
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Visit Reader’s World or Hope-Geneva Bookstore in Holland, The Bookman in Grand Haven, the Michigan News Agency in Kalamazoo, and The Book Nook & Java Shop in Montague to find Jack’s books in West Michigan.
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Click here for Jack’s entire collection, In Time — poems for the current administration.
Jack on And Then Suddenly podcast by Angela Santillo.
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Jack at Fetzer Institute on Kindness.
Jack at Fetzer Institute on Everyday Forgiveness.
Jack at Fetzer Institute on Empathy.
Jack Ridl at Fetzer Institute on Suffering and Love.
Beyond Meaning with Jack Ridl, C3: West Michigan’s Spiritual Connection
Oh Jack, dear Jack…I’m so relieved. And in agreement with this change. This “switching of gears”. We will still be riding in the same democracy vehicle but definitely in a different gear. Well done. You’re still standing after three years of this particular approach to disagreement. You had a choice to continue or realign. Ya got a good ‘picker’, Jack Ridl. Choices keep us from throwing our wrinkled hands in the air and giving up. I love choices. I love you. Yes indeed, well done dear poet friend.
XXXOOO
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Sandy,
On a rough day here, you have lifted my spirits, fused my heart. There is so
much loving understanding in your message. My gratitude I send out
through the snowflakes and into your great good heart.
I am with you on 45! I no longer listen to the news, except local news.
We are buddies, Chris. in this. And I believe that turning away, we make
a new culture, one that souls such as yours deserve to thrive within.
Hugs
This post is a much needed love song on this day, in this week, and in this epoch, Jack. I’m heartened to have it.
Sent a manuscript to MSU this week—with fingers crossed!
Thank you, Alex. Astonishing how many response similar to yours that
I have received. Time to turn and do what we can to create a culture
where we can heal our hearts and be daily who we are and give the
good that we have and where we can thrive in our own quiet ways.
Hugs to you and dear Steph
On a snowy Thursday, your words come as a balm to my fevered brain! By the way – you sent me an email asking if I had an email address for Elizabeth (last name escapes me) and I responded. It looks like that email did not go through to your address so I am just wondering if the email arrived? I do not always believe the Spam folder notifications about emails gone astray. But about the current situation – it is up to me and all of us together to quit listening to the dictator in the WH, or his enablers in the Congress (Senate or House) or indeed the ones who have been elected to Michigan gov’t. Instead listen to the best words. Seek peace and pursue it. Work for the best candidates. Knock doors. Give money. Write postcards. Get people to the polls from now and through November. Miss no election. Ask questions. Pray. Care about what is happening. Care forever.
Linda,
I didn’t receive the address for Elizabeth Rosenow, but I will check spam.
As I red your remarkable comment, I think that I should simply cut and
paste it here as my response! : ) Your passion is contagious! Many thanks!
Amen! I even close my eyes when I eat my daily orange. We do need to pay close enough attention that we hold these assholes accountable – now or in the future.
And Amen back to you dear good Tony. And we must sustain the culture
of goodness that so many of us have created.
Hugs and health hopes always
Jack,You never fail to inspire me with your comments and poetry. This is the best one yet. I agree not to pay attention to 45 anymore, mostly because one Republican vote to convict. Never thought it would be Romney, though. As long as there is one man with integrity willing to stand up for what he believes, all is not lost. I’m not giving up, either! Don’t know how to do that…Leslie
Yes, I would not suggest giving up, just giving up what is ridiculous to attend to.
Attending to the loving worlds we each create and sustain is so important when
living within a dictatorship.
I am so grateful, Leslie, for your wonderful affirmation of this column. It
sure keeps this heart beating.
Hugs
You are more tenacious than I. I am just tired! I need to read and listen to find the good in people, the beautiful around us that keeps us standing up and refusing to harden within. And do I picked up St. Peter again (and again…), and I opened it to “Here.” And – yes. Thank you for that sacred experience of goodness; yours – that you share and bestow and actually plant and re-seed in others.
Blessings to you and Julie, Mimi, and Brent,
Beth
Sent from my iPhone
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Oh dear one, you are doing exactly what we must do at this time: build within the
terrible, the loving, the good, the steadfast care for what gently matters. And
that is your great good heart. It’s so sustaining for me that old Saint Peter
is your companion. What a joy within it all that is. You are a light.
Hugs
I feel exactly the same way Jack. I have had it. I am done. Can’t do it anymore and maintain my mental health. I just told my kids I am turning my focus to nature and do what I can to help sustain its beauty. Nature and my family and friends bring me solace.
Linda, what you are doing is creating a world within a world, a world that we deserve
to live in. Ironically, this is the greatest protest. We must create and sustain a
culture that sustains us, that brings beauty, love, kindness, and and and.
I am so very glad to learn this from dear good you.
Hugs
What time Bookman?
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7pm