Pilgrimage

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Tom Bolton

Cover of "Thoughts In Solitude"

Cover of Thoughts In Solitude

I shared another blog with this prayer by Thomas Merton earlier this year.  But isn’t this great?

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

― Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

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Ah, the Shaggy Man

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Tom Bolton

The Shaggy Man of Oz

After I finished reading The Road to Oz, by L Frank Baum, I started contemplating on Wednesday that I would like to play the Shaggy Man, in a little theatre presentation of the Road to Oz.  This was after I wrote my short posting yesterday, On the Road to OZ.   I enjoyed the Shaggy Man a good deal, but he was revealed in my mind slowly, and I didn’t really “get” the full character until after I had “encountered” him a few times. As I was looking back over the book some during lunch on Wednesday, I realized that just as it took me many encounters to get fully acquainted with many of the “campers” I have grown to know, so it is with many of the characters in our real and literary worlds.

One of my contemplations (Goals? Fantasies?  Retirement Plans?) is to participate in some amateur theater after I retire.  (Maybe this is one of my okp’s (Off-Kilter Projects) that I wrote about a few weeks ago.  It may keep my brain exercised.)  I know it is good to be off-kilter at least some of the time.

I felt an affinity for the Shaggy man from the start, and he kept calling out to me as I read the book.

Here are some passages from Chapter 19 that I contemplated at lunch on Wednesday:

The shaggy man stood in the great hall, his shaggy hat in his hands, wondering what would become of him.  He had never been a guest in a fine palace before; perhaps he had never been a guest anywhere.  In the big, cold, outside world people did not invite shaggy men to their homes, and this shaggy man of ours had slept more in hay-lofts and stables than in comfortable rooms.  When the others left the great hall he eyed the splendidly dressed servants of the Princess Ozma as if he expected to be ordered out; but one of them bowed before him as respectfully as if he had been a prince, and said:

“Permit me, sir, to conduct you to your apartments.”

The shaggy man drew a long breath and took courage.

“Very well,” he answered.  “I’m ready.”

This reminded me of several of the guests that I have grown to know well, and to love, during my service at the Divine Intervention ministry.  It reminded me of some learning in a Bible study on “home” in 2011.  Until the end, I had never recognized the Shaggy Man as a homeless man.  I saw him only as a wise and good man.  Over time, that is how I came to see a good many other men these past few years.

“Be good enough to enter, sir, and make yourself at home in the rooms our Royal Ozma has ordered prepared for you.  Whatever you see is for you to use and enjoy, as if your own.  The Princess dines at seven, and I shall be here in time to lead you to the drawing-room, where you will be privileged to meet the lovely Ruler of Oz.  Is there any command, in the meantime, with which you desire to honor me?”

“No,” said the shaggy man; “but I’m much obliged.”

He entered the room and shut the door, and for a time stood in bewilderment, admiring the grandeur before him.

I think back to my youth and my young adult-hood and I know that feeling.  I have seen that bewilderment anew these past few years.

For a time the shaggy man gazed upon all this luxury with silent amazement.  Then he decided, being wise in his way, to take advantage of his good fortune.  He removed his shaggy boots and his shaggy clothing, and bathed in the pool with rare enjoyment.  After he had dried himself with the soft towels he went into the dressing-room and took fresh linen from the drawers and put it on, finding that everything fitted him exactly.  He examined the contents of the closets and selected an elegant suit of clothing.  Strangely enough, everything about it was shaggy, although so new and beautiful, and he sighed with contentment to realize that he could now be finely dressed and still be the shaggy man.  His coat was of rose-colored velvet, trimmed with shags and bobtails, with buttons of blood-red rubies and golden shags around the edges.  His vest was a shaggy satin of a delicate cream color, and his knee-breeches of rose velvet trimmed like the coat. Shaggy creamy stockings of silk, and shaggy slippers of rose leather with ruby buckles, completed his costume, and when he was thus attired the shaggy man looked at himself in a long mirror with great admiration.

I have seen these moments too!

Later, in chapter 20,

Now the shaggy man appeared, and so startling was his appearance, all clad in shaggy new raiment, that Dorothy cried “Oh!” and clasped her hands impulsively as she examined her friend with pleased eyes.

“He’s still shaggy, all right,” remarked Button-Bright; and Ozma nodded brightly because she had meant the shaggy man to remain shaggy when she provided his new clothes for him.

Dorothy led him toward the throne, as he was shy in such fine company, and presented him gracefully to the Princess, saying:

“This, your Highness, is my friend, the shaggy man, who owns the Love Magnet.”

There is then a confession, and, I think, some wonderful observations about love and feelings of being loved:

“You are welcome to Oz,” said the girl Ruler, in gracious accents. “But tell me, sir, where did you get the Love Magnet which you say you own?”

The shaggy man grew red and looked downcast, as he answered in a low voice:

“I stole it, your Majesty.”

“Oh, Shaggy Man!” cried Dorothy.  “How dreadful!  And you told me the Eskimo gave you the Love Magnet.”

He shuffled first on one foot and then on the other, much embarrassed.

“I told you a falsehood, Dorothy,” he said; “but now, having bathed in the Truth Pond, I must tell nothing but the truth.”

“Why did you steal it?” asked Ozma, gently.

“Because no one loved me, or cared for me,” said the shaggy man, “and I wanted to be loved a great deal.  It was owned by a girl in Butterfield who was loved too much, so that the young men quarreled over her, which made her unhappy.  After I had stolen the Magnet from her, only one young man continued to love the girl, and she married him and regained her happiness.”

“Are you sorry you stole it?” asked the Princess.

“No, your Highness; I’m glad,” he answered; “for it has pleased me to be loved, and if Dorothy had not cared for me I could not have accompanied her to this beautiful Land of Oz, or met its kind-hearted Ruler.  Now that I’m here, I hope to remain, and to become one of your Majesty’s most faithful subjects.”

“But in Oz we are loved for ourselves alone, and for our kindness to one another, and for our good deeds,” she said.

I love this simple resolution in a children’s book:

“All my people love the Wizard, too,” announced the Princess, laughing; “so we will hang the Love Magnet over the gates of the Emerald City, that whoever shall enter or leave the gates may be loved and loving.”

“That is a good idea,” said the shaggy man; “I agree to it most willingly.”

I think I shall look for a “love magnet” to put in the doorway–perhaps in several doorways, so that all who enter may know they are loved and are loving.

I do want to play the Shaggy Man.  Perhaps I may write an adaptation of the book some time!

No more OZ for a few weeks, my friends!

Back to poetry next Tuesday.  And it is about LOVE.

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On the Road to OZ

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Tom Bolton

Cover of The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum. Desi...

Cover of The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum. Designed by artist John R. Neill. Now out of copyright. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just finished book 5 of the Baum OZ books:  The Road to OZ.  I liked this children’s book quite a good bit.  By the time he wrote this, I think Baum was writing the stories and characters he wanted to write, and returning to OZ only because the market demanded it. Still, I love his creativity.  I’ll never forget the Scoodlers!

Here are some quotes that I enjoyed:

“Where do you expect to get to?” asked Dorothy.

“I’m like Button-Bright. I don’t know,” answered the shaggy man, with a laugh. “But I’ve learned from long experience that every road leads somewhere, or there wouldn’t be any road; so it’s likely that if we travel long enough, my dear, we will come to some place or another in the end.

What place it will be we can’t even guess at this moment, but we’re sure to find out when we get there.”

“Why, yes,” said Dorothy; “that seems reas’n’ble, Shaggy Man.”

——————————————————————

“What’s sov’rin, and what’s c’u’nity?” inquired Button-Bright.

“Don’t ask so many questions, little boy.”

“Why?”

“Ah, why indeed?” exclaimed the captain, looking at Button-Bright admiringly.

“If you don’t ask questions you will learn nothing. True enough. I was wrong. You’re a very clever little boy, come to think of it—very clever indeed. But now, friends, please come with me, for it is my duty to escort you at once to the royal palace.”

——————————————————————————————

I loved the introduction to Johnny Dooit.  I read it while I was donating blood, and the idea really charmed me.  I particularly appreciated that the Shaggy man looked in the water (presumably seeing his reflection) and then felt his anxiety wash away and could sleep.

Long after the others were asleep, however, the shaggy man sat in the starlight by the spring, gazing thoughtfully into its bubbling waters. Suddenly he smiled and nodded to himself as if he had found a good thought, after which he, too, laid himself down under a tree and was soon lost in slumber. ………

“Don’t be too sure of that, my dear,” spoke the shaggy man, a smile on his donkey face. “I may not be able to do magic myself, but I can call to us a powerful friend who loves me because I own the Love Magnet, and this friend surely will be able to help us.”

“Who is your friend?” asked Dorothy.

“Johnny Dooit.”

“What can Johnny do?”

“Anything,” answered the shaggy man, with confidence.

“Ask him to come,” she exclaimed, eagerly.

The shaggy man took the Love Magnet from his pocket and unwrapped the paper that surrounded it. Holding the charm in the palm of his hand he looked at it steadily and said these words:

“Dear Johnny Dooit, come to me.
I need you bad as bad can be.”

“Well, here I am,” said a cheery little voice; “but you shouldn’t say you need me bad, ’cause I’m always, ALWAYS, good.”

A little later we hear Johnny’s wonderful little song.  I may want to memorize this:

Johnny Dooit moved quickly now—so quickly that they were astonished at the work he was able to accomplish. He had in his chest a tool for everything he wanted to do, and these must have been magic tools because they did their work so fast and so well.

The man hummed a little song as he worked, and Dorothy tried to listen to it. She thought the words were something like these:

The only way to do a thing
Is do it when you can,
And do it cheerfully, and sing
And work and think and plan.
The only real unhappy one
Is he who dares to shirk;
The only really happy one
Is he who cares to work.

Whatever Johnny Dooit was singing he was certainly doing things, and they all stood by and watched him in amazement.

—————————————————————–

“Money! Money in Oz!” cried the Tin Woodman. “What a queer idea! Did you suppose we are so vulgar as to use money here?”

“Why not?” asked the shaggy man.

“If we used money to buy things with, instead of love and kindness and the desire to please one another, then we should be no better than the rest of the world,” declared the Tin Woodman. “Fortunately money is not known in the Land of Oz at all. We have no rich, and no poor; for what one wishes the others all try to give him, in order to make him happy, and no one in all Oz cares to have more than he can use.”

——————————————————————————————-

You could love the Tin Woodman because he had a fine nature, kindly and simple; but the machine man you could only admire without loving, since to love such a thing as he was as impossible as to love a sewing-machine or an automobile. Yet Tik-tok was popular with the people of Oz because he was so trustworthy, reliable and true; he was sure to do exactly what he was wound up to do, at all times and in all circumstances. Perhaps it is better to be a machine that does its duty than a flesh-and-blood person who will not, for a dead truth is better than a live falsehood.

I think there is wisdom in here.

English: the Shaggy Man from The Road to Oz

English: the Shaggy Man from The Road to Oz (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Specks

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Tom Bolton

What a Speck

The Milwaukee Center on Milwaukee's RiverWalk

The Milwaukee Center on Milwaukee’s RiverWalk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, I saw sinners everywhere I wandered—
And I was out with a purpose!—
And I was astounded,
And I was thankful for who I am.
On the bus early in the morning, there were drunks,
And druggies, I’d say.
Thank God, I am clear-minded and ready at dawn.
I’m facing my true self, and I thank God:
I like what I see,
And I see so clearly.
I know my sins, but I see them clearly;
They are so small!
I see people frittering their time.
Piercings annoy me and I know they can’t be right.
These tattoos cannot be there for good, and what costs do they add to what worth?
Did you see that fight by the school?
That violence is crazy bad; I see children risked each day.
Wasted resources are all on display too.
Elders, left alone and dying alone, where is their respect?
So much hurt and so much lost, where are disciples serving?
All around me, folks are finding shortcomings.
I found mine long in the past.
I have skillfully examined my faults,
And I have weighted them well,
And I care not to judge.
This traffic jam up ahead: Why are so many people driving?
Can’t they car pool or bus it?
Look at that man’s gold watch! What could I buy with that?
I have excused myself over and over today.
Ah, ah, out speck!
Let me not be an excuse! Let me forget to judge instead.
Where have I been that so clearly I see,
And yet I cannot see all that is there? Is it in me?

© Tom Bolton, 24 July, 2013, Milwaukee, on the Grand Avenue

Contemplating Matthew 7:3—AGAIN!

“So why do you see the piece of sawdust in another believer’s eye and not notice the wooden beam in your own eye?”

OUCH.

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Americans Reaching Out

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Tom Bolton

Americans Reaching Out

Bread

Bread for the World created a wonderful series of reports in 2012 under the umbrella name Development Works.  I posted a link to the first paper last week.  The second paper, which is linked at the top of this post, is called Americans Reaching Out.  In it, the organization notes, “Concern for those who are less fortunate is a value that resonates with Americans. Many of us, aware of all we have, are very willing to help people in need. Using common sense, being practical, can be considered an American value as well. A quick “reality check” to be sure the assistance is needed and wanted is important to many people who are motivated to help.”

I recommend the entire paper to you, but here is a snapshot of the key points:

Americans agree that helping hungry people is a high priority for our country. Both today  and in the past, policies and resources that fight hunger earn the support of people across traditional lines—political, religious, economic, generational, and a range of others.

The United States can use its history of successful development programs and emergency relief efforts to help make lasting progress against hunger and malnutrition.

Building on past experiences is more important than ever as new factors, such as climate change and unpredictable changes in food prices, further complicate the efforts of poor people to feed their families and improve opportunities for their children.

U.S. international development efforts are now guided by both a new understanding of the importance of nutrition, particularly in early childhood, and a renewed appreciation of agricultural development as a vital ingredient in the “treatment” of global hunger.

I feel a bit guilty (certainly not very creative) in sharing these links and quotes from the Bread for the World Institute, but frankly they provide the best materials to educate us, in my opinion.  Bread for the World Institute provides policy analysis on hunger and strategies to end it. The Institute educates its network, opinion leaders, policy makers and the public about hunger in the United States and abroad.  Nobody does it better.

I urge you to read the full paper here:  Americans Reaching Out

I’ll also warn you that I plan to do these articles every Sunday for a while.

And sometimes, I will probably urge you to support Bread for the World.  Cash contributions are great, but letters and phone calls help too.

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Back from My Journey IN OZ

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Tom Bolton

The original 1908 cover to Dorothy and the Wiz...

The original 1908 cover to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Designed by artist John R. Neill, reproduced for a modern facsimile edition. Now out of copyright. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I finished the fourth OZ book by L. Frank Baum this week. It was a fun trip with Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. In this story, Dorothy is joining Uncle Henry in California at Hugson’s Ranch, on their way home from Australia, Dorothy having visited friends in San Francisco. She strikes up an acquaintance with Hugson’s nephew and her second cousin, Zeb of Hugson’s Ranch. Dorothy, Eureka (who is Dorothy’s cat) and Zeb are riding a buggy being pulled by a cab-horse named Jim when an earthquake starts and opens a crevice beneath them that sends them hurtling into the bowels of the earth.  They have some fun, interesting adventures in Baum’s creative inner-world.

It was disconcerting to me that the Wizard was rehabilitated in this book, changing the history of the earlier books. But “the children wanted it!”  This book is a bit darker than the others though.

Here are a few quotes that I particularly liked:

“That is true,” answered the little Wizard; “therefore it will give me pleasure to explain my connection with your country. In the first place, I must tell you that I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could think of no more to go before it. Taken altogether, it was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O. Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled ‘pinhead,’ which was a reflection on my intelligence.”

“Surely no one could blame you for cutting your name short,” said Ozma, sympathetically. “But didn’t you cut it almost too short?”

“Perhaps so,” replied the Wizard. “When a young man I ran away from home and joined a circus. I used to call myself a Wizard, and do tricks of ventriloquism.”

Secondly, on meeting the Woggle Bug:

Ah,” said the Wizard; “I’m pleased to meet so distinguished a personage.”

“H. M.,” said the Woggle-Bug, pompously, “means Highly Magnified; and T. E. means Thoroughly Educated. I am, in reality, a very big bug, and doubtless the most intelligent being in all this broad domain.”

“How well you disguise it,” said the Wizard. “But I don’t doubt your word in the least.”

“Nobody doubts it, sir,” replied the Woggle-Bug, and drawing a book from its pocket the strange insect turned its back on the company and sat down in a corner to read.

Now, I move on to Baum’s fifth Oz book–on the bus!

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Nation-building South Sudan

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Tom Bolton

Nation-building South Sudan

South Sudan: Independence

South Sudan: Independence (Photo credit: babasteve)

I’m re-blogging this from Action Against Hunger, because it is interesting and we don’t read much about this in our local media:

Imagine waking up one day to find that you had no national identity. No flag, no national anthem. No public services or public works. No justice system, no infrastructure. It’d be a bad dream, right? Well, that nightmare was actually reality a year and a half ago for what is now the population of South Sudan, the world’s newest nation. From the ashes of conflict with its neighbor to the north, South Sudan began the arduous process of literally molding a brand new country. It’s the subject of a fascinating new video “Op-Doc” featured on NYTimes.com, called “How to Build a Country from Scratch.” Watch as the South Sudanese select a capital, determine how to collect taxes, and more.

It’s a fascinating case study for those of us in the humanitarian world. We at Action Against Hunger have been in South Sudan since its conception, focusing on curbing high childhood malnutrition rates and providing assistance in the wake of emergencies, like Fall 2012 flooding. In 2012 alone we treated more than 33,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition, helped nearly 60,000 South Sudanese increase their food security and develop livelihoods to support their families, and provided water, sanitation, and hygiene services to 150,000 people. The needs are great in this new nation, but we’re proud to work together with the people of South Sudan to help them build strong, sustainable futures at home.

Here is the link again:

http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/south-sudan-nation-building-step-step

Here is a link to the video at the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/opinion/how-to-build-a-country-from-scratch.html?_r=1&

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