Black lives matter more than statues.
Living human beings matter more
than stone idols. The victims used
to mock and shame matter more
than the cheap laugh someone gets
from a vicious campaign.
Children separated from parents
matter more than The Wall. The health
of our planet matters more than
the wealth of CEOs. Women matter
even when they’re not incubators.
LGBTQ rights matter more
than the hate of the haters.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Found an old journal from probably 40 years ago as I was sorting through old boxes and bins.
I word-doodled (this was a free write ramble – there was no organization to it): “Even if ten years from now you’re not the same person, this person that you were really existed and lived. Love and trust and beauty aren’t magical – they’re real – and you can take them with you wherever you go. Be happy that you’re alive for this one moment of peace and contentment when you have everything you need.”
I think I needed the voice of my younger self speaking to me today from the before-times.
Long long ago and in a land far far away I stumbled into a rabbit hole full of delightful misfits and smartasses, wise folk and wits, and wacky and wonderful hooligans. My life would never be the same.
It was the summer of 2007. I was checking out my book on Amazon and saw that there were discussion forums listed at the bottom of the page. I clicked on one of the links and found a land full of rousing and intriguing conversations about Big Ideas – it was just like being back in university again. We talked about God and Nogod and The Bible and world leaders and policies and policy-makers and writers and books. As we bounced ideas off each other – shared and listened, debated and learned from each other – and laughed! – we built bonds of friendship and kinship that have lasted to this day.
As time goes on, I’ve come to realize just how valuable and important that time in the Amazon forums was for me. I learned so much from my Amazon friends!
A good chunk of my Facebook friends are friends from the Amazon forums. And a lot of them have become friends to my other friends, too! And I’ve become friends to THEIR friends and family. The ripples keep extending.
In the last few years we’ve begun to lose some of our Amazon classmates. Randy Kercher died unexpectedly in 2017. Dean Wrzeszcz died of COVID-19 in April. I feel like I’ve lost family.
And I guess Randy’s death and Dean’s death have given me a sense of urgency about letting my Amazon friends know how important they are to me. How much I love them. How grateful I am to have met them. We shared a unique and wonderful time together. My theistic heart believes we were meant to meet there and meant to be friends. Look at all we’ve come through together in the last 13 years! I’ve felt your support through the challenging times. I’ve been so grateful for your humor on those days when I really needed a good laugh. I’ve been so grateful for your wisdom on those days when I needed a new perspective. I can’t imagine my life now without you in it.
Thank you, dear friends.
(Through the years I’ve actually been able to meet some of my Amazon friends in the person: Kathi and Jamie in Nova Scotia; Marissa in Minnesota; Becky in Virginia; David in Michigan; and Allen, and Heather and her family, Craig and his wife, and Marissa and her husband, David and his family, and Sandy and her husband, have all taken the time to meet up with me in western Washington State. What a joy!)
I just had a flashback from 40 years ago. I was on a ferry from Seattle to Bremerton – I think I’d been visiting a friend in Seattle. I was standing at the railing of the ferry by myself, looking out over the water. A good-looking young man with blue eyes approached me and started chatting. He was visiting from another state, he said. Out here to lead a meeting or a gathering – I don’t remember his exact words now. He thought I might be interested in going to this meeting. I asked him what it was about. He said he was with the KKK. I remember feeling like I’d just been kicked in the gut – thinking he did not look like what I thought a KKK member would look like – shocked that there was anyone in the KKK in Washington State – wasn’t the KKK a southern thing? I told him no, I was not interested in his meeting. He tried to convince me to join him. I remember saying something like: “The KKK is against rights for blacks. The KKK hates black people.” And he smiled this really charming smile and said that no, the KKK wasn’t about hating black people – the KKK just wanted to make sure white people had rights, too – or something like that. I told him no, the KKK is racist, and no, I was not going to go to his meeting, and I walked away.
And here we are. Forty years later. My heart is breaking.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 