September 2, 2023

Reflection

TEARS

 

Source of that water?

Source of that river?

Way upstream.

Maybe it was when

my father abandoned us

way back when – tears

coming – unnoticed – slowly

flowing down my face during

a movie or watching a father

carrying his daughter up the stairs.

There is less about mom –

but tears will come if I ever listen

to her side of the story – but

then again, I never listened

to my dad that day when I saw

him crying. Upstream is far,

far away... far away.

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 

 September 2, 2023

Quote for Today

"Work and love;  these are the basics.  Without them there is neurosis."

Theodore Reik

 September 1, 2023

EPHRATA

Today I arrived in a new place:

Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

New life, a new place to live.

It's from the word, "Ephrath".

That's the Syriac, Aramaic, Hebrew

name for Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

What will, what can, what hope 

do I have for this interesting name

of a place in Lancaster County, PA?

Our religious community, the Redemptorists,

came here in 1914.

Ephrata was started by another religious community,

a semimonastic order of male and female 

Seven Day Dunkers - back in 1732.

It's now a town of about 14,000 people.

Interesting! We'll see. What's next?

(c) Reflections, Andy Costello

September 1, 2023

 September 1, 2023

Quote for Today

"There are only two roads that lead to something like human happiness. They are marked by the words ... love and achievement .... In order to be happy oneself it is necessary to make at least one other person happy .... The secret of human happiness is not in self-seeking but in self-forgetting.

Theodor Reik

 August 31, 2023

Reflection

LITTLE  WORDS

There are a dozen little words

that can make for a better conversation:

or, but, yes, no, help, thanks, sorry,

please, why, how, what, when?

Some short sentences are also good:

"But you didn't ask!";

"You could have said....";

"Maybe there is a better way."

Then again, there is the old saying:

"Teach thy tongue say, 'I don't know!'"                                                                                                                             

 August 31, 2023

Quote for Today

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience:  this is the ideal life."

Mark Twain

August 30, 2023

Reflection