  Spiritual
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As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded
by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there
are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation,
and people to whom we are worth the same.
~~Donald E. Westlake |
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In the United States, the time from the last few weeks of November until the first week in January are known as the holiday season – Thanksgiving Day, Chanukah, Christmas Day, New Years Day, and the beginning of winter all fall within this short period of time. These holidays are meaningful to people in different ways, for some they are celebrated events and for others they have become a time of great stress. The common thread of the holiday season seems to be the family. Whether the family bond is vibrant, dysfunctional, or non-existent, the concept of family plays a major role in the holiday seasons.
Some people have no family and the lack of family can cause the holiday season to be a time of loneliness and sadness. I sometimes watch a television show called “The Locator.” In the show, a man searches to connect people with family members that were separated in childhood or have lost contact for various reasons. The show always helps me realize how important family is to people. I suppose, for those who have no family, the holiday season is probably a time when a family circle is missed most. I volunteer for an organization which assists homeless families with children. Many of these young families have no other family members to help them and the holiday season is a difficult time for them – jobless, homeless or both, no family to celebrate the holiday season with - it is a time that often leads to depression for them.
Novelist Jane Howard, creator of the Cazalet Chronicle books, wrote of the inherent need for a family circle, “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” This need seems to magnify during the holiday season.
Novelist Pearl S. Buck, an advocate for Asian-American children who were not eligible for adoption, widened the need for the family circle by writing, “The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people - no mere father and mother - as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born.”
The following quotes emphasize the value of family.
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”
~~Alex Haley, African-American novelist and author of Roots
“We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies.” ~~Shirley Abbott, author of The Bookmakers Daughter
“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.”
~~Virginia Satir, one of the key figures in the development of family therapy.
“Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance.”
~~Milton R. Saperstein, co-author of Paradoxes of Everyday Life : A Psychoanalyst's Interpretations.
Piano
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamor
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
~~Piano, a poem by D.H. Lawrence
If you are fortunate enough to gather with family during the holiday season, even if they can be annoying, celebrate them, because they are an integral part of your being. As a writer, the holiday season presents much inspirational material for writing. As a human being, it presents opportunity for a greater understanding of the value of a family circle.
On a lighter note, comedian Penelope Lombard stated, “My family is really boring. They have a coffee table book called 'Pictures We Took Just to Use Up the Rest of the Film.”
Use up all the film this year.
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Stories/poems of family and heritage:
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| |  | My Grandfather (E)
This poem was inspired by my grandad, who died just before I was born.
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The editing team of the Spiritual Newsletter appreciates that you take time to read the newsletter. We have a very loyal group of people who subscribe to this newsletter and your feedback is always treasured.
moberein
This newsletter seems to be directed at Native American spirituality. Can not anyone, regardless of skin color, claim an environmental spirituality without, perhaps, endangering that claimed by Native American Indians?
Hi Monet, I am not sure if you are responding to the last issue of the newsletter or a previous additon. I have written some that are directed at Native American spirtuality, as I am an adopted brother of my Cherokee sister, Cissy. Yes, anyone can claim an environmental spirituality, and far from endangering that claimed by the First People, the First People would be thrilled if more People claimed an environmental spirituality.
monty31802
Another great newsletter Larry, I think we substituted a lot of things for books but when I was young my parents could not do that because the other things didn't exist.
Thank you Monty. I agree, there are many more things to substitue today. Some are very good, others not so good, maybe.
Sandy~HopeWhisperer
I agree one hundred percent we as a society have put storytelling to the side for t.v. and video games. I think the story is much better at teaching our young ones and allowing adults to interact with all ages.
WDC has a member who is excellent in the area of storytelling. Her name is Ruby Standing Deer. I highly reccomend her storytelling abilites to children and adults alike. Look up some of her writing. You will not be disappointed!!!
Sandy, thank you for sharing you thoughts on the value of story-telling. I too have read and heard Ruby StandingDeer, and I agree she is a wonderfull storyteller.
Zeke 
You are absolutely right. There are stories everywhere if we stop talking long enough to listen.
I think it's funny that we praise storyTELLING, but we teach each other to show not TELL.
You make a good point Zeke. granny - a WDC member and a woman of Cherokee heritage told me once that the stories told by her grandmother cannot be translated well in the English language, for the stories not only tell, but show the way.
faithjourney
Thanks for the wonderful newsletter. I thought it was just me, but I see I'm not alone in noticing that people don't seem to care as much for stories as they used to. It's a shame - it's such a big reflection of our culture. What are we becoming if this basic element is slipping away from us?
Sherri, I agree - it does seem to be a basic element that is slipping quickly between our fingers.
embe
My thanks to Larry
the kansaspoet;
to enlighten us
with stories that unfold,
bold upon a page
for all to read;
to learn from it
telling our stories.
embe
Thank you embe. Your feedback is always refreshing.
Write_Mikey_Write! 
Hi, Larry -
I really liked this edition of the newsletter. It's also neat, that you apparently share the state with my 2nd and 4th daughters - Wichitans both. Keep up the good work!
MikeWrites
Thank you Mike, glad you enjoyed it. Wichita near one of my favorite places - the Rolling Hills. I live in Lawrence.
Enjoy the holidays - All our best wishes from the editing team of the Spiritual Newsletter.
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Spiritual: December 03, 2008 Issue [#2746]
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