Island Memories

Truk High School c.1965

Holidays are celebrated in so many different ways. This picture [found on the internet] was taken at Truk High School in the Caroline Islands of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. I taught at this high school in the early 60's. The students would perform this war dance during the holidays.

It is an exciting memory of times gone by; never to be visited again. The island has gone back to its original name of Chuuk and the island group is now part of the Federated States of Micronesia.

My children grew up here. We lived on Truk for four years and then on Ponape, a neighboring island district, for one more year. Two of my very best friends worked here with us but stayed for seven years. They now live in Hawaii and stayed with me in Barcelona this year to help celebrate my birthday.

Meri Kirisimas! to all and to all good memories!

Romans 12:15

...rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn...

heaven...

"Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch, a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger who was once kind, who offered warm food or a bright smile when one of us had needed it. And when I wasn't watching I could hear the others talking to those they loved on Earth: just as fruitlessly as me, I'm afraid. A one-sided cajoling and coaching of the young, a one-way desiring and loving of their mates, a single-sided card that could never be signed".

from 'The Lovely Bones,' by Alice Sebold; page 245

alive...

the young, the beautiful, the maimed are there
hoping that we will care, or not care enough
to notice or stare at what is pointedly missing

a skateboader; young, bright in his teen years,
traveling diagonally across the busy street
pushing with an aluminum rod his slender body
one leg missing below the knee but not
disguised or hidden but there for all to see

a handsome twenty-something in a wheelchair
swiftly maneuvering the health club floor
pushing to the gym where he will practice shots
a basketball cradled in his lap, the blanket
softly covering the tragic loss of both his legs

the young, the beautiful, the maimed are there
and I am here, a little tattered around the edges
but whole and hale and thankful to be alive

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

This is the greeting on my Christmas card from International Ministries, American Baptist Churches, USA