Letter From A Friend

I received the following New Year greeting from my long-time friend, Joe. He doesn't blog, but when I opened this email recently, I felt moved to include it here. I asked him if that would be okay, and he kindly gave his permission.

Joe is a Fire Chief with the L.A. City Fire Department. He saves, he trains, he is liaison, he instructs, and he golfs. He's a man of letters and one of the funniest, most cultured and gracious men I know. And he writes messages like this one, making me want to share them with the world.

As my experiments in art journaling begin, his words resonate with me, of perspective, of wisdom, of humanity. And I share them because I think they may resonate with you, as well. Here's Joe:

"In the late and last afternoon of 2008, I sit, once again, pondering yet another year gone by. This poetic waxing of my previous trip around the sun has become a yearly endeavor. A literary sharing of my thoughts and experiences of the past year, neatly balanced with my hopes and wishes for the future.

For better or worse, this year is no exception. While my prose is not a work of serious purpose, and contains no grand promise, its stitching is rightfully red.......genuinely coming from my heart.

What have I learned, now that I'm living in the midst of my fifth completed decade of life? I've found that decisions, crises, tragedies, and miracles are easier with the knowledge and wisdom of age. My uncertainty has turned to confidence, my worries have turned to curiosity, and my knowledge has turned to power. Most everything gets better with age! I've ditched boundaries and inhibitions, and have a renewed enthusiasm for life that I'm able to share with others.

I witnessed, first hand, the election of a transformational leader to the highest elected position in the land. It was the first election that both of my children were eligible to vote in, and they whole- heartedly engaged in the process. Like most young people, the words of Obama resonated deeply within them both, and they were converted. Obama’s speech on race (in response to the attacks on his relationship with Pastor Johnson) witnessed with both children at my side converted me. It reminded me of my first reading (years ago) of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham jail” in which he wrote “We are caught on an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”. To that same end, I (sadly) saw organized religion attack the rights of a gay population, and the sum of our whole, step backwards, at the speed of light.

Sadly, I lost another friend to the ravages of cancer. Most all of you who know me know of my relationship with Bailey June Mcmanus. I feel very privileged to have been called by her mother to her bedside on the day that she passed away. In recollecting those last moments the word “Ananda” comes to mind. As used in Indian philosophy, it generally refers to the self existent delight revealed by contemplative practice, but it can also blossom within a familiar pleasure, or on a dreary day, or as we suffer with a friend, lifting beyond the contingencies of our internal or external environments. On one hand her passing makes no sense to me whatsoever. It’s beyond unfair. But, in a world of “Ananda” I can at least be at peace with situation and focus on the countless positive influences she’s responsible for in my life.

And, so here it is, nearly 2009. A chance for all of us to recollect ourselves and start again. Shivas Irons once spoke of the fire that exists in every ones “secret heart”, and that in all the world we see, it’s “stronger than the sun”, and it’s been burning since the world began. Science has showed us that that our universe has come from a mighty journey; from hydrogen and stone to living creatures and the human brain. From atoms and the worlds birth, to Pebble Beach and Mozart. It’s this secret heart that unites us all. It united King and Obama, generations apart. It unites the Jews of Dachau with the gays of California. It heals my longing for my daughter away at college and, in a very special place, stores my sacred memories of family, friends…….and of Bailey June."