"The Cold Within" by J. P. Kinney

James Patrick Kinney wrote the following poem, “The Cold Within,” to remind us of what’s at stake:

Six humans trapped by happenstance,
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story’s told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back,
For on the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next man looking ’cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn’t bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes;
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man’s face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

And the last man of this forlorn group
Did naught, except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave,
Was how he played the game.

The logs held tight in death’s still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn’t die from the cold without.
They died from the cold within.

Something I found...

So I'm going through my email and deleting stuff from 2008. I found this that I wrote. (If I write something just for me I will sometimes email it to myself so that I have if for later and don't have to keep up with it.) It's nothing magnificent but still fitting for today...except for the fact that I don't have contacts or glasses anymore.

***********************
2/14/2008
I sat in the bathroom today and took my glasses off to wash my face.
It is such a different world without corrective lenses. I am legally
blind without them so that might give you an idea of what I see (or
don't see) without them.

It is not often that I take my contact lenses out. The only reason
would be if I am having problems with my eyes, which I am currently.

As I sat with my glasses off I thought about how America is today. It
is so much easier to just take my glasses off because I can do hardly
anything without them on. They allow me to be lazy. They allow me to
ignore the pile of papers and books I have left on the table for two
weeks now. They allow me to avoid the basket of laundry I need to fold
and put away. Not having my glasses on allows me to go to bed and
close my eyes to the world and just sleep.

************

I think we do this too often.

Africa Dresses by Teresa

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Technology Issues

Just FYI, my computer's down. So blogging and newsletters and updates have been limited. I promise I will get it together soon, but until I find a solution I'm managing as best I can! Thanks for having patience and for your support and concern! Love to all, Sandra

Today is April 4th 2011

I feel like I'm doing good just to know the month! Life seems like a whirlwind that is taking place around me and I have been trying to figure out where I should jump in, but part of me is resisting. Life is so fast here and so impersonal. I realized how fast life is when I was in Ghana and Godson continually said, "Relax. Take it easy." I would feel like we needed to hurry to the man's house to negotiate or hurry to meet someone so we weren't late. Even when he told me to relax I found it difficult to do. Now many of us know what the term "African Time" means but that's not what I'm talking about here. We left when Godson said we should and I can only remember one or two times where we were a little behind on time. But still, I felt like I should always be rushing somewhere. Not having a vehicle definitely helped me to slow down and "take it easy." I have a cousin who married a yankee. (Is it bad to say yankee? Not sure what the connotation is with that.) Anyway, she came to Texas to meet the fam and had a very difficult time with the "slow lifestyle." I remember someone from the North saying, "You guys talk slow, move slow and do everything s-l-o-w." I can only thank God that I don't live up there. I'd never make it. So I noticed how fast-paced our lives are here in the U.S. while I was in Ghana and doing my best to slow down. But I didn't notice how impersonal we are on a day to day basis until I returned from Ghana. Wow! Now, it stands to reason that given our busy lives here, we would not connect with people as much throughout the day. Even still, I'm not sure I've ever been more lonely in my ENTIRE 20-something years!!!! In the mornings Kwesi would be knocking on my door no later than 6am. The only "me-time" I had was when I was bathing, utilizing the latrine, or the occasional moments when I locked myself in my room and ignored all of the knocking and hollering. I did struggle with not having so much down time, all the while not realizing the effect that NOT having these people around me would have on me. I miss seeing my kiddos each day. I miss their smiles and their laughter. I miss their excitement and their assistance. I miss watching the learn. I just stinkin' miss 'em! I miss Edi's Mother and visiting with her each day. I don't think a day went by that she didn't teach me something new or introduce me to someone new. We got to the point where we were both content to just sit in the quiet (if all the kids happened to be at school or away). I miss laughing with her too. I miss Godson and his teaching. Again, a day didn't go by that I didn't learn something new. He taught me a lot of the language but he also helped me learn to be "street smart" in Ghana. There's a lot that a foreigner cannot just pick up on but must be taught. I miss Pastor James who always has an encouraging word just when I need it and I'm certain he has NO clue how encouraging he is to me. I miss Pastor Vincent who is just the most incredible Ghanaian man I know. He is a great dad and husband (I'm sure they are there but I've not seen many throughout Ghana), and he is a very caring, thoughtful pastor. Some of his family laughed when I called him pastor. Maybe he doesn't have the "paper credentials" but in my book he's got what really matters as far as shepherding is concerned and that's a lot better than many "pastors" I've met there. I miss greeting my friends along the road into the village or the highway to market. There's the lady that sells water and peanuts and biscuits. She wanted to send some peanuts and popcord home to my mother but I forgot to stop by one more time. I hope she's not mad at me. There's the lady that sits across from her and sells charcoal. She doesn't speak a lick o' English. There's two or three hairdressers along the way into the village and one probably had her baby by now. Oh and there's my other seamstress friend, Esinam's mother, who also should have had her baby. There are the mango sellers, the stall owners, the internet guy, the FanMilk guy Daniel who I was very fond of until he offered to father my child. Benedicta works at a drinking spot and I attended Wednesday night Bible study with her. Miss her. Whew...there are so many that I miss. So many important loving people in my life that live half a world away. Here in Texas, if we want to see people everyday and they don't work or live where we do, we pretty much have to schedule them in. But I understand that's life. I'll schedule if that's what it means to see people. But that doesn't make it less lonely to go from every day filled with the same people to, well, not. All this reminiscing has helped my heart and I look forward with excitement to being able to travel to Ghana in a little over a month! Woohoo!!! My African family- I will see you soon! :)