Unifier » March 2002 » President's Column
Cloudy Vision #3
T.S. Eliot wrote, "April is the cruelest month." However, I personally think he was a bit late. For me, March is usually the tough one. Winter is on the way out, but it is still gray, and spring seems far off. For skiers, the good powdery stuff may already be gone. For the rest of us, we crave the good outdoors a nd longer days, tantalizingly distant.
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At different stages in our lives, the signs of love may vary: dependence, attraction, contentment, worry, loyalty, grief, but at heart the source is always the same. Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with each other, against all odds. — Michael Dorris |
Having said that, pleasant surprises can lighten one's spirit in the "mean" time (pun intended). On a blue Monday morning, instead of just heading out the door, I decided to actually sit down for breakfast and happened to look at the February NUUF Pilgrim on the table. The President's column provided just the lift I needed. "It's all there," was the message in the article Maureen Gilbert had quoted. "... Everything you need. All there..." The rest of the news and items reflected a lively, engaged fellowship. It was like the breath of fresh air I sought and truly brightened my day.
Perhaps it was just luck. (It is certainly not the case that other EUU fellowships are not lively, engaged and creative! It just happened to be NUUF on the top of the pile at that moment.) The theme I chose for my year as EUU President was quot;connections." So far, it seems to be working. So I segue from Eliot to Robert Frost's poem:
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The way a crow shook down on me |
May a "crow" - or some other surprise - shake something down on you. Perhaps it will be to notice something you might have otherwise overlooked. Or maybe we could each, somehow, pleasantly surprise someone else, especially when times are dreary.
Yours respectfully,
Wendy Schwartz