In praise of crossing guards

Since my grandsons began attending public grade school, crossing guards have suddenly come onto my radar.

Crossing guards didn’t exist when I walked my mile plus to school (through snowdrifts, and uphill both ways!).  My school bus ran a perimeter and picked up those kids who lived more than a mile from school.  I quit riding it when one of my neighbors -- Tommy Mills, a big 7th grader! -- was a very serious patrol boy on our bus.  

I talked smart to him one day, and he told me to sit down and be quiet, as he should have.  At nine I lacked the social and spiritual skills to deal with shame and hurt feelings, so my solution was to refuse to ride the bus after that.

Crossing guard on duty

Despite my foolish pride, the walk turned out to be delightful.  The roads in our little community were Illinois level, and I picked up friends along the way who were finishing their breakfasts and happy to join me. 

So while there were occasional patrol boys to keep order, crossing guards hadn’t been invented yet.

Here’s what these fine ladies and men do today.  With their chartreuse vests and hand-held stop signs, these faithful guardians are found at busy intersections in all sorts of weather.  Single-handedly they hold cars and trucks at bay while children, middle-schoolers, parents, joggers and dog-walkers cross safely under their watch.  Their authority trumps the usual order of stop-sign etiquette.

At the intersection in the above photo, two ladies work a five-way stop in tandem to guide their charges safely through traffic.   If a driver or a kid ignored the crossing guard, there could be chaos.  The crossing guard concept succeeds because everyone pays attention. 

It’s comforting for me to realize there is an All-knowing and All-seeing Crossing Guard who guides each of us safely through the intersections of life.  She guides our steps through life's traffic with skill and alertness.  Sometimes we may be told to wait at the curb, and we don’t know why.  It’s all in the timing.

Life works best when each of us is patient and, more importantly, listens and watches attentively to know the right moment to go forward -- according to the wisdom of the Chief Crossing Guard.

Even a child can do it

So simple even a child can do it? Apparently.

It's all that we love about children -- their joy, their spontaneity, their natural love for things beautiful, their ability to laugh at themselves, to surprise us with their talents.

It's also what we love in adults -- their joy, their ability to laugh at themselves, to appreciate things beautiful, to focus on what they love, to surprise us with their talents.

Love the child in you today, just for fun.

This is 3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This piece was originally conducted by Herbert von Karajan ...

Up stairs romp

Dog, cats, birds, have a wonderful sense of humor.  Ask anyone who has lived among them.

People have a great sense of humor too.  Here creativity, originality, a sense of fun, delight in the unexpected -- all come together in Stockholm.  

Some bright folks created an experiment to see if people would take the stairs, rather than the escalator, if walking up the stairs could be made fun.

Gentle out-of-the-box humor that makes everybody smile.  What a gift!

Thinking boldly - he treats his mugger right

 Keeping things simple in a complicated world, Julio Diaz takes his mugger to dinner.

It's a fairly simple story -- but one that required thinking boldly.  You know what else?  He didn't react.  At least not with anger.  He responded with kindness.  He gave a desperate teen a glimpse of another way to live.

And who knows where that ripple of unselfish love will stop?

What it's all about

Diane Rose doesn't know the meaning of the word "can't." Even if you are not particularly interested in quilting, your life will probably be enriched by meeting her.

Diane's accomplishments, filled with so much love, remind me of Mary Baker Eddy words, "We are all capable of more than we do." Diane is living proof.

There is no small kind act

"Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. 

The originating act of a warm hug!

Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” Scott Adams

What splendid, unending ripples can your life send out today?

A healing message for Tucson and America

Regardless of your political persuasion, I hope you'll agree that this message is one urging healing.

Here are a few excerpts from President Obama's memorial tribute in Tucson last night.

"Yes, we have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy... What we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other... Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion... to listen to each other more carefully... to remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together...

How do we “nurture our relationships with those who are still with us”?

“In the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame, but rather how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.”

Below is the President's whole speech, which I hope you will listen to if you haven't yet.

Who you are makes a difference

This story has been making the email rounds. It's worth repeating. Your life is important. Your life makes a difference. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And perhaps equally important, let others know that who they are is important to you, that their life has made a difference.


A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in High School by telling them the difference each of them had made. She called each student to the front of the class one at a time. First, she told each of them how they had made a difference to her, and the class.

Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon, imprinted with the gold letters, which read, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”

Afterward, the teacher decided to do a class project, to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each student three more blue ribbons, and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom, and report to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company, and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon, and put it on his shirt.

Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, “We’re doing a class project on recognition, and we’d like for you to go out, find someone to honor, and give them a blue ribbon.”

Later that day, the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had a reputation of being kind of a grouchy fellow. He told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon, and give him permission to put it on him.

His boss said, “Well, sure.” The junior executive took one of the blue ribbons and placed it right on his boss’s jacket, above his heart. And then he asked, offering him the last ribbon, “Would you take this extra ribbon, and pass it on by honoring somebody else?” The teenager who gave me these is doing a school project, and we want to keep this ribbon ceremony going and see how it affects people.

That night, the boss came home and sat down with his 14-year-old son. He said, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office, and one of my employees came in and told me he admired me, and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine! He thinks I am a creative genius! Then he put a blue ribbon on me that says, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”

He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about who I would honor with this ribbon, and I thought about you. I want to honor you, My days are hectic and when I come home, I don’t pay a lot of attention to you. I yell at you for not getting good enough grades and for your messy bedroom.

Somehow tonight I just wanted to sit here and, well, let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You’re a great kid, and I love you!”

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn’t stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, “Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom, explaining why I had took my life, and I asked you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn’t think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don’t think I’ll need it after all.

His father walked upstairs and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain. The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch, and made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference.

The junior executive helped many other young people with career planning, one being the boss’s son, and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life.

In addition, the young man and his classmates learned a valuable lesson: Who you are DOES make a difference.

Clean up your inside world

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

This is one of about ten ways to happiness Christ Jesus expounded on a couple of thousand years ago.

Because these are truths about human nature, they last. A bit like great pieces of music remain favorites over decades and centuries; and great literature and poetry and art work long after the authors and artists have passed on -- because they embody great truths or great beauty.

So who can be pure today? I find it helps to make a conscious effort to clear away the clutter, the he-said-she-said soap operas of daily life.

When I refuse to indulge hurt feelings, refuse to react. When I can not-be-impressed by offenses, insults, anger, resentments, and ask instead, What does a totally good God who is Truth, who is Love, require of me today? And live the best I know how according to the answer.

Then it's easier to see goodness and truth, caring and respect all around.

The Message Bible puts that 2000 year-old truth in today’s language: “You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and your heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”

A powerful act of unity

In what appears such a fractious world, unity can startle us.

This past week Egyptian Muslims were willing to lay down their lives for the Coptic Christian minority. Thousands of Muslims formed human shields as Coptics in different parts of Egypt attended Christmas eve mass.

This was in response to the suicide bombing of Coptic Christians worshiping on New Year's day, which killed 21 people and wounded many others. (The Julian calendar puts the Coptic Christmas after the New Year.)

Using their bodies as shields to protect the Christian worshipers, the Muslims adopted the slogan, "Either we live together, or we die together."

This act of unity holds promise for Egypt and humanity.

Link for one news story.

The bird bush

The Message (Bible in contemporary language) speaks of God's extravagant love. (See the very last verse of II Corinthians)



I have found comfort in thinking of God's love as always present, as intelligent and good, as wise and caring. I have been humbled in thinking of God as Love taking the initiative in the lives of humankind -- the kind of love that runs to meet us when we're bruised or battered or discouraged, and looking for something more than sympathy.

But extravagant? I had to think about this. And yes, from what I've learned of God's love, it does go beyond the bounds of what's reasonable. It is consistently more generous than I feel I deserve.

There's a bush outside my office window which in the fall was full of little brown berries. The birds spent several days eating it clean. Even now in January, sparrows, juncos, a pair of cardinals and a blue jay all take turns flitting in and out of this bush. I love watching the birds.

It finally dawned on me that God has given me this bush full of birds to cheer my work day. It is a gift. Once I quit taking such lively activity for granted, it became an expression of God's extravagant love. Who else could, or would, think to give me a bird bush?

One day they vacated it simultaneously in all directions. A split second later a hawk landed on the bush. How thrilling to see him so close. He may not have been thrilled, as he didn't catch anything that time.

Another day an antlered buck came walking around the corner of the condo, and paused to look in my window. He wheeled and disappeared when I looked up in amazement. Wow!

It can be awe-inspiring to consider these as little love-notes from an extravagant God.

How do you find God's extravagance in your day?

Friendship and perseverance

Can the upper, upper class trust the "nobodys"?  Can a man with no credentials help a king?  Can perseverance and friendship triumph over an abusive childhood?

Perhaps.  And perhaps.

If you're at all interested in a quality movie, true story, wry and quick wit, don't miss this one.  (Be forewarned, there are some four-letter words.)

I loved this movie for the qualities mentioned above -- friendship, perseverance, trust in good, fidelity to purpose.  Perhaps the trailer will help you decide.