Wolf's Daily Howl

[loveslife]

It would be great if everyone lived their lives knowing how to be kind and compassionate towards others. But more often then not emotions and judgments hurled at us are displaced. Someone who is happy within themself would have no reason to take things out on someone else.

I'm not sure what happened with you this week but stop worrying about how other people are judging you. There will always be someone who will find you (and anyone else) lacking.

Over Thanksgiving, my aunt set out to help me fix my life. Now mind you, this woman is married to one of the most controlling men I've ever met. There is nothing coy about him, he outright RULES her.

And yet, she felt that I was lacking and she felt she knew what I should be doing.

It was really hard to take but it helped me grow stronger and more sure of myself.

So, then in the last week two kind of acquaintance/friends types barked their displeasure at my choices. One laughed at a project I've started, saying I've lost my mind. The other put me down for my mentioning that I was thinking of moving.

According to her, her who has different needs and interests than I do, I was making terrible choices.

But ya know what, I was stung very momentarily but then I just thought it odd what they did. And you can be assured I won't be sharing things with either of them again anytime soon.

I think it must be hard for you. That you must walk a thin line sometimes. You try and advise people but you have to keep boundaries doing so. On the one hand, you must need to remember to put yourself first and on the other hand you need to remember that you can't find the answers for them.

Oh well. Just keep doing your best.

[Shen]

they're right. you should not blame yourself for other people's issues.

[IleneW]

A sad but necessary rememberance:

This is Holocaust Rememberance Week. Sixty-five years ago, the Allied forces began liberating the concentration/death camps.

A million and a half children were murdered. Millions of women and men were ruthlessly slaughtered because of their race, their gender orientation, their disabilitiy.

During this period, the winter and spring of 1945, the Nazis, not wanting their unspeakable atrocities to be exposed, accelerated the slaughter of those still under their control. The last of the victims were set free the last week of April.

Please hold these souls in your thoughts, this day and in the days to come.

[CreativeWoman]

Thanks for mentioning this, Ilene. I didn't realize the week this is. I saw some info about Anne Frank the other day and looked up more to read...the stories of what her family and others went through are incredibly tragic it's beyond heartbreaking. In fact, I can't think about what I read or hear any more specifics, because it gets me so down and sad. But I think it's really important to commemorate and honor the people who went through that hell.

[IleneW]

FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY

Excerpted from:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/his ... gle-2.html


Sitting for Justice: Woolworth’s Lunch Counter

On February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. Their passive resistance and peaceful sit-down demand helped ignite a youth-led movement to challenge racial inequality throughout the South.


AAAAAAaaaaaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[CreativeWoman]

Hi Everyone!

Ilene wanted me to post here that her internet is down, and it's being worked on ASAP. She hopes to be back on here sometime during the weekend...



I love the Woolworth's lunch counter event, btw--what four brave individuals they were! I have a LOT of respect for them.

[IleneW]

Thanks, CW.

I'm back. I hate being off-line.

Can't Howl right now, except, a howl of relief.

Back later today or no later than tomorrow.

[Shen]

I'm glad you are back on. It is hard to be disconnected!

[IleneW]

Greetings Gentlefolk ----

The great DC blizzard is, at this moment, dumping many feet of snow on the states of the mid-Atlantic, here in the U.S. I'm told that the last fringey borders of the storm is about forty or fifty miles from my home. Out my window there's nothing falling and only the remnants of the last snow event, with more uncovered ground visible than white, frozen snow.

So, I'm not physically snow-bound.

Just exhausted.

I've tried, overall and in my own hopeful way, to be of some minimal support to those whose lives my words touch. I've been doing this work now, for roughly five years. I'm generally better at it now than when I began, but also, by virtue of the investment made, more drained than when I began.

Someone whom I apparently hurt recently, said (and not with love), that I'd changed, since when she first met me.

I hope I've changed for the better, mostly ----- but ultimately, it's not for me to say. I know that there are times, when I feel less patient than I once did. This isn't a good direction, but I suspect it's a result of exhaustion ----- maybe even (I hate to even think it), burn out.

What hasn't changed is that basically, I'm aware, pretty much all the time, of my human limitations. I factor them in, when criticized. I remind myself of them, when I find my energy getting raggedy. I account for them when I disappoint myself and others.

As ever ----- I try and do what I advise others to do ------- the best I can.

Have a good weekend.
Practice self-care.

Be well.

[Shen]

Ilene,
You do so much for others. I'm sorry that I contribute to your feeling that you aren't doing it well enough. I am going through so much right now, and often feel like my issues are a little foreign to this board. I'm trying.
Know that I appreciate what you do even when I am not able to say that.
love
have some soup and snuggle under a blanket. That's what I do when the wind is howling and the snow is falling. It only feels like it will never end. (I am telling myself the same thing as we move into the middle of winter here in Chicago. ten weeks down and ten weeks left ( don't care what the groundhog says.)