2/26/15 RMB Beauty of a Woman Blogfest 2015

2/26/15 RMB Beauty of a Woman Blogfest 2015



Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Jennifer Redmond relayed me an invitation to join in the Beauty of a Woman BlogFest IV! In its fourth year of existence bloggers join to celebrate, consider and enlighten us about the beauty of a woman. After reading several entries I am impressed by the many angles explored of this one subject on this blog http://www.augustmclaughlin.com/boaw15/.  

I wonder, what, if anything I might add.

Perhaps, as one born half and half, not blond and blue eyed, nor a brown eyed brunette, but exactly 50% of each, a lighter left side and darker right side, I have a chip on my shoulder. The blue eye turned brown in infancy and is an unnoticeable shade lighter brown than the other brown eye. The hair merged some in childhood and now both blond and brown morph into grey. But still. Am I biased, prejudiced even on the meaning of beauty? 

When put to the task of writing specifically about the Beauty of Women, one element stands out. It is strength. The kind of strength that enables a woman to give birth or to persevere through any hardship. It is the ability to carry joy to levels reaching beyond exhaustion and relish life. 

In a broader sense, the beauty I admire most is the sort contained in a smile; the glow from one's caring glance; a gentleness of touch that transfers energy, a healing life force with the barest of touches; or the joy shared in the fiercest of hugs.

Pure beauty is beyond the physical, beyond female or male, human, flora, fauna, earth and sky. It may be in the essence of a being, a time, a place, an action or intention. It might be in the energy that surrounds us or that is us.

Picture a puppy at play, a bird in flight, a loved one's smile, a child's hug, a flower blooming, there, that is beauty.

 

Shine on,

Loraine

2/24/15 RMB Pay Dirt

2/24/15 RMB Pay Dirt

Dear Rita May Brown,

Today I took a break from work and left the building for lunch. My breaks are rare these days. Business is good, almost too good. I’m learning I need to literally “take” a break once in a while, because it will not ever be a good time for a break and there won’t be a break in the work load, just more work, until late at night sometimes. 

As I sat to a healthy salad, part of trying to re-lose I-won’t-tell-you-how-many of the pounds I put back on of the 60 I lost, I opened Pay Dirt for the last time. Today in the midst of crazy busy-ness, I enjoyed the last chapter of Harry, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker in their 4^th mystery together. 

Like gathering with friends for coffee, I was transported into their world, allowed to escape from my own, and returned to my desk a calmer, more content soul.

This is what amazes me about writing. Shortly before it’s publication in 1995, you sat with pen in hand and crafted this story that went to press and became the book I held today. Words written twenty years ago, helped me find peace in today’s moments.

“If you could have any super power, what would it be?”, a young student asked recently.

“To write better. I think writing is a legitimate super power because anyone who has ever changed the world for the better has done so through words or through another’s telling of their story. Words are intrinsically linked to the process of making our world a better place.”

What I overlooked in that response, is that writing can do more than bettering our world and mankind. It can carry comfort from decade to decade, person to person, touching moments with a smile, a surprise ending or an insight. Writing is a super power because it can do grand things, and amazingly, it can also do minor things in grand ways.

Up, up and away,

Loraine

2/6/15 RMB Best Words

2/6/15 RMB Best Words

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Once in a while the feeling that you’re missing something grows and it’s like gazing at a picture in search of Waldo. You know there’s something there, you just can’t put your finger on it, yet.

Yesterday I listened to a discussion on NPR about an upcoming meeting scheduled on hate crimes. The guests were members of a task force from the local authorities, and a gentleman whose brother was killed after 9/11. His family are Sikhs. They are a peaceful people who have both been slaughtered by and mistaken for Muslims. For looking different, dressing differently and speaking with an accent, this man’s brother was killed.

His brother’s death brought him knowledge and gave him a voice in assisting his own community to overcome prejudice. Now he teaches of the laws he learned. When one man said that transgressions against him occur all the time and asked “How often can we call the police?” His response was, “If we don’t report it, it won’t end.”

This is America, where one is free to be who they are without persecution. That is the idyll we strive towards.

A child hearing an accent or seeing a person dressed differently, will immediately become curious, wanting to know, why do you talk like that? Why do you dress that way? At what point does curiosity turn sinister? At what age do we teach that everything different is bad?

There I go again, highlighting a negative to find a positive. I’d like to point out the beauty of the today’s sunrise and simply state, let’s all get along. Different can be interesting and fun. Maybe someday I will. For today, those statements alone don’t seem to hold enough impact. Those words alone don’t reveal that the opposite can be deadly.

Still hunting for the best words, the ones that help us be our best, I know they are there, I just haven’t found them, yet.

Enjoying our differences,

Loraine