I backup all my data to vinyl. I constantly lose files, but the authenticity is worth it..
finally leaving work. Good thing my gym is open 24 hours. Not that I'm going, but I guess it's good.
Please save this letter and repost it if gets deleted. I don't want people to wonder why I did this. I disseminated it more widely than I might have otherwise because I'm worried that my family might try to restrict access to it. I don't mind if this letter is made public. In fact, I'd prefer it be made public to people being unable to read it and drawing their own conclusions.I've saved the note. If it is deleted, I'll find a home for it online and correct the link on the wiki.
Feel free to republish this letter, but only if it is reproduced in its entirety.
...of a mind for everI didn't know Bill in real life, but his handle was a familiar one. His eloquence was endearing and succinct.
Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.
When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,For those Mefites here who are struggling to find peace -- who are scared to reach out, or who have reached out and been rebuffed -- may you find the patience to last one more day, to find the hand that will grasp yours, to know empathy and compassion in a world that hasn't given you a fair measure of either.
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,posted by dougrayrankin at 3:42 PM on January 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
...It's appalling and horrifying that a drowning person should have to shop around for a competent, compassionate lifeguard to rescue them...2) A lot of people who want to do something constructive, help someone, make the world a better place, just do something.
...That was when I realized he had my chart upside-down...
...I joked to friends that where was probably a wheel of students like me, orbiting endlessly around the campus... but when I started getting referred to people who'd already punted me down the line, and beginning to recognize a lot of the same students visiting each place...
It strikes me that this would be an unusually valuable service. Is there a way to organize a network of locally-based Mefite Help Finders? They might do a lot of good for people who find the work of navigating the available mental health options really discouraging or pointless-- I know, I've felt that way myself. These people-- volunteers from anywhere in the world-- could be nonjudgmentally ready to meet with people in their area, hold their hand as they evaluate options, make the necessary phone calls, keep the appointment book, check in with them regularly, and most importantly, FIND THE NEXT DOCTOR or MAKE THE NEXT PHONE CALL when the first or second or third one fizzles out. This resource could be permanently featured on AskMe.It does sound nice. I have tried using AskMe to find mental health services before and not had any luck.
"We love our son dearly and I really don't want to comment on his suicide note right now," Zeller's father, George Zeller, said. "God gave us a wonderful son for 27 years and we are so thankful."
"We just want to thank everyone for their tremendous outpouring of love and support during this very difficult time," he said. George Zeller is an assistant pastor at a Middletown church.
Provide a way for allies - supportive students, faculty, and staff - to visibly indicate that they are safe contacts for LGBTQ people at Mason.This is done in the physical world with a logo in a window but maybe in the online world it could be an avenue for people who wouldn't call a hotline for suicide - which is predicated on the concept of talking about an action - but would call about a subject?
For a New Beginningposted by simulacra at 3:27 PM on January 20, 2011 [3 favorites]
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
–Reprinted from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (John O’Donohue; 2008)
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
posted by Neale at 8:33 PM on January 5, 2011