You have power and purpose in your world
From the monthly archives:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:27 — 12.4MB)
When we look at each other what captures us? What do we catch in a glimpse making us want to look back, look away or look again? And do we trust ourselves enough to do what we feel driven to do? What do you think?
Music: Open Your Eyes by mykleanthony with Scomber
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:35 — 9.4MB)
Music Credit: Kevin MacLeod
All systems are go! Everything has been arranged. But I will tell you now, you only have 6 hours to do the job and do it right. This mission is yours, it has been chosen especially for you. I can get you back to the right time and place and then return you home again, but only you can do what must be done. Good luck, my friend, I know you will succeed. For at this task you are the only master.
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From our series of reader submitted stories comes this beautiful account from Elizabeth Wescott …
Visit Elizabeth Wescott on Facebook
What I do is little. I do it at home, each day. I do it in an hour’s time, more or less. The results aren’t easy to measure or define.
That what I do is all of these things, is part of what makes it important to tell about. What I do is use some of my moments to extend love, peace and healing thoughts to people. In those moments I love people I know, and don’t know, and sometimes people I have trouble getting along with. In those moments I remember what is important and I get as close to it as I can. It can be called healing work. It doesn’t matter what it’s called.
Each day those moments change me. Each day those moments refresh for me and my purpose. And, so, I live more peacefully, more gracefully, more generously than I otherwise would. I live my life closer to what’s important to me than I otherwise would.
Part of the reason I do this is because I experience a lot of physical limitation in my life that makes participating in ways that are more recognizable an unrealistic option. But I refuse to believe that I cannot participate fully, and that I cannot offer peace and love and life altering things to the world, because I can’t do it in ways that we recognize culturally as significant.
Sometimes people feel better when they are amongst those included in those moments I spend sending goodwill. Sometimes I don’t know what people experience. But I do know that moments count. And in little things we can see peace present.
What each of us has to offer is enough. Each of us has moments. And that counts.
Visit Elizabeth Wescott on Facebook
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:15 — 14.8MB)
A campfire under a night sky blazing with stars. It is both an opportunity to find your littleness and your bigness in the universe and to contemplate the significance of you – from a distance.
From A Distance: James Galway, Vincent Fanuele & The Galway Pops Orchestra
From A Distance: The African Childrens Choir
At a small concert I was at in Boulder, Colorado many years ago, songwriter Julie Gold shared the story of how she created the song “From A Distance”. She explained to her audience that she had been composing on a small electric keyboard with poor sound quality during the years she had been living in New York, since she had left Philadelphia. But for her 30th birthday, in February 1986, her parents arranged that the piano she’d grown up with, an upright piano, be delivered to her apartment.
The day after her piano arrived, Julie sat down to her treasured reunion. And, as if in celebration of two dear friends rediscovering the synchronicity of each other’s sounds, Julie and her beloved piano brought forth that very day the ballad “From A Distance”.
She wrote it in one hour.
But when music publishers and record companies did not seem especially interested, Julie’s close personal friend, quick, witty performer and talented singer/songwriter Christine Lavin, shared the song with a close friend of her own, folk songstress Nanci Griffith. Griffith, liking the song very much, chose to record it for her 1987 album, Lone Star State of Mind. It quickly became a favorite of Griffith’s fans worldwide.
In 1990 The Byrds released a boxed set and chose to record only four new tracks as additional material for the compilation. One of those tracks was “From A Distance”.
Later that same year Bette Midler recorded it. Within weeks it hit #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and then went on to win the Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991.
“From A Distance” has been translated into numerous languages including German, French, Cantonese and Spanish, to name just a few. It continues to be translated and sung the world over and has, as of this date, has been aired over 4 million times.
Julie Gold’s version of From a Distance
Nanci Griffith’s version of From A Distance
(iTunes)
The Byrds’ version of From A Distance
(iTunes)
Bette Midler’s version of From A Distance
(iTunes)
James Galway’s version of From a Distance
(iTunes)
African Children’s Choir’s version of The African Children’s Choir
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:19 — 33.6MB)
Volunteering for Disaster: Moments Count Interviews Red Cross Volunteer M. Ann Smith - background photo of Black Hills, SD near Ann's home
Ann Smith is being recognized for both her work as a Chadron State College professor and her extensive volunteer work with the American Red Cross.
Smith was 29 years old with three children when she enrolled at Nebraska Western College in Scottsbluff. After two years there, she transferred to CSC and completed a bachelor of science degree in education in just one year and a summer.
For 10 years prior to joining the CSC faculty, Smith was a teacher at Bridgeport, where she coached the school’s first volleyball and girls’ track teams. In her first four years of coaching, her track teams won a Class B state championship and a runner-up trophy. The duties gave her first-hand experience in gender equity. She later served on national committees pertaining to Title IX, the legislation designed to give equal athletic opportunities to females.
She earned a master’s degree from CSC in 1977 and earned a position on the faculty 1980. In her new position, she coached the cross-country team until the school discontinued the sport five years later. She also coached the women’s track team for nine years. She was named chairwoman of CSC’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department in 1987.
In 1985, she was CSC’s first recipient of the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award. She also was active in the Nebraska Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and earned its Honor Award in 1987.
Her involvement with the Dawes County chapter of the Red Cross has been extensive, ranging from training lifeguards to responding to some of the nation’s most prominent disasters. As a member of the National Disaster Human Resource Team, Smith has been deployed to 16 national disasters in 15 states. She spent Christmas vacation of 2001 in New York City to provide relief of the Sept. 11 attacks. She also spent five weeks assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Ann has three children and numerous grandchildren. Her husband, Bud, died in December 2007.
Red Cross Links:The Red Cross always needs donations of money, time and blood. Below find resources to help you contribute in whatever way you choose. There are also links to help you prepare for the unforeseen in your life.
Click this link to find out how you can donate to help the Red Cross.
Click this link to find your local Red Cross location by entering your zip code.
Click here to visit the Red Cross website and learn more about how to prepare for a disaster in your area. Get training in disaster preparation in your local area.
DOWNLOAD 22 different fact sheets in English or Spanish to help you prepare for Fires and Floods or Tsunamis and Volcanos. You name it you’ll find it here! You’ll need Adobe reader installed on your computer to be able to download these fact sheets. You can click here to get Adobe reader.
Click here to view the Video: Introduction to Disaster Services.
Click here for the main Red Cross Volunteer page. Be sure to look on this page for links to the Online Orientation, Volunteer Match and Find Your Local Red Cross.
Donate Blood. To find out if you are eligible or to find a blood donation location, click this Red Cross Blood Donor link.
Click here to get assistance with contacting family members who have been involved in a disaster, with finding shelter and supplies, with assistance for military families or to initiate an international trace.
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Volunteering for Disaster: Moments Count Interviews American Red Cross Volunteer M. Ann Smith
Within The Mind’s Eye: An Adventure in Seizing the Moment, an interview with Dr. David Grand
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