Incredible Week of...MOMENTS

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.


...Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again

(Arabic singing by Kadim Al Sahir)
Salam allah ?ala duniya ?alal ensaan
Ah ah ah mata na?aya bi?ub wa aman
Salam Allah
Salam Allah
Salam Allah ?ala duniya ?alal ensaan

In morning dew
A glorious scene came through
Like war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again

Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
To you~~~In recognition of September 11, 2001 Sarah Brightman; The War Is Over

This experience happened on Tuesday...
I'm in a Private Conversation with Nestor Hernandez, the Executive Director of the The Belle Center~~~Touting My Results-oriented Role in The Portal Program. There are a number of 'dynamics' going on right now at The Belle Center with this AmeriCorps Buffalo transition, and I want to make sure that All of the items that were supposedly placed on the table, on my behalf, are still on the table. I'm stressing to him how I enjoy what I am doing, and doing well; how I seem to have found a Calling~~~like a Priest!! The Finance Director, Joanna Hernandez, just happens to walk in~~~and imparts... "No Nestor, you ought to hear him on the phone!!"

"Oh, My God, I am heartily sorry...!!!
Alright!!! Maybe not a Priest!!! One effective Operations specialist, though.
One Big Happy Family at The Belle Center!!

On Wednesday; an Anniversary of sorts: September 8, 1990 was the beginning of an amazing 4 year Journey. And coincidental to that, was the Buffalo Bills odyssey to four consecutive Super Bowl adventures. The 4 year journey for me personally, was being part of the CHRISTMAS SEASON FULL/TIME Night-Crew at TOYS R US. For the first time since that era, as a 20-Year-Recognition of sorts, I visited the TOYS R US Sheridan Drive location, Wednesday. Through that 4-Year sojourn, among other things, I had gotten to KNOW some really Good People. In particular, I reconnected with a Genuine Article that I hadn't seen since my grade school days.

The Belle Center experience---that justified a photo-op:

This essay is written in recognition to Dr. Jack Norton EdD, who did a yeoman's job moderating all the AmeriCorps Buffalo, Meaning-Of-Service, discussion groups. The first discussion had as its subject matter prose by Pablo Neruda, title: THE LAMB and The PINE CONE~~~

The Lamb and the Pinecone One time, investigating in the backyard of our house in Temuco the tiny objects and minuscule beings of my world, I came upon a hole in one of the boards of the fence. I looked through the hole and saw a landscape like that behind our house, uncared for and wild. I moved back a few steps, because I sensed vaguely that something was about to happen. All of a sudden a hand appeared-a tiny hand of a boy about my own age. By the time I came close again, the hand was gone, and in its place there was a marvelous white sheep. The sheep's wool was faded. Its wheels had escaped. All of this only made it more authentic. I had never seen such a wonderful sheep. I looked back through the hole but the boy had disappeared. I went into the house and brought out a treasure of my own: a pinecone, opened, filled of odor and resin, which I adored. I set it down in the same spot and went off with the sheep. I never saw either the hand or the boy again. And I have never again seen a sheep like that either. The toy I lost finally in a fire. But even now, in 1954, almost fifty years old, whenever I pass a toy shop, I look furtively into the window, but it's no use. They don't make sheep like that any more. I have been a lucky man. To feel the intimacy of brothers is a marvelous thing in life. To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and our weaknesses-that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being and unites living things. That exchange brought home to me for the first time a precious idea: that all of humanity is somehow together. That experience came to me again much later; this time it stood out strikingly against a background of trouble and persecution. It won't surprise you then that I attempted to give something resiny, earthlike, and fragrant in exchange for human brotherhood. Just as I once left the pinecone by the fence, I have since left my words on the door of so many people who were unknown to me, people in prison, or hunted, or alone. That is the great lesson I learned in my childhood, in the backyard of a lonely house. Maybe it was nothing but a game two boys played who didn't know each other and wanted to pass to the other some good things of life. Yet maybe this small and mysterious exchange of gifts remained inside me also, deep and indestructible, giving my poetry light.

These discussion groups were somewhat of an enigma. While they were supposed to foster togetherness and motivation toward community-outreach and service, because of the cultural, economic, social, and racial mixes, these discussions were always lively and often had a degree of tension that would surface and sometimes escalate.

The Lamb and the Pinecone, like so much prose and poetry is wide open to interpretation. For me, I saw the prose along color lines. I saw the lamb as non-descript; white. I saw Pablo using the Pine Cone to highlight the vitality and brilliance of the people of color. I could feel Neruda's energy exude in finding, then using, the extended prose to encompass the radiance, the appeal, the captive audience of the Pine cone. And I must admit, as I go through my daily affairs at The Belle Center, and invariably interact with its many different hues and color tones of people, I have to admit that I am just as fascinated by the brilliance of the Pine Cone.

I now have a Pine Cone suspended from the passenger-side visor slip-clip, in my Dodge Minivan. To have Dr Jack Norton EdD know of this significance to his work, I had him come out and photograph the vignette. The photograph is of such relevance to me that it is earmarked to be my FACEBOOK Profile Photo. I'm thinking that Dr Jack may put the photo and excerpts of this essay in an upcoming 'NEWSLETTER' to explain the motivation that had the Pine Cone ultimately end up as part of my vehicle-interior persona.

Friday AM; on my way to The Belle Center:

I'm in the westbound lane of Hertel Ave. waiting for the signal light at Niagara St. to change. I'm a few vehicles back and there is a Metro bus up in the front of all this so, invariably, I know I'm going to be stationary for a couple of light changes. While waiting, I'm observing something that is so richly, and profoundly beautiful that I saw it as the quintessential tapestry of Love. At the Hertel Ave eastbound bus stop was standing The Manifestation of Motherhood. At the bus stop, with her back to me, stood a young woman. She was in her Riverside everyday-wear, with an accompanying fall jacket as the morning was a bit brisk. This young mother had a toddler child nestled tightly to her upper left side. The way she held the child, it was evident that she adored the little one. And in this freeze-frame it was evident that the child knew of a bliss that had him know that heaven did exist on earth; in the warmth and enclosure of his Mother's arms. The peace and harmony was so exquisite that he did not even budge.
I was so moved by this moment-in-time that as the traffic finally started to advance, I decided to lower the driver's side window. As the window lowered, I tapped the horn softly twice, put out my left-hand to display a 'thumbs-up' and coincidentally called out...Good Mother! As I was now getting beyond her I could see out of the corner of my eye, her turning toward me and just starting to put an acknowledging smile on her face.

Humanity can tug at your heart~~~if you let it.
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise