Day 132b: A palace painted Pink … (September 08, 2019)
I eventually made it to the town of Fancy Hill and pulled into the Pink Cadillac Diner for a glass of water. Darien (the waitress with whom I first spoke there) was quite enamored with the entire idea underlying The Walk and manger Erin was so astounded by the same that she told me to have a seat and rest awhile and brought me a bowl of fresh pineapple and an order of crispy toast (!!!) …
“Some of us have figured out that we simply have to do what’s in front of us and keep doing it. We have to clean up beaches after oil spills and we have to rebuild whole towns after hurricanes and we have to stop using & abusing the innocent and we have to return calls and library books. We get people water when they are thirsty and we smile at them when they are down and we reach out to the ones who are in any way impoverished or downtrodden. And every time we choose the Good Action or Right Response – every time we choose to do the decent or the beautiful or the forgiving or the kind – it builds our world anew. It builds up every one of us, incrementally, towards a much-needed resurrection of self and society; remaking ourselves into Warriors of the Good and rebuilding society to an expression ladled with compassion and freedom and respect and justice. Yes, the horror is real, no doubt, and things are indeed hopeless to those who are remotely informed or reasonable. And yet that shouldn’t cause us to quit or tremble. Quite the opposite – the state of things should summon us all to be the change we so desperately need to see – summon us to make casseroles for our neighbors and organize clothing drives for the homeless and beautify our neighborhoods and plant community gardens and (for God’s sake) go vegan … We all are living stitch by stitch, and when we’re lucky so many of us have just barely enough to get by. Things look grim and darkened, yes, and yet if we fixate on the bigger picture, the whole shebang over which we alone can have so little sway or influence, then we will miss the stitching – the little acts of caring that we can each do each & every day to lessen the burdens of those nearby and bring joy to those we meet along the way.” ~ via Anne Lamott
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