[Oe List ...] Salmon: for your reflections

[Marge Philbrook]

Yesterday I was trying to "say" the faith stance that "we" live out of
as a prelude to thinking with the Cocks about the PJD. I was speaking
to an ICA staff member who does not know this faith stance that we are
still able to "articulate."  I found myself stunbling in ways that I
don't feel when I'm talk to those of us who I feel know what I'm
talking about.  Thanks for this witness, Bill.  Grace and Peace, Marge

2010/9/15 William Salmon <wsalmon at cox.net>:
> Colleagues--
>
>     Is there a better message to live by when life turns everything
> up-side-down than to recall the insights of brother Bonhoeffer? Life does
> not define us, rather it is our relationship to life that we take that
> defines Life.
>
>     The painful changes of life are amoral; they are just events,
> activities, experiences and realities. When our son Wesley died at 20 with
> leukemia he was victimized by this damnable disease, but he never empowered
> the disease by saying he was a victim. Rather, he chose (or, perhaps, I
> chose for him) to be a VICTOR! Whatever the choice, this was the self-story
> we all lived until he died.
>
>     It is a matter of choice, and an important choice at that! To chose to
> be a VICTOR---in spite of leukemia, or even because of it--robs the disease
> of any power over us. To choose to make ourselves VICTIMS is to empower the
> disease with attributes that it never possesses by itself.
>
>     While reality is characterized by death and pain, Castaneda reminded us
> that both death and pain never lie to us; we can ask, "Am I in pain?" and if
> the answer is, "Yes!" we can damn well believe we are." On the other hand. .
> . .
>
>     I have god-damned leukemia ever since Wesley's death to no avail.
> Leukemia is not my enemy. While I will never accept its friendship either,
> leukemia just continues to do its thing; it is fulfilling its created
> purpose.
>
>     Is there Good News in here somewhere? Yes, the Christian story is that
> Jesus demonstrated that he was not a victim to the political and religious
> powers of his day, and deliberately chose to die on the cross as the
> demonstration that even death itself does not victimize us; Jesus is
> the first born of many brothers and sisters. When we choose to live out
> of This Story then we experience a resurrection; we experience The Christ.
> (JWM would love this!)
>
>     Well, duh! Death only does its thing too.
>
>     Ah, well, such is life.
>
>     Inner Peace,
>
>     Bill
>
>
>
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