FootprintsintheWind.com

Talking up conversation

:- Doug.

It is possible for families to come together. It is possible for families to live while they are dying, some sooner than others. It is possible to have good times in tear time. Tenderness toward one another, knowing and being known, hearing and being heard: life in its essence. It is all conversing.

So the picture is holding a hand, leaning in, not holding back the tears, saying what we have not said before because now it is important, now it is urgent, now we see its significance. Revealing our meaning to one another.

It takes courage. Do we have the courage to offer it, to invite it?

:- Doug.

This is where we come together, this is where we move people along the conversational continuum. This is where we improve our community, where we get to work and make things better.

:- Doug.

Encouraging the end of life conversation is an entry point, but the vision is bigger: Conversation on a rarer plane, made more common. Rare and common are not opposites but refer to qualities of the conversation. People thinking to converse early and often. A community regularly engaged with one another. Collaborating. Connected at the heart as well as head and hands.

:- Doug.

If you think
Things are
The way they always were
Always will be
That is evidence
Those things are not working

:- Doug.

Does an artist retire?
Can an artist retire?

:- Doug.

I announce
you!
You are worthy to be announced!

:- Doug.

Humanity is a field
out beyond physical connection
billiard balls affecting scattering caroming
these billiard balls, when they kiss, stay

:- Doug.

Caterpillar in a chrysalis
Fully engaged
Without effort

:- Doug.

Butterflies are able
in thinner air
we are capable
of rarer conversation

:- Doug.

I will not seek something higher
to remember
I will seek something higher
to hear

:- Doug.

To gather butterflies
is to travel through
metamorphosis

:- Doug.

And the butterfly
And the rose
Are one

:- Doug.

What conversations bring Daddy alive?

:- Doug.

What is the why of conversation?

:- Doug.

The conversational continuum
It
Thou
Us
Poetry
Whole-making

:- Doug.

Close though miles apart
Power in a voice dropped to a whisper
How much or little you lean in toward me
Proximity Intensity and Incline
Forces by which we humans know
One another’s presence

:- Doug.

The milieu of humanity
The winds we start
Surge, push, wash over us

:- Doug.

Proximity, intensity, and slope
We are touched by forces
Without wires between
Humanity

:- Doug.

If you are giving to others, you are wealthy.

:- Doug.

For what you love
Responsibility
As an act of service
Is an act of love

:- Doug.

For whom you love
Take responsibility
Child for parent
Parent for child
For love
It’s what we do
It’s who we are

:- Doug.

More than the sum
of its parts
a human is
a family
a community

:- Doug.