Good morning. Maria and I are heading to Brandon, Vt. to pick up the yarn made from our shorn sheep, including sweet Merricat, above. Knowing Maria, it will be on sale either Sunday or early Monday, well in time for Christmas.
Thanks for the lovely comments I’m getting these days. I’m learning that you get back what you give. Anger breeds nothing but rage, argument breeds nothing but opinion, especially in America in 2021,
As I let go of it, it lets go of me. As I back away from writing about the Amish so often, anger also recedes. They seem to anger a lot of people, I have learned. I am inclined to celebrate our differences; I am naive in thinking it’s a popular idea.
It is not.
When I focus on the good in people, the interest in people comes right back to me. Why was I so late in learning this? Some messages from this morning, they spark the beginning of a good day:
Jon, your passage gave me goosebumps. Thank you for writing about your experience. It is tough to close yourself off from everything in this day and age, but I think you may have achieved this very thing. It makes me very happy for you.
You are so lucky to have Maria, Zinnia, Bud, and Fate as family. You seem to have created a paradise of sorts, along with the sheep, donkeys, chickens, and cats. You and Maria have worked very hard to achieve the life you have created, and the peace you have brought about through your afternoon meditations is wonderful! May it last for many years to come. – Fran
I’ve been reading your posts daily since August 2009 and you always give me much to think about. What an amazing ride it’s been! -Jan
You crack me up, Jon! I, too, am not able to tie my shoelaces the same way Maria does because of a bum knee for which I never sought treatment. I have to stand up, bend from the waist, and tie them that way. The physio will help immensely, and you’ll be able to do it soon, especially with your recent weight loss. You amaze me how you keep on truckin’ with self-improvement, and at the same time, you do so many good works. Congrats, and keep it up. I need your motivating thoughts daily to keep me on the straight and narrow! ? And, you’re right, we don’t have to agree with absolutely everything you write. That doesn’t matter. To me, your writing is about getting myself to actually think about things and see where I can improve myself daily. Thanks! – anonymous
Thanks all, your messages lift my spirits, and I am glad I’ve become posting some of them. Good energy is catchy, I believe, and will save our country and the world one day. Fran, I thank you for your loving and gracious note. I should say that Bedlam Farm is no paradise; we are very human, with very human issues and problems.
I don’t seek paradise on earth, nor do I think it’s possible. We are learning to live our lives the way our hearts and souls guide us, not the way we are told we must live. It is far from paradise, but it is very good for us.
I certainly agree with you on the anger issue. I decided some time ago that being angry does not improve my day, nor does it change the person with whom I am angry. My brother has a saying:”heaven is here now.” Enjoy the world that we live in now, and don’t try to idolize some unknown afterlife.
I wanted to encourage you by letting you know that since I have been reading your column these last few years, I have looked around my community to see if there was some good that I could do. I have begun by once a month buying groceries for a local food pantry in the poorest section of Albany. It’s shelves are nearly always bare so I know they need everything I can bring. I’m trying to encourage others to help also.
Great Nora, good spreads, we’re making a good pandemic…
I am perplexed as to why your writing about the Amish angered people to the point of such negativity …..when their lives seem to be so structured, yet gentle. Different from the mainstream yes, but I just can’t wrap my head around anything but *good* when it comes to them………… but….perhaps I am *abnormal* LOL, as you wrote about last week. You speak of how when you focus on the *good* in people, it returns good energy to you. I personally, always felt that this has been your approach all along.
Susan M
It’s a fair question, Susan, the writing also brought out a great deal of positive comments as well, it was very popular overall. There is a visceral distaste in the country now for sincerity, which people consider false, and love, which people consider naive and stupid. People are wary of the patriarchal structure of the Amish, and that is a valid concern. And some people are angry by the Amish flipping off so many of the things we think are necessary…ARA’, TV, cell phones, retirement accounts, retirement, the whole idea of the corporate society. Tolerance is not drawing a lot of followers these days. But the nasty stuff was not from everyone by a long shot, just aloud and nasty handful. And some people just don’t like the Amish structure and values, it’s a free country. They thought I was being too easy on them, not enough blood, which is what many Americans are used to.