I somehow knew that Kenju would be most interesting in sending me my five words for the blog meme that she recently completed. I do not complete memes in most cases, but my posting creativity has been dwindling and I thought this meme might be a motivator. "For this meme, you write about five words as they apply to your life." I could be nice and put the definitions...but I think most readers can look them up in the online dictionaries. I must admit that I found this meme more uncomfortable than I thought as I progressed and the title of this blog is a lie!
brave: I have learned bravery by allowing/making myself to live in other cultures in other countries with people who do not speak my language. To be removed from all that you know and to have your ideas and beliefs challenged on a daily basis and to be forced to really think about communication as a means of solving problems, is a brave way of living. To survive this challenge and allow yourself to change is also brave and I think I have successfully traveled through that fire.
epitaph: This word is the scariest for me, but not because I fear dying. I just think that there is not much I have done that is memorable in this life. I have tried to live a good and honest life but that in itself is not worthy of a memorable epitaph. To me an important epitaph means you have changed the lives of others for the better in a significant way. I hope I still am granted a few more decades to work this out!
imagination: Having an imagination that is active and fertile is important in any life. I imagined that I would travel, I imagined that I would raise a beautiful (if not perfect) family and I imagined that I would be reasonably happy. When you believe in what you imagine you work out the issues and you change your approach and adjust your goals so that this can all come true. I think I have not allowed my imagination to run away with me, but I have allowed it to soar so that I can always have a long-term vision of the goals ahead. Imagination is a very important tool in life.
salute: The image that this word brought instantly to my mind was when some of the Republicans made fun of how Clinton saluted his marine staff, clearly showing he was not part of the military. When I see this word I remember when I allowed the conservatives to take my patriotism away from me. I allowed myself to question how I was showing my real feelings for our soldiers and I regret that. Now I know that I have always supported our troops and that all of our brave troops are both conservative and liberal in their philosophies. Being true to my beliefs does not make me unpatriotic any more than wearing a flag on my lapel makes me a patriot.
tempest: Over the years I have learned that I hate tempests and now I always avoid them. Tempests created by crazy relatives with bad habits or self-centered and insecure co-workers are the worst! Ninety-nine percent tempests are false and artificially created to distract and dismay. The only real tempests are those that have to do with the weather. My philosophy these days is to listen to and to share my time with those who can remain calm in the eye of the storm. The storm will pass and you will notice that things will be much the same if the tempest is not real.
(Want me to send you five words?)
Wow! A very interesting and insightful post.
ReplyDeleteIt would make a great epitaph!
Although you may want to hold off on that for a while.
Yes, even if I do not write on them right away, I'd like to broaden my thinking.
ReplyDeleteYou have great insight in the way you answered the five words. I can't top it, so will pass on trying.
ReplyDeleteOooh...this would be a tough meme. Too many words. You made some very interesting choices and confirmed them elequently...hmm...did you leave out elegance? I'll have to think some before I take this one on. I do always love your comments on my blog, by the way.
ReplyDeleteTabor, an excellent job, as I knew it would be. I gave three people the same words. Two of you have completed it and when the third one has, I will post links to all three, so you can read and compare what others said about the same words. It should be very interesting to see what direction others take. Thanks for participating. This was really interesting to me!
ReplyDeleteAs usual - you never disappoint this One Woman. You have a gift for words.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. I do however, think that there is at least one person out there somewhere who can say that you made a difference in his/her life. I think about that sometimes. I often wonder what people would say about me at my funeral.
ReplyDeleteThis was really interesting.
You can send me five words if you want. I'll do my best to do you proud. Haha.
I am so thankful to JarieLyn for sending me to visit your post. Loved your words...and the words about the words.
ReplyDeleteNicely done.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting list and very different from mine. Kenju also gave me the same 5 words.
ReplyDeleteGreat read.