Thoughts Under a Blue Sky
Riding home from work today, the first hot day of the season, was a slow and meandering trip under a clear blue sky. Looking up at the clouds I felt an elation I can only associate with everything being okay — at the moment and in a more general sense.
I know it’s just a feeling but always a welcome state of mind on a hectic day that’s a montage of activity at work and home mixed up with the news of the day. As I thought about this post, I happened upon a passage written by Anne Frank regarding the hopeful nature that comes from looking up at the sky. Written nearly 73 years ago, her words and thoughts, at age 14, seem far beyond her years. Seemed somehow appropriate despite the dramatic difference of her world from mine.
“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.
It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more”Anne Frank
– July 15, 1944
One of my Daughters did a report on Anne Frank, I think middle school eara,the inspiration gleaned from that report put my daughter on a course to search out , as I say ” Woman who inspired the world”, to this day she is on that same course.
Your timing is in rhythm what is going on when I get a chance to talk to her.
I’m Calling her later today.
Good Stuff
It’s strange isn’t it when things in people’s lives sync like that. Coincidence?
Hope things are going well with you. I’m on the retirement slide now. End of June and I’ll have a lot more freedom when I’m no longer trading my time for money…
During my working life…the best memories came from what we called “blue sky meetings”. Designed to discover possibilities. Possibilities may be the frame of mind you get from riding…I do
Absolutely the case for me. Riding, and standing in a hot shower first thing in the morning. I do my best blue sky thinking then.
Hot shower meetings were discouraged in corporate America.
See, that’s a problem with corporate America. They get all enthused with chair massages and Starbucks coffee in the office when really what’s needed are some hot showers…
I have learned how to frame photos of my rides from you. I like how you frame the natural world around you, with reduced emphasis on your scooter. It’s always there to remind me how you got there, but it’s not the focus.
Funny you should raise the topic Bill. I’ve been tinkering with a video idea on how to utilize the image frame to strengthen both the picture and use it to integrate the experience a bit more strongly. Especially as it relates to riding with a scooter or motorcycle as the subject.
More coincidences in the world…
Lovely. It is hard to imagine someone in her circumstances being so hopeful.
I suppose hope is a state of mind. Something uniquely human and powerful. But hard to come by in situations like she was in. Perhaps our collective recognition of examples of hope are what have fueled her name in history.