A Poem That Makes One Think

This poem by Strickland Gillilan might be hard to understand at first, at-least if your like me, but when the symbolism and true meaning become clear it really makes you think. We have to many preconceived ideas about who we really are in are minds and a lot of time it isn't reality.

Watch Yourself Go By

By: Strickland Gillilan

Just stand aside and watch yourself go by;
Think of yourself as “he” instead of “I.”
Note, closely as in other men you note
The bag-kneed trousers and the seedy coat.
Pick flaws; find fault; forget the man is you,
And strive to make your estimate ring true.
Confront yourself and look you in the eye-
Just stand aside and watch yourself go by.

Interpret all your motives just as though
You looked on one whose aims you did not know.
Let undisguised contempt surge through you when
You see you shirk, O commonest of men!
Despise your cowardice; condemn whate’er
You note of falseness in you anywhere.
Defend not one defect that shames your eye-
Just stand aside and watch yourself go by.

And then, with eyes unveiled to what you loathe,
To sins that with sweet charity you’d clothe,
Back to your self-walled tenement you’ll go
With tolerance for all who dwell below.
The faults of others then will dwarf and shrink,
Love’s chain grows stronger by one mighty link,
When you, with “he” as substituted for “I,”
Have stood aside and watched yourself go by.

My First Aid (Taking Initiative)

I just finished taking a class in First Aid. This afternoon, if everything goes as planned, I'll take a test and become certified in Basic First Aid. I really enjoyed taking the class and I'm just praying that my learning sticks so I could actually help someone that was hurt. I, along with the rest of the class, learned how to make, tie, apply bandages and splints. We learned the best method of applying pressure for deadly bleeding and how to recognize internal bleeding. We learned how to take care of someone with a head or spine injury and most all, how to apply CPR to someone who is unconscious and not breathing. We leaned all these things on each other and life size dolls. Even though the classes went for six hours at a time and started right after lunch, ( that makes everyone sleepy) I really got right in and enjoyed it. 

However, the hardest part of First Aid for me was not the bandages or the CPR, it was learning how to take initiative. When someone was simulated to be hurt I would hesitate, looking around to see if someone else was planning on doing it. I didn't want to get in their way. Or I would wonder if they were really hurt seriously enough and of course I didn't want to offend them by assuming things. I also would hesitate out of fear because of my skill level. I didn't want to hurt them more by my lack of experience. 

While all these thoughts were running through my mind I was wasting precious time that I could have used helping them. Time is obviously important and precious.  I need to learn how to get over myself and take initiative to help. It doesn't just apply to First Aid, it applies to everyday life. There are lots of people who need some emotional First Aid. Like a hug, a smile, or a prayer or encouragement. God is teaching me thats its important to take initiative in those circumstances as well and not waste time because time is important.

The Dish Washer

I never realized just how much I appreciated the dish sprayer and washer in the cafe until just a couple of days ago. We all came in for work and were quite taken back when we found it broken. How were we supposed to wash all those dishes? Well, we found that rinsing and washing by hand was the answer to our problems. So we spent the next three hours with suds up to our elbows rinsing by hand, then washing by hand. The whole process took us three times longer then a regular dish washing period. 

However, it got me thinking about how important the seemingly unnoticeable things are. The dish washer saves me and my friends a lot of time, time we should be thankful for, but we hardly ever think about it. It wasn't until it was gone that we noticed how much we appreciated it. 

The people around us are so important too and so many times they are overlooked in the business of life.  We can't let the the people around us have to be gone for us to realize how important they are. I want to take time each day to realize how important the people God has placed in my life are. And I want them to know they are important too!

A Warm Shower Wish

Dear Friends,

This is just a short note to remind everyone to make sure the shower knob on the facet is turned off until the water has warmed up. I forget this tonight and turned it on right away. I was met with a cold icy, breath-stealing blast of water. Unless one likes cold showers its not a pleasant experience. Wishing warm showers for everyone!!

Goodnight =)

My Dog Galahad

When I was five I had a dog. I loved my dog so much but it didn't seem to love me at all. In fact, it would run away when I came toward it and it always preferred to show affection to my dad rather then me. My puppy just seemed to have something against me. One day it all came to a climax as I came around the corner and saw my dog in the drive way. I offered him a treat but he took off to his cage and refused to come out. I sat in front of the cage and waited for what seemed like forever. I tried speaking loudly through the cage into his ear to get his attention, but nothing worked. He refused to come out. I was hurt. Silently, tears streamed down my cheeks as I went to find my dad. He wiped my tears and slowly pulled out of me what was wrong. He was then able to explain to me why my beloved puppy didn't love me back. I found out that dogs don't like it when they are pulled by their hair or dragged around by their tails. I found out that they didn't appreciate being forced fed food and being trapped in their cage with someone blocking the entrance. I suddenly realized that my dog didn't like me as a result of my actions. My dad brought my puppy to me and we went through a whole new learning process of softly petting, scratching behind the ears and speaking softly when I was close to his ears. After only a day or two of this new strategy my puppy would come running to me and we had many happy times after that. He lived for twelve years and all that time we were almost inseparable. I'm the type of person that considers my dog up on the list of my best friends.

It was my actions that was keeping my dog at bay but I was so blind to that fact. Sometimes I find that the same applies to our lives and our interactions with others. We see people acting in ways that seem to suggest they have something against us, or that would suggest them not wanting to be around us. We wonder why and say, “They must have something against me,” but we often forget to look at our own actions to see if that could be the root of the problem. How is our body language? Do we say things in a brash way? Are the things we say that are seemingly unimportant to us, important to them. Are we so focused on the things that we need to do, that we walk by people without even acknowledging them. I know many times I have found myself doing these very things and I know that I wouldn't like it if someone acted in the same way towards me.

Unfortunately, my puppy passed away a couple of years ago but I still have a place in my heart for him. As I've grown older I have also realized, and will never forget, the lesson that I have learned from him. That when I see problems around me, I need to look at myself and see if I'm the root of the problem.   

Yesterday I found myself walking to the Library during supper. ( we were having a Senior class meeting) I carefully walk up the stairs balancing my plate with humus and pitta bread on it, and my computer in the other hand. I made it through the door and was surprised to see that I was the first person in there. I walked over to my seat and then felt the awful sensation of my plater slipping. Then everything went so fast and since I don't have the best since of balance I wasn't able to stop anything. The plate slipped upside down and bounced off the chair. I looked with horror at the mess. My black winter boot was splotched with Humus and the chair was covered too. The bouncing motion from hitting the chair had made the humus splotches spread far and wide over the floor. I felt embarrassed and worried as I immediately ran to get paper towels to clean up with. I wanted to have it clean before the rest of my classmates came in for obvious reasons. I scrubbed and scrubbed and had cleaned up about half the mess when I heard the door open. I looked up and saw Shannon. Suddenly, relief came to me because I knew that Shannon would neither get upset or look down. She rushed over and finished helping me clean up. Amaris soon came into help and between us we finished cleaning before anyone else came. What a relief. 

I have a new aspiration now. Just as I was relieved to have Shannon be the person to come in because I knew she would be kind, help, not make fun of the situation or awkwardly turn away. Amaris too. I want to be the person that people can count on to be kind. 

Cina's Story

It was the last week of summer camp and I was working as a counselor. The camp was situated on a island ,in a cove. The camps main activity, which also happened to be the campers favorite, was water sports. Since the Alaskan water tended to be on the cold side the campers were not allowed to go into the water without wet suits on, but this did not deter them. The late summer days were filled to the brim with wake-boarding, water skiing, tubbing, canoeing and kayaking. 

I had a young lady in my cabin by the name of Cina. She had a positive attitude, never gave me much trouble, and out of all the campers, she especially loved water sports.  Every activity period she was in the water. One day at lunch time, I saw Cina holding her arm in a strange way. She seemed to be squeezing it and then cradling it. Then I saw her go and put her long sleeve jacket on. I thought it was strange because it was still warm outside and jackets were not needed. I approached her and asked if she was okay and she quickly told me she was and since I had other campers that needed attention, I let it rest. The next day, my cabin eating breakfast and Cina and I happened to be sitting next to each other. Remembering yesterday, I took a look down at her arm. I gasped and quickly pulled her outside to take a better look. From her elbow all the way down and swirled around her index finger were numerous red welts from a jelly fish sting.  Jelly fish were all over the cove, some had tentacles and others did not. The camp staff had warned the campers not to play with the tentacle barring jelly fish It was an easy rule to follow since no one wanted to get stung. Sometimes though, campers would fall off the water tube and land on a jelly fish and the stings were inevitable. Cina sting was the worse I had seen in a long time though. 

"Cina!" I exclaimed, "Why didn't you come and tell me that you had gotten stung? I know this must have hurt you a lot. I could have helped you." Cina replied that she didn't think it was that big of a deal and she didn't want to be a bother. In short, she wanted to take care of herself unless something big happened to her. Then she would come to me and ask for help. 

Cina's story reminds me of how some Christians, myself included, view aspects of their spiritual life. Sin stings just like a jelly fish, even the small sins. But most of us don't want/feel the need to come to Christ with our stings, with our small little stings. We have a mind set like Cina, well come to God with our big problems, but we can take care of the little ones ourselves. However, just like I wanted to help Cina with what she thought was a little sting, Christ wants to help us in the little aspects of everyday life. He is not only there for our big problems, He is there for our small ones too.