I am honored to win the 2016 Community Media Rika Welch leadership award for community impact; a testimony to the Guests who shared their stories on MidLIFE Matters. In addition, an 2018 interview I did with Judith Altmann, a Holocaust Survivor, won an award. In 2020 and 2021 two other awards acknowledged the content of interviews dealing with Child Sex Trafficking in CT and Non-Profit leadership. In 2023 MidLIFE Matters won First Place for a Profile Talk Show.Compassion & Cake
Sunday, September 8, 2013 at 09:10AM
Delia Ephron's excellent NYT article, "You Can't Have It All, But You Can Have Cake" tells us having it all "is the magical time when what you want and what you have match up." Fleeting, it requires seizing the moment, vs. creating a checklist for that high school reunion. In her case, it may occur in a Manhattan bakery. Her upcoming book, "Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc)" is on my must-read list. (Sunday Review, 9/8/13)
"The Value of Suffering" by Pico Iyer, an author and distinguished presidential fellow of Chapman University, examines similar concepts as a cover story in that same NYT Sunday Review. He reflects on recent and random examples of calamities in relation to philosophical notions of hidden blessings. Beautiful thoughts about the shared suffering that can create compassion -- and crack us open to other realities. Perhaps like Delia Ephron, who recently lost her beloved sister, Nora -- an 18th century haiku master, Kobayashi Issa noted that "This world of dew is a world of dew" .... And yet, and yet..."
To me, suffering, or walking a difficult path with another, does not guarantee cosmic clarity ... but using our senses to look around us can help us put things back together and start anew. Like Delia, we may even get to eat cake with the sun on our backs.
Reader Comments