Religion

A friend told me he once had a T-shirt emblazoned with the command: “Don’t just do something. Stand there!” I’ll bet some folks thought he got it at a discount, because the message was skewed. At the very least, it must have caused a second look ... even a second thought.

Holding hands is such a simple delight. We grasp the pleasure from the time we were tiny tots, holding our parents’ hands as we tottered beside them, matching each step as best we could. To let go was frightening, until we discovered that release simply meant we could extend our hands to others.

Halloween has always been an intriguing day for me. The intrigue is not limited to it being the anniversary of my grandson’s birth! Typically, I don’t festoon our house with gauzy webs or hanging skeletons. There are no carved pumpkins bearing flickering candles to light a ghostly path. It’s not that I am against the customs. I am simply not a house decorator. It allows me to find great joy in gazing at my neighbor’s decorations.

Interestingly, I belong to Poetry Revisited, a group of poets who have recently acquired a taste for haiku as part of their repertoire. When confronted with the challenge to write in this style, I balked. Too few words, I mused, were used to present complicated ideas. Not surprisingly, challenges whet my appetite. Computer keys at the ready, I began sharpening my skill, trying hard to believe that less is more. Serendipitously, “The Art of Pausing” arrived for my perusal and review. It gave new meaning to my efforts.