markar Loc: Michigan

I heartily agree with you and Rivernan.

markar Loc: Michigan

I am putting that quote..there is a God but I'm not him.. in my book of quotes to live by. I am sorry for your terrible losses and hope you are someday freed from your PTSD. Bless you.

E Mang Loc: Louisiana

p. 6 So sorry about your family and friends that have left you. You are exactly correct, we are not in control and God is. But we do hurt much too much and far too often. I have lost my parents, sister at 46, my daughter when a senior in college, all my aunts and uncles, and all my in-laws. The older you get the more losses there are. Currently my husband is in his 5th week in the hospital. But like I say, it is better to have loved than not. I do appreciate all the new friends at UHH. Each night when I come in from the hospital it is wonderful to find you all here to greet me. Thank you.

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

I am sooo sorry for your loss, Photogirl!

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

Take all the time you need to help yourself through this time of sorrow. We will keep you in our prayers.

subroto mukerji Loc: New Delhi, INDIA

May this wonderful poem give comfort and solace to all us hard pressed mortals when confronted by God's mysterious ways ...

http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.in/2004/01/shaper-shaped-harindranath.html

Shaper Shaped -- by Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
Guest poem sent in by Subroto Mukerji

(Poem #1438) Shaper Shaped

"In days gone by I used to be
A potter who would feel
His fingers mould the yielding clay
To patterns on his wheel;
But now, through wisdom lately won,
That pride has gone away,
I have ceased to be the potter
And have learned to be the clay.

In other days I used to be
A poet through whose pen
Innumerable songs would come
To win the hearts of men;
But now, through new-got knowledge
Which I hadn't had so long,
I have ceased to be the poet
And have learned to be the song.

I was a fashioner of swords,
In days that now are gone,
Which on a hundred battle-fields
Glittered and gleamed and shone;
But now I am brimming with
The silence of the Lord,
I have ceased to be sword-maker
And have learned to be the sword.

In by-gone days I used to be
A dreamer who would hurl
On every side an insolence
Of emerald and pearl.
But now I am kneeling
At the feet of the Supreme
I have ceased to be the dreamer
And have learned to be the dream."

-- Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
----------------------------------------------------
Harindranath was the quintessential Bengali intellectual -- wealthy, high born, highly strung, temperamental, eccentric, coruscatingly brilliant but (pardonably) egoistic, proud of his abilities, but wasting them by his self-destructive tendencies (such as his compulsive philandering). He was marvellously gifted with an array of outstanding abilities, mostly
underutilised. Artist, poet, dramatist, actor, philosopher and metaphysician, Chattopadhyaya is typical of the towering intellects that have emerged from urban Bengal over the last two centuries.

His father, Aghoranath Chattopadhyaya, was a scholar of
Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew, Persian and English, and Harindranath 'caught the
bug' from him. The senior Chattopadhyaya was principal of the famous Nizam's college at Hyderabad, now capital of Andhra Pradesh state in India. His daughter (Harindranath's sister) happened to be Sarojini Naidu, the legendary 'Nightingale of Bengal', and herself a fine poet, freedom fighter and orator.

In later life--as worldly men are oft wont to do--Harindranath came face to face with his mortality and shed his egoism by an almost relieved surrender to the Supreme. This poem is a frank admission of his foolish obsession with himself, in sheer neglect of the Self. Humility followed Self-Realisation and brought with it a glimpse of the larger purpose of the Spirit.
It is this surrender of the towering genius of Harindranth before his Maker that forewarns all us mortals, so wrapped
up in our own puny little egos, that to shed the obsession with self is to enter into the arena of a Greater Consciousness, where a transcendent experience awaits the awakening soul.

God Bless you all...

Subroto Mukerji

PAToGraphy Loc: Portland ME area

p9 Beautiful!

subroto mukerji Loc: New Delhi, INDIA

Thanks, Pat...just wanted to share one of my favorite poems with all Hedgehogs. "We only have a few moments", said famed evangelist Billy Graham. "The wonder of life is that it's so short." Help us stretch out our lives with your wonderful images, Pat. Time truly comes to a stop when I view your inspiring images. BTW, we don't have Blue Jays here in India, but we DO have something similar: a bird the size of a fat dove called the Indian Roller. I don't see much of them nowadays (maybe that's coz I'm in 21st century Delhi). I fear agricultural chemicals have decimated their populations, since they feed on insects on the periphery of farmlands. It's a curious bird, ugly and attractive at the same time. Attaching 3 photos by unknown lensmen, my thanks going out to them whoever / wherever they be for their stellar contributions, used non-commercially.

Indian Roller 1


Indian Roller 2


Indian Roller 3

Blake Loc: Alfred NY

very nice and thoughtful

subroto mukerji Loc: New Delhi, INDIA

p 9: If that was for me, thanks, Blake.

Blake Loc: Alfred NY

it was thanks again

1066 Loc: England

I also lost my best friend in an Auto accident, or as we call it in the UK, an RTC. Saying I know how you feel is not right, for one thing, time as passed since it happened ( nearly 15years ), and another thing, I wasn't into the Internet then, because if I had, I'd have found loads of friends and people who I had never met trying to help me come to terms with what as happened.. a bit like this site. Anyway, from one of those people...Here's a quote from one of Tom Hanks' films, Forrest Gump... "Life is like a box of chocolates...you never Know what your gonna get"....Well hopefully when you open a new box of chocolates in the future, your friend will still be a favourite one. I hope this helps,
1066

1066 Loc: England

[quote=1066]

markar Loc: Michigan

E Mang, you have a heavy burden. sending good wishes and prayers. Standing by people when they need a boost doesn't cost a cent. Let's all do it.

markar Loc: Michigan

That bird is breathtaking. Thank you for introducing it to us. Wonderful photos.