VALENTINE'S DAY LETTER (12 February, 2009)
Soon we will begin Lent again, leading us to Pascua, or Easter.
What is Pascua (Easter)? It is a passage from the old to the new. A time for conversion. For example an adolescent who comes
from a violent or difficult environment often searches for relief in peers who
do drugs or drink, etc. My father used
to joke at election time, "it is a choice between two evils!" This is something like being "between the rock and the sword"!
One of my four
sisters, Penelope (penny) once told me, "women have made changes, but men
have not changed". My sister is
single. She never married or formed her
own family, although she has a very active life, and has done many charitable
activities. She worked for more than 30 years
in the USA government.
The big question this
year is, "can man change and what is really needed in that change?" Is there a promised conversion and what is
that all about?
Have women really
made a positive change for the better, or are many of us simply mimicking men's
bad patterns and habits?
These questions will
be the center of my song-poems this year and I hope to shed some light on these matters. This is coming from a woman who has lived in
marriage by Argentine law for more than 30 years, with three children (one
of which I gave in adoption to another woman, because I was too young and
unable to take care of him). I am active
in the Catholic Church, a member of Legion of Mary, and have read about,
questioned, contemplated and studied these matters.
Professionally, an English
teacher, certified as a legal secretary, leather crafts person, and now taking
a ceramics class. Song-poems sprout
suddenly and naturally from my heart. I
studied literature and (esp.) Poetry from my younger days and also the Spanish
language. I began being familiar with
the Bible from when I heard verses from the time I was a baby. More than studying these things, I had a
great, tender love for them. The love
Saint Valentine professed is this commonwealth love, and it is what the first
settlers to the English colonies in North America tried to build.
I delved into eastern
religions as an adolescent and did yoga and have done many breathing exercises.
I believe all of the
great thinkers get back to love and mercy as the best solutions to a conflict
of existence and that Jesus paved the future with this, and put the
cornerstone.
More than telling
everybody what to do, I open up the questions, "what can we do to truly
make a better world... for all of us? I
hope to inspire in this process.
I look forward. The only true reality really before me is old
age. So what else can I do but prepare for the obvious!
I believe prayer and
contemplation have been the key to help me through troubles that seemed to have
no solution, and that when family and friends are supportive it makes all the
difference.
I’m not exactly sure
when the line of old age is reached, but I still fight against that (like my
father is also doing and my Aunt Regina, aged 97)! So this is especially dedicated to my
FIDEL ... Y ... DAD!
LOVE, KARLA
LIFE IS CHANGE! HAPPY
VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
