Category Archives: Metaphor

Getting Over It

by CreatingReciprocity

The year spreads out ahead and it’s clean now.

The slate scrubbed with shame and judgement.

We need mirrors not slates.

To reflect the past

into the present

into the future.

Blank slates make lousy maps. (1)

If we were less afraid to make mistakes would we do more and learn more and understand more?  Would we benefit from what we do – for better or worse – and learn not to value ourselves and others using shaky standards of success and failure as our measure?

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. ~Mahatma Gandhi

_______________________________________________

(1) a poem for a world – Mary Jane Kennedy

Related articles

Imagination

by CreatingReciprocity

To see things in the seed, that is genius. Lao-Tzu

Related articles

The Wolves Inside Us

by CreatingReciprocity

Español: Lobo en el zoo de Kolmården (Suecia).

A Cherokee boy was upset with a friend who had done him an injustice and he went to his grandfather for advice.  The old man sat him down and told him a story.

I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.

But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.” He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing.

Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.” (1)

________________________________________________________________

(1) http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TwoWolves-Cherokee.html

Related articles

Did You Know…

by CreatingReciprocity

Signature of Dr. Seuss

Did you know that The Cat in the Hat was written in 1954 using the reading vocabulary of the average 6-7 year old?

It was mainly written in an attempt to create something interesting for children that might attract them to read.

Theodor Geisel – aka Dr. Seuss – was supplied with a list of 348 words – he used 238 words (13 not on the list).  And he definitely succeeded in the interesting part.

Just in case that wasn’t good enough – four years later in 1960, Theodor Geisel wrote a book using only 50 words –

a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

I’m sure you’ve recognised Green Eggs and Ham from that list.  It is still one of the best selling children’s books of all time.

This may not seem much like the FUNDAEC rural university* at first glance but it uses the same logic. Rather than forcing people to meet the needs of the existing systems, it had a go at adapting the systems (in this case reading systems) to better fulfill the needs.

Clever Dr. Seuss…

________________________________________________

*https://creatingreciprocity.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/3501/

Related articles

Why Does This Make Me Cry?

by CreatingReciprocity

This video seems to make me cry – but in a good way!

Enjoy!

The Story of the Long Spoons

by CreatingReciprocity

There is a Jewish folk tale that tells the story of a man who wanted to understand Heaven and Hell.

First, he travelled to Hell.

Here, row after row of table was piled high with platters of food yet the people seated around the tables were starving to death. Each person held a full spoon but both arms were splinted with wooden slats so they couldn’t bend either elbow to bring the food to their mouths.

Next he went to Heaven.

The setting was the same here as in Hell – row after row of long tables laden with food and all the people had their arms splinted so that they couldn’t bend their elbows. But the people in Heaven were happy and well fed.

He couldn’t work out why things were so different so he watched for a while.

As he watched, a man picked up his spoon and dug it into the dish before him. Then he stretched across the table and fed the person across from him. The recipient   thanked him and returned the favor by leaning across the table to feed his benefactor.

The man ran back to Hell to tell the poor souls trapped there what he had discovered.  He whispered the solution in the ear of a starving man – “You don’t have to be hungry,” he said. “Use your spoon to feed your neighbour and then he will return the favour and feed you.”

But instead of being grateful, the starving man became angry.

“What are you talking about?” he shouted.  “You expect me to feed that man?  I hate him!  I would rather starve than give him the pleasure of eating.”

Then the man understood – both Heaven and Hell offer the same circumstances and conditions. The critical difference was in the way they  treated each other.

________________________________________________________________

Rescue Work – Dayton, March, 1913

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.12020

Call Number: LC-B2- 2576-2

Related articles

Love is a Dynamo – Part II

by CreatingReciprocity

Love is like pi natural, irrational, and VERY important.

Lisa Hoffman

______________________________________________

Original Caption: A youngster, clutching his soldier father, gazes upward while the latter lifts his wife from the ground to wish her a `Merry Christmas.’ The serviceman is one of those fortunate enough to be able to get home for the holidays.  December 1944

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: NWDNS-208-AA-2F-20

Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=535527

Subjects:
Relaxation
World War, 1939-1945

Love is a Dynamo – Part I

by CreatingReciprocity


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

_________________________________________________

Photograph – Migrant Cotton Picker and Her Baby near Buckeye, Maricopa County, Arizona – 4/11/1940

Photographer: Lange, Dorothea, 1895-1965

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: NWDNS-83-G-44371

From: Series: Photographic Prints Documenting Programs and Activities of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and Predecessor Agencies, compiled ca. 1922 – ca. 1947, documenting the period ca. 1911 (Record Group 83) Created by: Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Division of Economic Information. (ca. 1922 – ca. 1953)

Related articles

Your Most Important Decision

by CreatingReciprocity

          Tell me, what is it you plan to do
          With your one wild and precious life?

          The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

____________________________________________


Photograph – [WOMAN SITTING IN STORE] – James Jowers (American b. 1938) Date: 1969

Accession Number: 2007:0275:0043

George Eastman House Collection

Related articles

Trees as Metaphors

by CreatingReciprocity

 If we are struggling to understand a concept we often find it useful to compare one thing with another.  I think this tree metaphor is very useful for understanding all sorts of mysteries about growth and change.

As trees and other plants mature over time, new structures appear.  Developments may be obvious, as when flowers or other reproductive structures first appear, or more subtle, like the maturing of xylem or phloem.

BUT – this does not necessarily mean that earlier structures disappear.  Indeed they often spread up and out with the branches or down into the ground with the roots…The structures that appear when a tree is a tiny seedling are still present in a huge tree – at the very tips of the branches and roots. (1)

 See the full description of tree growth here – (1)http://trees.tennessee.edu/concepts.html

___________________________________________________________________

Related articles