Strange Sisterhood

Today's thought comes courtesy of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo from her personal diary:

I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.

Thanks Frida. It's nice to know we're not alone in our "strangeness" or uniqueness.

Into Honest Ground

Billy Joel once sang:

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.

Living in a swing state during campaign season, like the song says, "Honesty is hardly ever heard." Between receiving robo calls from both political parties plus all of the television commercials, all I hear and see is one exaggerated campaign message after another.

I just want political candidates to be honest. Perhaps, I'm not the average American voter. The plain, honest truth can be as persuasive as a hyped-up or completely inaccurate truth.

Talking heads with their 24/7 analysis and commentary rarely factor into my voting decision making process. I seek out facts rather than fiction, and then use my best judgment to pick my candidate or pick positions on ballot initiatives.

Why can't political discourse be as simple as this moment on Iwo Jima during World War II? The Marines had an objective to advance and secure Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and once secured, set an American flag at the top. Granted this famous moment was actually the second time the flag was placed on Mount Suribachi, but their action was simple and precise -- just place the flag in the ground.

Political ads should be as honest, simple and precise as this flag-raising. But, I won't hold my breath. I doubt my dream campaign season will be happening any time soon.

Sunrise for Wellness

Happy National Wellness Week! Celebrated every third week of September, SAMHSA's National Wellness Week encourages individuals, families, and communities across the country to improve their health behaviors, while also exploring their talents, skills, interests, social connections, and environment to incorporate other dimensions of wellness.

Today, people around the country are contributing personal art and written compositions for the Artistic Expression for Wellness activity to express their own journey to wellness and the hope and promise of recovery.

Photography has always been a therapeutic and healing activity for me. Its pursuit forces me outdoors to explore new places and experiences. Looking through my camera's viewfinder offers new perspectives and another method to "get out of my own head" and see situations and the world differently. The photographic process calms and centers me. It is a great outlet during very stressful periods in my life.

Today, in honor of National Wellness Week, I traveled to the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington and photographed Wednesday's sunrise. In spite of cloudy skies and surprisingly cold temperatures, I captured some really picturesque moments as the sun rose behind the monument. Today's image could almost be mistaken for a painting.

Being at the memorial at sunrise with my camera was a healthy, creative way to start my day. We should all take steps each day to consider all of our dimensions of health and work harder to live healthier, well lives. If we do, we can live longer and happier.

Truth in the Midst of a Lie

The Internet is like an enormous public library, except while it does offer lots of useful information, it equally provides as much misinformation as well.

Recently, my dad shared an email forward supposedly sent by his favorite comedian, Bill Cosby. After years of reading email forwards shared by family, friends and co-workers, I've grown suspicious of the attribution included in these messages. Did Bill Cosby really say all of those unpleasant statements about Americans? I didn't think so and I investigated it.

Within minutes of checking Snopes.com -- a site dedicated to tracking and documenting the truth about these email forwards -- I discovered that it was indeed another Internet hoax. Instead Cosby authoring that opinion piece about his tiredness with America's (and certain Americans') social issues, it was an unfamiliar former Marine who wrote it for a community newspaper. This is just another example of how sourcing sloppiness is running amok on the World Wide Web. Just this week, one of my co-workers wrote a great blog post about this plague of plagiarism and mistaken attribution on the Internet.

Once my public speaking professor shared that it takes only seven times to learn something, but 37 times to unlearn it. I've never been able to verify that statistic, but if it's true, that's quite a high cost for sharing incorrect information.

Today, I saw this fantastic quote on Facebook attributed to the Dalai Lama. Although it actually wasn't said by him, I still think it is worthy of sharing. At the end of the day, does it really matter if someone well known says something as opposed to just a regular person who had an insightful thought? I don't think so.

Words to live don't need attribution; they just need to be taken seriously and applied to our daily lives. So take in the life truth below and disregard it's inaccurate source. Somehow in the midst of the lie resides a great truth we should still think about and remember. Cheers.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

Standing in the Storm

Holding up the dome featured in yesterday's photograph of the District of Columbia War Memorial are a circle of pillars made of marble. They are striking, especially in contrast to the sparse tree of winter in the background of today's image.

Pillars are known for strength. According to the dictionary, a pillar is defined as "a tall vertical structure of stone, wood, or metal, used as a support for a building, or as an ornament or monument." Watching Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) resign from the U.S. House of Representatives and leave Congress on Wednesday reminded me of these pillars. What a remarkable human being.

In her farewell remarks to her colleagues yesterday, Giffords said, "I will recover and will return, and we will work together again, for Arizona, and for all Americans." And I believe she will return to the halls of Capitol Hill once more. It's what a great pillar would do, right?

The source of Giffords' strength and resilience must be founded in her recognition, understanding and acceptance of who she is and what is important to her. Before the terrible shooting last year and during the months after, you get the sense that Giffords really knows herself and uses that personal knowledge and truth to draw courage for the years of recovery ahead. As a result, she continues to earn the respect of her peers on the Hill -- no easy feat -- and keeps steady and focused on this challenging and frustrating road of recovery.

Another example of  pillar, Elizabeth Edwards, once shared in her autobiography what she wanted her children to say about her to their children in the future:

When they are older and telling their own children about their grandmother, they will be able to say that she stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way -- and it surely has not -- she adjusted her sails.

Life can be filled with so many storms. Like Giffords and Edwards, we must live to be steadfast and strong. We must strive to pillars that stay upright in the midst of life's own howling winds and blinding rain, willing to to adjust our sails to accommodate life's ebbs and flows. In the storm, we must stand and keep supporting our own life domes.

Thankfully, at least we still have Gabby Giffords in our world now to show us how to do it with courage, optimism and grace.

District of Columbia War Memorial Dome

Did you know that black-and-white images do not use the colors black and white?

Black-and-white photographs use shades of gray, otherwise called grayscale, to compose images. If the photograph was just black-and-white, it would look more like line art and its photo subjects would lack dimension and shadows.

Even though I love black-and-white photographs, I tend to keep most of my images in color. Gray-scaled images are interesting, but I find the color versions more appealing and honest.

For example, the colorlessness of today's photo of the dome of the District of Columbia War Memorial could make a great black-and-white photograph. However, I like the contrast and variation that even the little color present in the image creates for the viewer.

Oh, the Controversy of National Memorials

Somehow, war memorials are always lightening rods for controversy. The District of Columbia War Memorial, dedicated in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, is the first war memorial built on the National Mall. Erected by the District to honor its own World War I veterans, unbelievably, the future of this simple monument is stirring much debate right now.

Currently the only memorial on the National Mall in honor of World War I veterans, there is a movement to turn this existing memorial into a national WWI memorial and expand the site using national funds. A subcommittee for National Parks, Forests and Public Lands in the U.S. House of Representatives will be holding a hearing today on a bill that would rededicate the District of Columbia War Memorial into the National World War I Memorial.

Of course, DC leaders are in opposition to this plan and want the memorial to remain a tribute to just Washingtonians who served in WWI. City lawmakers see it as another threat by Congress to extend its influence and power over the business of the District.

The saddest part of this whole debate is that the memorial is almost hidden from visitors on the National Mall. Surrounded by dense trees and bushes, unless you knew it was there, you could walk through the National Mall between the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial or along Independence Avenue and never see it.

I actually discovered it myself during an unexpected blizzard during a visit to the National Mall a few years ago. The snow fell so quickly and heavily that I had to stand in place and wait out the storm. I was terrified if I continued walking with no visibility, I would walk into a tree or worse, a wall of a monument. Once the snow stopped, I looked ahead and found myself gazing at this structure covered with snow. Completely unexpected, it appeared like a mirage of sorts.

I'm not sure where I stand on the rededication issue, although I understand both sides of the debate. Washingtonians already share so much with the nation and are protective of their own memorials and tributes. For loved ones of WWI veterans around the country, they would like their veterans honored and represented on the National Mall too; WWI is the only 20th century war involving Americans that is not nationally commemorated there. With new laws limiting the construction of new monuments or memorials on the National Mall, rededicating the DC War Memorial may be the only way WWI memorial supporters will get a national tribute to the American soldiers who fought in the "Great War."