Love each other for today, because we don't get tomorrow

http://www.upworthy.com/a-husband-took-these-photos-of-his-wife-and-captured-love-and-loss-beautifully?c=reccon1

Psalm 90:4
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

You are terrifying and strange and beautiful

On the issue of dignity:

http://www.sisteroftheyam.com/?p=167

"If anything, I am an accidental lady and probably not even a lady at all. It took me years to forgive that about myself."

"...what we need more than ladies is women."

"If you are a woman, your deservedness of empathy, defense, and safety is tied to your success at performing 'ladylikeness' and is a luxury that is hard to earn and easy to lose."

"...your skirt could be the right length; your faith could be biblically obedient; you could suffer in silence and sacrifice with enthusiasm; your politics could be dainty; your orgasms could be collateral accidents of your polite sex; you could be quiet, light, small, poised, dignified, neat, clean, stoic–whatever it takes to be easy to regard and love–and still be visited upon with as much violence, betrayal, and disrespect as the next woman."

"The cult of ladyhood is a fraudulent buy that can also strip women of their power, their resources, and their joy."

"many of us...are so fixated on policing the unladylike ways in which women hurt, that we find ourselves terrible advocates for those who need our courage the most."

"I imagine a world in which women and men are taught to tend to their desires absent the shame. I imagine a world in which together they rewrite the rules of their partnerships–rules that are moored onto their own tailored truths and wants instead of the fantasies of what they should believe and crave."

"We should trust that when we raise confident, empowered, fully themselves women, that what we covet about ladies–poise, tact, and style–can come from other, perhaps deeper, places than convention."

"We need women of defiance."

Stigma, Privilege, and other things I've been thinking about

I often think of the Christmas story as one where God, by revealing himself to the world in the form of a Shepherd to walk among us, restores human dignity (by restoring our relationship to God, and ourselves as God's children, in Christ).

It's got me thinking of all the work we as people in a Creator can do, in partnership with our God and in hand with that dignity we've been granted, to extend our awareness of the injustices and the indignities still in the world, so that shifts might occur.

Given my background and what I've experienced in life, dignity for those dealing with mental health disorders is an issue about which I am passionate. When I volunteered with people at an inpatient unit, I began to understand how the small things - being allowed to chose a drink with a meal or wash one's clothes independently - made such a difference in one's own perception of empowerment and agency. When I worked with NAMI, I saw how cultural perceptions of health and wellness could strip away the dignity of the individual suffering in deference to the cultural standard which forbade health care in the first place. This kind of thing hurts the individual, but of course families and whole societies too.

Among the rest of us, mental health disorders are relatively prevalent, and mental health care is necessary for all of us. We have a long way to go in acknowledging mental health parity and living it out. It's something I hope I'll see continue to change for the better in my lifetime.

Food for thought:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/shameful-profiling-of-the-mentally-ill.html?adxnnl=1&smid=fb-share&adxnnlx=1386777710-yHUgZ5Ubg6cdIBdf0ZJajg

Another topic that has reentered my consciousness lately is White Privilege. Among my own privileges, I've recently admitted my privilege not to stand out, my privilege to be seen as conforming with socially acceptable norms (whether or not I do!) and my privilege to be perceived as innocent before being judged as guilty. I would encourage all people with White ancestry, all those who are White or look White, to chew on this concept a bit and to revisit it from time, to time, to time. It will open you up to a larger world to enjoy, and it will also help you take a step towards accepting the inherent dignity of our brothers and sisters of all race/ethnicities.

More food for thought:

http://blindspotproject.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Riduckulous

Stays

Gorgeous Judy Garland. How I idolized her as Dorothy. How I soaked in the story. How much I can take away from The Wizard of Oz as an adult.

Wizard of Oz: Frightened? Child, you're talking to a man who's laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe... I was petrified

Dorothy: If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it.

In our words and actions, staying silent is not acceptable. Not working together, as men and women is even less so.

Behavior Change

Another reason why I do what I do. No quick fixes. Lots of complicated, diligent work. And the end result is being creative, hopeful and communal in changing people's lives for the better: