RoslynReynolds.com

Freedom Isn’t Free

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | The Power of a Positive Outlook, You can make a difference! | No Comments

7:04 AM

The three women sitting at the long table looked up and smiled as I entered the otherwise empty room. Around the walls of the room stood five voting booths, simple collapsible metal structures, each with a yellow sheet of instructions taped to the top and a pen tethered to the writing surface.

The first woman asked for my name, typed it into the laptop in front of her, and gave a number to the second woman. She wrote that number and my name in a ledger, and asked me to sign next to my number, while the third woman handed me my ballot.

Today it was a simple ballot – two city offices, and one bond proposal. I was done in less than one minute.

The third woman reached for my ballot and removed the perforated segment, handed me back my ballot, and I “cast my vote” by dropping it into the metal box next to their table.

They all smiled and thanked me for coming and as I left, one handed me a sticker reading, “I Voted!” I placed it onto the lapel of my coat as I strode out to my car in the cold, still-dark morning.

As I turned the key in the ignition, my thoughts turned to the scene my daughter had described to me of voting in a third-world country. She had spent several months there last year serving as an educational volunteer.

The people told her of being terrified of elections. A person had to vote – there was no choice in the matter – and as they approached the long lines at the voting areas, armed guards surrounded them. A guard watched as the person filled out the ballot – and if the citizen dared to vote against the candidate who was paying the guards, there was no guarantee that citizen would live to see another moment. The guards had their orders, after all.

In 1984, George Orwell described a society where political decisions created a “brutally stifled” society, where “Newspeak” and “Doublethink” blurred the distinctions between truth and falsehood, and where the ‘safest’ way to live was to bow to the forces in power, and to abandon any personal convictions that conflicted with the ‘politically correct’ mindset.

I am grateful that, as yet, I still have the choice to vote or not. I could have voted for either candidate and my life would not have been endangered. I am grateful that, despite ominous clouds on the political horizon, I can still publicly voice my opinions and feel fairly secure that even if those opinions are in opposition to those of the people in power, I will make it home to my children that night.

These privileges are rare, in comparison to the majority of the world’s population, and they do not come without responsibility. As my classmates and I sang years ago in elementary school, “Freedom isn’t free,” and we can lose our freedoms quickly if we take them for granted and are not actively working to maintain them.

One way to do so is to educate ourselves about the candidates and issues, and then to take the time to vote. It is one way an individual can truly make a difference.

As Lord Brougham said, “Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.”

May all of us take one more step away from enslavement, seize this rare and precious privilege, and make our voices heard!

Crow’s Feet

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 | Building Self-Confidence, Friends, Overcoming Disappointment, The Power of a Positive Outlook | No Comments

Crow’s Feet.

Could there be any less appealing name for what I see around my eyes in the mirror?

I first really noticed them yesterday as I was driving home. I’d been listening to the Showtime CD by the Tabernacle Choir, and when “Fill the World With Love” came on, I was overcome with emotion, and I wept. As I brushed away the tears, I glanced up at the mirror attached to the visor. I had bumped it that morning as I pushed the garage door opener, so it was hung at an odd angle. All I saw was the corner of my eye.

There they were – not just one or two, but ever so many lines, curving out from the corner of my eye. I adjusted the mirror and looked at both eyes at the same time, and sure enough, the lines had taken up permanent residence equally, evening out the effect.

Through my mind flew images from all the ads that come to my mailbox and which I see displayed on billboards lining the freeway: beautiful young women with flawless skin, next to the name of a treatment or potion that seem to promise it could make me look like she does.

I’ve seen the before and after photos of women near my age, having undergone various treatments, and how their ‘crows feet’ are diminished, and they do look younger.

I pondered, Where have the lines come from, anyway?

As I examined them, and then looked at the ones at the edges of my mouth that I found have become more pronounced, I realized most of them curve upward. That’s a good sign, I thought. At least they are a result of smiling!

I pondered all the things that had given me reason to smile over the past fifty or so years. The beauties of nature; the sweet fellowship of great friends; exquisite music; young love; holding newborns; thrilling achievements; kindnesses offered by others, both from people I’ve known and others given anonymously; deeply spiritual experiences; and budding rapport with my children as we move from a mentor-mentee relationship to fellow travelers on the pathway of life.

Were there other causes for those wrinkles?

Yes, as I thought about it, it became clear that I have a habit of squinting to see things more clearly. I know – I need to break down and buy glasses – but there was a lesson here for me, also. As I seek to see things more clearly, and as I continue on a lifelong quest for clarity and truth, my life gets better. My happiness expands; my outlook improves, and I am able to see the blessings and miracles all around me that I had been missing before.

I suppose I could pay to have those lines removed. Others have, and their skin does look smoother, and more youthful.

But maybe, at least for now, I could use the reminders they bring me, that I have so many reasons to smile, and that the strain to seek further truth is worth the effort – yes, even worth the crows feet.

I’ll keep them for now.

But I am going to come up with a better name for them!

Still smiling,

Roslyn

Do You Know Any Heroes?

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Building Self-Confidence, Goals, Healing after Loss | No Comments

On May 8, 2009, Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan held a dedication of a statue of Abraham Lincoln by Anthony Frudakis. Allen C. Guelzo, speaking at the dedication, said, “Heroes have become invisible. . . Great deeds somehow keep on being done, but we have lost a capacity to see them as great.”

I have noticed over the years how the media and school textbooks have focused less and less on the great deeds of past leaders and more and more on their perceived weaknesses. It’s not popular nor politically correct to honor our forefathers anymore; rather, those writers gain favor who can find some meager evidence of defects, failings, and flaws.

Mr. Guelzo goes on to say that “The hero is the story, not just of a good deed, but a great deed – a great deed which climbs the unclimbable, endures the unendurable, holds fast to the lost.” He was speaking of Lincoln, who sacrificed much to fulfill his commission to lead a nation through one of its most difficult periods of time. His description applies to all of those who, like Lincoln, have given their best for the good of humankind, and who, he laments, have become invisible.

Are heroes invisible? Not to my eyes. I have seen many instances of heroism, and of enduring the unendurable, as I’ve been interviewing widows and divorcees in the last two years. I see women, still grieving, but digging deep inside for the courage to take a class and start back on their college degree. I see women volunteering at women’s shelters, at local hospitals, and in their neighborhood. I see women putting on a smile and going out into the world, doing what needs to be done to support their family, relying on God for the strength to keep going one day at a time.

In their circumstances, it could be easier to sit back and expect others to have pity on them, to curl up and pull the covers over their heads, and try to sleep through the dull pain of each day. But these heroes I have seen realize that if they are alive, there must be a reason, and they are determined to live to find that reason and then to fulfill it.

Mr. Guelzo states that heroism is, “first of all, about profound moral conviction.” I believe that is what allows these women to keep going. They have the conviction that if God has given them another day, they are going to use it in His service, and do their best to be what He would have them be.

As Jorge F. Zeballos stated a few days ago, God “cannot require more than the best we can give; it would not be just. But He cannot accept less than our best, for that would not be just, either.”

Heroes. I submit that we are surrounded by them, and I suggest that each time we determine to give our very best, we join their ranks.

May we recognize the heroism in each other, and find peace in knowing that as we give our best, our offering is acceptable to Him who we serve.