Growing Up Shattered – Growing Up…

Couldn’t Have Said it Better Myself!

October 9, 2020

Hi Friends! In response to my previous post I Have No Defense Against Mean People, I received a delightful reply from the mysterious ICU and wanted to share with you as it made me smile–I hope it makes you smile too!

Be well, stay safe and I wish you all a peaceful weekend.

💓Nina

I am sorta glad you chose the word “Mean.” Have you ever looked up the word’s definition? OMG! The word itself is a journey of…”meaning.”

Mean people…how to deal with “Mean” people. (?) “Mean” as a homonym

“Mean people are cruel because they are petty and base (mean = petty and base).”

“The average person has a number of virtues as their mean. (Mean = average or baseline).”

When some one says “Mean People,” what comes to my mind is literally “the average person has a base nature. What’s in one is in all.” Meanness is human…particular to us with conscience and consciousness.

I can not say I love my own base nature. I see in myself every primer
for good and bad, and both have been ignited in me. I love people, and I have a tempter. I care deeply, but I’m quick to defend with “I don’t give a shit (care).”

I think the best people always strive within themselves to answer the question you posed. I’ve just expressed as far as I’ve come to answering it for myself. I’ve asked this same question through the decades…this is as far as I’ve gotten. I don’t feel it is a true answer.

Do you know what I mean?

I believe that further inquiry is needed, and I believe my next direction will be to explore the role of true and honest empathy…and its role in forgiveness. Ironically, I seek meaning for such things. It is my passion. There are so many that have gone much further, and so I feel I am the meanest of my ilk.

Much love to you in this shared human challenge.

I mean that.

Reprinted with permission from ICU.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share your thoughts here with me. I continue to learn so much from each of you and always my heart is filled with gratitude for “this shared human challenge”. 🙏🏻

Dear Friend. I have no defense against mean people…

September 30, 2020

Dear Friend, I thought of you today (as I often do) while washing dishes and trying to work out a problem in my head. And as I often do, I spoke to you.

“…I have no defense against mean people and I don’t know how to deal with it. It is a problem I have you see, and I can’t figure out what to do. Kindness doesn’t work. Mean people look at kindness as weakness and…”

Later in the afternoon I picked up a book and opened it to where a bookmark held a place–I had long since forgotten.

“To see the universal and all pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself.” — Gandhi

Ouch.

💓NZain

How do you deal with mean people? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Earth takes her last breath.

September 29,2020

🙏🏻

Division Runs Deep

September 28, 2020

🙏🏻

Who Do You Believe?

September 13, 2020

Who Do You Believe

When the flames come for you?

“Answer me!” Dark eyes–

Hollow eyes–

Spit in your face.

“If you don’t support Antifa you support Fascists!”

What? Are you kidding me? I’ve wondered for years,

What was it like in the days,

Months

Years

Before the war…now I know.

History comes full-circle once again.

And here I am staring point-blank into a faceless name

Antifa.

She told me I’m not intelligent enough to understand the metaphor

“BURN IT DOWN!”

An allegory–she said.

For three long months we’ve endured their

“Peaceful protests”

Nightly riots

Calling us the enemy–

Fascists

“Death to Fascists!” A metaphoric allegory mostly peaceful…

“BURN IT DOWN!” as Antifa threw fireworks at police officers.

Fireworks were found in the forest…

A metaphor.

Who are we to believe?

Officials tell us to blame

“Global Warming!”

This morning the sun didn’t rise and it’s cold outside–unseasonably cold.

Who do you believe when it’s a matter of life and death?

Today we, like many others, are preparing to evacuate as we have a “fire weather” warning. For the past fifteen years my husband and I have diligently worked to reduce fuels around our home in a badly neglected beautiful forest. We’ve watched as nature eagerly responds to loving care. Trees chocked by underbrush competing for valuable resources grow healthy and strong…maybe our efforts have not all been in vain. And maybe God has forsaken us.

🙏🏻😔 Nina

Please Pray for Oregon🙏🏻☔️

September 12, 2020

Hi friends, I am asking each and everyone who reads this to please say a prayer for Oregon. The whole west coast. We are under attack. Leaders have lost control and we are burning. I believe in prayer–but I can’t do it alone. Even if you don’t believe in God or prayer…please keep us in your thoughts. Thank you.

With love and gratitude,

Nina💓

I Want to Cry…

September 11, 2020

I want to write

I want to cry…

The sun didn’t rise today.

The sky, heavy with smoke, dark with rage–

Fires fueled by anger and cowardice.

Blame it on “climate change.”

So ‘they’ say.

Tell that to the people who lost…

Everything.

In memory of 9/11

🙏🏻

“Everything happens for a reason,” said my friend to me “only God knows the reason.”

My Heart is Heavy😔

September 10, 2020

Today my heart is heavy. Someone stole the air. Fires lit intentionally by arsonists. They hate this world and all that is beautiful. They scream “BURN IT DOWN!”

And…now it is burning.

When lighting strikes and the forest burns–it is nature. And nature knows.

But these fires are human caused.

“Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Said a dying man…

My heart is heavy. The pressure…

Dear God,

Even in Hell

You are here.

Please hold my hand now and tell me

“Be of good cheer.”

It is getting harder to breathe, my Lord

I miss the sweet air above.

Please hold my hand and remind me–

Just how sweet is Your love.

Thank you for the kind words and prayers. Let’s pray for each other. 🙏🏻

With love and gratitude,

Nina

Fire Fire Fire!🔥🔥🔥

September 10, 2020

Hi friends. Just a quick note. We are on evacuation alert level 1–Get Ready! Some have to leave immediately; some have lost their homes. Wow! Crazy winds whipping…

I hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

If you had one hour to evacuate your home, what would you take with you? What is most precious to you?

Be well and stay safe!

💓Nina

An unsettled east winds whips up smoke from a nearby fire as the sun sets.

Muffin’s Mystery Blogger Award 😺

Hi there! I’ve been nominated by Muffin over at Steve’s Country for this award–which is pretty neat because Muffin is a cat! And let me tell you–she has a mind of her own. 😺

Muffin’s human, Steve is a dear friend to me and many bloggers around the world, sharing his beautiful daily pictures and check out his murder mystery series where Muffin and her boyfriend–ahem my Mr. Cat–are featured!

Thank you Steve and Muffin for your continued dedication to the blogging world. It is definitely a brighter place with you here! And I am honored by you both.

Here are the RULES …RULES???😬

• Put the award logo on your blog–ok well that was a mystery in itself…
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog–thanks for thinking of me!
• Mention the creator of the award. The creator of this award is..Okoto Enigma–also a mystery
• Answer the five questions you were asked–is this a test?
• Tell the readers three things about yourself–oh gosh
• Nominate ten to twenty bloggers–again a mystery
• Notify the bloggers that you nominated them by commenting on one of their posts
• Ask your nominees five questions with one weird or funny one
• Share a link to your best posts–

A favorite post: Grandmother Story Teller

1. Do you have, or would you like to have, a pet?

I am the keeper of Mr. Cat and a little rescue dog who likes to keep her private life a mystery.

2. Do you like to cook?

I love to cook….especially over an open fire.

3. Do you know more than one language fluently?

Me speaking Ukrainian

No, but I know a little bit of a lot of languages.

4. Have you been to any other countries besides your own?

Yes. It’s a great big beautiful world with so many places yet to visit! I could write a entire blog just about my travels and all the beautiful people I have encountered…

5. Would you like to live on the moon?

Oh goodness no. A weekend holiday perhaps would be fun–just to see earth from above. Floating in no gravity would be neat. I like earth. No place like home.

Three things about me…

I am going to take some time in the next couple of weeks to review and recalibrate my blog; decide what direction I will go next and hopefully return with a clearer vision of my future.

Blogging here for me has been a wonderful experience. I did not intend for this blog to become so personal–and yet I find I’ve made deeper connections here than “out there” in the…what’s the word? Real world.

I feel blessed in so many ways–and I have you, my blogging friends to thank. Thank you. All of the encouragement, kind words and supportive feedback makes this platform so special.

One more thing…

I sometimes like to balance on rocks.🙃

So that’s for me! Thanks Muffin and Steve! Mr. Cat says 🖐

If you’ve enjoyed the content of this blog and want to see more…give us a 👍 in the comments section and please keep me in your thoughts.

–Nina Zain💓