sacrifice | sacrifice
May.16.2013
Self-immolation isn't what it used to be.
This ultimate form of protest became global news in 1963 when the venerable monk Thich Quang Duc set himself ablaze in the middle of Saigon, Vietnam, protesting religious oppression. Doused in gasoline, the monk sat serenely in lotus position and lit a...
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Apr.18.2013
April 18
In Training
Like a faithful dog that was hard to train, patience is a thing hoped for yet peevish during the breaking in. Stanch companionability is hard won, but worth the cost of acquisition. And what is the price I truly paid in the end;...
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Feb.12.2013
Today is Ash Wednesday.
My penance for Lent begins.
I am abstaining from Facebook.
Yup, that’s right!
Not just fasting, meaning less logging on to Facebook.
But abstaining for the entire season of Lent!
That’s a whopping total of forty days from today.
It’s not like my life will change...
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Dec.18.2012
Long ago in my native homeland, Vietnam, I used to bow. As a grade school student, with arms folded, and eyes staring at my sandaled feet, I would mumble, "Thua thay!" - Greetings Teacher! - whenever I'd run into a teacher in the hallway or enter a classroom.
Such was the Old World tradition...
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Aug.29.2012
My creative writing classmates all admire me for being able to go to classes and submit all my requirements on time despite my having one kid and being pregnant to boot the last two semesters. But now I can't write. Not much, anyway.
Oh, well, I'm blogging. That's different. Before there were blogs...
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May.30.2012
May 30
FROZEN STRAWBERRIES
“I have them in the freezer,” I tell my sponsor.
“I’m sure you do. When are you going to take them out and reenact spring?” her retort.
“I don’t want to take them out before I’m ready. I don’t want them to go to waste.”
“Oh, the...
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Apr.27.2012
April 27
SERVICE AND SACRIFICE
The difference between life and death in my recovery is the equal difference between service and sacrifice. If I offer you what is in my hand, fine. If I also give you my fingertips, I am lost. Service lightens the load in...
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Nov.12.2011
In remembrance of all guardians of our freedom who have paid the ultimate price
And are they gone to Arcady
where poppies loose no opiate dream,
nor memories of blood-inebriated soil?
Cobweb-frail, some staggered on,
mazed by sulphur stars of a millennial dawn,
torch-...
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Oct.22.2011
My lifelong love of history and romance grew and came into bloom from my roots deep in my home state of Virginia. From one corner of the state to another, and points in-between, Virginia is a living history book. It's also breathtakingly beautiful. Many times, as I have looked at...
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Oct.03.2011
"The Force of Adventure that He Soared”
He helped in his family’s company by day, and was a commercial pilot and instructor by night and week-ends.
He was ambitious.
He hardly found time for leisure or pleasure, and then again, ‘the force was the adventure that he soared!'
He eventually...
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