Thursday, January 7, 2016

TIME...Put to good use is solely part of the heart's desire... until it's too late.

Wanderer’s Song...

I have had enough of women, and enough of love,
But the land waits, and the sea waits, and day and night is enough;
Give me a long white road, and the grey wide path of the sea.
And the wind's will and the bird's will, and the heart-ache still in me.

Why should I seek out sorrow, and give gold for Strife?
I have loved much and wept much, but tears and love are not life;
The grass calls to my heart, and the foam to my blood cries up,
And the sun shines and the road shines, and the wine's in the cup.

I have had enough of wisdom, and enough of mirth,
For the way's one and the end's one, and it's soon to the ends of the earth;
And it's then good-night and to bed, and if heels or heart ache,
Well, it's sound sleep and long sleep, and sleep too deep to wake.


Well, as you can tell, I am not in the good, better, best of moods. In fact, I am about ready to pack it all in.  Every day is becoming more difficult to decipher...meaning...what kind of life do I have to look forward to when I awake in the morning.  All the friends and enemies in my life used to give living a meaning and/or an incentive to fill up my days and ways. And now I have only a few days or months to do something meaningful. Perhaps years? So, what is my legacy...assuming I have one. So, since this blog is basically for my future DNA, I write so that it reaches my great, great grandchildren. I can't have much hope that it will go beyond them. So be it. Therefore, I will hope some of what follows reaches them, even though by that time, they will not be Jewish and never know what a bagel with a "schmear" has to do with anything--or any one.

                                                                                       May, 1968

Dear Dr. Ross,  Quite by accident, I discovered an old issue of the "Viking View" (which school paper you established & named!), while poking through some magazines in the living room--I'm so glad it just happened to turn up, for its appearance has finally given me the incentive to sit down and drop you a note after much too long a time.
.....The issue to which I'm referring was one that included an interview with a very perceptive man, who said that a teacher "...has to inspire; he is a catalyst".  Naturally, these words meant more to me than they might have meant to most, for they were your words, and they redefined for me the role your teaching has played in the careers of many of your students--and the influence (having been exposed to your guidance and direction) that your teaching has had on my own life.---
.....As unbelievable as it may seem, it is now the tenth anniversary of the graduation of North Shore High's first senior class--the one you saw all the way through four years! I think you should know that, each time I run into an old classmate, yours is the name that seems to stand out above all others in discussions, and yours seems to be the influence that is still most keenly (and deeply) felt!!
.....I know that in my own life during the past ten years, your teaching has provided "inspiration", and the lessons of integrity and dedication learned in your classes have provided a "catalyst"--and will certainly continue to do so.  Thank you for giving us something meaningful to remember and for teaching us lessons that extend far beyond the classroom.  Your influence is appreciated and is ever-present---and you are still my "favorite teacher"...
                                                                With love, Betsy Krumrine

So there.  Read it and weep!  That's legacy enough.

6 comments:

  1. You are loved by many, more than you know. You will leave us with a bountiful legacy. Your books, your memories, your wisdom and wit. You need not worry of these things. Just wake up everyday and know that you are loved and be happy you are still alive! Because I am!

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  2. Read and weep, you say! Well, I have read and wept at the beauty of your poem, at the magnificence that it is to know you, to have been "adopted" by you when I was no longer a child but had not a home anywhere except with you and your family. There is love and there is gratitude. Of the two, love is greatest for it surpasses gratitude in length of time and depth of feeling. Your legacy lives in my own life, it is part of me, and as such, it is also passed on to my children. Your goodness, your intelligence, the generosity and the poetry in you made way for the birth of feelings of redemption, of hope, and shined a beam onto the path my siblings would follow me on. And more than that, what precious memories of 34 Knott Drive! The evening songs, the grapes under the moon, the circle of inspiring friends... The stories, the fables, the laughter. The impossible loves we all had, each and every one of us, and yet the way to the enduring loves was created... We all walk towards closure. Our lives, in relationship to the age of the Earth, are but a second. We are all in this mystery together, and no matter how much we cry and grieve, Life is infinitely more beautiful, and therefore, worthwhile. Its meaning is simply Love.

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  3. Finally, and most welcome, I have a comment on my blog from you, Magda, my adopted daughter. I will put this comment at near or really at the top of the hundreds of comments that I have received from friends and family on all 525+ posts on my blogs--which began about eight years ago. Red Baron gets comments like children catch butterflies! Love U, Meg.

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  4. ruth.grimsley@virgin.netJanuary 13, 2016 at 8:44 PM

    I'm right here, Baron dear! I didn't know that you'd started your blog again until you emailed me yesterday, so I hadn't been checking. And I'm of course delighted that you've resumed blogging. I've really missed your words of wit and wisdom, and your refulgent style. Now you're back - you're not too happy, but you're still giving us all food for thought, and companionship along life's journey. Firstly, I thank you: and secondly, I say with apologies that there's not much I can add to what Bonny and Magda have said about you! Except that you are ALWAYS in my heart and in my mind: and I can't see that that will ever change even when life itself ceases. Much love, Cuz Ruth

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  5. The poem in this post has not been attributed here, but it's by Arthur Symons, who published it in the late 1890's.

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