tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post4590826872829984891..comments2022-03-02T00:28:14.337-05:00Comments on TYPE A LITTLE FASTER: SORROW FLOATS: Eulogy for my father – STANLEY P. DARER Sarah Darer Littmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00780738493733344947noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-62907401448421095392013-11-22T11:03:04.278-05:002013-11-22T11:03:04.278-05:00Thanks, Kerri. I've actually started on my fir...Thanks, Kerri. I've actually started on my first adult novel, based on our journey with Dad's Alzheimer's. I had a debate with my friend Nora, also a writer, about if it should be a memoir or a novel, but my view is that because I'm not a celebrity, a memoir wouldn't sell, and also fiction gives me more freedom. I think I'm just going to write the first draft, revise, and see what my agent thinks...Sarah Darer Littmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00780738493733344947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-37411115987448021022013-11-22T10:26:58.548-05:002013-11-22T10:26:58.548-05:00I'm sorry for your loss. Both of my maternal g...I'm sorry for your loss. Both of my maternal grandparents had Alzheimer's; your metaphor of having the heart cut out with a butter knife fits absolutely perfectly. Kerrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10844525735521195418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-65369311040775812572013-11-14T09:10:33.352-05:002013-11-14T09:10:33.352-05:00Please pardon me for reposting here something that...Please pardon me for reposting here something that I first put at the NY Times - it was an NYT Pick comment, a first for me. The story was about the effect of the Philippines typhoon on a UN climate change conference:<br /><br />Anthropogenic climate change is an unintended consequence of actions taken out of self-interest. It will take an intentionally expanded view of "self-interest" to produce the change of psychosocial "climate" we need to respond effectively. Fortunately, humankind's already existing ethical and religious systems, when understood correctly, can provide the moral guidance we need - if we are willing to listen to them. As Erich Fromm wrote, "It is the purpose of all the true religions to help man overcome his narcissism."mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-14731395272469405872013-11-08T11:09:51.030-05:002013-11-08T11:09:51.030-05:00Magnificent, Sarah. I'm truly sorry for your l...Magnificent, Sarah. I'm truly sorry for your loss. We will all - collectively - remember your name and his. And that is the beauty of life.Lauren Younghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09523135648440785663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-70227585734042770172013-11-08T08:40:45.690-05:002013-11-08T08:40:45.690-05:00Thank you - he will always be in my mind and my he...Thank you - he will always be in my mind and my heart - and hopefully live on in the values I transmit to my own children.Sarah Darer Littmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00780738493733344947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-18741714175089726312013-11-08T08:39:56.463-05:002013-11-08T08:39:56.463-05:00Sue - I'm so sorry to hear that you, too, are ...Sue - I'm so sorry to hear that you, too, are on this painful journey with your parent. ((((hugs)))) One thing that we did was create a slideshow of pictures that we've had playing while people come to visit during the shiva. Seeing the pictures of Dad with us as children, and as a young married man with Mom and then as a doting grandfather, always with that love in his eyes and great smile has been very therapeutic, and it also gives the people who didn't know him so well a great sense of who he was. Sarah Darer Littmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00780738493733344947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-14139822704415360962013-11-08T07:24:52.177-05:002013-11-08T07:24:52.177-05:00How well i understand what you are experiencing - ...How well i understand what you are experiencing - keep those memories in the forefront of your mind and more importantly, your heart - they are so precious!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04414561988993487725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-376047198665698692013-11-07T15:49:21.808-05:002013-11-07T15:49:21.808-05:00Oh Sarah--my deepest sympathy goes out to you on t...Oh Sarah--my deepest sympathy goes out to you on this rainy Thursday. I saw your post a couple of days ago--I thought to myself, "I hope she keeps all of the good memories fresh". I, too, am going through the same journey, which is almost over. It helps to realize that we came from good parents who loved us dearly. Always remember that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03941496431972782329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-56420790605605155352013-11-07T14:45:29.427-05:002013-11-07T14:45:29.427-05:00Even though I am Jewish, I have always loved the P...Even though I am Jewish, I have always loved the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi<br /><br /><br />Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,<br />Where there is hatred, let me sow love;<br />Where there is injury, pardon;<br />Where there is doubt, faith;<br />Where there is despair, hope;<br />Where there is darkness, light;<br />Where there is sadness, joy.<br />O Divine Master,<br />grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;<br />to be understood, as to understand;<br />to be loved, as to love.<br />For it is in giving that we receive.<br />It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,<br />and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.<br /><br />I visited Assisi on my honeymoon, and felt it was one of the most spiritual and peaceful places I have ever been. As I expressed in my middle grade novel CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC, I truly believe we all pray to the same G-d or Divine Spirit or Eternal Force or whatever we care to call him her or it and it is such a crime that we spend so much time fighting and hating and killing in all the Lord's various names instead of doing good. Sarah Darer Littmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00780738493733344947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-61624089498424213782013-11-07T10:35:42.278-05:002013-11-07T10:35:42.278-05:00This is moving. Thank you for writing this. My co...This is moving. Thank you for writing this. My condolences to you and your family.<br /><br />In the last years of his life, my own father used as his table blessing some lines from a modern adaptation of St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun:<br /><br />For all Thy gifts of every kind<br />We offer praise with quiet mind.<br />Be with us, Lord, and guide our ways<br />Around the circle of our days.<br />mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886184679252057946.post-76529711269826200872013-11-07T08:45:03.891-05:002013-11-07T08:45:03.891-05:00This is beautiful and made me cry. I lost my fath...This is beautiful and made me cry. I lost my father when I was 11 and I have always wondered what the adult me would say to him and I found many words of comfort in your post.<br /><br />I am thinking of you and your family (and, of course, Benny) and I know you will get through this.<br /><br />I love the idea of Benny helping others, your little guy is beautiful and a creature of God who was put on this earth to help everyone feel better :) I know every time I see his little face, I get a smile.<br /><br />I hated it when people said "my sympathies" all those years ago, so I will simply say: "with time, you will come to find a place to leave with the pain and the good memories will surface and make you smile".Tinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16011928186368977329noreply@blogger.com