WAXING POETIC SAYS GIVE A *&%$: Elephant Edition

Giving A Damn

Means knowing

In the most central part of your heart

That while you cannot fix everything alone

You can be part of what will fix everything eventually

And what will right now

Help whatever it is

That you Give a Damn about.

And then you do

Your best.

Here’s why we’re giving a damn on Save the Elephant Day:

Elephants

Value the importance

Of close bonds

Of female familial ties

Of learning between generations

Elephants

Value the importance

Of respect and devotion

Of being in community

Of love, wonder, and seizing moments of joy

Elephant values should be ours.

*

All Elephants deserve our respect, wonder, love, and when necessary, our protection.

Historically, humans haven’t done so well in this regard. Elephants worldwide are in trouble because of poaching, habitat fragmentation or fragmentation, and other careless human actions. But we can help change this. We can choose to Give A Damn.

AN UNFINISHED SONG

It has been one year since I finished my treatment for breast cancer, and there isn’t a day that goes by that isn’t filled with insights and lessons, my “gifts” from this life-changing journey.

I never really considered myself a writer per se, but things do come to me, and I just try to let them through. And I LOVE music (who doesn’t really?). Recently, I was on a flight and was listening to Joni Mitchell’s song “Free man in Paris,” which she wrote about her friend David Geffen, the music agent / promoter who that felt trapped by his career and obligations. Great song. After listening, then some quiet, I heard music, and then started writing my own song… about the initial confusion, denial, and fearfulness I was mired in when I got my diagnosis… and the eventual path of light that led me through the dark forces of disease.

Thought I’d share the lyrics… pardon if they read a bit odd, as they have never been sung / edited. Maybe someday one of my musician friends will put some music to it and help me finish it.

With Love,

Patti

Bird of Heaven

Somewhere up there in the unsure breeze

Nowhere to go, only to believe

Someday I’ll be free

It’s not just myself I want to deceive

In the light, the pink moonlight

There is no bargain, there is no plea

If it weren’t for my calling here

I’d be living with the free

Am I a bird of heaven

On the wire, saying no way

Pulled in the night by some unseen lead

Must be I am meant to bleed

On the wire, feeling my way

When the call came, I answered it with tears

Held back, then to take a dive

Through waves of confusion and deep, deep fears

Here I am, I’m still alive,
(but not as certain of the years)

Then I sat myself back and I looked at the light

Saw it shining on, around, without me

I rose, I arose with a fight alright,

From the demon hour, from the night

And this bird of heaven

On the wire, showed me the way

The knowing of how we can all be freed

I followed along with little need

On the wire, feeling my way

To meet the shadows of your curse

The birds of the night took wing

It is ours, not yours, this universe

And I am here to sing

Yes, I am. The bird of heaven

On the wire, feeling the way

Pulled from the night by nature’s creed

I float along with little need

On the wire, knowing my way

The birds and us children of the universe

We are here to sing

Join us to help create a world where our sisters and mothers, our daughters and friends are not at risk.  We have a long way to go.  We should be able to make it with each other’s help, and great organizations like the NBCF.

During the month of October, Waxing Poetic will donate a portion of all sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Call No One Wants

It is the call no one wants to give or get.  I have breast cancer.

I have unfortunately been on both sides of that phone call. Given the statistics, many of you have also. It is the call where you explain, or witness, the deepest disruption of peace and well-being one might ever know, the rationalizing of your life and circumstances, the most confusing “how and why” this happened to me… and usually some sort of self-blame statement that starts with some form of I “should have…”
We all have to deal with our own should-haves that surround a cancer diagnosis, but looking beyond that to how we can help each other, perhaps we can re-frame the phrase should have for the benefit of all of us who are in this journey together:
We should have done more.
We should have more options.
We should have a better understanding of cancer.Research, testing and the dissemination of knowledge is critical to the development of new treatments that work, and new laws that create a better environment in which all of us can live.  Organizations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation do this work on our behalf, to better understand the disease and its causes and to turn the should into could and, finally, did.Join us to help create a world where our sisters and mothers, our daughters and friends are not at risk.  We have a long way to go.  We should be able to make it with each other’s help, and great organizations like the NBCF.During the month of October, Waxing Poetic will donate a portion of all sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Charity Sponsorship: Direct Relief

Waxing Poetic is donating a portion of all online sale proceeds for the entire summer to Direct Relief.

Benefiting Direct Relief, a highly recognized humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 states and 70 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies.

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Direct Relief Makes Medical Inventories Available to Assist Texas in Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey

Direct Relief Dispatches Emergency Supplies in Flood Ravaged Communities in Midwest & South 

 Read More At Direct Relief’s Blog.