Stranded on the Mainland: Inner Pilgrimage and Living Alone as a Spiritual Path:

I just finished listening (again) to Howard Thurman's commencement speech to Spelman college students in Georgia (1980).  As someone who used to help write political speeches, I loved this one-- the contemplative slowness, pauses, and the retelling of a remarkable story I had not heard before,  The Blue Cat of Castle Town . Given that Thurman's speech was to college students, it made me think of prime minister Carney's pre-budget speech to students at the University of Ottawa last week. Which is making me think of a joint announcement on semi modular reactors made by prime minister Carney and premier Doug Ford in Toronto last week. The resounding (for me) mic-drop moment of the joint announcement came at the end of Carney's remarks when he "whispered" to Ford, "I got us to first, maybe even second, now you bring it home premier." Pause. Fast forward: Now  I 'm imagining Howard Thurman giving the same 1980 Spelman College speech, "The Sound o...

Thanksgiving Day and Another Bus Story: This Saturday I will again get on a bus at the corner of Warden and Lawrence. An old man will get on the bus several stops later. The bus will jerk away from the curb sharply. Crackers from the paper cup the man is holding will spill to the floor (can you see it?). The old man will pick up as many crackers as he can from the bus floor and put them back in his cup. I will ask, "can I help you sir?" He will shake his head no, saying, "I just need to sit down." Someone will stand and give the man a seat. I will dig in my wallet for change, I will slip a dollar into the old man's torn suit pocket. A cup of crackers on a bus will become a communion cup, a homeless man's pocket a collection plate.  "O my Lord and my God," I wish I had given more" (John 20:28). Praying for Iris who I hope found her wallet. Cb Amen