National Day of Encouragement! Who can you uplift with your text, email, call? Especially in this time of pandemic and natural disasters, your simple act will brighten a spirit or warm a heart. I enCOURAGE you to good health and belly laughter by sharing my brussels sprout vegan taco with you!
Coraggio! books celebrate the courage of maternal ancestors. On the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment’s clearing a right for women to vote, applauding all courageous women, and spotlighting Sojourner Truth, who, once freed from slavery, fought to secure the freedom of all slaves and the right for women to vote. Grateful Michigan provided refuge for her fearless, tireless efforts!
Need a resilience booster? Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with me by spending a few minutes with these inspiring artists:
Artists with disabilities celebrate 30 years of the ADA
She had witnessed the brutality of racism and combat’s destruction in WWII Europe and felt an obligation to use the means she had—her song–vowing not to stop until the world was rid of prejudice and war. Her ardent example compels you and me to use the means we have each day to promote peace and the valuing of all lives.
Memorial Day amid the loss of lives, jobs, and property due to pandemic deepens our sense of loss as consequence of war. With heightened awareness we give gratitude to those who served, and for those who suffered the collateral loss of loved ones, businesses, and homes, yet courageously rebuilt lives and serve as much needed examples of the resiliency we need today.
Photo: My mother, grandmother, and aunt, forever displaced from their Hungarian estate; Trier, Germany 1945. Note mortal shell damage on background building.
While aspects of the world experience COVID-19 illness and death, the croaks of a thousand newly-hatched tree frogs eager for the life that awaits them and the honks of a gaggle of geese glad for the return to the comfort of their summer environs, remind me that also around the globe new life emerges and there will be a grateful return to the comfort of familiar life.
“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
Day after day Mother Teresa personally encountered an unyielding number of poor, sick and unwanted. Yet, she relentlessly extended bodily and figurative touch through her deep well of compassionate love, returning to God when needing to replenish her cache of goodness. At this time of global illness and isolation, let us heed her call to see and touch the lonely, suffering and unwanted all around us, by whatever means we are able.
Let us take strength from the quarantined Napolitani who sing “Don’t give up!” from their balconies with true Italian spirit and courage – coraggio! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRiINXik00
Lisa Gigliotti is an attorney who has lived for more than twenty-five years with severe rheumatoid arthritis and serious myasthenia gravis. Through those years’ thirteen major surgeries and use of a wheelchair Lisa has maintained a fulfilling and positive life.