A single letter, save one, falls short of a word
(words, being essential, aye, essential beings
to bear, to be with others).
That letter? I.
So, it is that I, as human,
and all other humans as I,
in the daily course of our living,
oft make much,
too much
of our selves – our
thought and feeling,
want and needing,
hope and dreaming,
joy and sorrowing –
oft,
too oft
to our lessening care,
our caring less for
the affairs,
the
thought and feeling,
want and needing,
hope and dreaming,
joy and sorrowing
of others.
In this,
thus,
I, we miss
the intention of God’s creation;
God Who hath made each I, all we the same…
So, spake the psalmist: “Who is ben adam that God is mindful?
Ah, all whom God creates a little lower than angels!
Endnotes:
(1) The Hebrew, ben adam, literally, son of Adam or son of man, is a biblical term for humankind.
(2) “What is ben adam…angels!” is my revision of Psalm 8.4-5a: What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than angels.
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 
This is Fabulous wake up call for me Paul!! I’ve printed it out so I can see it clearly!! I do think a lot of my hopes and dreams and also my dreams…. so I’ll work more on how to see others as equals as I care for myself. I haven’t been a great caretaker even of myself of late but I’m working my way out of that. I took a walk yesterday to a garden of solitude for me and it helped to bring me peace!! As I walked (before I read this) I did wish peace for others and our world because we are clearly lacking in that area right now.
Much love!
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Loretta, I believe or, perhaps, more truly worded, I have come to know that one of the most difficult and ever-present aspects of this life is caring for ourselves and for others simultaneously. It seems to me that in most situations we sacrifice one for the other or more of one than the other. Sometimes I think that there must be a higher realm of consciousness (which I will entitle: enlightened self-interest) when and where we humans, in satisfying the needs of others also satisfy ourselves and/or in satisfying ourselves we can satisfy others. Maybe, at best, we can achieve that state of consciousness/living on occasion, but most of the time catch only a glimmer, and that oft only in our imagining. I suspect, the more I continue to ruminate on this, we can come to a place where the “I” in/of each of us matters less than the “we” of our larger communities and relationships, aye, even the world.
Love
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