Endless chains of love

connecting us all...

Jan 19, 2024

"Love is the greatest gift one generation can leave to another.” ~ Richard Garnett

Photographs are beautiful reminders…moments frozen in time, capturing an event or a person and I love looking at photographs for just that reason.

They can bring back fond memories of a time in your life that brought you joy. They can also give you a glimpse into a time and place you never experienced but would have liked to…

This is a picture of my great-grandparents, Rhoda and John Cress. I love how gently her hand rests on his. Sometimes I wish I could travel in a time machine and visit relatives I never had the opportunity to meet.

My great grandparents circa late 1940’s.

I am always amazed at the length of time that exists between generations. For example, my father, who was born in 1925, attended the funeral of his great-grandfather (Rhoda Cress’s father), who was a member of the Iron Brigade in the American Civil War. My father described to me his memories of his great-grandfather, including how he smelled like tobacco and how he remembered seeing him in his casket wearing his uniform with the signature black hat resting on his chest.

His great grandfather served during almost that entire war, was wounded on more than one occasion and even met Abraham Lincoln while he was a patient in the hospital, recuperating from battle wounds.

That thought was so amazing to me…that my own father personally met and knew someone who had shaken hands with Abraham Lincoln…

Today’s world we live in is vast, complex and radically connected and the whole of our lives is lived in connection with others. Each one of us is part of an unbroken chain of recognition and love and this phenomenon involves more than just the lives of the living.

I listened to a local pastor several months ago who made this analogy in a sermon…Imagine you are standing next to your mother on one side of you and your father on the other side and you are holding their hands…and on each side of them are your grandparents, also holding hands..with each generation added…each one of the people in this human “chain” are connected…through a combination of genealogy and historical experiences.

For example, when I held my mother’s and father’s hands, I was holding the hands of people who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II…and as you would move down the chain, the connections would take you back in time…living through medical breakthroughs, wars, the birth of a new nation, famine, Shakespeare…and on and on…

Within each of our chains, the lineage is different but they all have one thing in common…love… and the human spirit that creates that love…

Each one of those links in our chain had someone who believed in them, who encouraged and instilled faith, who let them know that they mattered…Those links also had elements of bravery, kindness, compassion, hard-work ethics and creativity.

What lesson do we learn from this chain of humanity? In essence, I believe we are all connected and with that connection comes an obligation…To spread that love beyond our own chain…in acts of kindness and compassion…and to never forget that no one gets excluded from God’s love…

The saying goes, “You reap what you sow…” but maybe we need to focus more on sowing so that others can reap…loving so that others can heal…being a person who reflects and inspires those around them…while not forgetting the hands that we once held…and who, in essence, we really never let go of…

Share Kindness Boomerang Newsletter

What do you think?

My support comes from my subscribers and I really appreciate it. If you enjoy what the Kindness Boomerang newsletter provides, please feel free to share this link on your social media. Subscriptions can be either free or paid. It’s a simple process of sharing your email address. Thanks for your support!

For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

Children’s Corner

Back in 1999, when I was an elementary school librarian, I started a project where I wrote letters (old fashioned, printed letters) to a variety of famous people. This was prior to the daily use of email and text messages. My questions were simple…

1) From your own life experiences, how has reading affected your life in a positive manner?

2) Was there any particular person or experience in your life that made you aware of the value of literature and the importance of reading?

I am going to share these letters and let you experience the joy many of my students (and myself) have gotten from their touching words - Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Although born without hands or feet, Zach Anglin says the only limbs he's ever longed for are wings. Steve Hartman has his story in "On the Road."

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Poetry to ponder…

What I am reading…

One of my personal treasures is an autographed copy of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I was so lucky to get to meet him after a presentation he did at my college in the early 1990s.

This week I was so excited to start reading this thought-provoking account of his life story entitled, Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood. It did not disappoint…

The Amazon description is as follows: “His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival adventures. Now, beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from his turbulent childhood as his own original survival story. If not for his summer escape from a shockingly neglectful Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead at age five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book at age thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.

An entrancing and critically lauded account of grit and growing up, perfect for newcomers and lifelong fans alike, Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood is literary legend Gary Paulsen at his rawest and most real.”

What I am watching…

This week the cold temperatures kept me inside more than usual so there was more time for reading and watching television. This week I did some Netflix viewing and enjoyed the movie Nyad starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

The movie is based on the remarkable true story of athlete Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach, commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.

This was a great film with incredible performances by both Bening and Foster. I urge you to watch it and be inspired…

This week’s TED Talk - Never, ever give up | Diana Nyad

In the pitch-black night, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself, hallucinating ... Diana Nyad just kept on swimming. And that's how she finally achieved her lifetime goal as an athlete: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida -- at age 64. Hear her story…