Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Robey has been found!    
Sadly his life was cut way too short...    
his senior class picture is engaging, but not as good as being alive.    
It is bittersweet to remember all our classmates...

Hope Alan D Schwartz is alive and well in the New Year   
[having been resurrected (removed from the "In Memory Yearbook Photos" page)].    
Thank you, Scott. It is not often we see resurrection.

Happy New Year to all!        
Onward into 2022 we go, our work's cut out for us.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   LVI

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Maybe a small act of kindness would help the world a little."        
-- Charles Schulz

Bravo and thanks to Fred Guttenberg for his tireless work to protect our children.

Make kindness the norm.        
No act of kindness is too small.      
 

Random Acts of Kindness Day 2022

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

It's Twosday, 2-22-22,      
- President George Washington's birthday - 
{which never falls on the 3rd Monday of February [which is when we celebrate his birthday (Presidents Day)]}.

The natural logarithm of 2 is the fundamental unit of entropy (however it works...
In baseball, the call has a name: "deuces wild".    
           "Two on, two out,    
            and count of 2 & 2."   
(Will there even be baseball this year?)

Enjoy  2's day.      
No way to expect to be posting on 2-22-2222.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"I pray that the whole world might
sit down together and share 
its bread and its wine."  
-- Ann Weems

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"People planning spring travel are like bears coming out of hibernation. We are awake and planning to travel - but not ready to go too far."

Melanie Fish, Expedia

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"All I have is a voice. I must use it or lose it, use it in support of the common good.      
"We may be 'defenseless under the night'...'In every way we can, let us say no to the night and yes to whatever brings light.' "    
-- Parker Palmer reflecting on W.H. Auden's poem, "September 1, 1939"
 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"God places the best things in life on the other side of fear."      
-- Will Smith, quoting his grandmother.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"What day is it?" asked Pooh. 
"It's today," squeaked Piglet.  
"My favorite day," said Pooh.    
-- A A Milne

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Cometh the hour, 
          cometh the man."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"When more people speak up,

                 more people listen."

Frances Garfield (Brown)

Let's be strong and helpful, and help us all!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There is no way to fake the kind of courage and fortitude that all of us hope we can muster when called to transcend being victims of aggression, and there is no way to know whether we have courage until the time we need it most.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Much of what we accomplish in our lifetime is not complete (we are like waves in the ocean... ).       
This is what we are about when we plant trees whose shade we know will not be ours to enjoy, but which hold promise for others in the future.    
There is a sense of liberation when we realize that that which we do we can do very well enabled by the confidence that taken together our work is a step along the way... 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jonathan Swift complained that the English language was subject to "daily corruptions" and continuous "abuses and absurdities" - his satire, "A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue" was published in 1712.

The language of a living people is alive. Words - like people - are birthed, change, and grow obsolete. Humans were not made for words; words were made for us. In our effort to reveal ourselves to ourselves, and to others, we continually create and re-create words. Words - and language - evolve over time. We ought to treat words - our own words and those of others - with care. Caring for one another includes the humility to accept that we understand one another and the words we exchange only in part: communication is difficult. Language is easily misused, misunderstood, made into an obstacle. We need to look past the surface of words to better understand one another - and if further explanation and clarification illuminate unsurpassable disagreement, it will be disagreement founded on human dignity, not merely on semantics.

with attribution to Karen Swallow Prior

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jesus was not killed by the Jews, he was killed by the Romans.    
Jews and Christians are working together to correct such a false impression.
If Jews had killed Jesus they would have stoned him; crucifixion was the Roman way of execution.

Paul Richard Hain

Psalm 22 tells a prophecy of pain, defilement, death and torment of one man in the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Old Testament. There are other prophecies of this man in Isaiah and Malachi.  It was the Romans that crucified Jesus, as Janis pointed out.

The events that took place on Passover so many years ago were in accord with prophecies that described what the role was for each group, Jews, Romans, citizens and disciples.  No one was innocent.  Yet, Jesus said, "love one another as I have loved you."  To his tormentors he said, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."  He absolved them all of guilt and frankly forgave them all, Romans, Jews, Gentiles and disciples.  Not just forgave them: he loved them.

What a lesson for each of us, Unbeliever, Christian, Jew or a blend thereof.  "Love one another, as I have loved you."  Forgive.  Forget.  Love.

May peace and blessings be with each of you and your families.

Paul

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Confucius once said: "We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one."

Fancy Miss Nancy (Novak)

I'm a-fixin' to send this Happy Mother's Day greeting to Y'all from North Central Texas. 💞
Love, Fancy Miss Nancy🎶

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Hi Fancy Miss Nancy🎶    
Thanks for your greeting.      
Mother's Day was created following the Civil War as a protest movement for peace. Maybe remembering what the day was about would be a meaningful way to include all women with our multitude of life experiences and feelings on this day. For me today was a day shared with my daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren, and to share my concern and support for Ukrainians and Ukraine as they struggle for peace and independence. I wore blue and yellow scarves as a visible show of support and to express my willingness to engage about peace in Ukraine.    
People did engage me - with words of thanks for lifting up concern about Ukraine.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There is something deeply hypocritical about all the talk of thoughts and prayers if we are unwilling to resolve problems that are tearing our country apart.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   For Whom the Bell Tolls  
                   by  
            John Donne

  Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any
  occasion rings? but who can remove (his ear) from    
  that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of
  this world?

    No man is an island,    
    Entire of itself; 
    Every man is a piece of the continent,  
    A part of the main.    
    If a clod be washed away by the sea,    
    Europe is the less, 
    As well as if a promontory were,   
    As well as if a manor of thy friend's      
    Or of thine own were:
    Any man's death diminishes me,     
    Because I am involved in mankind,
    And therefore never send to know      
    For whom the bell tolls;  
    It tolls for thee.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Confucius' view on government in response to Tzu-kung's questions:   
The Master said: "The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of weapons, and the trust of the people in their leaders."      
Tzu-kung asked: "Suppose one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three would you forgo?"       
"The weapons," said the Master.    
Tzu-kung asked again: "Suppose one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which would you forgo?"    
"Food," the Master answered. "Death has been with us since the beginning of time, but when people have no confidence in their government, they will have nothing to stand on."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

It's hard for a rational person to be a person of hope.

Between optimism and pessimism is realism.

Donn Pearlman

Three clowns from Chicago. Best wishes to the Niles West Class of '64!