ANSWERS: 5
  • 6-2-2017 The year was 1955 and I was in the sixth grade. We lived in the desert, in a town with no social life. Television didn't exist, and it was a one mile walk to a movie theater. The only cultural input was a classical music program once a week on the radio, and the teacher always let the class listen to it. One day a professional violinist came to town to do a concert. I didn't hear about him until he showed up at the school to play for us kids. I was thrilled because I had never heard a live person play a violin. It was darn seldom that I heard or saw anything good at all. I loved it. He announced that if we wanted to go to his big concert there was a special price for students, one dollar and eighty cents. I was electrified. I could go to a real concert and listen to a real musician playing real music. I had only heard about such things. All I had to do was find $1.80, not easy when my only source of income was collecting pop bottles for the two cent deposit. When I got home from school I went crazy. Home at three, concert at seven, four hours to pull off a miracle, and two of them had to be spent getting dressed and getting to the auditorium. There was only one auditorium. I hopped on my bicycle and rode frantically out of town, watching for pop bottles. I rode for about an hour, then rode back. You better believe I didn't miss a single bottle along that highway. I cashed in my find and counted it: $1.15 (quart size beer bottles were worth a nickel). I counted it again, hoping for better results: still only $1.15. I needed sixty five cents more. It occurred to me that maybe I should have ridden just a little farther out that highway, but I rejected that thought: I knew I had done all that was humanly possible, and now I was out of time. There was only one thing left I could do: beg. That is what I did. Of course I was smart enough to say "borrow". One brother had the money, and didn't mind giving it to me. It surprised me that he had the money, and even more that he would hand it over with no explanation, but I was in too much of a hurry to ponder those things. With the money problem whipped, I turned my efforts to getting ready in the short time left. I showered and dressed and started looking for a ride. Dad was gone. Mom didn't drive. Three brothers were home, and two had cars. I asked the first to drive me to town. "Why?" he demanded. That was pretty normal for him. I told him. He refused. He didn't like that stuff and he didn't think I had any business going. That was pretty normal for him too. I knew there was no changing his mind, and I didn't have time to try. I ran to find my other brother. He was nicer, but the answer was the same: "No. You wouldn't like it!" It took me forty years to try again to get something that took a lot of effort.
    • Linda Joy
      It's so sad to think of all you missed because of that one disappointment and your reaction to it. I hope you've chosen to have a lot of wonderful experiences since then
    • Jewels Vern
      You miss the point. Blocking a kid's efforts during the formative years prevents learning the skills needed to have wonderful experiences after that.
    • Linda Joy
      No sweetie you're the one that missed the point! You can always choose to have wonderful experiences in life. The only one blocking you now is you.
    • Jewels Vern
      Well excuse me all over the place. It is almost impossible to grow beyond one's upbringing. Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." It takes a lifetime to get around that.
    • Linda Joy
      I've always thought of that particular scripture as teaching a child the word of God. But you're reading it as if it says if you don't train a child in the way that they should go they will never learn better. And that's not true.
    • Roaring
      Wow what a compelling story. While reading this i felt as if it was me in your shoes. What focus and determination. Now i wonder where mine went. Thanks for sharing this.
  • seeing what is, when the Ego isn't there
    • Linda Joy
      ?
    • Jewels Vern
      I want to say something profound, but I just realized I don't have anything profound to say.
    • Baba
      The oneness of God exists within you...... But When the Mind is full of thoughts and the Ego is present we do not see the oneness of God. All we see is this world and we see ourselves as a separate being. ......THis world is held together by our attachments and our continuous thoughts that hold it together as to what we see and experience........When the mind is still with no thoughts running through it, and when the Ego dissolves, this world as we see it will disappear....When this happens what remains is the oneness of God....WE deny the existence of God because we always see ourselves as separate. .....When ehe Ego dissolves our separate identity that we hold onto disappears and only the oneness of God is present......It is like a drop of the ocean appears to be a separate identity, but when it returns to the ocean the separate identity disappears and it becomes the ocean, there is no separation anymore.....similar to this is who we are in the ocean consciousness...through our Ego we think we are a separate being but once the Ego dissolves the separate identity disappears and we see that we are the oneness in the ocean of consciousness.
    • Linda Joy
      That's a start!
    • beaker95
    • Linda Joy
      Both amazing!
    • mushroom
      Hey, after conception, you're basically on your own.
  • probably growing up with a twin sister, i always had someone my own age to play with
  • Me and my little sister were dropped off by the public bus from catholic school across from our house. It was a busy road so we had to be careful and as usual was holding little sisters hand (8). She suddenly released her grip, said we could go and then was hit by a green pickup truck. It bounced her unconscious to the side of the road. When mom and ambulance came I then picked up her banged up lunch kettle, stopping a car to cross and then into the house. Went to the closest window (the sill is 20" deep) and proceeded to bang out the dents in that lunch kettle. Fortunately she was ok with a broken leg and mild concussion. This event prompted our folks to enroll us in public school that next year because a school bus would be safer. I felt I failed my sister even though she insisted it was her removing her hand grip from mine. (Jewels your story inspired me to look inside a little deeper)

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