Reconciliation; Newspaper Article; Granddaughter

“It is true, political problems are not solved by love and mercy. But the world of politics is not the only world, and unless political decisions rest on a foundation of something better and higher than politics, they can never do any real good for men. When a country has to be rebuilt after war, the passions and energies of war are no longer enough. There must be a new force, the power of love, the power of understanding and human compassion, the strength of selflessness and cooperation, and the creative dynamism of the will to live and to build, and the will to forgive. The will for reconciliation.”

From "Introductions East & West. The Foreign Prefaces of Thomas Merton"

I think this is true for any institution, not just governments. Any traumatic event in an institution, not just wars.

Here is an article about my transplant in the local newspaper.

Son Donates Part Of Liver To Save Dad’s Life

Okay, okay – Krishna isn’t mentioned anywhere. Materialistic? I stipulate to that. I told the reporter that she was coming to a Hare Krishna house. I gave her a link to my blog, so she could read what I wrote about my surgery. She chose not to use the devotee angle. True, I didn’t stress it during the interview. Still, I know quite a few people locally, from decades of business dealings and 10 years of coaching youth soccer. They know I am a devotee, so it can’t hurt NV’s image with them. Plus the people my kid knows.

This article was on the front page of the Sunday paper, below the fold. The last time I was on the front page, it was above the fold, on a weekday. It was a fall color shot of me chopping corn for silage, driving a Deutz tractor, pulling a two row chopper blowing the silage into a large covered forage wagon. It was a sideways shot. I was chopping in a flat bottomland field, and the background was the side of a ridge, covered with trees in full autumn coloration. There was only a caption, but I did use my devotee name for that one. That was at a time when most local media coverage was extremely negative. Not without some cause, I might add, though most of the negativity had to do with the nonfarming aspects of NV.

Marken had bought himself a new car the day before Manjari had her baby, so he drove up from Morgantown and picked Tulasi and me up and made the drive to Columbus. Four weeks after the transplant I got to hold my 12 hour old granddaughter in my arms for half an hour. Difficult to convey the experience in words.

When we arrived at the hospital, Marken stopped halfway through the door and said, “Do you realize what is happening? We are going into a hospital, we don’t have to do any tests, and we can leave anytime we want!” Very funny.