"Making Peace" by Suzanne Baldwin Leitner

Making Peace

As a child I loved
dandelions.
Once grown, I bought
into the ads, glossy pages
of garden magazines
alerting me to the enemy
status of the weed.
I began to loathe them
spending springtime cursing them
trying to dig them out
while their roots
shrank back in the clay
retreating and curling back
into the ground
burying themselves deeper
for a more glorious resurrection.
I hated them for trying
to grow where they weren’t wanted
and couldn’t admit
they didn’t harm my flowers
if you don’t count the collateral damage
from my violent attempts
at uprooting them.
The more I focused my anger
on them, the better they grew.
This spring I have decided
a truce is in order. Looking out
I recall how, as a child, I loved
those buttery dots that mixed
with the grass and clover behind our house
and on my school’s ball field
the many minutes I spent blowing
on their spider web heads
casting their seeds
onto the wind to find a home.
To multiply with my blessing.

Suzanne Baldwin Leitner

Why detachment brings regret....

Upon the passing of a professional acquaintance become friend I passed on the obituary to another peer in the financial education world, his comments:I, too was stunned by the passing of Joe. Through his press release, I am reminded of the many things we don't know about the people with whom we interact on a regular basis. For example, I did not know that Joe graduated from the University of Georgia, my Alma mater. I did not know that Joe was a native of Georgia, my home state. I did not know that Joe had done a degree in Journalism at UGA,as I did. I did not know that he had worked for so-and-so, an old colleague of mine, against whom I had managed a congressional campaign for a loosing opponent back in 1976. Joe and I had so many apparent connections and I never knew of a one of them. What fun we could have had talking about those connections! It just shows how important it is to truly "connect" with our various business and social associates. Otherwise, we may never experience the unique pleasures to be found with our fellow travelers.
Peace be with you, my friend.....

My grandfathers' advise on how to deal with fear....

These were part of the contents in a letter sent by my maternal grandfather, Andres Arce, from Costa Rica, on my fear of performing in public (guitar was our common bond). I was probably 15-16 at the time living in Linconton, he was already in his mid-70's, of course the letter is in Spanish so the countour of the phrasing may seem odd.

.... in order to play before the public, or wherever the opportunity presents itself. In this manner you begin to erode the fear or anxiety (this is very pertinent to public speaking). These discomforts we all have, but when we are well prepared and launch into action, all fear disappears; as Gd is in all things and with faith and effort we never fail with him. Forward and never a backwards step, as you are starting to live your life and have your entire future before you. Remember, the world belongs to those that are audacious, thus you must not give importance to failure, as there are no infallible human beings. That is why constancy is the mother of success. Do not forget this! With all my love and affection, Andres