Keeping Christmas

I am so thankful for my life here in Cambridge, which is an award-winning town with lots going on and people are good to each other.

As you may know, I am a member of the Wednesday Morning Artists, a great group that meets each Wednesday morning at the Creek Deli for coffee and conversation - not to mention planning for lots of good projects under the leadership of Nancy Snyder, who has enough love for everybody! It is a wonderful, supportive group and I know it has made a difference in my life.

For the past several years I have put out a call for members to help me gather gifts for the participants at Pleasant Day Medical Adult Day Care Center. The response has been overwhelming. My living room is full of wrapped gifts to be delivered.

And so my thanks go out to all of those good people who went out of their way to purchase and wrap gifts. Most of the people I asked brought more than one gift, astonishing when one considers that the people who helped with the project do not know the recipients and that they brought more than one gift!

You are all wonderful! Many thanks to those who donated gifts, transportation and good will. You are my heroes! I wish you the happiest of holidays and that you always walk on the sunny side! Love, Terry

As Time Goes By

This summer I took a trip out to Toddville with my friend Ann Foley. Our objective was to talk with some residents of the area to add to a book we are working on called A Dorchester Scrapbook. I took my camera and snapped some shots of various buildings along the way.

Scattered across the marsh country are any number of small country stores with their doors shut and signs fading into soft pastels. One person Ann talked to said there were six of these little mercantiles in a two-mile area. As such, it became evident that people could walk to the neighborhood store and pick up what they needed. A good many of these little places offered credit - the customer could charge their purchases and settle up the tab on payday.

Today, in our era of technology and instant gratification we have to pay for the goods before we can cart them home. If we don't have the cash, no problem. Simply put the charge on your credit card and you are off! Don't even think about the huge interest the card company will add to balances not paid off each month!

So much has changed from the day of the neighborhood store, and having grown up in a similar community in the Appalachains of Pennsylvania, I think of our little grocery store with nostalgia. I would love to see the place again, to check out the big wheel of cheese near the cash register and the candy counter where dreams were spent and fingerprints were left on the glass barrier between the shopper and the sweet.

The old days have a certain charm, but we have to live in today's world of computers, cell phones, and flat screen TVs. I have an idea all the technology that has blossomed during my life is both good and bad.

Sure, we can get things done in the wink of an eye. Just send an email!

I think we miss the community where people greeted passers-by from porches and husbands went down to the store to discuss cars and ball games around a potbelly
stove.

The world is changing - as the world has done and I sometimes wonder if we are not all stuck in the starting position. When it all gets to be too much, I try to get outside and take a walk on the sunny side. I hope you do too! Love, Terry

Terry L. White's Book Blog: What Can I Do?

Terry L. White's Book Blog: What Can I Do?

What Can I Do?

What can I do, Lord? The world is a mess. We are bombarded by news of unrest and war, and yet I have the notion that we are being tested – as the children of a benevolent spirit. When I hear of war delivered daily and hourly through advanced technology, I look back through the history of our species and see that evil often triumphs over good and boys scarce out of childhood fight for the ideal of freedom and peace. I cannot help but ask how can this be the path to harmony? We live in a society where it seems evil-doers are blessed with plenty and those born in poverty and despair live day to day in fear for their very existence. And yet it is the poor who work to change the world while many of the well-to-do struggle to protect their precious wealth. We are bombarded by schemes that promise riches beyond counting delivered largely to those who climb on the backs of others in order to increase their supply. How can this be when there are those whole families who sleep homeless on the streets and small children comb the city’s dumps in order to find just one morsel of food, one pair of shoes? Ancient Mayan prophets have written the end of the world next year, but the prophecy remains unclear: Will our race fall to the rage of war? Or will mankind claim peace and harmony and create an entirely new civilization based on love and responsibility? If anyone knows, they aren’t telling. I would like to see the latter. I have come through a lifetime of struggle, a battle that taught me faith and gave me the belief that there is a higher power ready to provide when all seems hopeless. I have known poverty, and the wealth of knowing my needs will be met – even when that end does not seem clear. When I reach the end of my strength, I turn my problems over to that power and offer myself to the resolution. And so, today, looking at the hoards of individuals lobbying for peace in the cities of our land, I see a replay of the unrest the poor have rallied to ask for a more even distribution of not only wealth, but opportunity; and I see this across the world. I have but little in the greater things, but I have this: I can ask what spirit requires of me to tip the balance. What is required of me, one single person in a world of billions of souls? I am not a healer, I deal with words. I am not a lawyer to fiddle with the law, turning it to the protection of the rich and criminal – and sometimes to the woes of the poor – if the settlement looks large enough. I wrestle with ideas. I am not a politician, who promises much and votes for the very thing they promised to protect. I look for truth in the reflections of the past and carry hope for the future. I do not care what god you worship. All gods are good who raise humanity. All I ask is to be given a task, one thing I can do to improve the world …. And one thing more. I ask that each soul in this place ask the same. Just think what millions of good acts could do! What can I do? At the very least Friend, look on the sunny side. You might be surprised in what you see. Love, Terry

Vitamin D Testing

The other day I got a bill for over $200 in the mail for a test to measure my Vitamin D levels. Medicare says the test is medically unnecessary and that I have to pay for it!

Wait a minute! My doctors at the local clinic have always told me my Vitamin D levels were just fine and I take a daily supplement, so I am wondering just why the test was ordered in the first place. I get it that the government has to save money, but not that I should have to foot the bill for unnecessary testing. Surely every doctor in the world got a notice that the test was no longer covered?

Apparently Medicare is weeding out unnecessary testing, and I am fine with that - but it might have been nice if I had been given the information that this test is no longer covered.

I live on a severely restricted budget and paying this bill will be difficult. I am writing my doctor to ask that I no longer have to have this testing done, and hopefully I will remember to remind her not to do it again as I have been tested for various other conditions twice a year. Four hundred dollars is more than my mortgage payment!

I urge others who are on Medicare to talk to their physician about the cost of the tests they order. It is apparent that doctors do not know what costs are incurred and order tests without thought about the impact on the life of the patient.

Just saying - in the meantime, it is a pretty day so take a walk on the sunny side and collect some natural Vitamin D!

Love, Terry

A Day at the Wharf

Yesterday I joined Ann Foley, Andy Nunez and other local writers for a day at Long Wharf in Cambridge where the Richardson Museum hosted their annual schooner rendevous.

What a beautiful day it was! There was a hint of chill in the air, but it was beautiful in the sun and many came to get a closer look at the tall ships that gathered on the Choptank River to demonstrate our living history.

I always love being able to go out with my books and say howdy to the many friends I have made in the community over the years. It really warms my heart to catch up on news and collect hugs. (I like to gather as many as I can!)

Cambridge is a town with great spirit, and it hosts many gatherings over the course of the year. In addition to the hospitality of the warm-hearted locals, we are seeing an increase in growth in the arts with several galleries open to show off the accomplishments of the art community.

The Cambridge downtown is gradually coming back from the economic decline that it suffered from the early 90s when I first came to the community. That year, almost every store on Race Street closed and it was a sad thing to go downtown - especially during the holiday season. There was even a movement for non-proft groups to decorate the empty windows on Race Street.

But times have changed and despite the slump our country is experiencing Cambridge is coming back! Many of the downtown storefronts are filling up and people are out and about. Much of it is due to the work and dedication of Jim Duffy, who has been thee coordinator for the Main Street project in Cambridge. It is heartwarming to see, so if you are feeling down, take a walk downtown and check out the change. It is definitely a walk on the sunny side! Love, Terry

The End of the World?

Everyone seems to be searching for a place of calm while the world fights the same wars over and over again. It seems as if we all believe in some sort of God, Creator of heaven and earth, or overseer, but it seems like something is getting lost in the translation.

According to the ancient Maya calendar the world will end in the year 2012. Boy! That sure makes it difficult to believe in happily ever after when the ghosts of the French Revolution stalk the shadows of Wall Street bankers. What’s up with that?

I believe poor folks have a point. It is pretty clear that not even one millionaire got there without the sweat and toil of lots and lots of little people who live on the verge of poverty. Again, we can look to history for a parallel – but where is Robin Hood when we need him?

I realize I am spitting into the wind, but what if everyone took a minute to think positive about the proposed world’s end and pondered the great WHAT IF?

What if people started being nice to one another? What if every guy on the street picked up one piece of garbage? What if every mom took a day off to love her child, instead of telling that youngster that he or she is bad, and then skip the yelling because a little milk was spilled. What if everyone turned down the heat a couple of degrees? What if people sat on their porches and passed the time of day? What if everyone with a vacant lot allowed people with no land to plant a garden and grow some of the food they need? What if every employer in the world gave his employees one dollar more each week?

There are so many opportunities for people to do good, one wonders why there is so much strife in the world.

Could it be? Is it possible? What if the end of the world could be the end of the world as we know it? What if the end of the world was the beginning of peace on earth and enough for every child to be fed? I believe it could happen….

Do you?

If not, take a walk on the sunny side and you might see the possibilities! Love, Terry