Quote of the Week...from Ellen DeGeneres

I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness...and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I'm a human trying to making it through in this world.
                                                                                       ---Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres, as you probably know, is a comedian who has her own weekday television talk show.  She came out during the airing of her nineties comedy series Ellen as to her sexual orientation and received both support and criticism for it...I think she's pretty cool, but not because she practices identity politics (which she doesn't) or overdoes it with the political correctness schtick (which she also doesn't).  No, Ellen is a nice person who understands that we're all different and can disagree and still be friends without demonizing one another...how refreshing.  And she is strongly anti-bullying, an issue about which I feel vehemently as well.  Her above quote is right on target, something I can really understand as it relates to my life.  I know there are sources in our society that tell us to meditate, practice something called "mindfulness", pray, and engage in other activities to strengthen our inner being.  But the day wears on and I have to meet it on its own terms, complete with the frustrations, occasional chaos, setbacks, and difficult encounters it inevitably brings up in my face.  Holding on to a kernel of that inner spiritual peace as I go along is something to value, for it can make the difference in a trying situation between speaking or behaving in a manner that I will later regret and handling it in a constructive and ultimately rewarding way...

Ellen DeGeneres isn't a perfect human being and doesn't claim to be...I'm sure she has her share of personality failings...don't we all...as she herself is perfectly aware.  But she is also a good model to emulate when it comes to listening empathetically and interactively with others, especially with those that she disagrees with.  She believes, as something of an idealist, in the basic commonality of humanity and sincerely tries to see others as fellow travelers on this sometimes very confounding voyage called life...