This I Believe E-Book

Mary Jo Gediman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 180

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Inspiring essays on love shared by men, women, and young people from all walks of life In the 1950's, Edward R. Murrow's radio program, This I Believe, gave voice to the feelings and treasured beliefs of Americans around the country. Fifty years later, the popular update of the series, which now continues on Bob Edwards Weekend on public radio, explores the beliefs that people hold dear today. This book brings together essays on love from ordinary people far and wide whose sentiments and stories will surprise, inspire, and move you. * Includes extraordinary essays written by "ordinary" Americans on love in its many manifestations-from romantic love and love of family to love of place and love of animals * Paints a compelling portrait of the diverse range of beliefs and experiences related to what is perhaps the most powerful and complex of human emotions-love * Based on the popular This I Believe radio series and thisibelieve.org Web site By turns funny and profound, yet always engaging, This I Believe: On Love is a perfect gift to give or to keep.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Introduction

The Love I Choose - JESSICA MERCER ZERR

They Built a Family - LAURA J. K. CHAMBERLAIN

A New Kind of Love - RACHEL WEGNER

In My Father’s Tears - LAWRENCE KESSENICH

The Beauty of Aging - DEBI KNIGHT KENNEDY

The Gift of Being - LORRAINE KELLY

Gray Hairs and Wrinkles - FABIOLA PIÑA

Love Is Stronger Than Death - OPAL RUTH PRATER

Come to My Table - SHANNON LEE DENNEY

My Best Friend - RAYMOND ALLINGER

Leave the Light On - MARIANNE ROGOWSKI

How We Love Our Enemies - DAVID WALN

What We Tried to Do - LOUISE V. GRAY

The Most Powerful Medicine - ROSS HAYS

The Value of Your Life - JENNA GREER

Hand-Knit Socks - DEBRA BRONOW

Deciding to Love Her - AMY SIMMONS FARBER

Love on Four Feet - SARAH CULP SEARLES

A Walk in the Woods Together - CINDY LOLLAR

Sam’s Valentine - KATHY HEFFERNAN

To Dwell in Possibility - PATRICIA W. BENNETT

Duck Blind Lessons - JAMES JOHNSON

First Friend - SUSAN SENATOR

Amazing Grace - KORINTHIA KLEIN

Love Lives through Them All - TANUJ BANSAL

Brotherly Love - KATIE WEINER

Old Love - JANE R. MARTIN

Pink Moments - CONNIE SPITTLER

Love Like a Child - MARY LINEBERGER

A Death He Freely Accepted - GREG GATJANIS

The Blessings of Step - JANET JAYNE

Here’s to You, Merrie - JORDYN MAEDA

God Knows about Sacrifice - LYNNE SCOTT

Love Is a Verb - SARAH STADLER

The Friend Who Makes Me Complete - PENNY HAGIN

A Magical Impact - JEREMY GREEN

Put on Your Heavy Coat - ELLEN GRAF

God Is in Her Hand - JOHN SAMUEL TIEMAN

A Gift of Unique Beauty - CYNTHIA CHAUHAN

Four Sisters in Life and Death - ELYNNE CHAPLIK-ALESKOW

My Family Tree - BRENDA HUFF

Staying Close - GINNY TAYLOR

Love on Aisle Three - DAVID WUESCHER

Swing-Shift Kisses - SCOTT SAALMAN

The Courage to Let Go - GALE A. WORKMAN

All the Mothering You Do - PATRICE VECCHIONE

Life Is a Battle - ELLIANA GRACE

I Believe in You - JULIE CHINITZ

Show and Tell - ANN ERIK

A Tender Lullaby - LEE REEVES

The Yellow House - JULIE M. SELLERS

A Powerful Act of Love - SUSAN HALL

Pennies from Heaven - REG STARK

Who We Really Are Inside - MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Creation Is the Creator - VICKI WATSON

The Power of Friendship - NADIA ANN HENDERSON

To Love the Person in Front of Me - KARLA GERGEN

Love from Head to Toe - LORENA TEMPLETON QUERNS

Made by Hand - MARY MRUGALSKI

A Dog’s Life - FRED FLAXMAN

APPENDIX - How to Write Your Own

Acknowledgments

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2011 by This I Believe, Inc. All rights reserved

This I Believe ® is a registered trademark of This I Believe, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permission Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

This I believe : on love / [edited by] Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Mary Jo Gediman.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-470-87268-0 (cloth : alk.paper);ISBN 978-0-470-90076-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-90077-2 (ebk);ISBN 978-0-470-90078-9 (ebk)

1. Love. I. Gediman, Dan. 11. Gregory, John. 111. Gediman, Mary Jo.

BF575.L8T53 2010

177’.7—dc22

2010028347

To Margot Trevor Wheelock, who was responsible for This I Believe

Introduction

The idea for This I Believe began in the early 1950s when Edward R. Murrow and three fellow businessmen decided that during that particular time of economic uncertainty and the shadow of war, there was a strong need for Americans to take an inventory of their personal beliefs and find the seeds of their strength and happiness. A radio series was born that would feature a chosen number of men and women who would unfold their philosophies of life and share what they deemed important.

During that period, from 1951 to 1955, people wrote of the importance of freedom, hope for the future, and the necessity of personal virtues, such as goodness, kindness, and integrity. They also wrote of love—love of country, love of God, and love of family and friends.

Almost exactly fifty years later, in 2004, we created a nonprofit organization to reawaken this project and re-create This I Believe. We, too, asked men and women to write of their personal beliefs. We, too, created a radio series to share those beliefs with others.

When we first went on the air in April 2005 and asked listeners to send in their own This I Believe essays, we were overwhelmed by the response. To date, we have received more than ninety thousand essays—from every U.S. state and more than ninety countries; from conservatives and liberals; from women and men; from all nationalities and creeds; from every stage of life—kindergartner to senior citizen.

During this period of the early twenty-first century, we, too, have found that there are common themes among the essays submitted to This I Believe. People today still write of the importance of goodness, kindness, and a hope for the future. They still write of the importance of freedom and integrity. And they still write of the importance of love—which brings us to the book that you now hold in your hands.

In this collection, you will find essays that touch on many different aspects of love, including some you might not quickly associate with the word. We suspect that when many of us hear the word love, what first comes to mind is romantic love, and we certainly have some wonderful essays in this volume on that subject. But the subject of love encompasses so much more.

There is the love that one feels for one’s parents and siblings, the love for one’s children, friends, and neighbors. There is the love people have for their pets, their teachers, their homes. There is love of nature, of place. There are essays on the power of love. From a doctor, we have an essay about the power of love to heal a hurting body. And a young woman writes about the power of love to help her overcome drug addiction.

In these essays, people have also explored the darker side of love. Of how hard it is to love your enemies, estranged parents, ex-spouses, difficult family members. How love isn’t always what one thought or hoped it would be.

Some write about the unique ways they show their love for others or that others have shown for them—through knitting socks, baking bread, hunting ducks.

Clearly, love is one of the most powerful and universal of human emotions.

In reading and rereading these essays in preparation for this book, we’ve been struck by how such widely diverse views on love can touch us in varying ways from day to day. That’s the beauty of love—it resonates differently in each of us, and each of these sixty essayists, whether they are students or retirees, single mothers or longtime fathers, offer us their own unique ways of loving and being loved. In their intimate and honest stories, these essayists share acts of hope and faith, reflections on grief and loss, and celebrations of acceptance and forgiveness.

We hope you enjoy this collection and take the opportunity to share it with someone you love. It is an affirmation of the strong and everlasting bonds between us.

The Love I Choose

JESSICA MERCER ZERR

My husband gets up first to shower, giving me an extra twenty minutes to sleep. He wakes me with a kiss on my forehead and whispers he loves me.Then he leaves without turning on any lights, so I get five more minutes. He unloads the dishwasher and makes the decaf coffee we began drinking when we decided to start trying to conceive more than a year ago.When I emerge from my shower, my coffee is ready—two sugars, cream—and he hands me the paper. We speak little. Morning Edition and old-fashioned oatmeal bubble in the background.

At the end of the day, I cook supper, giving my husband half an hour to watch the news without interruption. After the weather report, he sits down at the table and watches while I finish cooking our meal. We eat and talk. Mostly we talk about what has to be done—groceries to buy, grass to mow, bills to pay—and I mention that the door still sticks. After dinner, if the weather is nice, we go for a walk, maybe watch a little TV. Bedtime comes at nine-thirty. When the lights are out, we confess the things that worry us, drawing strength from each other’s nearness.

I believe this is love.

When I was a child I thought a lot about what it means to love. I knew the romantic ideals of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but it was the love story of Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder that I returned to again and again. In contrast, their love story was so stark and so deliberate, and it alone continued beyond the ever after.

I once asked my mother if she loved me or my father more, certain I knew the answer: me. Instead, she bent down and looked me in the eye, hands gently on each shoulder. She explained that she couldn’t help loving me and that the love of a mother for her baby was incredibly strong. But then she told me that the love she had for my daddy was a love of choice, which made it extra special. Of all the people in the world, she chose him and he chose her.

I would think about her declaration often in the coming years as my parents adjusted to my mom’s new career outside the home and coped with raising a teenager. When my parents sometimes couldn’t have a conversation without turning it into an argument, I suspect they, too, thought about their choices.

Now that I’m married, I consider each day what it takes to stay married—and in love—as long as my parents have. It’s not that I don’t believe in romance and the extravagant spontaneity of last-minute weekend trips or witty conversation over champagne brunches. But I believe more in the sacred of the ordinary. I believe in love that is sustained by deliberate kindness and the choice to see little acts as testaments of love and commitment rather than indicators of a spark that has died—of love communicated each time he cooks oatmeal and I schedule his dental appointment. This picture of love is certainly less exciting, but decidedly real, and in its own way more romantic because of the weight of its reality.

So, in the small silences of our predictable, boring day, I choose him, and I choose love, all over again.

JESSICA MERCER ZERR teaches composition and introductory linguistics at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, where she resides with her husband, Ryan, and sons, Eli and Caleb. After more than eight years—and two sons later—this is the love she continues to choose.