one of a kind

Daily writing prompt
Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?
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Rain, hail, snow, and ice;

All are different,

But when they fall

They become the same water

As the valley stream

~Ikkyu Sojun

Unique…the Oxford Language website notes that the origin of the word unique is the Latin word unus, ‘one’. Therefore, it could be understood that an unique person is one of kind, unlike anyone else.

Pondering “one of a kind” brings to mind snowflakes. The chance of the snowflake that lands on the tip of your nose being exactly alike another is about 1 in 1 million trillion. The life of this now melting snowflake began within a cloud, as a crystal. It is believed that throughout its journey it encountered variables of temperatures and moisture levels which transformed the crystal into a snowflake.

So, is one of the aspects of a unique person their life’s journey?

In my lifetime, I have met two people who I felt to be unique. They both had distinct world views that I often found myself stumbling through with wonder and/or confusion. Could it be said that another aspect is found within world views that are incongruent with others?

One of these two people was my brother. I believe that most people who knew him would agree that he was “one of a kind.” While our life journeys originated from the same family of origin, the family I was born into was composed of both our parents and older sister, while he was born into a family that was grieving the death of our father. One of many transformation variables.

Yet, I still ponder the aspects of uniqueness as one of these two invited a closeness while the other’s differences created a wall of discomfort. This leads me to identify that another aspect of uniqueness is its impact upon the relationship dynamics of push and pull.

Yet, I end this pondering with another question: is uniqueness more about my personal sense impressions of the other than it is about the other?

lens-artists: it’s tricky!

Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1. 

People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Cited: History.com

Double exposure is like a mystery bag, one never really knows what will come out of the camera.

How did this playground slide become Phantom of the Opera?

Yes indeed, patience is a bit tricky.

Hop on over to Wind Kisses to join this week’s photo challenge

history is remembrances re-emerging

contemplative photography 6 copy

Intentionally, I set my mind upon the engagement of self with the process of reading the words of another with a knowing that I have accepted an invitation to consider an author’s worldview; that is, to place reality upon a shelf or to open a unique window of understanding.

…distraction, from this engagement as I become aware of a shadow presence – a transparent here-ness tinted with memories of you. It is as if you emerged from the printed page calling forth shared memories.  I feel you sitting silently beside me. Within this silence, I begin to search for words, sentences that covey meanings and insights that awaken the joy that comes from an easing of longing and I hear myself whisper, “Here, a treasured story of thought that reconnects us, reflects a past time of us together, that validates words, ideas—you—and messages, ‘I have heard you within the sharing of love.  I delight in knowing you.  I wish to thank you for simply being…you are the joy that accompanies a gift in transit to being received.’”

…awareness, the words on the page have faded, I have disengaged myself from the invitation to consider the worldview of another as I entered imagined moments with you.  I miss you.  I miss us.

…accepting that what I yearn for can never be for I’m in the autumn of my life while you, my child, have now entered your summer as your children dance within their spring.  Seasons flow one into another—their circular, repeating patterns defined by an unseen guiding hand—births expectations, hope and trust created from past consistencies.

History is remembrances re-emerging like the youthful sprout fragile in its newness, in its responding to life’s call.  Yet, in time this newness will fade and become fragile as one’s autumn yields to their winter.

First posted on September 26, 2013

March 23, 2023

Utah Governor Signs New Laws to Protect Children From the Harms of Social Media Usage

Utah took aggressive steps on March 23, 2023 to rein in teens’ social media use when Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation designed to limit kids’ social media exposure, including a 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. curfew on social media use and age verification requirements.

East High students march on State Capitol and call for gun control a day after school shooting (March 23, 2023)

“We just buried Luis”: East High parents, students fume after another shooting and call for stricter security

  • More than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019.
  • Research indicates a higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence.
  • School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores.
  • School shootings also lead to an increase in student absenteeism and the likelihood of needing to repeat a grade in the two following years.
  • Students exposed to shootings at their schools are less likely to graduate high school, go to college, and graduate college, and they are less likely to be employed and have lower earnings in their mid-20s.

Postscript

In 2019, authorities within CHINA restricted minors to playing 90 minutes a day on weekdays and banned them from playing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. In 2021, they issued restrictions in which minors are allowed to play online games for only an hour a day and only on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. Game approvals were halted for eight months.

lens artists: spring

March winds bring April showers and May flowers

In northeastern Colorado, March and April often bring heavy snow storms. While many across the globe may be tired of snow, I delight watching big snowflakes cover the world outside my window waiting with anticipation for the stilled silence that will embrace the neighborhood.

Waking up to a snow covered streets is a sure sign that soon there will be a call; it’s a snow day! A guiltless day away from the office, yes!

And then after a sleep in, there is a walk through the park and being silently greeted by snow people.

Do you remember playing King of the Mountain on the big piles of snow left by snow plows?

The next best part of these storms is the warning that occurs in a day or two … the sounds of melting snow’s rivulets and the touch of spring’s silken breezes.

spring begins–
sparrows at my gate
with healthy faces ~Issa (haikuguy.com)

Sofia Photographias: spring

lens-artists: Road (most often) taken

Road trips! I love spontaneous road trips with nights in “X-Files” motels that invite with their buzzing neon vacancy sign.

I delight in planned vacations that included staying in city centered-hotels, having breakfast while watching national news, and then roaming (with camera in hand) through art galleries, museums, churches, parks, historical buildings, cemeteries, and shopping districts.

I welcome intentional photo walks that invite an openness to be present to the world as it presents itself and to delight in the richness, complex and wondrous elements of life.

These roads most often taken is Contemplative Photography where I open myself to what is and to see without expectations.

Journeys with Johnbo: The Road (most often) Taken