Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 - (Page 46)

“Think of life like downhill skiing.” W Daughter and singer Bethany travels the world, performing for peace, justice and children’s rights; Valentina, 2, is never far from her side. e shouted “Hello!” in the entry hall of Chris’s eastside Portland Victorian and were rushed by greeters Chris, Bethany and Rufus, but no sign of Peter. Then, a leg crooked out from around the corner of a walnut doorframe, the loafer wiggled a bit, and he entered the room, hugs first, questions later. “I don’t think consciously about creating a legacy. A certain point in time, you confront the question “How do I want to spend this part of my life?”—I was 70 the end of May—and I see it this way: There are two things that make up this phase of life: wisdom and perspective. “Think of life like downhill skiing. If you look in front of you, you see every bump; but if you look farther down the hill—and in front of your- self at the same time!—you can carve a path that makes sense. Wisdom, to handle the immediate situation, and perspective to look at all the goodness you have, the good fortune. We need wisdom and perspective. And sincere gratitude. “I’m grateful that I am able to focus the vast majority of my time on things I really care about—although I’m working harder, with more energy, more focus, more concentration than I ever have. I’m so lucky I don’t have to earn money.…” We mentioned that perhaps it was easier for people who had power and money to extol the virtues of gratitude. “Gratitude is an understanding and appreciation of the fundamental gifts of life. The gifts of life are not power, fame and money. Power, fame, money divide our society and take away from our hearts, foster false illusions and are ultimately unsatisfying, leaving us empty. “I sing to patients in hospice—I’ve long worked as an advocate for hospice patients— and they don’t have time for anything but love and truth and an appreciation of people who are serving them and the people they are serving. Because even if they are dying, they’re still giving. They’re living at the heights of elevated consciousness. No one talks about how much money they made, what expensive new car they just bought, what fancy jewelry they’re wearing to dinner. “And we can have gratitude—celebrate!—our capacity to do something. I recently sang at the funeral of a remarkable young woman—she was 21 when she died from leukemia—who’d had Down’s syndrome. The family asked me, a Jew, to sing ‘Amazing Grace.’ I said that was ironic— it’s a Christian song—but it was appropriate; her grace was amazing. And I said to the crowd, ‘Let’s sing it together.’ The singing progressed from reluctance to—not full-throated singing; I didn’t ask for that—but a blanket of mercy, of merciful sound that hung like a warming blanket over the people. And I caught the eye of the girl’s father; and in his grief, he blew me a kiss! And I thought, I can do this? By standing up and opening my mouth? I’ve been trained to do this all my life—just as people do the creative, loving things like cooking dinner and planting gardens—I can do this! And it was something I had learned to allow to come to me; it wasn’t me alone. “This is what we must have gratitude for: that 46 GRAND JULY AUGUST 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 Contents Grand View: Love Is All That's Left Isn't It Grand?: Reassessing the Postponed Life Grand Central Just So We Know: One Mixed-Up Lemon Long-Distance Love: Cuttings Ask Grand: Stuck on Stuff Grand Gestures: "Thanks for the Ugly Gift" Tips on Teens: All That Doesn't Meet the Eye Live Long and Propser On the Cover: Peter Yarrow Presents of Mine Thicker Than Water? Reunions: White Water, White Knuckles The Grand Gourmet So We Are Not Alone Looking Grand: Suit-Able Grandbloggers: Why Watch TV When We Can Talk? Grand Bazaar Resources Grand Finale: What Boat

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

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