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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 6:22pm
Post #326 of 368
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Oh gosh, Pioneer, how horrible for you! I will add to my prayer, that all of the dead soon find dignity and identification, that their families may give them proper and comforting funerals.
And yet to end on such a note of comic relief! Thank God for lusty hedgehogs!
And what a symbol! (Dream-oriented folk often see things in the waking life, and ask ourselves, "if this were a dream, what would it mean?") Here these poor little critters just got their whole world shaken out from under them, and what do they do? Assert their faith in the future--on an instinctive level, but no less real for that. Assert their connection to each other. Take the first step in rebuilding new life, even in a miasma of death! Find pleasure in the midst of suffering and fear.
It immediately brought to life Bruce Cockburn's poignant song, "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." I decided not to link to a video, because some of the lyrics might get too suggestive for a family message board, but I can share these excerpts:
"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
And next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time "
and
"When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight"
Also, I know what you mean about the dark. It can get so frightening in time of disaster. I remember when I lived in San Diego during a terrifying fire eating into the city, how the smoke hung on for days and we never got real daylight, just an ugly brown twilight--much like the pall of Mordor. But one night, desperate for a breath of fresh air, and forgetting that the air would just be worse outside, I stepped out the back door, and by some unexplainable fluke the smoke cleared in a tiny patch of sky, just enough to reveal one bright star. And I remembered reading of Sam seeing just such a thing in Mordor, and my heart filled with hope again, and I went to bed and slept peacefully.
May you receive the same consolation!
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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shadowdog
Rohan
Feb 24 2011, 6:26pm
Post #327 of 368
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But the warning is in seconds not minutes before the shockwave hits the areas closest to the epicenter, which is where ChCh was located in respect to the epicenter.
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 6:29pm
Post #328 of 368
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quite a kid (being from Nebraska originally, perhaps I'm a bit partial . . . ).
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Feb 24 2011, 6:29pm
Post #329 of 368
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I'm so sorry for you, orchid. From the news story, he sounded like an inspirational man.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded b*****d with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 6:32pm
Post #330 of 368
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Beautiful and insightful.
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 6:33pm
Post #331 of 368
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Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 6:36pm
Post #332 of 368
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That does help me grasp this. I've always been frustrated
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by this as well, especially when I had relatives in California.
Thank you!
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shadowdog
Rohan
Feb 24 2011, 6:37pm
Post #333 of 368
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about the chuckle over the hedgehogs making love in the midst of disaster. Of course my first reaction was ... what are hedgehogs doing in NZ???
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Nienna
Rohan
Feb 24 2011, 6:38pm
Post #334 of 368
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Get out of Christchurch for a while
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Pioneer, why don't you take one of those $50 flights and go to a family member or a friend? If you're short of money, I will pick you up and drive you to the airport and give you the money for the flight - just let me know.
You sound as though you need to get away.
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 6:38pm
Post #335 of 368
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I see lots of other people got the hedgehog symbolism before me. I apologize--I'm reading bits and pieces of this thread randomly, trying to catch up as fast as I can, crying as I go--sometimes crying at the beauty of the human soul!
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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aranelthehobbit22
Gondor
Feb 24 2011, 7:00pm
Post #336 of 368
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Animal's are indeed comforting.
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I'm so glad he's returned!
I'm so sorry for your loss, my prayer are with you and the man's fiance. I can't even imagine what everyone must be going through.
I hope the aftershocks slack off, are any of them very dangerous would you say?
'Help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.'
"Yet in that hour was put to the proof that which Mithrandir had spoken, and help came from the hands of the weak when the Wise faltered."
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aranelthehobbit22
Gondor
Feb 24 2011, 7:02pm
Post #337 of 368
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if you can get away, I think you should.
I'm so sorry, this must simply be horrible for you.
As afore mentioned music could be soothing, you should put some on.
Hmm...well the wildlife appear to be moving on...
'Help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.'
"Yet in that hour was put to the proof that which Mithrandir had spoken, and help came from the hands of the weak when the Wise faltered."
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 7:37pm
Post #338 of 368
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You were in the Loma Prieta earthquake, too? It's good to hark back on that time, how everybody pulled together to help everybody else. Lots of scary movies and such would have you think that disasters bring out the worst in people, but having lived through a number of them, myself, I can testify that most often they bring out the best in people.
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 7:44pm
Post #339 of 368
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You're right. You hear a lot about evil on the internet, but it can also be such a tool for good! Here I have friends struggling with earthquakes in New Zealand, and another friend swept up in the protests of Iran and putting her life on the line for freedom at the same time, and it makes it all personal! In the past I would have heard a brief spot on the news on either event, maybe said a quick, half-spirited prayer for the trouble spots of the world, and forgotten about it. But knowing people there forces me to pray in earnest and often, and try to think of anything else that I can do. The internet expands our hearts to where borders cannot contain them.
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 7:57pm
Post #340 of 368
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Poor dear! I know how hard it is to get true, refreshing rest in a disaster. Perhaps if I share a dream I had it might affect your own dreams and deepen the restoration that you get from the snippets of sleep.
It was during a devastating San Diego fire, and I feared to go to sleep lest I miss an evacuation call, as the fire nibbled through city nearer and nearer. But then I found myself lying on a soft fur rug, and a pleasant fireplace seemed to explain the smell of smoke, and I opened my eyes to the cozy inside of a pleasant hobbit-hole. And in the dream Bilbo regarded me kindly and said, "Don't worry--you're safe now."
But I sat up, crying, "But this isn't real!"
Instead of taking offense (as he had in a past dream when I called my own world the "real" one) he just came over, knelt by me and patted me on the back saying. "It doesn't matter. Your family will wake you if you have to evacuate. You just get some rest now, and I'll watch over you." And I had the most refreshing sleep I'd had in a long while.
May your own dreams bring you rest and healing! May you have interesting comforters show up in them.
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 8:09pm
Post #341 of 368
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I loved your furball story! People can be funny, too. I remember when I worked at the hospital, hearing a nurse from the psych ward telling me about an intake she did during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. She was evaluating the mental health of an elderly woman when the earthquake hit, but the sweet old thing just sat there like nothing was happening, while she herself dived under the desk. "Everything's shaking!" she cried out to the patient.
The woman just reached down and patted her on the arm, saying, "There there, dear, I've felt like that, too. But if you take a few deep breaths it will all go away." Just then the earthquake stopped and the woman said brightly, "There--you see? Don't you feel much better now?"
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 8:14pm
Post #342 of 368
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Oh Sunflower! It sounds like you've had your own personal earthquake. My condolences to you for so many losses. May your heart heal day by day. All the best of your lost loved ones live on in you, in the things that you've learned from their good example. My prayers go with you, dear.
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Nienna
Rohan
Feb 24 2011, 8:23pm
Post #343 of 368
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It makes it so much worse when you know some of those who have gone.
Do you have power and water? And support from others?
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Dreamdeer
Valinor
Feb 24 2011, 8:24pm
Post #344 of 368
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I'm crossing my fingers, but if you're lucky, all of that water might simply have splashed out of the toilet in the jolt. Here's hoping that nothing broke after all!
Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 8:42pm
Post #345 of 368
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...have been studied for 150 years, and a lot is known about them. Even so, new faults are found regularly, and it remains hard to predict events even in the well-known fault systems. The fault system under Chch was totally unknown prior to Sept. 4.
California is unstable because two continental plates are sliding past one another. New Zealand has the somewhat worse geological predicament of being on a place where one plate is sliding under another (a predicament it shares with Japan). So, generally speaking, you know that they will have earthquakes for the forseeable future, but that doesn't help anyone to know specifically where, when, or how big.
Join us in the Reading Room for chapter discussions of LotR The Two Towers, Book III!
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
(This post was edited by Elizabeth on Feb 24 2011, 8:45pm)
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Nienna
Rohan
Feb 24 2011, 8:54pm
Post #346 of 368
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The water on the floor was simply caused by water splashing out from the toilet bowl. There is a bit of damage to the roof tiles but it's raining now and there are no drips so waiting some months to have it repaired might not be a problem.
Your thoughts in the poem were heartwarming - it was like wrapping myself in a blanket to keep warm.
Today the young man who passed away is mentioned in the newspaper. I cried when I read that his journlism tutor said that Rhys was "a really loveable, gentle young man". He was indeed.
Rhys spoke of his tutor a number of times so the respect was returned.
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silneldor
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 9:25pm
Post #347 of 368
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I am glad you just let it fly. As it should be.
And i am happy to have you around. I value your spirit.
''Sam put his ragged orc-cloak under his master's head, and covered them both with the grey robe of Lorien; and as he did so his thoughts went out to that fair land, and to the Elves, and he hoped that the cloth woven by their hands might have some virtue to keep them hidden beyond all hope in this wilderness of fear...But their luck held, and for the rest of that day they met no living or moving thing; and when night fell they vanished into the darkess of Mordor.'' - - -rotk, chapter III
May the grace of Manwë let us soar with eagle's wings!
In the air, among the clouds in the sky
Here is where the birds of Manwe fly
Looking at the land, and the water that flows
The true beauty of earth shows
With the stars of Varda lighting my way
In all the realms this is where I stay
In the realm of Manwë Súlimo
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 10:19pm
Post #348 of 368
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all sorts of cracked pipe joints.
I am so sorry about that young man. Unbearable.
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 10:24pm
Post #349 of 368
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Are there any doggie meds available that help? And have you been able to get some water yet? (And have you been able to sleep some?)
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 24 2011, 10:29pm
Post #350 of 368
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I resisted anything like this for the longest time (I'm still resisting Facebook); but that's exactly what this place has done for me, and I'm grateful for the opened horizons every day. 
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