Step Away

Posted by Edith Cook on Saturday, January 28, 2012 Under: Personal

 Sometimes it's necessary to step away from the hubbub created by our social connections. Much as I love family and friends, their sorrows and sadness--and, yes, contentiousness--can get to me. Then I feel as if anything I might try to make things better is not going to amount to anything, for someone else will unravel whatever I'm trying to do.

When this happens, I pick up my guitar and return to the pieces of music I cherish. The above sample was given to me by friends on a visit to Germany. These friends, incidentally, got upset when I said I wanted to visit Dachau, the former concentration camp near Munich. They gave me pamphlets that said the Holocaust was mostly Jewish propaganda. What could I say? I've known these people for decades; they are not part of the unhinged fringe. Of course I went to Dachau anyway, objections or not, but I doubt that my action changed their view of things.

Sometimes, to maintain our social relations seems an impossible project. 

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About Me


Edith Cook Though I now live in Wyoming, I make frequent return trips to California with visits to travel club members along the way. At home I play classical guitar, enjoy gardening and cooking, and participate in group yoga. Getting together with family and friends is high on my agenda. I value people who write or make music and love it when my adult children and their offspring play their instruments, sing songs with me, or discuss what they read and write. Such gatherings help me cope with the losses in my life, which have been severe. Next year I hope to visit family in Germany.

 

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