Compost, Fish to Fry, Clerking

Dear Readers

Reminder. RantWoman means to pick up the phone and talk to some Friends very dear to her. but : What WERE Friends thinking? RantWoman is being asked only to come to memorials? What about Friends community while people are still alive???? What about seeing and offering weekly support to a Friend who does a TON of work for Meeting, who should not be asked to add even one second more of anything on RantWoman's account? What about figuring out LIFE?

What about movements of the holy spirit, not just reindeer droppings for the spiritual compost heap in Business Meeting?

B-b-but RantWoman, DIVORCE???? And take a break?
So WHAT? It's not like geography or the cast of characters needing to get along is going to change. Plus,  there is still shared custody of the planet and shared faithfulness for the future of the Religious Society of Friends. Plus there are anniversaries and the annual winter blahs fest to contend with Plus RantWoman does not get a break from....

RantWoman, in case you have not noticed, some people are REALLY ANGRY?

One would have to be WAY more socially obtuse than RantWoman is to have missed that.

Case in point, Friend, if thee is going to growl at RantWoman in email about not needing to pray, please bear with RantWoman's automatic assumption that  EVERYONE in this telenovela could stand to pray more.

Please READ CAREFULLY. RantWoman's emanations into the blogosphere are TRYING to share with the the world both some things that work splendidly and data about other stuff that maybe, um, possibly just does NOT.

But is this blog about the whole Religious Society of Friends?

Oh no! RantWoman's Meeting--and RantWoman still considers it her Meeting in spite of, as one commenter puts it, "divorce," --has a HUGE footprint in the Religious Society of Friends, but no, RantWoman would NEVER presume to speak on behalf of the entire RSoF..

But you harbor the Quaker heresy opinion that maybe possibly the problems of this outsized corner of a faith community are not unique to this Meeting, or worse yet, not even unique to the Religious society of Friends?

Yep. There is that part about a single standard of Truth. Why would this testimony apply only to Quakers?

Humor intrusion

We interrupt this ramble with a special bulletin for Friends worried that RantWoman's sense of humor has gone AWOL.

Grab the blind person and bless them moment

But RantWoman, Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them PTSD still makes you climb the walls sometimes?

Oh HELL YES.

Would it make a difference to the conversation to say why?

Maybe but RantWoman is suddenly going to go all discrete and promise only email, email to the effect that release from membership is not the same as release from moral obligation to be faithful to one's Light..

Returning to the main ramble

If our problems are not unique, does this mean we gotta learn things from ...?

RantWoman is called to be faithful to her Light. RantWoman trusts that others are also being faithful to Light even if the nature of the Light is not necessarily obvious to RantWoman at any given moment..

So, um some of what you write is, um, EMBARRASSING! Can you knock that off?

RantWoman to herself, Um, yeah. RantWoman has to write sometimes so she can figure out what is embarrasing for herself. Plus, if you don't want to see embarrassing stuff, there is always the option to pray for capacity to knock off the stuff you are embarrassed about.

RantWoman, ya know that in-person conversation the other day about memorials that both sides decided did not need to continue in the moment? Maybe it's okay not to overdo either in person or one on one by phone for a little while. But does that mean the problem really needs to be prayed over all over the internet???.

Generic RantWoman digression

Topical here: the words "Absolutely furious" x 2.

Please forgive RantWoman. It is a new experience to be able to sit long enough with the "absolutely furious" to pic out pieces to work one at a time. RantWoman both holds others' capacity to do that in great esteem and does NOT think the burden of doing so should fall only on one person. And RantWoman apologizes for working through some "how long have you been taking care of your parents?" issues and not being able as well as she would like to manage that burden.

Part of RantWoman's Light: NO ONE can wear all the hats, carry all of what needs to be carried. RantWoman is oddly FINE Fine, well not so fine but with other people LEARNING  Quaker process, but please forgive RantWoman for embarrassment so far

RantWoman, if you write this post based on conversations, maybe no one will talk to you ever again--even if you are TRYING to talk about parts that work and parts that DO NOT WORK to astounding degrees.

Yeah. Or MAYBE others will be inspired by the good side of the Be patterns be examples quote and there will be more Quakers who can carry what needs to be carried!

Peer into history.

Let's see, one half of a conversation  "I don't like it," about therapeutic Sudoku as a help for centering in the midst of neurological adjustments to what eyes could and could not do. Okay, things have gone downhill:

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME. (Silly RantWoman. How could she have failed to notice for months and months already?) Friend, many people with disabilities can speak of call to go places where they are either explicitly or implicitly not wanted. Regardless of people's wishes, God also keeps sending people with disabilities to live among us and asking us all to Figure It Out about living together. It is NOT going to be perfect. It does not have to be. And there is plenty of room for improvement. And RantWoman is finding it really hard to take seriously... if the only way conversation happens is to get RantWoman out of the way first.

The other half of a conversation has gone from, paraphrasing, "disability is off topic" to, well we put together..resources. kind of at the last minute.

Ya know what! GO FOR IT, ANYTHIHNG is a good start. Dial-a-tirade may still kick into action, but Go FOR IT. And then forgive RantWoman for wanting to insist that she be allowedt o review and amplify because ya know she is A / ONE Subject Matter Expert (SME)

The Ghost of matters Present

RantWoman, you have now wandered all over your spiritual compost heap. Could you please get to your point?

Clerking workshop. 52 people from all over NPYM. RantWoman decided to listen to her body but still has a half-completed registration form she may submit for the hrecord. But 52 people with more clerking skills is still AWESOME. No opportunity to practice with blind person in meetings issues at least some of them are likely to encounter, but Oh Well. RantWoman has heard good reports about the workshop. RantWoman is aware that her personal experiences with things like interpreter issues in general or multilingual FWCC events might overwhelm others who are new to clerking. And RantWoman has a lot of other fish to fry soooo....

Please hold all this in the Light.

In Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman