Friday, November 04, 2005

Nicht eine Welle


“I heard a nice little story the other day,” Morrie says. He closes his eyes for a moment and I wait.

“Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air—until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

“’My God, this is terrible,’ the wave says ‘Look what’s going to happen to me!”

“Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, ‘Why do you look so sad?’

“The first wave says, ‘You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?’

“The second wave says, ‘No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.’”

I smile. Morrie closes his eyes again.

“Part of the ocean,” he says. “part of the ocean.” I watch him breathe, in and out, in and out.

Excerpt from tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (pp. 179-180)

34 comments:

  1. It looks like an oil painting. I'm amazed at the variety you can produce with this method, whatever it is. tuesdays with Morrie is a favorite of mine - great quote. before reading it, I was envisioning a Madonna and Child.

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  2. Thanks A. I had Aggie in mind with this one. I hope she stumbles over here tonight.

    Aggie, this one is for you sweetie. I'm thinking about you and your dad. This story brought me comfort with my father.

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  3. Terry, I liked this one so much for that exact reason, namely, the oil painting effect. I love oil paintings, especially when the texture and strokes are a part of the work. I find this image looks okay small, but when you click on it to make it larger, it really comes alive. I may play with putting this one on a canvas and see what kind of look I can get.

    Now I need to go back and look for that Madonna and Child.

    Terry, I love tuesday with Morrie too. I always keep it close to me. :-)

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  4. I think of her as Aggie now too, but I'll leave that petname with you :-)
    Makes this post very special indeed, feel so(!) for her, not always sure how to tell her. You do that so well, and again here tonight. Going to bed now with that witnessed warmth warming my own heart.
    Nighty night, x

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  5. Hi Trée! Ich verstehe nicht warum dieser Deutsche Titel "Nicht eine Welle"

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  6. I want to be part of the ocean.

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  7. Hi Jar, good to see you again. I choose to title this one "Not a wave" as a direct reference from the story. I used German for emphasis. The German language is blunt and strong and I wanted to communicate the "not a wave" message is a subtle blunt and strong way--if that's possible--lol. Besides, it's one of the languages I know and I like to use it from time to time. Thirdly, I find giving an image a title in a language other than English dresses the image up a bit. Fourth, I like to have fun on my blog, and messing with languages as titles and blending them together is fun for me. Hope that answers your question. :-)

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  8. Liz, you are a part of my ocean and I of yours. And I am thankful. As an 81yo friend of mine likes to say on our cancer fighting board *Splash* :-)

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  9. A, you too always know just what to say to warm my heart. Sweet dreams my Sunshine. See you in 8 or 10 at the case may be. :-)

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  10. Terry, the more I stare at this image from a distance the more clearly I see Madonna and child. The white and blue colors don't hurt that view either. Mmm, waves or Madonna, waves or Madonna--lol. I love images that could easily be many things. Kinda like perceptions in life. Half full, half empty, neither wrong, neither right, both simply views.

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  11. beautiful Trée just beautiful :0)

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  12. Thanks Trace. Do you see the wave or the Madonna?

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  13. actually when I first looked at it I saw ice, frost to be exact, but then after reading the comments and what Terry said, I put it full screen and looked again. You can definitely see the madonna with child.

    I love the excerpt from the book, such a great book, a friend of mine gave that book to me when my dad was in the hospital for the last time. I read it over many long sleepless nights, I need to read it again, its been too long.

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  14. Mmm, I wonder if no one else sees the waves crashing on the beach.

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  15. isn't that part of the beauty of art, everyone sees whatever speaks to them.

    you see waves, Terry sees the madonna, I see frost and of course Jack will see alien pods LOL

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  16. They say we only see what we are projecting. I guess that means I'm a wave crashing, Terry is Madonna, you're feeling chilly, and Jack is an Alien. :-)

    Do I need to come warm you up?

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  17. Jack is an Alien. :-)
    ROFL

    and ya know, I have had a little chill lately...that might need to be taken care of, wouldn't want to catch cold LOL :0)

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  18. Trée it's just lovely. It does look as though it is a painting in oils.
    I remember the story. It's been a very long time since I read it. Yes. Part of the ocean. Part of the sky. Part of the universe.

    There are so many things I need to remember and it is so very hard to remember them now.
    Thank you, my friend, for keeping those things for me and giving them back when I need them.

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  19. You're welcome Aggie. It's the least I can do. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Peace my friend.

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  20. Thank you so very much. Please know that you bring a solace to my heart. You offer a place I can escape to. Each day I look forward a moment of peace and kindness that I know I will find here.

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  21. I will be back to see you in the morn.
    Goodnight sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

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  22. My favorite book. And the movie is splendid too. We should all have a teacher like Morrie. We are all taught how to live, but no one teach us how to handle death. It was also the last movie that Jack Lemmon did. He did shortly after.

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  23. A friend gave me a copy of "Tuesdays with Morrie" at a time in my life when I had enough heaviness and didn't want to risk more by reading it. Perhaps I made a mistake and should have read it; but, on the bright side, it's a correctable mistake.

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  24. Paul, welcome back. Sorta like my images where people see so many different things, I would say the same for this book. For me, it was incredibly uplifting and insightful. Let us know what you think when you read it.

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  25. Christa, I agree. Not enough Morries in the world. I thank Mitch for sharing him with us. I haven't seen the movie. How true to the book was it and who played the part of Mitch?

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  26. Aggie, your comments bring me much joy. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and that peace and joy come to visit and stay for awhile. :-)

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  27. One of my favorite books. And the picture does look like the ocean (and sky) maybe. Did you do these and how do you do them? They are really nice.

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  28. RDL, thanks for stopping by and thanks for those kind words. I create all the fractals you see on my site with a freeware program called Apophysis. Anyone can download the program and start creating away.

    I try and post something new everyday, so feel welcomed to come back as often as you like. Have a great weekend. :-)

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  29. The movie is pretty much like the book...but I can't for the life of me remember who did Mitch Albom. I'm sure there's info about the movie at IMDB if you do a search for it.

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  30. Thanks Christa. I'll look it up. Curiosity has the cat. :-)

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  31. And Jack Lemmon died shortly after...not "did"...geez...some days i should stay away from the keyboard ;)

    And I_Wonder...read the book because it's more about the joy of life than the sorrows around death.
    It's a touching story, but the strength that Morrie presents and his wisdom comes from a man who really knew how to live life and enjoy every moment of it.
    His attitude is very contagious.

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  32. Once again great fractal and great quote. Keep it up.

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  33. Thanks Beard. I've got another on deck. Look for it in about 30 minutes or so.

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Engaged comments on any aspect of the chapter are welcomed and encouraged.