Freedom’s Cost

When all is lost

Something is found

The final cost

Is the broken bond

Freedoms unraveling

Of what we trust

Brings a fearful thing

All that is known is turned to dust

When all is lost

Something is found

And freedoms cost

Merely fears unbound

A singing song

A caged bird free to fly

Its voice clear and strong

Alone in an empty sky

The Servant Leader

Photo of Dave Vollmer

I’ve had the fortune to experience leadership from both sides of the fence, both effective and ineffective. In today’s world, so many claim to be good leaders or declare others to be good leaders, but how do we know if that’s true? Do we ask their bosses? Their subordinates? Do we compare them to history’s great leaders? Or do we judge them by their actions?

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Girl On A Train

We’ve decided the world needs more poetry. Here’s our first submission. Please send us yours. Select pieces may appear in this newsletter. Thanks.

 

Brown face,

Chocolate hair,

Almond eyes,

Ready to withdraw

But waiting….

 

Fine expensive clothing,

Delicate, prideful, fearsome;

Clean and pressed

With edges frayed.

 

Stolen glance,

Quiet reproach or

Mistaken intent;

Peripheral understanding.

 

While screaming wheels beneath

Steel on steel,

Sing their song;

Pleading in the darkness

The League of Women Voters Wants You to be Ready for Election Day 2019

Vote

This year is what is sometimes called an off-year election. It’s not the presidential election, which takes place every four years, and it’s not the midterms, when we elect state and federal representatives, which take place every two years. It’s all local elections, town and county, and often the voter turnout is far below the years when the other contests take place. Some may think that these local elections are not important, when in fact they are the elections that affect our everyday lives.

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Guest Post by Jed Morey: We’re Not Here for Long. Let’s Do Better. Together.

Photo of soaring gull by Katheryn Laible

A couple of days ago I joined the chorus of self-righteous outrage and posted the image of the now infamous MAGA hat wearing kid and Indian activist face-to-face. It’s been years since I posted anything purely political and I rarely, if ever, post something without context. But this image stuck with me. So I posted it without commentary, context or linking it to an article. Just the photo. What ensued on my wall happened all around the country on social media, at dinner tables and on television.

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PARTING WAYS doesn’t mean you can’t keep it together

Photo by Nathan McBride on Unsplash

Divorce can be one of the most difficult experiences of a person’s life, impacting every member of the family. We are thankful for this guest submission that talks about the author’s professional passion for helping people find a better way to part company. 

This is the happiest time of the year and ironically one of the times that people are most likely to get divorced. Troubled couples often hope that the holidays will make everything better, and then ultimately when it doesn’t, it’s time to make a change.

Life is full of changes.  Some of them voluntary, some- not so much. So, here you find yourself…the decision to divorce has been made either by you, for you or together which is the best-case scenario. We have all heard horrendous war stories, we all know people who have experienced this nightmare or about to… breathe! You have options. And it’s called Collaborative Divorce. The fact that most people have never heard of this method of divorce is one reason we have generations of families who witness the unhealthy, adversarial litigation and very often continue this cycle in their own lives.

Most people have heard of mediation, however, with a mediator, there can be no legal advice and the lawyer who is mediating cannot advocate for either party. Collaborative divorce is a voluntary process that couples enter into with a signed participation agreement that they are agreeing not to litigate. Couples enter into the Collaborative process thereby eliminating the threat of Court and committing to align their interests to work out the structure of their family, finances, property and any other assets they have created during their marriage.

The Collaborative divorce process provides support for the couple so they take the lead in decision making, through respectful communication, with the assistance of the appropriate professionals, in a private, pressure free setting.  The team of professionals include an attorney for each spouse, a mental health professional and a financial advisor.

In the context of Collaborative divorce, the couple commit to finding a mutually beneficial solution as their highest priorities. The concepts of “winning or revenge” and “retribution” have no place in the collaborative process.  The hope of having a positive future co-parenting (if relevant) is often a primary motivation for entering this process.  This results in the creation of a new bi-nuclear family built upon a foundation of respect, incorporating a creative and realistic distribution of assets and a new way to live apart and divorced in harmony.

When couples who are getting divorced, find solutions that serve both parties, healing begins, successful co-parenting takes place and children can grow up to be emotionally secure and healthy adults.  Families benefit from the collaborative process, and engaging in a communicative and understanding process sometimes results in healthy reconciliation. Society as a whole reaps the benefits of this process, because people can divorce with dignity and respect, children learn how to have difficult conversations with positive outcomes and the process makes us whole, individually and as a family.

Collaborative Divorce needs to be the new norm and most people have never heard of it. Please help us and tell everyone you know who may be getting divorced, about this option. The only option that will help to sustain the nuclear families of the future. For more information, please visit us at adrlawny.com.
Kim Ciesinski

Election Day Guidance from the Huntington League of Women Voters

To vote in the upcoming elections, you much get registered THIS WEEK! We are grateful to guest blogger, Judie Gorenstein of the Huntington League of Women Voters for this Election Day FAQ:Last month, we shared items we found on Gratitude and Kindness. Now, we touch on acts that naturally follow: Giving and Hope.

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