MAY 13, 2018 Thank You to Ma

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With first toddling steps -
I placed my hand in yours.
Devotion and trust.
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With thank you to Ma.
Arts, sciences and morals
Through example taught.
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With gratitude for my earthly mother. You kept me warm, dry and well fed. You read to me book after book after book. Our home was filled with books on every topic from herbal healing to (literally) rocket science. Denied easy access to coloring books, I was given instead reams of paper along with colors, paints and multi-colored pencils. Through you I learned to put pen to paper not only to write words but also to draw images. When I was a teenager you thought it was fine that I painted on the walls of my room … and even painted foot prints across my ceiling. How many mothers would have sanctioned that!
Dearest mother, thank you for giving me wings. With time, I appreciate you more and more.  

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“Children should be taught right moral attitudes and right behavior not only through words, but example as well. Lack of such guidance is a major factor in the tragic breakdown of moral standards and behavior in this country, which has done more than anything else to destroy the family unit. And what has that brought forth? Emotionally crippled children. And emotionally crippled children generally become emotionally crippled adults, who have developed a feeling of rejection, which leads to bitterness toward society as a whole.”
~ Sri Daya Mata

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this photo was taken of my mother at age 23 in 1946. Helmi Mary Kempainen Witherington 
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