Ann is getting older and tells her children and grandchildren what she believes in, and some notes on the coming hurricane, Sandy.
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter Thirty Eight
First, a note about the hurricane, Sandy, that is headed straight for Atlantic City and the Delaware River near Delaware and Philadelphia, PA. I hope my computer stays up through at least Thursday so that I can give you a blow by blow account from the front row of a natural disaster. I live in a 17 story, old, hotel/condominium right on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic City. From my window I can watch the ocean as she changes due to weather conditions.
Everyone here, about 300 people, are set to wait out the storm and do not intend to evacuate. We have stored water and food, batteries and radios, and the hotel has a generator that keeps the hallways lit up so we can find our ways to the emergency exits if they are needed. The hotel has stood through many hurricanes over the hundred years that it has been standing, so while we are cautious about the effects of the hurricane upon her, none of us intends to leave for higher ground. Besides the hurricane coming from the south east, we have a major cold front coming in our direction from the midwest and expected to hit Philadelphia at the same time as the hurricane. This could also bring us a great deal of snow; time will tell.
I will give you a blow by blow account of the effects of the hurricane on the city and the beaches. I hope I can write to you everyday, but if we lose electricity I will catch you up once our electricity is back on. It should be a real adventure. The city planning authorities are going to give evacuation notices today and there is only two roads off of the island (Atlantic City is an island) so people will have to leave right away, if they're going to go, or risk having the roads totally closed by the flood waters. Once the storm hits, there will be no way off of the island, so we are essentially stuck.
As of right now, the sky is grey and forbidding and the ocean has become a little rough. They are moving sand from the low lands to the Boardwalk in order not to lose too much sand during the storm. We have people living under the Boardwalk in makeshift shelters. They must remove to the rescue missions or be swept out to sea. They have no money or means and I feel afraid for their prospects. Most of the people in Atlantic City must rely on the buses for transportation and so to get to safety they must leave most of their personal possessions behind and hope for the best. Next to them, I feel very fortunate and most of my thoughts and prayers will be for those with less means.
My friends are elderly and have no transportation but they have the feeling that they will be all right, right where they are. They have no intention on leaving or evacuating. Please keep all of the people in your prayers as this hurricane hits us with full fury. Thank you.
ANN:
This is my philosophy that I share with you for a moment. I feel like I need to write down my thoughts for my family. IT is all about love. The great truths are that we are love and that we are one with ONE.
I have begun to understand that we are all one. That what hurts you; hurts me also. That what brings joy to you; brings joy to me. I am responsible for treating you with loving kindness, for treating you with respect and dignity. For when I honor you, I honor my own self. We are one, my friend, and we are also one with everyone and everything in the Cosmos. We are love, and love is not a weak, ephemeral feeling, but the great force, the great energy, that runs the Cosmos. That is the Cosmos; that is God (ONE). I do not "own" anything spiritual alone, for all belongs to all. You may hold a fine possession all of your life and believe that you own it. That is quite different from owning its essence; its spirit.
ONE loves you just as you are right now. He loves all of his children and hears them, is with them, at all times. He cares deeply if we choose Him, but He loves us so much that He has given us a free will and freedom of choice in all that we do; He has given us our freedom. There are no rules to ONE's love. It is free and does not quantify or qualify. It is boundless as the skies. It is infinite. All of us are one with ONE and we are His representatives of love.
The concept of guilt is bunk. It gets in the way of our recognizing who we are. Of course we feel remorse when we hurt another person, and we repent and mend the situation, but once we have shown love and compassion to the person we hurt we must let go of the negative feelings in our heart regarding this subject. To do else is to subtract time from more worthy pursuits. The worthy pursuit is to grow in love and in expressing that love. Once you realize that you do love, then you realize that there is no fault in you that has not been overcome by the greatest love of all, ONE. You know that you are part of the whole, the ONE; that there is nothing that cannot be forgiven.
If we hate something it is because we sense in it some part within ourselves that we have hidden and not faced. Hate has to be worked at, it is not a natural reaction; our natural response is to love whatever comes into our lives; indeed to love ourselves and all that is around us.
Each of us is a simple frequency in the grand opera of existence: unique, but one part of a complete whole.
I have made so many errors in thinking and acting in my lifetime. Sometimes I am mortified at the amount of hurt I have managed to inflict upon my family and friends, the thought makes me shiver with sorrow and pain. Too often I have judged my fellow brothers and sisters and have had to live what they have suffered in order to understand their feelings; this is a hard way to get through life and finally you come to a point where you accept folks just as they are because you are the same and know it; maybe a little different story is all.
I have attained the ripe old age of 80 and my family has grown up around me. I have nine children and three step-children; 17 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. Debby and Charlie have retired; David has become a real-estate broker; and Jared has retired from the Coast Guard after 23 years of service. All of the family is doing really well, and Charlie has become a City Councilman in Belle Plaine, Iowa.
I have found a long-time companion in pain; she never goes away and leaves me alone although there are brief moments when she will lull a little bit. I have grown to accept her as a result of not taking good enough care of my body when I was younger. That is one thing I would change if I had the opportunity to do so.
Tomorrow, an update on the hurricane's path and we finish the second part of Heaven & Hell (HELL), as we find Ann passing and traveling back to Heaven Again.
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter Thirty Eight
First, a note about the hurricane, Sandy, that is headed straight for Atlantic City and the Delaware River near Delaware and Philadelphia, PA. I hope my computer stays up through at least Thursday so that I can give you a blow by blow account from the front row of a natural disaster. I live in a 17 story, old, hotel/condominium right on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic City. From my window I can watch the ocean as she changes due to weather conditions.
Everyone here, about 300 people, are set to wait out the storm and do not intend to evacuate. We have stored water and food, batteries and radios, and the hotel has a generator that keeps the hallways lit up so we can find our ways to the emergency exits if they are needed. The hotel has stood through many hurricanes over the hundred years that it has been standing, so while we are cautious about the effects of the hurricane upon her, none of us intends to leave for higher ground. Besides the hurricane coming from the south east, we have a major cold front coming in our direction from the midwest and expected to hit Philadelphia at the same time as the hurricane. This could also bring us a great deal of snow; time will tell.
I will give you a blow by blow account of the effects of the hurricane on the city and the beaches. I hope I can write to you everyday, but if we lose electricity I will catch you up once our electricity is back on. It should be a real adventure. The city planning authorities are going to give evacuation notices today and there is only two roads off of the island (Atlantic City is an island) so people will have to leave right away, if they're going to go, or risk having the roads totally closed by the flood waters. Once the storm hits, there will be no way off of the island, so we are essentially stuck.
As of right now, the sky is grey and forbidding and the ocean has become a little rough. They are moving sand from the low lands to the Boardwalk in order not to lose too much sand during the storm. We have people living under the Boardwalk in makeshift shelters. They must remove to the rescue missions or be swept out to sea. They have no money or means and I feel afraid for their prospects. Most of the people in Atlantic City must rely on the buses for transportation and so to get to safety they must leave most of their personal possessions behind and hope for the best. Next to them, I feel very fortunate and most of my thoughts and prayers will be for those with less means.
My friends are elderly and have no transportation but they have the feeling that they will be all right, right where they are. They have no intention on leaving or evacuating. Please keep all of the people in your prayers as this hurricane hits us with full fury. Thank you.
ANN:
This is my philosophy that I share with you for a moment. I feel like I need to write down my thoughts for my family. IT is all about love. The great truths are that we are love and that we are one with ONE.
I have begun to understand that we are all one. That what hurts you; hurts me also. That what brings joy to you; brings joy to me. I am responsible for treating you with loving kindness, for treating you with respect and dignity. For when I honor you, I honor my own self. We are one, my friend, and we are also one with everyone and everything in the Cosmos. We are love, and love is not a weak, ephemeral feeling, but the great force, the great energy, that runs the Cosmos. That is the Cosmos; that is God (ONE). I do not "own" anything spiritual alone, for all belongs to all. You may hold a fine possession all of your life and believe that you own it. That is quite different from owning its essence; its spirit.
ONE loves you just as you are right now. He loves all of his children and hears them, is with them, at all times. He cares deeply if we choose Him, but He loves us so much that He has given us a free will and freedom of choice in all that we do; He has given us our freedom. There are no rules to ONE's love. It is free and does not quantify or qualify. It is boundless as the skies. It is infinite. All of us are one with ONE and we are His representatives of love.
The concept of guilt is bunk. It gets in the way of our recognizing who we are. Of course we feel remorse when we hurt another person, and we repent and mend the situation, but once we have shown love and compassion to the person we hurt we must let go of the negative feelings in our heart regarding this subject. To do else is to subtract time from more worthy pursuits. The worthy pursuit is to grow in love and in expressing that love. Once you realize that you do love, then you realize that there is no fault in you that has not been overcome by the greatest love of all, ONE. You know that you are part of the whole, the ONE; that there is nothing that cannot be forgiven.
If we hate something it is because we sense in it some part within ourselves that we have hidden and not faced. Hate has to be worked at, it is not a natural reaction; our natural response is to love whatever comes into our lives; indeed to love ourselves and all that is around us.
Each of us is a simple frequency in the grand opera of existence: unique, but one part of a complete whole.
I have made so many errors in thinking and acting in my lifetime. Sometimes I am mortified at the amount of hurt I have managed to inflict upon my family and friends, the thought makes me shiver with sorrow and pain. Too often I have judged my fellow brothers and sisters and have had to live what they have suffered in order to understand their feelings; this is a hard way to get through life and finally you come to a point where you accept folks just as they are because you are the same and know it; maybe a little different story is all.
I have attained the ripe old age of 80 and my family has grown up around me. I have nine children and three step-children; 17 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. Debby and Charlie have retired; David has become a real-estate broker; and Jared has retired from the Coast Guard after 23 years of service. All of the family is doing really well, and Charlie has become a City Councilman in Belle Plaine, Iowa.
I have found a long-time companion in pain; she never goes away and leaves me alone although there are brief moments when she will lull a little bit. I have grown to accept her as a result of not taking good enough care of my body when I was younger. That is one thing I would change if I had the opportunity to do so.
Tomorrow, an update on the hurricane's path and we finish the second part of Heaven & Hell (HELL), as we find Ann passing and traveling back to Heaven Again.
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