CAN WE EVER LIVE THIS SIMPLE AGAIN?

Have you ever felt as if life is just getting so complicated? Too much me, me, me. Too much noise from cars. Too much easy-life, forgetting what real values and hard work are all about. Too much destruction of the natural beauty around us? Lastly, not really getting to know your neighbor and the people around you?

I know I find myself thinking about this question almost every other day. But then again, maybe it is my personality, since I tend to have a very introspective side. For me, I find my vision of life is changing. Don't we all experience this at some point, maybe some sooner, some later than others.

We are truly blessed with what gifts we have received as a nation, what progress has brought about. But with each thing gained, I think we lose a little of life's simplicity and its real meaning. One of the things I often do, is think about my trips back to Medugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina. Bosnia-Hercegovina is next to Croatia and is, in part, one of several new countries that once made up the former Yugoslavia. I am not going to go into the reason for my visits to Medugorje, other than to say I have a dear friend their now and it is a town of pilgrimage (a place where the Blessed Mother has been appearing since 1981 for those of you who are Catholic and or have some familiarity with the faith ~ absent any opinion of its teachings). Each trip has had a profound effect on me and my life.

Medugorje is like no other place I have been. It is beyond putting into Word. I have been there 3 times and each time I have felt torn about leaving this sanctuary. My brother in fact is trying to get me to go late summer but I am working on other possible plans. Again torn, but we'll see. Life is simple there. Not a lot of vehicles. Lots of walking, some folk walking great distances into town from their more rural locations. The two and three story buildings that exist now only came to be over the past 25 years, built primarily to house the pilgrims. People are friendly ~ they take the time to chat with you if you engage them. Food is natural ~ fresh eggs and milk, fresh meat (we won't divulge how it became fresh), home-grown fruits and vegetables, and oh! home-made wine and GRAPPA, rocket-fuel in a bottle. A sense of real community exists ~ people help each other, like assisting in harvesting someone's grapes for the year. Heck one of my trips, I got out in the fields and helped my friend's family pick grapes...hard work but an utter blast! I felt this incredible sense of well-being, an inner peace. Every element of this little hamlet, if you will, makes me feel like this. It's what I wish I could feel every, breathing, waking moment of my life.

Can we ever truly attain such simplicity again in our lives? Really... take a moment to think about it. It is hard when you have been exposed to so many materials things and the pleasures/comforts they generate. I will be the first person to step up and admit it without hesitation. I think it can be attained but it takes an extreme amount of sacrifice to succeed. Perhaps that is what LIFE is about...sacrifices(emphasis here) and giving of oneself in order to gain the truest sense of inner peace. If I can ever find the inner strength, I so want to grasp onto 'the feeling' and never let go. I know I'd be happier!


The pictures that you see are of my favorite little corner of the universe, Medugorje. [Do you remember Steve?] The very first picture is of a home for recovering alcoholics and drug abusers. They all must make a commitment to relinquish there abuses, to stay at the home for six years, and to work doing the home chores and business. They survive in part by making and selling religious momentos for the pilgrims. The building that you also see was built quite literally by the hands of its members, those living in this home community. The craftsmanship is phenomenal and the mosaic they created in the chapel is unbelievable, considering not one member had artistic background. I'll have to locate that picture and post it. The next seven pictures are of Medugorje itself and some of the many abundances that its land produces. And finally, the last two pictures...me barefoot, hiking up the rocky path ties in with the church picture. See the hill behind the church...I hiked barefoot from the base of that hill up to its top on crumbled rock. Let's say I got two more years of my dad's life out of it...it was worth every last physical notion of discomfort.

Hope I didn't go to deep for you on this post...but you are seeing the real me exposed, whether I appeal to you or not. Damn, the picture of me was only 6 years ago, the big "40." I look like a kid ~ no goatee, a little thinner, and a bit more hair. Don't you just love the 'doo' too. ***chuckle***