Thinking and thanking...

I'd like to share a couple of thoughts and things that are floating around in my mind over this holiday weekend. More than anything, this great American holiday is a time to recollect, honor traditions and find those things that we may overlook as "givens" and offer our thanks for their existence. One of those things is the intangible of health. Right now, there are some people that I know having some health challenges that seemed to come upon them suddenly. For them, this time is about waiting for test results, praying for the easing of pain and healing. Life is unpredictable and the "not knowing" part makes things more difficult to understand and to adapt to new realities. These are the people I think most about now and realize "but for the grace of God" go the rest of us that enjoy good health.

It's also a time that when I think about tradition, I also think about history and what has come before. On Thursday, for our Thanksgiving feast, I joined a group of long time Lake Worth people. One of the guests brought a collection of early and mid 20th Century postcards which were almost all about our city of Lake Worth. With his permission, I took the time to scan them to add to my digital collection. You will be seeing evidence of that coming in future posts.

Going through the images and some of the messages contained on the cards made me realize how history can be a surreal experience. The reality represented in these cards was one of Lake Worth being a tourist-oriented destination, one that took advantage of the weather and proximity to the ocean/beach to create wealth and sustain a way of life for the people who lived here. These people are the same people that lived in our homes, drove on our streets, walked on our sidewalks and voted for people to govern them just as we do today. But even though we share the same geographic space, our physical and social reality has changed on many levels. The seeds and saplings of what are today came from that time and place represented in those images and messages from the past. They represent a part of our trajectory as a city and part of our fingerprint, but it is not who or what we are today. How much different our present reality is from our past reality creates the degree of surreality that I mentioned before. I hope to be able to explore that notion as I blend this new collection into what is contained here. For those "old timers" that visit here, I welcome your input and anecdotes about the time that preceded our current reality.

What is revealed to me is that you cannot stop change; it's going to happen anyway. What you can do is act and plan so that you can adapt positively to the changed circumstances. If you aren't able to do that, then you place yourself in a position to be the victim of change.

On Monday, we will have a rare experience available to us right here in Lake Worth. Compass has been selected once again by the NAMES Project to display the largest selection of AIDS Memorial Quilts in the state on December 1 for World AIDS Day. This year, Compass will display 10 more panels than last year.

The 240 panels, sewn into 30 panels of 12 by 12 sq. ft. blocks, will be shown at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Downtown Lake Worth from 12pm to 6pm. In addition, a candlelight vigil will take place at 7pm, along with calling of names, induction ceremonies and a special musical performance by Jessica Alvarez from Javi Productions.

For more info click here, call Compass at (561) 533-7510 or visit www.aidsquilt.org

The event sponsored by Calvary United Methodist Church, The Names Project, Javi Productions, Walgreens and The Home Depot.

I hope to see you there.