© 2007
by Pearl Feder
*Note: If you would like to read this editorial in all caps, please click here.
This past year has been very challenging for me. I became editor of this newsletter exactly one year ago and I made a decision to further my education by taking a one-year study sabbatical. The courses I took gave me a whole new outlook on the miracle of speech, language and hearing. It's something I will no longer take for granted.
Most of us go about our days without thinking how complicated life can get. Sure, we may believe our lives are complicated. We could use more money. We can take better care of ourselves. We can lose more weight. We can have more friends. We can learn to relax more. Our children could live closer, on and on and on. I truly believe we need to learn to put things in perspective, not necessarily by comparing ourselves to others, but by allowing ourselves to understand and to open our hearts to what we have and how far we've come.
In our normal day-to-day exchanges online, we usually have some idea of what is going on with each other. The computer has given us the opportunity to vent and to put it all out there. It's very easy for us to complain online about our aches and pains and the events that transpire in our lives. Naturally, there are those who are forever negative and, no matter how much you attempt to "lend an ear" or guide them, they continue to be negative and refuse to see change as a good thing.
Yet the most challenging situation I've come across this past year was not mine. It belonged to one of our SWC members. I initially did not understand why she was in need of caps other than that she may have some vision problems. I decided I wanted to know more about her and so, I slowly became acquainted with Dawn, the woman behind the Treo, and asked her to write about herself.
Dawn is more than a special person. She is gifted, talented and, god only knows how she remains so upbeat. When I suffer with a cold or my knee hurts, I have nothing in me that wants to be nice. Dawn has been through so much and is still going through so much and yet she ends her e-mails with "have a blessed day."
So what's my point? You decide! Read The Heart and Soul Behind the Treo by Dawn Cirrito.
Have a blessed year
Pearl