Comments on: Walking Through Walls

By: Annette Weed

Annette Weed — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:39:16 +0000

“Grace” is the first thing I’ve had published for a long time, but my work has also appeared in Sunstone, the Friend, and other volumes of Dialogue. Here’s to more interesting discussions at BCC and more poetry in many places!

By: Margaret Young

Margaret Young — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:55:01 +0000

Thank you so much for the poem and for that beautiful comment, Annette. Now that you’ve found us at BCC, please keep visiting. Your voice is wonderful. Where can we find more of your work?

By: Annette Weed

Annette Weed — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:10:06 +0000

As the author of “Grace”, the poem cited by Margaret, I was delighted to see the discussion and ideas it had engendered. Most meaningful to me were the thoughts on walking through walls and building shrines to our pain. I wrote the poem after many years of struggling with some particular pain, which had been partially eased in various ways, but continued to plague me. In the temple and in prayer I ultimately realized that through principles taught to me in the LDS faith such as the love of God and the atonement, I could hand the pain and the trauma that caused it over to Christ, that his grace was sufficient even for this, that I didn’t have to figure it out on my own. I continue to call upon him, and remain astonished that he would care.

By: Margaret Young

Margaret Young — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:06:50 +0000

Final thoughts on this from me (unless someone says something really interesting):
It strikes me that the endowment–the veil ceremony in particular–is the ultimate symbol of “walking through walls.” I don’t think I need to go into detail.
And of course, I have a new favorite poem today, but I still like this one–and I’m glad to know there’s a difference between concrete and cement.

By: Antonio Parr

Antonio Parr — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:56:31 +0000

Margaret:

Your essay is very beautiful, and very moving. Thank you.

By: L-d Sus

L-d Sus — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:53:42 +0000

Margaret, I wish I could be that ironic.

SteveP, I can concede that usage trumps the technical, but I didn’t want to pass the chance to comment on the one thing that I actually know something about.

Back to the more meaningful discussion of the poem…

By: Margaret Young

Margaret Young — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:57:09 +0000

One addendum: I’ve been thinking a lot about what comprises good teaching. Last week, I read tributes to Elie Wiesel from his former students, one of whom called him “a holy man.” Through his love even more than through his experiences in Auschwitz or Buchenwald, Wiesel moved his students into new paradigms and, as they reported, changed them. He listened to them in all things.
In my life, there’s another man I respect greatly–a pastor of another faith, who is so filled with love and so guileless and approachable, that I find the merest association with him to be enlightening. His presence is so bright and good that it breaks down walls.
He’s in our documentary, and talks about President Hinckley apologizing to him about “the role the Mormon Church played in slavery and in discrimination.” This pastor, who had been told by Mormons in his army days that he was “cursed” simply does not let anything keep him from loving Mormons. According to him, he said to Pres. Hinckley, “You’ve done so much good, and now to hear these words–it says your hearts are right.” In other footage, he talks about the Church’s efforts in genealogy and about the Mormon missionaries’ humanitarian efforts, done in connection with his own congregation’s. No walls there.

By: Margaret Young

Margaret Young — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:43:41 +0000

L-d Sus–I’m really wondering if your comment is intended to be humorous. The line “I couldn’t get past the incorrect use…” is ironic, don’t you think? We tend to decide what walls we’ll go through and which we “can’t get past.” There’s a guy in my stake who simply could not believe that his bishop could be inspired because he made grammatical errors. (“We was…”) My husband, then in the stake presidency, was asked to assure him–in his role as an English professor–that even people who didn’t speak well could be good bishops.
I find it much harder to forgive an eloquently phrased lie than an ungrammatical truth. And I’m under no requirement to accept a lie. I am under some obligation to view the liar with some charity, though.
I like the poem. And thanks for the dictionary’s validation, SteveP.

By: SteveP

SteveP — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:43:59 +0000

L-d Sus, Sorry usage trumps technical definitions. One of the definitions of ‘cement’ in the dictionary is ‘concrete.’ That’s because in language usage ‘cement’ is used as it was used in the poem. I grew up saying, ‘the sidewalk is made of cement’ everyone knew what I meant. So again language is usage, and such usage is officially a part of the English language. I don’t like that people call spiders bugs, they are not scientifically. But if Webster declares it so I must bow.

But enough of the TJ, this was too magnificent a post to quibble over improper language usage. Margaret said magical things here.

By: L-d Sus

L-d Sus — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:03:46 +0000

I couldn’t get past the incorrect use of “cement” at the beginning of the poem. Where some people care about grammar and spelling, I care about the proper use of “cement” and “concrete.” A shame really, the poem was probably really good.

Cement is to concrete as flour is to bread. You wouldn’t say “give me a slice of that flour for my sandwich.”