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Thea Bennett's avatar

Absolutely beautiful! And I so agree. We modern humans are so often driven to categorise, to monetise, the truths and the magic and the beauty of life, which so often resides in the small things. George Mackay Brown, the writer from the Orkneys, wrote something that was a bit like this - have to paraphrase as I don't have it to hand - about the old Orcadians he remembered. "They had no need of ambition, for the stuff of their daily lives was the same as they knew in their mythology." Bad paraphrase, but love the sentiment!

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That is stunning! A sentiment I did not know. Thank you so much for it.

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Sarah Loten's avatar

Love this…I agree, absolutely. I think that is true about many things that we care about in life, the things that bring meaning, joy, satisfaction. I think of my work on the farm, tending many animals, stewarding the land, taking care of all the beings (human and otherwise) in my life. Sure, some people can monetize their meaningful work but that’s not the point. Thank you for sharing. It was inspiring to read.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

So beautiful. Yes, to all of this.

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Jean Pocha's avatar

Well, now I want to know about that young woman too..........

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That's the best thing to say! She may yet tell her story.

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Stone River Sea's avatar

Yes!!! buuut, please don’t leave us in suspenders- can you share the atom arranging text ????? 🙏

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

It is not yet published, but I shall let you know the moment it is!

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MARCIA TANNER's avatar

Thank you, Tania.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

Thank you right back!

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Dottie Turner Leatherwood's avatar

This is a treasure. Thank you.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

What a very generous thing to say. Thank you.

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FlyPhi's avatar

Applause from Ireland! That is so beautiful 🙏

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That’s lovely! Thank you.☺️

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Fiona Dove's avatar

I love your wonderful image of the girl watching her male peers go to France, and yet my throat aches and my tears fall as I can never forget the innocents who also went to France - the horses and dogs. I look out at my own horses and remember how many of the heavy horses, in particular, never came home; my Suffolk, George, is a member of a breed rarer than Giant Pandas because of those wars. Don’t stop writing - the evocation of peace or passion, whether grief or rage or love, must come from a human heart, not from an AI, and books will continue to provoke thought and fuel action long after tweets and memes are forgotten.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

This is so moving. I love that you have George and George has you.🧡

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Eva dick's avatar

Your post was beautifully written and stirred in me a desire to write again 🌸Thank you 🌸

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

This fills me with delight. Hurrah for you!

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Dave Williams's avatar

Stunning. It's not so much inspiring as it is a reassuring celebration for all of us here. Tania's joy of life is mine!

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

I love that! Thank you.

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Suzanne Warren's avatar

You have written exactly what I needed to hear.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That is very wonderful of you to write.

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Sally Hirst's avatar

As always, there’s a light. You were it, for me, this morning.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

Oh my goodness! That is so beautiful and touching. Thank you.

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Bonny Braden's avatar

Expressing ourselves always matters just as you say Tania because we never know who we can help, hold up, hold close, and care for with our words. Getting to the point the way you do is glorious writing. Straight to the heart. thank you Tania, I look so forward to reading what you have to say! Especially your Mable stories :) they make me laugh so hard! I have to think of a fitting name for my Mable!!! take good care good woman!! It's so interesting that the name Mable means "loveable or dear"...

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That is such a very lovely thing to write. Thank you so much.

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Lucy Hazlehurst's avatar

Thank you for writing. Your words reached across the ocean and opened me up and brought much needed tears to my eyes. Thank you.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That is very moving. Thank you right back.

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Shaney McCoy McEntee's avatar

This inspired me to keep writing, and to write more clearly and simply and honestly. It also made me cry a little.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

That is so touching. Thank you.

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rocky james's avatar

I Wish I would have met you (or your muse) 60 years ago and heeded these words:

"So I say yes: let us write it down. It won’t make money and it won’t find fame and it won’t transform your material life. (Your spiritual life is a whole other matter.) You’ll have to have a proper job, like we all do, to pay the bills. But if you can write something straight and filled with truth and brave and plain and shimmering with humanity, you could rearrange someone’s atoms, exactly like the few pages I read this morning did for me."

I believe I would be a better writer, better person, today.

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Tania Kindersley's avatar

Goodness, that is a touching thing to say. I do think, though - and hope - that it is never too late. There is always that one true sentence, waiting to be written.

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