Sometimes it�s as if life gives you everything and then takes it all away. That�s how I felt when our Daddy died in June of 1941. He�d been ill with tuberculosis (before it was treatable) and often away in sanitariums; nevertheless, I kept looking forward to the day when he�d be coming home again, but it never happened. We had a few pictures of him always on the family mantel and a few sketchy memories, not much to go on, really. I always wondered whether Ulysses Percy Joyner had written anything down. Thanks to my brother Pete, who guided me through Southampton (Virginia) County archives, we found a frayed, hand-written letter of his addressed to county officials. It was an explanation of why he wanted to stay at home and help his family, rather than be committed to a state sanitarium for TB patients � stating also his willingness to go along with whatever the authorities thought best. � Bill Joyner
Autumn Angst
Nothing is more creative than death, since it is the secret of life. Death is the epitome of the truth that in each moment we are thrust into the unknown. Here all clinging to security is compelled to cease, and wherever the past is dropped away and safety abandoned, life is renewed. Death is the unknown in which we all lived before birth. � Alan Watts
Stay clear and strong and believe in the day, as another night slips away. � BJ
Gandhi once advised in a letter to Hitler that his goals could be achieved more effectively through non-violent action. Was he, in this instance, somewhat na�ve? I mean, can you really hope to reason with a madman who is systematically exterminating millions upon millions of innocent human beings? The German pastor and scholar, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, took a decidedly different approach by actively involving himself in a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler, for which he was hanged one day before the war ended in 1945, his strong body of work remaining lucid and relevant to this day � including his literary gem, LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON � Bill Joyner
Man is summoned to make his own decisions. So to shove them off on someone else, even on God or the church, is a betrayal of his manhood. � Harvey Cox
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Coal-burning locomotive, splitting the air with shrieks of steam; Shaking the earth, the windows of a grey house beside the tracks, and the soul of a seven-year old.
Swinging on the porch, you hear your mother crying
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and people coming with food, offering to help with the children, and you know it�s over Your daddy is dead.
Iron wheels pounding the tracks, black clouds of smoke and the acrid smell of metal mingling with sorrow in the mind of a seven-year old soul. |
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-- William T. Joyner / WHEELS IN THE AIR, Pilgrim Press, l967 |
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�Know thyself� is possibly the best piece of advice ever given. It�s not easy, as we are self-justifying creatures, not prone to self-criticism and resentful of negative aspersions made about us. Self-knowledge can lead to self-realization, providing immediate relief and enabling us to better understand and work with others. � BJ
P. O. Box 3411 / Sarasota, Florida 34230
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