Reply #22: I loved this post when it first went up and I do now. For a long time merh [View All]

[Nothing Without Hope]

used that blue ripple image as her avatar, and i wish she still did because she herself has shown so clearly how the ripple effect works for good beyond what we know we do.

She first posted this around the time when DU was frantically trying to raise money for Andy Stephenson's cancer surgery. This effort succeeded amazingly quickly - within the cruelly short deadline imposed by the hospital - in large part because of the unflagging efforts of several particularly involved DUers such as sfexpat2000, flyarm, ... and merh herself. (Several other DUers were also in the thick of that effort, including those who cared for and housed Andy and Termite while they were in Baltimore; benburch put up a beautiful web site about it all, Will Pitt wrote a TruthOut column about it...this was TRULY a community effort.)

Though her current situation does not allow her to post or follow DU as much as she did then, she is part of the heart of our DU community and she will remain so until and beyond the time when her life is fully restarted after her huge losses in the hurricane. I imagine that if we had her secretly followed even now, we'd find that much of her effort is spent helping other people.

:toast: Here's to our beloved merh: some ripples reflected back atcha! :grouphug:
:loveya: ((((((((((( merh ))))))))))) :hug:

http://www.rit.edu.nyud.net:8090/~andpph/photofile-c/splash-water-waves-4565.JPG

If there is any kindness I can show,
Or any good thing I can do to any fellow being,
Let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it,
As I shall not pass this way again.
--William Penn

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
--Churchill

May all beings be happy content and fulfilled,
May all beings be healed and whole,
May all have what they want and need,
May all be protected from harm and free from fear,
May all beings enjoy inner peace and ease,
May all beings be awakened liberated and free,
And may there be peace in this world and throughout the entire universe.
--Metta (lovingkindness) prayer (I like this wording, but each person chooses their own.)