from Shane Claiborne...
"God didn't mess up and make too many people and not enough stuff."
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
Yertle the Turtle
My daughter has a new favorite story by Dr. Suess, and I would love to write down all kinds of musings and interpretations with it, but I will resist and just copy it down. It is fairly long as Andrea just pointed out, but if you do read the whole thing please feel free to leave a comment about how the story hits you...
On the far-away Island of Sala-ma-Sond,
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed.
They were...until Yertle, the king of them all,
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
"I'm ruler," said Yertle, "of all that I see.
But I don't see enough. That's the trouble with me.
With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond
But I cannot look down on the places beyond.
This throne that I sit on is too, too low down.
It ought to be higher!" he said with a frown.
"If I could sit high, how much greater I'd be!
What a king! I'd be ruler of all I could see!"
So Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And Yertle, the Turtle King, gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a new throne.
He made each turtle stand on another one's back
And he piled them all up in a nine-turtle stack.
And then Yertle climped up. He sat down on the pile.
What a wonderful view! He could see 'most a mile!
"All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule!"
I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule!
I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that,
I'm king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!"
And all through that morning, he sat there up high
Saying over and over, "A great king am I!"
Until 'long about noon. Then he heard a faint sigh.
"What's that?" snapped the king
And he looked down the stack.
And he saw, at the bottom, a turtle named Mack.
Just a part of his throne. And this plain little turtle
Looked up and he said, "Beg your pardon, King Yertle.
I've pains in my back and my shoulders and knees.
How long mmust we stand here, Your Majest, please?"
"SILENCE!" the King of the Turtles barked back.
"I'm king, and you're only a turtle named Mack."
"You stay in your place while I sit here and rule.
I'm king of a house! And a bush! And a cat!
But that isn't all. I'll do better than that!
My throne shall be higher! his royal voice thundered,
"So pile up more turles! I want 'bout two hundred!"
"Turtles! More turtles!" he bellowed and brayed
And the turtles 'way down in the pond were afraid.
They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.
From all over the pond, they came swimming by dozens.
Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins.
And all of them stepped on the head of poor Mack.
One after another, they climbed up the stack.
They Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high,
He could see forty miles from his throne in the sky!
"Hooray!" shouted Yertle. "I'm king of the trees!fk
I'm king of the birds! And I'm king of the bees!
I'm king of the butterfles! King of the air!
Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair!
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!"
Then again, from below, in the great heavy stack,
Came a groan from the plain little turtle named Mack.
"Your majesty, please...I don't like to complain,
But down ehre below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom, we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can't stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides, we need food. We are starving! groaned Mack.
"You hush up your mouth!" howled the mighty King Yertle
"You've no right to talk to the world's highest turtle.
I rule from the clouds! Over land! Over sea!
There's nothing, no NOTHING, that's higher than me!"
But, while he was shouting, he saw with surprise
That the moon of the evening was starting to rise
Up over his head in the darkening skies
"What's THAT?" snorted Yertle. "Say, what IS that thing
That dares to be higher than Yertle the KKing?
I shall now allow it! I'll go higher still!
I'll build my throne higher! I can and I will!
I'll call some more turtles. I'll stack 'em to heaven!
I need 'bout five thousand, six hundred and seven!"
But as Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And started to order and give the command,
That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he's taken enough. And he had.
And that plan little lad got a little bit mad
And that plain little Mackk did a plain little thing.
He burped!
And his burp shook the throne of the king!
And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,
The king of the air and the birds and the bees,
The king of a house and a cow and a mule...
Well, that was the end of the Turtle King's rule!
For Yertle, the King of all Sale-ma-Song,
Fell off the high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond!
And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
On the far-away Island of Sala-ma-Sond,
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed.
They were...until Yertle, the king of them all,
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
"I'm ruler," said Yertle, "of all that I see.
But I don't see enough. That's the trouble with me.
With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond
But I cannot look down on the places beyond.
This throne that I sit on is too, too low down.
It ought to be higher!" he said with a frown.
"If I could sit high, how much greater I'd be!
What a king! I'd be ruler of all I could see!"
So Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And Yertle, the Turtle King, gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a new throne.
He made each turtle stand on another one's back
And he piled them all up in a nine-turtle stack.
And then Yertle climped up. He sat down on the pile.
What a wonderful view! He could see 'most a mile!
"All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule!"
I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule!
I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that,
I'm king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!"
And all through that morning, he sat there up high
Saying over and over, "A great king am I!"
Until 'long about noon. Then he heard a faint sigh.
"What's that?" snapped the king
And he looked down the stack.
And he saw, at the bottom, a turtle named Mack.
Just a part of his throne. And this plain little turtle
Looked up and he said, "Beg your pardon, King Yertle.
I've pains in my back and my shoulders and knees.
How long mmust we stand here, Your Majest, please?"
"SILENCE!" the King of the Turtles barked back.
"I'm king, and you're only a turtle named Mack."
"You stay in your place while I sit here and rule.
I'm king of a house! And a bush! And a cat!
But that isn't all. I'll do better than that!
My throne shall be higher! his royal voice thundered,
"So pile up more turles! I want 'bout two hundred!"
"Turtles! More turtles!" he bellowed and brayed
And the turtles 'way down in the pond were afraid.
They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.
From all over the pond, they came swimming by dozens.
Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins.
And all of them stepped on the head of poor Mack.
One after another, they climbed up the stack.
They Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high,
He could see forty miles from his throne in the sky!
"Hooray!" shouted Yertle. "I'm king of the trees!fk
I'm king of the birds! And I'm king of the bees!
I'm king of the butterfles! King of the air!
Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair!
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!"
Then again, from below, in the great heavy stack,
Came a groan from the plain little turtle named Mack.
"Your majesty, please...I don't like to complain,
But down ehre below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom, we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can't stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides, we need food. We are starving! groaned Mack.
"You hush up your mouth!" howled the mighty King Yertle
"You've no right to talk to the world's highest turtle.
I rule from the clouds! Over land! Over sea!
There's nothing, no NOTHING, that's higher than me!"
But, while he was shouting, he saw with surprise
That the moon of the evening was starting to rise
Up over his head in the darkening skies
"What's THAT?" snorted Yertle. "Say, what IS that thing
That dares to be higher than Yertle the KKing?
I shall now allow it! I'll go higher still!
I'll build my throne higher! I can and I will!
I'll call some more turtles. I'll stack 'em to heaven!
I need 'bout five thousand, six hundred and seven!"
But as Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And started to order and give the command,
That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he's taken enough. And he had.
And that plan little lad got a little bit mad
And that plain little Mackk did a plain little thing.
He burped!
And his burp shook the throne of the king!
And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,
The king of the air and the birds and the bees,
The king of a house and a cow and a mule...
Well, that was the end of the Turtle King's rule!
For Yertle, the King of all Sale-ma-Song,
Fell off the high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond!
And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
from Bernal Hill in SF
This photo was taken just a few feet away from our new place in Bernal area of San Francisco...but I'm really only posting it to use the picture in My Profile...
Monday, August 07, 2006
I love this place
Wow, I'm sitting at Progressive Grounds on Courtland Street just down from my house. Across the street is a sweet little independent bookstore. Wow...it just hit me that I live in San Francisco. Crazy!
What also hit me the other day is that I have some wonderful friends in my life. The owner of our new flat, Jay, who also lives above us, was amazed that several guys showed up and unloaded the UHaul. (The UHaul story is worthy of a separate post later in the week). The way he said it made me think. A few friends from San Francisco came and unloaded, joining my two buddies who drove down all the way from Redding the night before and my brother Noah. These guys packed the UHaul better than I could have, drove the UHaul better than I could have, and pretty much made it a wonderful day. I promised them that moving would be easier than our last day together when we hiked Mt. Shasta, and I think we had just as much fun. Hopefully Paul's stomach will recover from our food that wasn't quite as healthful as his normal stuff. We did have organic range free eggs for breakfast though...
The crazy thing was that a ton of other people from Danville to San Francisco offered to help and really wanted to. My buddy Jeremy in Danville, whose wife had a baby two days ago, called and offered to take care of any final details at our old house at Concord. Dude, you just had a baby! (If you know Jeremy you probably have similar stories of his amazing generosity).
So today, it feels good to be here, and it feels good to be loved. Now, if I can just figure out what to do with all our kitchen stuff in our new kitchen that is about a quarter of the size of the old one...maybe a fifth or a sixth as big...
What also hit me the other day is that I have some wonderful friends in my life. The owner of our new flat, Jay, who also lives above us, was amazed that several guys showed up and unloaded the UHaul. (The UHaul story is worthy of a separate post later in the week). The way he said it made me think. A few friends from San Francisco came and unloaded, joining my two buddies who drove down all the way from Redding the night before and my brother Noah. These guys packed the UHaul better than I could have, drove the UHaul better than I could have, and pretty much made it a wonderful day. I promised them that moving would be easier than our last day together when we hiked Mt. Shasta, and I think we had just as much fun. Hopefully Paul's stomach will recover from our food that wasn't quite as healthful as his normal stuff. We did have organic range free eggs for breakfast though...
The crazy thing was that a ton of other people from Danville to San Francisco offered to help and really wanted to. My buddy Jeremy in Danville, whose wife had a baby two days ago, called and offered to take care of any final details at our old house at Concord. Dude, you just had a baby! (If you know Jeremy you probably have similar stories of his amazing generosity).
So today, it feels good to be here, and it feels good to be loved. Now, if I can just figure out what to do with all our kitchen stuff in our new kitchen that is about a quarter of the size of the old one...maybe a fifth or a sixth as big...
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
622 Peralta Avenue in San Francisco
We have a place to live in Bernal Heights in San Francisco!!!! We are finally moving this weekend. Thank you Father for your provision.
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