[Sent 6 September 2020 to my wife and our daughters]
Hi. I thought you would be interested in an e-mail exchange I have had with Trina Paulus, the now 89-year-old author of the parable for young and old – Hope for the Flowers – that has been so pivotal in our family. A few days ago, I forwarded to her with gratitude a variation of the e-mail message I sent you the day after the Democratic National Convention in which I first drew attention to young Brayden Harrington’s courageous two-minute speech and then retold the Hope for the Flowers story of the two caterpillars Yellow and Stripe. Late last night, I received the very encouraging and refreshing e-mail response from Ms. Paulus inserted below (along with my response). Doug/Dad
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Dear Douglas Brown, this is one of the nicest retellings I have seen. So good to hear how the story has meant so much to your family and you. One little piece of the story you might meditate on further. Even in the midst of her desolation and search for purpose, Yellow was able to stop her search in order to notice a caterpillar that seemed to be in trouble and ask the great question that the knights seeking the holy grail did not stop to ask the Fisher King – “What ails thee”. Yellow was rewarded by finding her grail, her purpose, and given the secret because she asked an old Caterpillar who seemed in trouble -- "Can I help?” A world of sharing is what we need, not a vaccine. Always Hope. Trina
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[sent 6 September 2020 to Trina Paulus – author of Hope for the Flowers]
Ms. Paulus, good morning. Receiving your very generous and encouraging e-mail message was such a refreshing way to close my day yesterday! I very much appreciate your finding the time to read my e-mail message and to send such a thoughtful reply. Thank you for the important reminder re Yellow’s noticing (the essence of ‘respect’) the troubled old caterpillar. My wife Barbara and I met in the 1980s in a variation on the way Yellow and Stripe discovered each other. She had withdrawn (climbed down?) at 32 years old from an ascending career with a global commercial real estate services firm, realizing that she did not want to reach the end of her career and see that she had only “made money for Cushman & Wakefield”. I was still recovering from being with my first wife Jerrice through her 14-year unremitting battle with multiple sclerosis, the last three years before she died being especially devastating. Barbara and I were both revisioning our futures on the other side of deep disillusionment (in the etymological sense of being freed from or relieved of illusions). I introduced Barbara to Hope for the Flowers then. Yellow and Stripe became regular guests in our home as we raised our three daughters. Yes, “Always hope”. Doug
