Writer's Corner

The following articles and poem were produced out of an ongoing student writer’s group that meets once a week. Students were given the word, “Love”, on which to write anything they wished.

The Best KInd of Love

by Mara Pennell, H.W., M.

I learned about real Love in my teens.. Not romantic Love, not brotherly Love, but Agape Love. I had never felt it before. All the other love I had experienced was conditional. This was something new.

I learned it from a handful of people. Thane was one of them, but not the only one. There was a dear lady who was a customer at the health food store where I worked. She lived across the street from our store and as near as I could tell, she did all of her shopping there. She and her sister lived in a big three story house—the kind known as a prairie house. It was one of the oldest around the area and had likely been built before the 1900’s They had grown up there and ever left.

Her name was Jan and her sister’s name was Ellen. Jan was a legal secretary and worked downtown in Kansas City. Ellen was retired and suffered from some level of dementia. Ellen would often come to the store to talk to me.

She wasn’t gaga, she just had a lot of memory issues. As I got to know Jan, we began to discuss spirituality. She gave me a book that changed my life - Autobiography of a Yogi. My interest was not in Kriya Yogo. It wasn’t even in the seeming miracles written about in the book. My interest was in the Love that Yogananda seemed to exude, as well as the idea of Self- Realization. I could see it was the same Love I had learned from Thane. I wanted to know and understand more about THAT Love.

Through my life I have had the good fortune to come into contact with many people who have found that Love and demonstrate it in their daily lives. Some of them have been great teachers and some of them have been neighbors. I have one who lives next door to me right now. She practices this kind of love, although I’m certain she does not know she is doing it. It is about accepting others where they stand, even when they are confused., knowing they are not stationary, but will continue to move forward in their understanding of life and love as they grow in consciousness and awareness. It has a lot to do with the Ego. It is only our Ego that separates us from others and causes some to feel superior or inferior from others.I have come to the realization that If I am judging someone or I feel superior, I know my Ego is out of whack. The Ego always wants to be right and look good. Those are fingers pointing to where I jumped off the track. Turning my focus to Love will snap me right back. Love is all you need.