To Liz With Gratitude

On behalf of our TCC family this poetic writing is dedicated to Liz Salada for her devoted service as Publishing-editor of The Vital Force. She has been a friend to us all, and served T’ai Chi Chih teachers everywhere with strength, clarity and vision.

– VFJ Staff

I Salute You.

I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got, but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven. No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace. The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see and we have only to look. Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a truth, a duty or a sorrow, believe me, that angel’s hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too: be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal divine gifts. Life is full of meaning and purpose. So full of Beauty beneath its covering that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it that is all. But courage you have; and the knowledge we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.

And so I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem, and with the hope that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

– Fra Giovanni, letter to a friend, 1513

Conference

I noticed there were no comments after the reading of Liz Salada’s resignation letter [at conference] and, to fill that void, I offer my deep gratitude for her years of hard work in shaping The Vital Force into a quality communication — a forum where the TCC community can share musings, art, and experience.

Liz is rich in spirit and integrity and I will miss her input.

Submitted with love,

– Linda Meyer
Oakland, CA

Reflections

To hear of Liz Salada’s resignation as Editor of The Vital Force [at the conference] and the silence that followed that announcement was saddest of all. Liz has done a magnificent job for many years creating a very readable, sensitive, balanced journal from the bits and pieces that are submitted.

I hope in the future to see this major change in our TCC family addressed with thanks and appreciation. I want to thank Liz deeply for the wonderful, caring, creative job she has performed.

– Barbara Riley
Orinda, CA