Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Writers Island - The Promise


When I was a baby I was confirmed into the church. I didn’t know what was going on of course. Some hairy bloke in a frock and wearing a dog collar tried to drown me, but I later discovered that this was normal practice. It seems that on that day three people known as Godparents promised to ‘provide me with the resources, opportunities and encouragement to follow Jesus’ then dripped molten wax all over me from the lighted candles. Can’t remember who they were.




When I went to school I made several promises. I promised not to smoke, promised not to swear and promised to work hard. Mmmm! And I was told that I had promise. Yea!!



When I got my first girlfriend I promised not to go out with other girls! Fat chance! They usually promised to be faithful. I actually believed them! Fool.




Then I got married. The ultimate promise. I’m pretty sure I promised to love honour and obey. Obey! I ask you! Mind you, had I been an Apache I would have promised to ‘look for what was right between us, not what is wrong’. If I had been old, I would have promised to be ‘brisk and vibrant’! Eskimos promise to let ‘their feet run and their feet dance’. Presumably to avoid getting cold tootsies! Anyway, I did the wedding one several times but I’m not so sure that I included the obey bit each time! Come to think of it, the other promises proved a little difficult too.


Since then promises have come thick and fast. Ones I have made and ones I’ve received. Some have been kept, others have not.


Trouble is so many promises are worthless. I should know!
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The Stranger - part 7

36 comments:

  1. Very nice post and interesting to say the least.

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  2. Keith the word promise might be a bit more heavy loaded than it works out in reality. But we need some values to live by and even if we can't follow them up at least we can try.

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  3. Sorry Sweetie but to me a promise is all we have that is worth anything. Of course that is the reason I never got married. A vow to God was one thing I refuse to break, so I never made it.

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  4. Marja and Gimme

    I'm sure you know me well enough to realise that I wrote this piece with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek!

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  5. Such a different take on the topic Keith, liked this a lot.

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  6. you and i have evidently been traveling in the same vicious circles.....

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  7. ‘look for what was right between us, not what is wrong’

    I like this very much.

    It does seem that so many promises have lost their value, but I have to believe that some are still worth they're words.

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  8. The only promise is that there can be no promise!

    That is because Life is in so much flux all the time. We cannot promise anything to ourselves leave alone to others. We cannot say about ourselves... one moment we might be loving, another moment we might not be...

    The obey bit is a bit too much I agree...

    Keith, I love that b/w photo! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  9. Promises, promises. Sometimes it's not worth even speaking.

    Brian

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  10. GHi Rambler and Paisley. Life is indeed a tricky chap!

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  11. Robin - thought you might like to see those words in context

    Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

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  12. Mona, life moves on. A promise which seems apropriate at one moment in life is not necessarily valid at another.

    And that black and white - it's me age 17!

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  13. just jen

    Try this one for size!

    These things I promise I will do.
    I'll build a garden in your view that with sweet fruit will stone replace,
    because I love and cherish you.
    I vow to love each day anew,
    for love must dance through time and space:
    These things I promise I will do. I vow to make your terrors few
    and then with you those demons face because I love and cherish you.
    Yuck!

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  14. My daughter is like you. Hard to live with, but I love her anyway. She is my daughter. I've often thought it must be difficult to be her. Is it for you? I wonder. That's all.

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  15. I've always had a hard time with the "obey" word (in theory, anyway) yet, in practice I have been a pretty obedient child and adult(most of the time...)!

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  16. You're quite candid in your post - not many people would out right said what promises they had broken.

    lissa

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  17. Bitter, funny, and true. thanks.

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  18. Keith, you make me laugh....I love your humour, which i think is very similar to mine.....it must be my UK genes....with a dash of the Irish....a wee blackish....

    promises......argh.....they are tough and do they have to last forever and ever? I mean, don't promises have a shelf life of some kind or are they boosted up with so many preservatives that they last beyond the grave?

    cross my heart and hope to die.......how many times did we say that when we were kids??

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  19. It's about a word with many meanings and intonations. Love your post! Its humor and eye-opening thoughts make it a re-readable.

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  20. Mary and Pepek - I guess I'm pretty hard to live with, no ones managed it for long!!! As for obeying - thank the lord I didn't join the army!

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  21. Lissa - some people wear their hearts on their sleeve - that's where I wear my blog!

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  22. Preethi and rwells - so pleased you enjoyed it.

    Awareness - your comment is better than my post!

    Tumblewords - I find humour in the most serious prompts! Some one has to!

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  23. hehe...nice one keith...knew that there would be one piece on 'promise' where i would find something to smile about!!!u're right, someone has to!!!

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  24. don't promise - then you don't have to worry about breaking it ;)

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  25. you're a hoot Keith! Are you sure they dipped you in molten wax?? haha Very fun look at 'the promise' Now I see why U left me the sweet comment you left. :)

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  26. Obey, no way! Share equally, oh yeah! Very nice, Keith. I loved the comment to Robin as well...consider the right versus the wrong, not just in a marital state but in any relationships one has during this life. Thank you. On to the stranger story, what sort of suspence will you leave me in this time? Let me see.

    UL

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  27. Hope that molten wax didn't cause any lasting damage!

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  28. Keith I happen to love your sense of humour!!!!!!
    Oh and I fed the fish before I left, and turned out the light!!!!!!

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  29. Some promises are worth keeping, like the promises we make to ourselves to remember which promises must never be broken.

    Great take on the prompt.

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  30. A funny retrospective sprinkled pathos. You aptly teach here that it is better to be selective about making promises, and then you will be far more likely to be honest in both making and keeping them.

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  31. We certainly do get deluged with a cascade of promises in our life.

    Great little piece here! ;)

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  32. Crikey Keith, thank goodness some of us have our feet planted firmly on terra firma - I thought we posted for comments not judgmental opinions ... yikes, I love and agree with your post ;~)

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  33. i promise to come back and read more of your work...:)

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