Famous Because…Because…Of Absolutely Nothing Except Because…You are You.

I was a celebrity in China. That’s how I felt, especially in West Lake, about an hour outside of Shanghai, when people clamored around us, wanting to take photographs with us. They saw us as novelties, as lucky charms, as photo ops to show to their friends.

At West Lake, China, where the paparazzi were going gaga

It was a great lesson for me in humility. We were just us. That in itself was enough.

Just as an experiment, I stood, not moving, on the bridge. In China, the brides are always curved or turn in some way because ghosts and spirits only cross water in straight lines.

Wherever you are today, may you feel like just being you is enough. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. You have everything you need for today. You are being taken care of on your journey through life, whether you believe that statement or not.

Walking under banners and not knowing what they mean…We don’t always understand the burdens we have to carry but we have to keep walking.

Sometimes we feel like we’re stuck in a very sad, bad chapter of our lives. So all we can do is pray to understand the spiritual lessons that accompany the difficulties.

About dianabletter

Diana Bletter is the author of several books, including The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker), shortlisted for a National Jewish Book Award. Her novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins) was published in 2015. She is the First Prize Winner of Moment Magazine's 2019 Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review, Times of Israel, and is a reporter for Israel21C, and many other publications. She is author of Big Up Yourself: It's About Time You Like Being You and The Mom Who Took off On Her Motorcycle, a memoir of her 10,000-mile motorcycle trip to Alaska and back to New York. She lives in a small beach village in Western Galilee, Israel, with her husband and family. She is a member of the local hevra kadisha, the burial circle, and a Muslim-Jewish-Christian-Druze women's group in the nearby town of Akko. And, she likes snowboarding and climbing trees.

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6 Responses to Famous Because…Because…Of Absolutely Nothing Except Because…You are You.

juliabarrett says:

May 4, 2014 at 4:55 pm

I appreciate the way you find meaning in every action or even in every inaction.

- dianabletter says:
  
  May 5, 2014 at 2:00 am
  
  Thank you, Julia! I think we can learn a spiritual lesson from just about anything that happens in life.
  
Tracy Campbell says:

May 4, 2014 at 9:53 pm

Diana, thanks for the encouragement. Prayer for me is huge. I think you are special, so I hope that you let the gracious Chinese fawn all over you. 🙂 Sounds like a wonderful trip!

- dianabletter says:
  
  May 5, 2014 at 1:59 am
  
  Hi Tracy, I know you are prayer-full, powerful!
  
Marylin Warner says:

May 5, 2014 at 2:10 am

I love the lesson…and the pictures!
I just returned from a writing retreat (no TV, phones except for emergencies, no traffic but grazing deer around us in the mountains) and an art room equipped and open to the writers who wanted to draw or paint instead of write). I stayed in a former convent–plain, spotlessly clean, calm and comfortable. The young housekeeper had left a little vase of flowers on the bedside table with this message: “You are where you are supposed to be, and who you are–exactly as you are–is what the world needs. We thank you for being with us this weekend.”
It was a relaxing and enriching retreat, very affirming.

- dianabletter says:
  
  May 6, 2014 at 12:46 pm
  
  Hi Marylin, The writing retreat sounds fabulous. I hope you wrote and wrote. I love the idea of being in a former convent. And thanks for passing on that message of being where you’re supposed to be!