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Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

Re: Elijah Cummings

[ Edited ]

Rep. Elijah Cummings Will Lie in State at U.S. Capitol

 

 

BALTIMORE (AP) — The body of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings will lie in state in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol next week.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office said in a news release that a formal ceremony open to members of Congress, the Cummings family and invited guests will be held Thursday morning, followed by a public viewing.

 

A wake and funeral for Cummings is planned the following day at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, where he worshipped for nearly four decades.

 

Morgan State University will also host a public viewing and celebration of his life Wednesday.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,820
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I have been thinking about him more and more since he passed.  I have come to realize how important our words and kindnesses are.  You don't need tremendous wealth and education from the Harvards or Yales of the world.  It is what you say and do in life, how you treat the world.  It is a gift that not everyone is blessed with, because you have to really feel the plight of others.  I think it is a God given blessing that is in all of us, but we dont always know how to use it.  
iwhat you do must come from the heart, and be done with a humble spirit.
 Elijah cummings is like the many who have given in so many ways.  What is remarkable about people like him, is it's always about others.  Making life better for one person, a few people or thousands expecting nothing in return, but benefit for others.  They see a need, fill it.  But they have effected others in such a way ...thousands come to honor them and thank them when they die.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

shoekitty,

 

You captured the beautiful essence of Elijah Cummings's soul.

 

Thank you.  So clear and inspiring.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 746
Registered: ‎06-03-2012

I have no words right now, but plenty of tears.

Godspeed🙏🏻❤️

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,476
Registered: ‎06-27-2010

Re: Elijah Cummings

[ Edited ]

            ​It took me a while to write, not sure how to express my grief.   I appreciate the gracious, thoughtful, heartfelt comments here.   I appreciate each of you, individually.    ​

            In his first speech in front of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Cummings shared the poem that was close to his heart and essential to his life.

​"​I only have a minute.
Sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Suffer, if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it."

​(Parren Mitchell)


I'm reminded of Maya Angelou's words. 
 
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly.  Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed.  They existed.
We can be.  Be and be
better.  For they existed.”


               Dedicated, kind, powerful, a giant who used "the minute" fully with grace and integrity, and we feel the gravity and magnitude of his life and his passing.​   As evidenced by so many of the benevolent and moving posts by those of you who contributed from your hearts to this thread❤️...   perhaps we can be mindful of his legacy and, in the true spirit of this QVC community, we can "be and be better" because he and others with these qualities of character and stature existed.    May he rest in peace.

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,745
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

@dooBdoo 

 

Your words are beyond measure.

 

Thank for for capturing so much with themCat Happy

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,476
Registered: ‎06-27-2010

Re: Elijah Cummings

[ Edited ]

❤️ @Witchy Woman, Thank you.

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova
Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

dooBdoo,

 

Thank you for the two poems that crystallize the rare essence of a rare soul.  Perfect companion pieces to a life well-led.  Your words expressed a deep understanding of who Elijah Cummings was.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,476
Registered: ‎06-27-2010


❤️ @golding76,  Thank you.

 

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova
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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,527
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Was shocked to hear that he’d died and much younger than I thought he was. It was reported that he’d had knee and hip surgeries and infections from both. How recently that was...I haven’t heard. It was also reported he was in hospice and had cancer. 

 

*********************
Keepin' it real.