Responsive Reading created from the writings of Sheldon Kopp

[nightsong]

No, I have no idea who Sheldon Kopp is, although I may do more research on him after this!  This reading was part of a class on Build Your Own Theology at church, it's meant to be read by two people (groups) alternating lines.

This is it--there are no hidden meanings.

There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.

The world is not necessarily just.

Nevertheless, you have a responsibility to do your best.

You are free to do whatever you like--

You need only face the consequences.


Yet it is necessary to keep on struggling.

There is no way to get all you want.

Often things are as bad as they seem.

Even so, some of the time it is possible to enjoy life as it is.

But the better anything gets, the more we miss it when it is gone.

What's a person to do about feeling helpless?

For a while there's just no way to see what's funny about being stuck.

At last you cry out in anguish: "Why me?"


And God answers "Why not?"

You wait for everything to be all right,

Knowing all the while that the next problem is already in the mail.

Life just keeps coming at you.

There's nothing to figure out.  Life is not "about" anything.

The answers keep changing.

The questions remain the same.

It helps to know that everyone is in the same situation.

It helps, but not enough.

Remember we are all in this alone.

We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, partial knowledge.

All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.

We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.

And loving with your helplessness.


And beginning again and again and again.