Sukuma Wiki For the Soul

This posting is a personal message to the woman in the photo on the left, but if you want to read it, I'm sure she won't mind.

"Dear Ellen,

"I'm sure you'll probably think of this as completely outrageous revisionist history, but somehow, I always, always knew your reserved, shy demeanor back in the Clearwater Bureau of the St. Petersburg Times was a total cover-up.

"When we met back in the mid 80's, I was still deep in the whole meek, introverted "Good Girl" persona, and I never really allowed myself to get to know you. This was further complicated by the fact that you were one of my editors, which means you weren't to be trusted anyway. But I remember always being startled when you cracked a joke, or laughed, even, because you were so quiet and reserved. I was at least able to open up and relax a bit around colleagues I considered friends.

"Ironically, one of those colleagues was a guy I wrote about back in December, when I was in Juba, Sudan for the radio reporters' workshop. The late Paul McGorrian, the beautiful, cheeky, lanky young Wasp who became so dear to me was also your friend, and it was only after I wrote that posting that you shared your secret...YOU were in love with him, too!!! I guess it's just as well that we were both so reserved and shy back then, or we'd have probably scratched each others' eyes out.

"I know I'm rambling, so let me get to the point. A few years back I learned that you had become a Unity Minister, and I was at turns astonished and totally unsurprised. It made sense, mostly because Unity was the only "religion" I had ever committed to after leaving Cairo. The whole metaphysical, intellectual aspect of Unity appealed to me from the minute I was introduced to it. You don't have to surrender your brain to believe in Unity. You don't have to feel like a worthless piece of crap who needs to be "forgiven" and cleansed before you'll ever get your reward--AFTER you're dead, by the way. You can be in the world, feeling like you're part of the same divine spirit that created the Universe, which means you can walk around with your shoulders squared and looking people in the eye, and feeling like you matter.

"The funny thing is that while I've flirted with Unity over this past decade, and embrace Daily Word affirmations as often as I can, I never really sought out any of your writings. I knew you were a pastor at Unity Church of Wimberley, Texas, but I also knew I wouldn't be getting there anytime soon. But then back in January of this year, I noticed an email mentioning something called "Unity FM," which streams programming from Unity pastors and associates online. Well, living in Internet-challenged East Africa makes ANY kind of online endeavor dicey at best, so at first I didn't think much of it. But amazingly, through my nifty new 3G iPad, I can download videos and online radio with barely a hitch.

"Ellen, that's when I discovered your program 'Absolute Living.' And I just had to tell you that your deep, soothing, slightly Texas-twanged voice has been nourishing me ever since. It seems like each of the feeds from you and your co-host Laura Shepard speak directly to something that I've known I need to work on, or have been working on, or didn't even realize was creating all kinds of issues, longings, gaps and gaffes in my life.

"And I'm learning about you in ways that would have never happened back when I was an emotional and spiritual amoeba in Clearwater. I was just watching the world go by back then, furiously paddling my way through, hoping to somehow earn the respect and love that I wish I'd known I was entitled to all along. And when I look at this picture of you, I realize how far we've both come. It's like THIS is who you were all along, and it only took a couple of decades for us both to figure things out.

"Somehow, we both discovered the recipe for being pretty interesting, dynamic women, eh? All it took was a little psychic culinary exploration. Dicing the doubt, chopping away the negative energy, marinating in positive self-esteem, and hard-boiling a belief that we had something extra to contribute to the world.

"So thank you, Ellen, for providing me with some spiritual sukuma wiki over here in East Africa. It has such a bold flavor all its own, and it's much more nourishing than chicken soup, trust me."