Not Till Then Will I Part From Here

This is an old Chinese poem and it was read at my great niece’s wedding in 2005.

I want to be your friend

For ever and ever

When the hills are all flat

and the rivers are all dry

When the trees blossom in winter

And the snow falls in summer

When heaven and earth mix

Not till then will I part from you

The reason I am writing about all this is that ballroom dancing can be applied to that love poem.

There have been about twelve weeks of dancing on ABC television on Monday and Tuesday nights and ballroom dancing got noticed by the general television audience. People all over our area are calling dance studios to ask about prices and schedules. There have been many articles written about ballroom dancing and how all of a sudden, it has emerged as an interesting thing to try and do. This is amazing to all of us who have been dancing this ‘thing’ for thirty-six years. There are many out there who have been dancing more than forty years and no, we did not need any television show to entice us.

The rivers are not dry and the flowers did not bloom in the winter and the snow did not come in the summer. We knew that dancing was our best friend and we did not part from it. William Shakespeare said “Love is not love which alters when its alteration finds; it is an ever fixed mark." I have used this sonnet line before in other articles, but it surely describes things as they happen.

We, the old time ballroom dancers need not watch a television special that went on for twelve weeks to alter our feeling for our love- of ballroom dancing for ever and ever. What Shakespeare meant, I presume, is that love does not change when it is changed for some reason. We love our family in different ways; we love our children one way, our spouse in perhaps another way, our parents in what I call a parent way and our siblings in a different way. As we mature, we may find we love them in a different manner, but nevertheless, we still respect and love them.

In dancing, which I know a lot about and perhaps in other sports or hobbies that I do not have knowledge of; we are impressed with certain aspects of the event. Some think ballroom dance is just to go for the social atmosphere they inherit every time they attend a dance. Some go to become competitors with their teachers against other couples and they hope to win a trophy or award. Some go to enhance their mental powers, because, believe me, to dance is to use your feet and most of all your brain which directs your feet to move and your body to sway. Whatever dance means to you is correct for you. Dancing With The Stars is over until next season, which is probably in the winter season. The winner with his teacher was J.R. Martinez, several years ago, a veteran of the current wars, who was injured extensively from a bomb.

His going on the show, competing, learning, absorbing, dressing up and being proud of who he is right now regardless of the damage to his face and body proves that ballroom dancing withstands everything one has, even if it has been a terrible blow to that person. When he smiled after completing a dance each week, his eyes shined with the perfection he had achieved just then. His face had luminosity, with all the meanings of a handsome male. He was glorious in his attitude coming on the show and he was simply a refined, decent and kind competitor.

This all proves that ballroom dancing not only is excellent for the beautiful, young and ambitious person; it can help everyone including someone who has been visibly harmed by the ugly thing known as war. J.R. came out with a glow around his head and a sparkle from his heart and anyone who saw him felt it through the television tube.

As Shakespeare talked about alteration, so did J.R. have maximum alteration, but the alteration was not perceived by anyone watching him. They saw a whole, happy and loving person performing.  Rivers did not run dry because J.R. was not dry, trees did not blossom now in the fall and snow did not fall yet in most parts of our country.

We also, did not part from anyone and J.R. did not part from us. He became a piece of our heart because we saw an injured soldier come back and pick up his life again even though he suffered terrible times.

We can all learn a lesson from him and other soldiers who return from the war torn places they have been for months and or years. Never give up when adversity takes over your life even for a short time or possibly a long time. You have the strength, ability, controlling force and capability to overcome almost everything bad in your life. He did and is doing it and by showing his energy and skill, we can discover our acuity from his eagerness to be a star in any form that we have the desire to accomplish.

On television every evening as we eat dinner and we watch The Five, there is a commercial break for ads for Wounded Warriors, an organization who helps the warriors who are in need of financial and medical aid.  You see the warriors who have lost limbs and their lives will never be the same. You see one who lost a leg and an arm and his baby daughter crawls between his normal leg and his artificial type limb and he is not wearing a long pair of trousers. Then you see a blind warrior and he walks with his hands on his young daughter’s shoulders and she reads to him while they sit down. He should be the one reading to her.

When I walked into the lobby of my new orthopedic doctor on Friday the 13th to get my second shot of Cortisone to help my aching right knee; I saw a man in a wheelchair waiting I presume for someone to pick him up from his doctor appointment. He had only one leg and right then and there, I knew how fortunate I was that day; I had at my senior age of seventy-nine years still have both of my legs. Even though one is aching, I am still very lucky.

We need no dry rivers or snow in summertime to realize we can sparkle, shine and be happy.

Truly, this time on television, J.R. Martinez was a dancing star that forever will be shining in the sky. We who watched him blossom in almost wintertime know whenever, it will snow in the wintertime or the trees will blossom in the coming spring; life will be our friend and we can be scintillating ambassadors to show others how to overcome bad times.

From that poem being read at my great niece Paula’s wedding in 2005, I became four years ago, a great, great aunty and that is something special, sparkling, glittering and a brilliant feeling, it is to be a great, great anything, but when it applies to an aunty happening, it is indeed scintillating for me.Rivers will not run dry and our trees will blossom again and men like J.R. Martinez have shown us the way and we shall follow him and we will be successful, proud and happy.

Not till then, will we part from here.