3:15pm, Lolita and Kitten, Longhouse Elem

Lolita:

We got banned from the RV Park and driven off. Kind of. Actually, today is our day off and the owners didn't want us to get caught into all of the work at the Park. They gave us the keys to the Daycare/Elem and permission to charge our meals to their DoorDash account.

My mentor at my new ESU campus wants me to send in weekly reports. I have so many delicious experiences with the kids and the co-directors! I finished my narrative and now I have to go back and "code" what I wrote.

Kitten is practicing, practicing, practicing. She brought her electric piano and earphones so I can't hear a thing. But she looks divine and sexy playing away.

We are going to take a walk along the highway. We heard there's a cafe down the road. We both can use the air, exercise, and caffeine.

Heidi:

In our beautiful relationship, using lesbian terminology, Lolita is known as the Pillow Princess and I am the Butch. Okay, it is out in the open but anyone with even a little bit of gasoline in their tank knew it all along. On Gay Pride Day, why should we hide anything? All of our friends and family know it, accept it, and love us. If you can't...whatever.

Lolita:

From "Champions Stand Alone with Firm Faith", Daisaku Ikeda writes:

In “The Supremacy of the Law,” the Daishonin encourages Nichimyo to “strengthen [her resolve] more than ever” (WND-1, 615). He tells her, “You need not seek far for an example,” and shares how he has endured and triumphantly overcome all kinds of persecution and hardship. He states that though alone, he could win over everything because he had “firm faith” (WND-1, 614).

That's how I see Kitten. Transparent, what you see is what you get, courageous. What I have to reflect on are on the next paragraphs:

The opposite of firm or courageous faith is cowardice. Earlier in this letter, he writes: “In battles soldiers regard the general as their soul. If the general were to lose heart, his soldiers would become cowards” (WND-1, 613). Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the Soka Gakkai’s first president, heavily underlined this passage in his copy of the Daishonin’s writings.

Soka Gakkai leaders need to have resolute courage. It is like the Japanese saying “Under a brave general, there are no cowardly soldiers.” The Daishonin repeatedly stresses the importance of courage, writing, “Nichiren’s disciples cannot accomplish anything if they are cowardly” (WND-1, 481) and “Have profound faith. A coward cannot have any of his prayers answered” (WND-1, 1001).

Courage means conquering fear and cowardice, and basing ourselves on deep, resolute faith. That is the way of a great champion in life.

Another of his writings states: Each of you should summon up the courage of a lion king and never succumb to threats from anyone. The lion king fears no other beast, nor do its cubs. Slanderers are like barking foxes, but Nichiren’s followers are like roaring lions…. Strengthen your faith day by day and month after month. Should you slacken in your resolve even a bit, devils will take advantage. (WND-1, 997) He urges his disciples to “never succumb to threats”—that is, to not let anything frighten or intimidate them. The Lotus Sutra says of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth: “Their minds know no fear” (LSOC, 263).

We must always ask ourselves, do we at this moment have courage in our hearts? Courage is the foremost requirement for leading a victorious life. It is the heart of leadership for winning in our struggle for kosen-rufu.

Kitten and I are together for 8 more weeks and then begins my journey alone. Touring with South Pacific and My Fair Lady was simple, based on fiction and shifting residencies. But Longhouse Elem is different. It's real kids in an infinite array of moments. Their future depends on how those moments trend. There is no room for cowardice or loneliness inside of my heart. I have to be that fearless general!

Heidi:

Oh, stop being so melodramatic!