Thoughts from the Chaplain’s Corner: On the Passing of Terry Anderson (1947-2024)

Greetings ST, and All,

When I heard about Terry Anderson’s passing yesterday, one of his self-described ‘prison poems’, “Patience”, from his 1993 memoir, Den of Lions – detailing his 7-year captivity in Beirut [1985-1991] came to mind again. A printout of the poem – a thank you from a patient – hung above my office desk during my working years. I’d like to share it with you, again, dear readers, in Anderson’s honor. I pray he’s found the peace he sought: Semper Fidelis/Fair Winds and Following Seas.

Patience is not a virtue–

It’s a necessity, a survival trait,

an ever-filling well, from which I sip, or gulp,

Exhausted by the desert of this non-life.

My faith surges and recedes;

hope sometimes abandons me,

leaving only patience.

I kick and scream and flail inside my head;

patience offers only soft resistance,

washing gently at my rage.

I know if I dive deeply, I will find patience, hope, and faith

emerging from a single source, eternal and unchanging.

~Terry A. Anderson

Thanks for reading!

Until next time: Peace be in and with us all! Chaps,…Out!