Sunshine In The Early Afternoon

What a beautiful day I have been experiencing today. It is the kind of day we wish upon all the people we care for. It was in the early afternoon of my current day. It started off with a sprinkle, and lively winds. But times are more tranquil now with the sun glimmering through the leaves holding on tenaciously in the lively breeze. We thought we should indeed go out for a shpatzir, a walk down to English Bay, and along the Sea Wall,, one of our favorite outings in Vancouver.

We joined the throng of walkers stretching their legs, watching the tide still coming in to wash at the foot of the Sea Wall. The air was crisp and calm. The freighters from far-away places lined the harbor area, near and far, giving the prospect a taste of the exotic. Where had those vessels come from with their goods, now empty and waiting to dash off with the loads waiting for them on the quayside? The trees lining the walkway, now lacking their greenery, bare bones showing, seemed almost embarrassed at their nakedness. The tree sheltering our own balcony, still fully green but yielding color toward the russet, is made of sterner stuff, tenaciously clinging to its leaves. It has sheltered us from the hot sun and stinging rain all the summer and fall.

We did the round with many of our striding companions, then turned off to enjoy the pleasures of the more wooded areas of Stanley Park. We got to rest on a bench and enjoy the antics of a variety of ducks sporting in the puddles and pools. We were seated at one of the many benches the Park offers. It was peaceful and even idyllic. We let the active living things we saw banish the mournful thoughts we are bearing with us that flow from some of the human actions we have witnessed in our daily lives.

I have been struck almost silent by some of those events. As painful have been some of the lies the enemies of peace and justice spray into the public space. How can the uninformed possibly appreciate what is at stake when they see thousands in the streets, here and around the world, with flags and signs. They are demanding, in effect, the killing of another six million Jews seventy-five years after the Holocaust? It is deeply disappointing that so many we thought were among our fellow travelers seem to be standing with the would-be murderers. Many in the media are offering pretty faces proclaiming the same doctrine. All we have to offer is the ugly truth that these crowds are calling, yet again, for the murder of innocents.

We will not be going to our slaughter like cattle this time. This time we are armed with more than sticks and stones to defend ourselves. And we expect to win. The people parading at these events, and others, should consider that they will be the next to be targeted.

I will end my day focusing on the setting sun with hope for a new dawn tomorrow. The struggle for justice must continue.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

                    Revenge is Good For The Soul Experts in social psychology, experts who treat us when stuff inside our heads go wacky, the people we often turn to, to help us emerge from a blue funk of various kinds, they all talk about how hating is bad for us. They say we are the beneficiaries when we give up harboring these negative feelings about people and events that have caused us pain. They even say we should find it in our hearts to forgive and forget. That may work for some things and for some people. But for me, there are things for which forgive and forget just doesn’t work. That is particularly true when opportunities exist to right the wrongs that have been experienced. And that is particularly true for me when there are opportunities for revenge. Some time ago there was a movie that came out, called “Inglorious Basterds”* It recounts the tale of a Jewish/American commando squad th...
Read more
                                                          ​ Coming To Attention!   Life comes at us from all directions. The nitty-gritty of daily living demands our primary attention, earning a wage, satisfying the boss, meeting a partner’s needs, raising the kids when it’s your turn to show up and be a parent. Then there is the job of keeping up to date with all you need to learn just to do all that. It’s a wonder we take the time to eat and sleep. When do we pay attention to what is going on all around us outside the narrow horizons of our lives? Shouldn’t that be an important element, what we do to impact the larger picture, in determining our fate even though our direct effect on events is often very small? And yet what is going on around us can have an impact on us that can be very large. I am in a very different place right no...
Read more
                            BEING ALIVE We don’t talk about that very much. But we surely think about it. Don’t we do that when we experience particularly joyful moments, or very sad ones? Mundane or marvelous, it is central to what we are about. How can we not think about it, write about it, agonize over it? We tend to keep those thoughts to ourselves unless we are sharing with those who are very close to us. Opening up to our feelings in a public way creates vulnerabilities. We may be laughed at or even ridiculed. It can be so much easier to do with strangers that we will never meet again. It takes more courage to do it face to face with those with whom we share our lives. But we do so with the hope that in exposing our vulnerabilities, we will be shared with in return and our trust will not be abused. There are sensations of being alive that are almost im...
Read more