READY OR NOT, HeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeRE'S 2014

Like it or not, 2014  is here!.  We wonder where has time gone? It is as if the months had torn themselves free from the calendar and taken off with the wind. With or without scholarly interpretation, we try to take an inventory of the past year's events.

As we ponder, nature answers with her own rhythm. We may at times try to thwart her, to dismiss her, or act oblivious but nature in 2013 remained the independent stern mistress she has always been and shall always be.

In 2013 we allowed ourselves moments of pride for small and large fetes even as we ached with regrets for that which we did not do or failed to say.  Children brightened our days as the fate of others was cruelly ended.  Friends, family and notables left us with fond memories.

In 2013 we saw the ugly face of greed as the powerful among us refused to acknowledge humanity's frailty. So what will 2014 look like?  Ready or not, it is here.  Have a good one!

WARMING WINTER'S COLD WITH MUSIC

One of the ways I overcome winter's frigid weather  is by listening to  music like Paul McCartney's symphonic poem, "Standing Stone."

McCartney describes the power of ordinary places,  the quest for answers to age-old questions and his own fascination with Celtic mysticism in music that is extraordinary.  He spent four years composing what he considered his second "largest scale classic work."

The poem itself is worth a read.  McCartney concludes his verse's  opening introduction by saying,
"I hope the music is strong enough to stand alone without help from the poem and that you, the listener will enjoy what you hear."  It does and I do!

So if you are tired of heavy coats and boots, of  chipping ice off the windshield, and wishing you were some place other than where you are, turn on your favorite music and let the melodies transplant you to warmer spots.

NRA: GUN PROFITEERING?

After the last stuffed toy, and flowers, and balloons are placed, candles lit, vigils and grief stricken people and children leave the spot where another shooting has taken place when do we begin to ask who profits from all this?

In spite of evidence of out right corruption by gun and ammunition manufacturers and illegal sale of guns in open markets when do we condemn the protection afforded these purveyors of destruction by the NRA and our elected officials?

In spite of men and women and children acting as self-appointed vigilantes how do we not understand that we cannot have or maintain a free, equitable civil society in which to live without enforceable laws?

How do we succumb to tricky slogans, to scape goats or to our own fears by backing the NRA and electing the men and women who profit from the organization?

Our children, men and women, our streets, each of us need the lawful protection of accountable public servants like the police not profiteers like the NRA or the gun business and industry or feint-hearted representatives.