FALL 2018: TIME FOR REFLECTION & RENEWAL?

Weather on the calendar or in our faith, we seem to sense this is a period to reflect and examine the pattern of our life.

We may not be as astute as Mother Nature who provides trees with the ability to turn leaves or  who creates  nervousness  in Animals and  birds as they sense another season or storm coming but we feel it.

 Whatever faith or custom or ritual we have, or don't have, it is a time of renewal.  We feel a need to better understand our self sometimes through memory alone.

Our children begin school.  Our family moves farther away or comes closer.  We warm to challenges.

We don't seem as wary of different faces. We are strong with a universal sense of purpose.

We prepare for autumn while knowing it will be followed by winter's chill finally followed by spring.  We measure our responsibility toward this planet, the place we call home.

In stillness, we are called upon to reflect on our actions.   We are pledged to behave as warriors to protect all that we know is right.  We will do so through our votes and the laws of this great nation!

May the time ahead be good to all of us and to all those we hold dear.

HAVE WE LOST TRUST OF EACH OTHER?

We learned of the death of Senator John McCain just before Labor Day.  We watched his funeral.

 We saw the Senator's family. We heard about his sense of humor, his capacity to understand his own failings  and the strength he showed in adversity.  We wondered have we as a people lost a sense of honesty and trust which had been so much a part of what we remembered of him?

We live in a time of great change.  Drastic changes happen to our planet each day. We are told there is no climate change!  Guns are used to kill innocent people!  We buy more guns and do little to vote for candidates who will enforce Federal gun laws.

We were told to do away with health plans because of misleading information by insurance and political interests!  Senator McCain voted with a simple "thumbs down" to stop the rhetoric.

We are told about injustices suffered by people who are different!  We know this violates the meaning of equal and fair justice for people yet we discourage advocates for these very same ideals.

We are told some religions are better than others! Then we watched  Senator McCain's family walk past the Vietnam Memorial Wall inscribed with the names of people of all faiths and cultures.

We watched the people lining the streets of Washington, DC,  and those who stopped to watch the funeral pass by.  We listened to "Oh Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace." We saw an untapped strength of character and trust in people that we may not have seen before.

After watching the funeral of Senator  McCain I  know we will survive the changes we need to make! We will do so with a  renewed  sense of respect for this country's Laws and with the strength  of trust we have for each other.

NOW IT IS OUR TURN!

Sometimes the smallest word or action can turn things upside down or inside out no matter where you are.   As we leave the month of July we are confronted by all the things we meant to do before the summer ends.  We begin August thinking of all the things  we still need to do before another season begins.  One of those things we need to do right now.

Today get ready to vote in the 2018 primary elections!

Primary Elections may seem pointless but they are a way to sort out candidates and important issues that could help us get things "right side up." Shrill political rhetoric will not provide us with respect for each other or for international and national and local agreements any more than covering over injustices with pithy sayings and slogans will work to provide the sense of security we want.

Our effectiveness in a primary election will be successful if we acquaint ourselves not with a single issue  alone but if we increase our willingness to read, listen to opposite points of view and then begin the hard work toward fulfilling our role as citizens of this great country by voting.

 Become a part of the process of governing by laws not by edict. VOTE!

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

Maybe the questionable recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States was a needed awakening for the people of this country.

We as citizens have all too often fallen into using political and legal jargon without wondering about the collective affect on our thinking and our lives.  We have been too eager to mimic political strategy and language.  When we did and when we do we loose the strength which is ours and ours alone, the citizen's role in a Democracy.

We are about to undergo enormous change in our lives.  If we are unable to acknowledge these changes
and meet them it will be the undoing of our strength as a country and our inherent common sense as individuals.

To ensure a sense of fairness that was and is ours we need to protect and safe guard our
elections at the polls and we need to urge others to do likewise. It may be that issues of grave importance to one sector may need to give way to another as all of us build or rebuild communities in which all people flourish.

We will go on and renew or recreate and protect this wild, beautiful land we call a nation.  As we do we dare not stop our feeling for all human kind and their quest to be a part of this Democracy or forget those who came before us.

So for now we will go forward with our mutual love and appreciation for science, education, music and the joy of greeting each day constructively without  violence or malice.

WHO IS THE JUGGLER IN THE CENTER RING?

We seem to be fascinated with all sorts of things and theories.  Like children at a circus we are mesmerized by things we know are not so, but we still watch with fascination.

When we discredit scientific information research and education with rhetoric that belongs in the annuals of mystic writings, we are buying our ticket back to the dark ages.

When the response to air and water pollution is that it is necessary to have for economic development we are allowing our representatives to do little to enforce existing regulations and laws.

When we are told that voters like you and me cannot discern fairness from cheating or lying or bullying, we are handed a kaleidoscope covered over with duck tape to conceal those very traits.

When we are told that it is not guns that murder people,  adults and children tell us they do. Many legislators look the other way and claim an inability to enforce existing Federal Gun and Equipment Registration Laws yet that Law is on the legislator's desk and never discussed.

When we speak of our elected officials' disregard of America's Democratic process we are told we are unpatriotic by the Juggler in the Center Ring.

When we are told all this we better stop buying a ticket to this Circus and run it out of town.

THE OBELISK AND A BOY'S CURIOSITY!

There is an unusual, black 12-foot Obelisk in the Mall where I walk with my friend each morning.  The sculpture stands in contrast to shops, kiosks , food islands and theaters.  Its uniqueness is that it appears to have water running from the top to the bottom never leaving a drop of water at its base or on the floor.  Much of the time we walkers pass it without a glance though children are often intrigued by it.

Today I noticed a young boy watching the obelisk intensely.   I stopped and asked him how does he think the water goes up to the top and than comes down again?  He thought for a moment.  Then he said, "There must be a pipe inside the Obelisk that sucks the water up and then when it hits the bottom the pipe brings the water back up again. "

My friend who is an engineer made a quick sketch to demonstrate how the Obelisk works and how gravity plays a role in the process. As we spoke with the young man and his mother we learned he was in the sixth grade and interested in science.

I do not know what impression all this had on the young man.  What I do know is the boy's awareness of his surroundings and questions will serve him, his school, his community and all of us well as we continue to plan for the future.

AMERICA, THE MELTING POT?

"Melting Pot", the description was once used to describe America. Today, to assess the real strength of America we weigh-in factors not necessarily thought of years ago.  As a people we recognize that we and immigrants share common human aspirations. Citizen and immigrant alike want the opportunity to work and have the life style we want.  We and they wish to contribute to this country.  We and they seek a just society and the protection and security of our laws.

I thought of all this at my granddaughter's graduation Commencement Ceremony where I was squired around by her parents, my other son and my grandson and his companion.  The Ceremony was held at Bard college amidst the spectacular environment of New York State.  The graduates included men and women from different states and countries around the world.  Graduates were of different colors, cultures, dress and spoke different languages. Each graduate's thesis was listed by Title and indicated study in subjects that ranged from the environment to scientific technology to the arts and human and animal relationships and economic requirements for opening a business/

It will take much more than the "Melting Pot" known to my grandparents to help get us through the swift moving channels of change America and the world finds itself in today.  But  the graduates I met,
and the education they received are capable of navigating the rough waters ahead and I am optimistic about our future.