Just to Write

This is a photo I took several years ago, not long after my sister in law, Sharon died. She was fond of hummingbirds. If this is not a hummingbird, I don't know what it is. This was in Eugene, Oregon. We now live in Phoenix, and our backyard is occupied by many hummingbirds. Perhaps one is Sharon.

So much has happened recently, much of it conflict worldwide, and violent. Our society is split right down the middle. I am as stressed as I have ever been. The warrior in me wants a good fight, for what is right, and the spiritual being can find no peace. I wish to disown my sister who is a Trump hater, and I don't know what to do with this emotion. So I internalize, and pay the price with indigestion. It seems so difficult to stand present in my life.

On Veterans Day, we again climbed the hill to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. As always, I was struck by the price that was paid for this relative freedom, and wondered if that price was too great. It seems that so many now would sacrifice that freedom to be right. So many hate Trump, passionately, and without ever meeting the man. Many of these people would do anything, and may have, to be rid of him.

I was asked by a monk the other day, if it was possible to cherish others more than a million dollars. It is clear what the answer should be, but doesn't it appear that the answer as represented by our society might just be the other. If we have forgotten how to care for the other, forgotten that the other is simply another you, and replaced it with "if you are not with me, you are against me," what will be the result in our grandchildren's future. I think that is pretty apparent.

I do not have an answer. It would be easy to say that Trump has set us back on course, reminded us who we are (most of us) and of what we value as Americans. But even with a settled politic, we still have so many problems. The passion of those who hate Trump is an addiction. Some addicts, according to none other than Dr. Phil, can never come back. What do they do with that addiction? Where do you get your fix when all is as you would have it? Take the current situation where it appears that Biden has won. Has it satisfied their hate? No, they still berate the man and anyone who it appears to them support him. Antifa is still hurting innocents. When is enough enough? Is it possible, for the sake of our grandchildren, to let it all go? In the past, I might have seemed sure of the answer. Today, I am not.