Posts Tagged → peace
Thank you, Veterans!
Growing up with pacifist parents and a Quaker education led me to believe the American military was a source of bad things. (somehow the Russians and Chinese never got labeled that way, and the totalitarian Cuban regime deserved all our support)
In my late teens, early twenties I got to see what a load of nonsense that is. Truly treasonous stuff, this let’s-all-hate-the-military phony superiority thing. Easy to say when you’re living that comfy American lifestyle and no one is kicking in your door to force a new language on your family.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the brave veterans of all military service branches, who from near and far give us our daily freedoms, our incredible quality of life, our endless opportunity in the land of the free.
Maybe small things will help
Sometimes the smallest of things can change the course of history.
Otherwise known as the “butterfly effect,” or “ripple effect,” among other suitable descriptions, the idea that tiny, often initially imperceptible actions ultimately trigger world-changing events has a persistent following especially among scientists, religious believers, and conspiracy theorists.
Tomorrow starts the Jewish New Year. Although it is only followed by a relative handful of humans on Planet Earth (about seven or eight million people), perhaps those prayers for peace and harmony, goodness and health, will waft to the highest places and trigger an outpouring of blessings. We can all only hope and pray.
Happy New Year to my many Jewish friends.
In the midst of war, flowers
In the midst of this political battle over retaining plainly stated Constitutional rights, I’m planning a wildflower hunt this spring. The location is in Middle Paxton Township on private land I manage. Amid all this testy unhappiness, it gives me something to smile about. I admit that my wife, children, and work give me much to smile about, but native wildflowers are a special weakness of mine. Finding a patch of trillium, wood sorrel, or Jack-in-the-pulpit always gives me hope. For these beautiful, delicate, gentle creations to survive and grow, much must be right in their small world.
And if there’s a small patch of All Right here, and there, and over there, then how much more there must be elsewhere. In a time of strife, these tiny, pretty thoughts remind me to be happy and remain hopeful.
See you little guys in April!