You Can Make the Mountains Sing

 after four very long years, donald trump is out of washington and removed from power.  it is wonderful to awaken each day without feeling the need to check the news reports to see what crazy thing he has done or is planning to do.  it seems that each day some new revelation comes to light about his abuses of his office.  as if his attempt to pressure officials in georgia to subvert the will of the people of that state and the invasion of the our nation's capitol by an angry mob at his urging were not enough, we have now learned that he sought to turn the nation's justice department into a tool to advance his bid to stay in power despite having lost both the popular and electoral college votes.  there seems to be some evidence coming to light to suggest that he knew of the plans to take over the capitol in advance of the rally he held just before the insurrection, though no definitive proof has been found to date.

the contrast between trump and president biden is stark.  it was refreshing to hear mr. biden say that he and all government employees are the servants of the people of the country, including those who did not vote for him, and that scientific evidence, not wishful thinking and falsehoods, would guide efforts to confront the pandemic that is threatening all of us.  when his new press secretary addressed the white house press corps and took questions from them, it was wonderful to see and hear that she had respect for the free press and would use her position to inform the american people through the news media rather than viewing those reporters as "enemies of the people," as had been the case during the trump regime.  there is something comforting in mr. biden's manner and in his words, and it seems that those he has chosen to be a part of his administration will echo his tone and style.

it is like waking from a terrible nightmare to witness the change in our national discourse, to see an end to the constant chaos, bitterness, and attempts to divide us and scapegoat those who are not white and native-born.  no longer will we move from crisis to crisis, without a president who invents new ones to distract us from the former ones.  our problems are being confronted honestly, and solutions are being sought by listening to the views of many rather than imposing the views of one man on the whole of government.  if the tears in our national psyche can be mended, joe biden is the person to lead us to the necessary repairs.  his first words as president called on us to work with him to come together despite all our differences.

may we turn from enmity and division.  may we see that our strength is our diversity, embracing and honoring those who are different from us.  may we put aside partisanship and listen to one another.  may we take the words and actions of the president as our example.  shalom.

Goin' Places That I've Never Been

 living through covid-19 has brought many changes in our lives, and the demands of avoiding infection have caused all of us to give up things that we love to do.  movies and travel are the two things my wife and i have missed most of all.  we watch a lot of older movies here at home, but that's not the same as going out to the theater and seeing a movie that's been recently released.  even now, when most new movies are also available to watch at home, it's a different experience from seeing the movie on a theater screen.  we do take some day trips from our home, but we long to get away for weeks at a time to go places we've never been before or to revisit some place we especially loved when we went there before.  we love our home and our time together in it, but we can't understand people who are perfectly content to stay home all the time.

one of my favorite movies is "auntie mame."  while i like the musical version (just plain "mame") with lucille ball, the original with rosalind russell is the one i could watch over and over.  my favorite line in it is, "life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving."  every time i watch it, my wanderlust is stoked, and i want to pack my bags and head out.  we watched a dvd of queen latifah's great movie, last holiday, for the first time a few nights ago, and it, too, made us long for a trip to some place far away where the climate and architecture are different from what we experience every day.  

i'm reading a book now called "ten years a nomad"  it's by one of my favorite travel bloggers, matt kepnes.  his travel blog is "nomadic matt," and i've gotten lots of great travel tips from reading it.  his book has fueled the itch to wander, and i'm dying to plan trips.  the planning is almost as much fun as the actual doing.  figuring out where to stay, what to see, how to get to all the places we want to see, whether to drive, fly, or go by train or some combination of modes of transport are things i can joyfully spend hours doing.  then comes the making of reservations and finally the packing.  all the preparation is as much a part of the excitement as the trip itself.

now that vaccines are available, the time is coming when we can return to a more normal life.  we know it will be months before we can safely venture out for long trips or feel safe on a plane or train, so long trips are still out of the question for the time being.  we have been to the movies a few times recently, since it is easy to social distance in large theaters if we go during the right time of day, but there have been so few movies released in the past several months.  one of these days we can return to long road and rail trips, flights overseas, frequent visits to theaters, and dinners and card games with friends.  those times can't come soon enough.  meanwhile, we work at being content with life as it has to be for the present.

may each of us find happiness in the daily routine of life.  may we make the best of what is possible for now, even while we long for what used to be normal.  may we remember that all of us are enduring the changes that are necessary to stay safe and in good health.  may we take the steps we need to protect ourselves and others.  may we not entertain resentments for the hardships that this pandemic has caused for so many of us, and may we look with optimism toward the future that lies ahead thanks to those who developed vaccines and those who administer them.  shalom

There's A Song In Every Silence

 last week i wrote about balance.  the events of last wednesday, when followers of donald trump invaded the united states capitol and forced legislators and staff to evacuate and temporarily abandon the counting of the votes of the electoral college, demonstrate what happens when our lives and beliefs are out of balance.  no doubt, some of those involved in this attempt to stop the declaration of joe biden as president of the united states were just there for their own amusement, thinking that it was a lark to interrupt the ceremonial counting of the vote by the congress.  others had more sinister motives.  they believed that they were stopping the theft of the election from trump and intended to force the members of congress to declare trump the winner of the election and perhaps to execute some or all of our senators and representatives.  those of us who had turned on our televisions to observe the proceedings of the house and senate watched in horror as this mob forced its way into the capitol, breaking windows, walking around the historic building, vandalizing the chambers of the senate and the offices of members of the congress and their staff.

this is the price of the extremism fomented by trump and his cronies in government.  trump's radical right-wing true believers were emboldened to threaten our national legislators and the building in which they meet.  when we listen to what some of them proclaim as fact, we are amazed that any sane person could hold such ideologies.  some thought that satanists engaged in pedophilia and human trafficking were secretly at work within the government and other seats of power and that trump was working with an anonymous person in the government known only as "q" to bring  an end to this nefarious activity.  some were white nationalists.  others were ultra-conservatives who believed that the power of the federal government had to be reigned in at any cost.  still others were anarchists who wanted to destroy the national government and vest all power in local authorities, while others thought that trump was more important than the constitution and the laws which flow from it.  all of these saw trump as their leader and defender and were willing to do whatever was necessary to keep him in power.  they believed his lies that there was massive fraud in the election and that the election had been stolen from him.

trump encouraged their twisted political viewpoints and egged them on with his rhetoric over the past several months culminating in the rally he led before the invasion of the capitol.  we are told he watched the mob's actions with delight from the white house, while calling members of congress in their hiding places to encourage them to "stop the steal" of the election.  he uttered a lukewarm plea for his followers to leave peacefully, while repeating his lies about the election and telling them what fine people they were and that he loved them.  later in the day, he came out with a taped statement condemning the violence and finally admitting publicly that joe biden would become the next president, a statement we are told he regretted having made only a few hours after it was released to the public.  this last statement confounded his followers.  some them condemned him for betraying them while others saw coded messages in the statement that the fight was not over.

this is an example of what happens when political balance is lost.  extremists try to take over.  the views of others are ignored and ridiculed.  lies replace truth, and our lives are turned topsy-turvy.  somewhere in the middle of the views of the far right and the far left lies the middle ground that allows us to have perspective on the best direction.  buddhism speaks of the middle way or middle path which runs between the extremes of self-deprivation and self-indulgence.  finding balance is the key to finding this middle path, and this is true for individuals and for a society.  the followers of donald trump have strayed far from the middle path to their detriment and that of the nation.

may we find our way back to the middle path.  may we see that truth lies between extremes.  may we let go of anger, bitterness, and victimhood.  may we try to place ourselves in one another's shoes and see that together we can solve our problems, realizing that no single person has the answers.  instead, we must work them out together.  shalom.

You Hold the Key

 a new year has begun, and we hope it is a better year than the past one.  at the start of each year, we have hopes for the year.  we plan to do certain things better than we did the previous year.  sometimes we make resolutions, promising ourselves that we will improve our lives, take on new projects, make changes in our lives.  if i have a resolution for the coming year, it is to find balance.  by that i mean, i hope to be aware of my tendency to go overboard with things i take on and to avoid such excess.  for instance, when i start a new plan of exercising, i usually go to an extreme, spending far too much time on my plan and taking it too seriously, often becoming angry with myself and others when something interferes with my exercise time.  this year i hope to temper my desire to adhere to my plans with the flexibility to accept that life doesn't always work out as we planned it.

i'm afraid that balance is a problem for many of us, both individually and collectively.  i suspect that many of the problems we face are owing to our insistence on pressing ahead with our own projects and purposes instead of accepting that life isn't about just ourselves.  we have to balance our desires with those of others and find ways to accommodate one another's wants and needs.  this is true in our individual and in our collective lives.  we are having difficulties existing as a "united" nation because there are too many shrill voices loudly insisting on one certain pathway for all of us.  we no longer listen to one another and to seek to understand each other's points-of-view.  we have lost the ability to find ways to work together, so we fight continually and nothing gets done as a country.

we insist on individual liberties at the expense of the well-being of the society as a whole and the national health.  instead of finding the middle way of balance between competing ideologies, we press ahead with our own narrow vision of what is best.  we must find ways of balancing our own path forward with the path others think best.  most often, we find that the middle path is the best one, taking us away from the edge of the abyss on one side while keeping us from the dangers on the other side.  instead of liberals versus conservatives, democrats versus republicans, whites versus non-whites, believers versus atheists, native-born versus immigrant, we must realize that we are all in this together, with more in common than we think.  we must find ways of being one people instead of a disparate collection of individual tribes.

balance is not giving up on our own dreams and aspirations.  it is realizing that our wants and hopes must not diminish the wants and hopes of others.  it is facing adversity with quiet calm and strength rather than railing at capricious fate.  it is refusing to allow passions, anger, and excess to rule us.  it is choosing to act with reason and consideration of the needs of others.  it is accepting our differences and respecting each other's right to be different, of withholding judgment of what we don't understand.

may we find balance in our lives, choosing the middle path that avoids extremes.  may we be conscious of one another's needs and accepting of one another, even when we don't agree.  may we choose tolerance over prejudice.  may an even-minded calm rule our lives and may we find ways to love one another despite our differences, indeed because of them.  shalom.