July 27, 2022
Thought for Today
"The poet is the priest of the invisible."
Wallace Stevens
Adagia (1957)
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
July 26, 2022
Reflection
AT HOME AND AT WAR:
MILITARY MARRIAGES
I was listening to National Public Radio while driving home yesterday.
Someone was giving a report on the impact of the way in Iraq on a community in Kentucky.
Tomorrow they said they would talk about the war's impact on local business.
But today they talked on the impact of war on marriage.
How many feel, "Is it worth it to come home - get romantic - only to have to leave and head back to war again?"
How many feel, "Is it worth it to go through all the fears I felt when I wondered if you 'd make it home again - or whether you'd be killed and I'd be all alone. I didn't like it standing there waving goodbye the last time - knowing this might be the last time I'd ever see you?"
How many feel, "Is it worth it, to be the equivalent of being a single mom or dad with you gone away again?"
How many feel. "Is it worth it to have to deal with a different person each time you come home?"
How many say, "Is it worth it to be in a foreign country - driving down roads that might explode at the next curve?"
How many think about their kids? What about not having them there - to drive them to the game - or the doctor - or to McDonalds?
What about the loneliness in the alone?
When will this end? Will I come home with the news I might be deployed again - and soon?
What do I do with mixed and twisted emotions - to be here and feel needed here - while at the same time I wish I was there - because I'm needed there as well?
Home front - or war front?
Monday, July 25, 2022
July 25, 2022
Reflection
THE CELL PHONE GUY/GAL
The cellphone gal - you see her everywhere.
You're with her and then she disappears - not dramatically - but you see her stand - reach into her pocket - take out a tiny phone - listen for a moment - and you watch her face as she's heading towards the far room.
You think he's at the meal - or the meeting - but as you're with him enough - you realize he's really at another meeting - and the real person he's with is on a cellphone - in a far room.
The cellphone guy - you see him everywhere.
The smokers outside the building - at least have their fellow smokers - puffing and talking and making gestures - outside the building.
But the cellphone guys and gals seem to be alone,
Yet sometimes I wonder whether the cellphone guy or gal is with another. Or maybe they are waiting for another and this one just happened to call in this in between moment.
I don't know.
As I drive down the interstate - I look over to the car that's passing me. There she is - there he is - the cellphone gal - the cellphone guy.
We are all doing a lot of talking - but is anyone really listening to the other?
Are we all waiting for the next call?
What did we do before cellphones?
How did we miss each other in the past?
Maybe someday we'll all have a good conversation about all this - in person - or maybe that's what the cellphone guy or gal is talking about.
Sunday, July 24, 2022
July 24, 2022
Reflection
SELF-DESTRUCTION
There is the obvious: death.
But that's down the line. Hopefully....
Like most people I'd like to get my three sides and ten - like the obituaries reports - and then some more I hope.
I'm now 82 ....
Then there is the self-destructive stuff....
Not enough sleep
Not enough exercise.
Poor eating and drinking habits.
Life can have the drag of days at times - because I stayed up too late watching an old movie or Forensic Files on TV.
And the day still has work to do - calls to make - people to see - mail to answer.
Tomorrow....
Can I will myself another five years - especially quality years?
But what about my tendency to self-destruct - not with booze - not with food - but with sloppiness. procrastination, and the urge not to sleep?
Maybe those who say sleep is a slow death are right. Sleep is a letting go - not knowing what one's dreams are - not knowing if I will wake - not knowing what's happening elsewhere.
Maybe those who say we do destructive things because for some strange reason we think they will bring more life - or we think the message is: they can bring us beyond the border of where we are now.
Maybe life is many maybe's - many mysteries - many letting go's.
Maybe it's the Abraham-Isaac scene over and over again and again. Maybe I have to climb the mountain - bind myself - be willing to accept death - only to have God set me free - for another day - for a fuller life.
I don't know.
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