As I say in the description of this blog, "I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious."
And I feel I would be remiss if I did not recognize this most recent tragedy here in the United States which these days is not feeling so united at all. I hope I am not right, but I have a feeling we might look back at this event as one of the infamous triggers for the Second Civil War. Oh, it won't be fought like it was the first time. This kind of Radical Republican Terrorism will make the Second Civil War a completely different affair.
The fact that such a thing is looming on our horizon should give us even more incentive to protest against and conquer the kind of hatred, inequality, fear, bigotry, and racism we are seeing infect our culture... although I am personally feeling more than a little frustrated since all the usual avenues like voting, writing members of congress, and protesting in the streets have been tried. Because of the Monster-in-Chief, I think we will see a rise in Radical Republican Terrorism--they feel he is on their side and he won't denounce them. But if certain factions and groups of United States citizens will not share basic tenets of humanism or participate in our social compact (the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members), we cannot allow them to hurt, maim, or murder. At this moment in history, we are at a fork in the road--not just the United States but everywhere in the world. You can see down each road if you stop and think and take it to its logical conclusion.
We will see in the next few years which road we head down.
It's times like these that make me seek out and treasure the good things, the beautiful things, the things that make our time here worthwhile.
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
--John Adams
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