Fool’s Gold

Today’s headlines are doin nothin but causin fear and chaos over disaster and death. A hell-broth of fire storms from coast to coast and if you are like me, you are feeling staggering grief, little beyond grief.

“Trump Again Refuses to Commit to Accepting Election Results” (New York Times). 

“Trump Renews Mail Vote Attacks, Again Questions Reliability of Ballots” (Wall Street Journal).

“Florida Supreme Court rules against Parkland families” (FOX News).

“Breonna Taylor shooting: A 190-plus-day timeline shows how her death changed Louisville” (Courier Journal).

“Missouri’s governor has refused to mandate masks. Now he’s tested positive for the coronavirus”  (Washington Post).

“California Fire Map & Tracker” (San Fransisco Chronicle).

Thankfully there is an outdoors, away from most of this craziness, away to blue sky and open space. And here one can retreat to a place which acts as a reminder of the before days.

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Old Glory

The original “Pledge of Allegiance” written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy was published in The Youth’s Companion on September 8, 1892. Simple, universal, and enduring: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (U.S. History).

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Trust a Teacher

If you know a teacher or have a teacher friend or relative, or your kids are headed back to school, please, please, be extra kind to those in front of the class, virtual or otherwise. Teachers are venturing into unchartered territory, still, even after those long months last Spring and this summer and even now. This year teachers are remote or hybrid or in-person or some combination of all three, and they are training for these scenarios on the go, repairing the plane while they’re flying so to speak. They need your kind words. They need your continuing support. And everyone involved in this educational system, teachers and parents and students, need to foster resilience, in spades. We all have to be ready for everything and anything that might be coming our way. As we know it will crash on us. Wondering how might we survive?

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