La Shannah Tova - Happy New Year. Today is Rosh Ha Shannah, the Jewish New Year. A day a of renewal, new beginnings. It is said to be the birthday of the world. I am taking the morning off of work to go to services at synagogue, but will not go until a little later. So Jessie and I went to the park.
It was a particularly beautiful morning in the park. Heavy dew on the grass, the hint of autumn coolness in the air. A lovely sunrise. There were many joggers. More than usual, even on a weekday, but we were a little late in arriving; it was 6:15 before we got there this morning. Possibly because of the joggers, the wildlife seemed subdued, hidden. There was a single Canada goose near the pond. Sitting in the morning sun by itself, stretching out its neck from time to time. I wondered if it were a juvenile, left behind. Or an older goose, not able to keep up? The ways of the world.
I am reading a book of essays by E.B. White that I bought at the Wooden Boat School's store. Who knew the author of Stuart Little lived in Maine. He had lived in NYC and written Talk of the Town for the New Yorker, when he and his wife (also a writer or editor for the New Yorker) and small son moved to Maine very near where the Wooden Boat School is. Eventually the son, Joel White, became a very well known boat designer and builder, running the Brooklin Boat Yard. Joel White was also on the board of directors of Mystic Seaport at some point. He (Joel) passed away from cancer about 6 or 7 years ago. Anyway, E.B. White's book of essays are drawn from columns he wrote for Harpers after he moved to Maine. They are wonderful, in so many ways. Acerbic. Funny. Delightfully spare prose. I'm trying to read slowly, to savor his words.
There is a pastor in Gainesville, FL who has advertised his plans to burn the Qaran on Saturday, which is September 11th. He has some crackpot idea that doing so is some sort of protest of terrorism. Of course, crackpot or not, he has obtained more free publicity for his 50 member cult-like church than he could have hoped for in his wildest dreams. Just about the entire world has told him, asked him, suggested to him, threatened him or begged him not to do this. Army generals tell him doing this will endanger US troops. Bloomburg in NY - needing to be consistent (Hobbes: consistency is the hob-gobblin of small minds), feels the need to say that this pastor "has the right" to burn the Qaran, but shouldn't, a neat 180 degree position from Bloomburg's views on building a mosque/community center in the vicinity of the World Trade Center location. The Gainesville Fire Department says there are local ordinances against burning ANY book, at pains to try to explain that this is because the INK in books is somehow toxic when burned. They assure the public they are "making preparations" to prevent any violation of this law. Obama called the guy a nut and said what he is doing is anti-American. (Anti-American? Since when is decency an "American" concept?) The pastor has received death threats, including some that sound very serious.
What is it about we human beings? Do we really have to have multi-billionaires on the one hand and impoverished millions on the other hand? Do some men really have to believe that women should walk around covered from head to toe in black? Does one pastor in Florida really believe burning a book he admits he has never read does anything positive whatsoever? If he does it, will some other man really feel the need to kill him? Or blow up other men (and likely women and children) in protest?
Where is Rodney King when we need his eloquence? Can't we all just get along?
They reported on the news last night that 2 asteroids passed between the Earth and the moon yesterday. That is a distance of 250,000 miles. They said it was the equivalent of threading a needle. One asteroid was big enough to have caused incredible destruction should it have missed the eye of that "needle." The scariest part was that scientists didn't know about these asteroids' proposed path until Sunday! Is that what we human beings need? A poke in the "eye"?
Let's wake up. Let's be kind. Let's wage peace.
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