The Vernal Equinox has come and gone. Days warm, cold, wet and sunny leapfrog over one another.
War has arrived as well, with atrocities and war crimes, and genocide, as Russia under Putin has invaded Ukraine and massacred citizens while destroying cities.
The U.S. and NATO have sent arms and equipment and offered refugees passage. It is not enough, though the Ukrainian soldiers have helped fight off Russians, with remarkable victories, for over a month.
The climate too has gotten significantly worse, with floods and fires and rising seas. Way too few people care, it seems. No one, not one, of my social media friends ever respond to news of worsening climate.
Actually, social media make me aware of how little I have in common with even life-long friends. We all eat; we all love gardens; we travel a bit; we post photos of ourselves. Most of my friends are engulfed with family, religion, and the desperate will to be happy, no matter what. "just look! See how happy we are..."
The pretense makes me sad. What people actually live lives without even a hint of problems, unhappiness, or even empathy for the suffering people in the world, especially in Ukraine today?
Darryl and I live our intimate lives. Darryl cooks fabulous meals and desserts. We see the seasons' kaleidoscope from our windows and our screen porch. We go repeatedly to Cloudland Canyon and Rabun Gap for nature, exercise, and meditation. We listen to music and watch films. I teach Art History, Astronomy, and Philosophy to eager minds at BFA. My students know the fabulous people I know, from Plato to Frida Kahlo, from James Baldwin to Ezra Miller. We spent this week studying Japanese Art and zoomed in on Hokusai's "Great Wave."
"Hokusai was one of the most famous wood-block artists in Japan. He accomplished the transition in wood-block printing to landscapes. His most famous work of art is “The Great Wave”, a print from his series 36 views of Mount Fuji. It represents Japan’s uncertain fear that the ocean would be its downfall, by bringing foreigners who would destroy its culture."
One of my students wrote.
In Astronomy, Leo and I talk of the potential for the newly launched and fabulous Webb Infrared Telescope which, from a million miles away, will send us photographs of a supposedly early universe some 13 billion light years away and 13 billion years into the past.
Meanwhile, I put my newly socked feet
(Thank you, Starr)
up for the fire to warm both my meditation and my old bones.
Jack
