When Someone I Care for is Deeply Hurt
When someone I care for is deeply hurt: I feel their pain with them. I feel burning anger. I weep from the depth of my gut. I speak encouragement at some points, and keep my mouth shut at others. I hug—a lot, whether in person or in my heart. And we do not need to hear the bumper-sticker platitude that “Everything has a purpose.” If that’s true, some things have an evil purpose, authored by the devil. And other things happen out of human fallenness, chance, heredity, or laws of physics. And a few things we just don’t understand until…
Ancient America
I’m standing on the ruins of an ancient civilization. In northeast Arizona. Artifacts found at more than 1000 sites in the surrounding area demonstrate that people lived here for more than 13,000 years. Archeologists call it a “persistent place,” a location where repeated human activity continues through time. But today no one lives here. It is a desolate grassland. The village stood next to the Puerco River that at the time served as a travel corridor to many people living all along the river. Surrounding the village would have been fields of corn, beans, and squash. The people scratched petroglyphs on the rocks,…
“Connections” – Philly Cheesesteak–Not
I’m at a restaurant in Philadelphia, so of course I have to order a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Hot and tasty, it’s the best Philly cheesesteak sandwich I have ever had. Then my friend realizes we’re in a vegan restaurant. Vegan? As in no meat, no dairy? Yup. The cheesesteak I think I’m chewing is really seitan, a wheat gluten-based meat substitute. What? A fake sandwich. But… But… Even though it’s fake, it’s still the best Philly cheesesteak sandwich I’ve ever eaten! This amazes me because even after I learn that my sandwich is made of fake meat, I do not care that it’s…
Crazy Birds – from “Connections”
It’s 1 a.m. and outside my window is a chortling mockingbird. Have you ever yelled at a bird to go to bed? I do so because I know what will soon happen. At about 4:30 a.m.—yes, way before sunrise—the local rooster will start cackling. They’re supposed to crow when the sun comes up. What’s wrong with these birds? Neither of them can tell what time it is. The price of leaving windows open on summer nights. Then I think, if the birds—who are supposed to have nature’s clock inside them—can’t tell when to go to go to bed or get…
Dancing in the Dark –from “Connections”
Almost every evening I jog in the park near my house. I see all kinds of people doing all kinds of things, and this time I saw a middle-aged couple dancing. Sort of. No music or anything, just a man holding a woman in ballroom dance position, teaching her how to dance. She was so clumsy, her feet would barely move, and when they did they stumbled. No better way to put it. On my second lap around the park, day was giving way to night. And the two were still there in ballroom stance. He was still teaching, but…
