Autumn Colors – Camo
Sunday, the sun is brilliant and the air cool. Fall. The seasons are reliable, delivering the rhythmic weather essential to the community life here in the Midwest. You might guess that my subtext, about which I struggle to write, — the political upheaval, the social unrest that troubles Chicago and our suburbs.
The advent of fall is welcomed. Shorter and cooling days stimulate me to contemplate the harvest and the fall holidays. I am again charmed by Halloween, a day when adults are permitted to imagine themselves as children. What costume will I choose for this year? The “friction” of the fall’s change is productive.
The season juxtaposes with the violent incursion of ICE into Chicago. A consequence of failed immigration reform, a reform that Republicans obstructed, – now Hispanic neighbors are waylaid and exiled without due process. Forced removal from home and work place, the diffident* effort at identification, and then deportation to a foreign country… Given the pleasantness of this fall day, the nightmare-contrast could not be more stark. How much longer are we to put up with this grotesque injustice? What means are we going to need to eject ICE and Texas Guardsmen from the borders of this state? The nagging conundrum troubles me…
I decided to read the Zhuangzi. Written by Zhuang Zhou in the 4th century BCE China. It’s a collection of parables furthering the Taoist point of view, and criticizing Confucianism, the universal philosophy of that day.
*half-assed
