Zhuangzi was once fishing
in the Po river when the ruler of Chu
sent two ministers with a message,
“I wish to trouble you
with the charge of all territories.’

Zhuangzi continued to hold to hold the rod
and without looking around said,
“I have heard that in Chu
there is a sacred tortoise
which died three thousand years ago.
The ruler keeps it
covered with a cloth in a hamper
in his ancestral temple.
What would you say that the tortoise
would have preferred:
to die and leave its shell to be venerated
or to live
and keep on
dragging its tail over the mud?”

It would have preferred to live
and drag its tail over the mud,”
said the ministers.

Zhuangzi said,
“Go your ways, I will
keep on dragging my tail
over the mud.”

Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou, trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 17

Another person has been killed in Minneapolis. Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, a U.S. citizen encountered and surrounded by ICE officers, was wrestled to the ground and killed by multiple shots. Did he have a gun in his hand when his life was taken? 

The conundrum of the ICE deployment which traumatizes, disrupts public safety, suppresses freedom of movement, desecrates homes and schools in blue states: — what is the individual to do about it? 

Suppose that you and I are just fishing in the Po river or any river! To live, minding one’s zone of influence with care and appreciation…

What better way to live to die too — having made a substantial difference…

This reminds me of a scene from the 1965 film Dr. Zhivago, the interrogation of Zhivago by Strelnikov, (they once knew one another) who is a party functionary wielding the power of life and death over Zhivago. “Are you the poet asks Strelnikov?” The Zhivago to Strelnikov dialog echos the same point as expressed by Zhuangzi. Enjoy! This is an unforgettable 5 minute viewing…