Fall has come gently, with a hint of frost in late October.  The trees are well into shedding their leaves.  I walked around the backyard holding my camera.  I wanted photographs to help me remember this day.  Today is ten days out from the election.   Would I remember this day as one of the last “good” days of relative peace before some unnamed tsunami of violence explodes among us?  Or will today be remembered as the prelude to remaking of our institutions — especially education.  Do Black lives matter?  What institutions will change to curb the racism that seems a wire in our blood?  Will the covid be stopped in the months ahead by an effective vaccine, that is efficiently delivered to all sectors of our people?  That alone will lift the pall that has fallen upon the economy with the unimpeded spread of the virus.  Life is impossible if being-with-others means that those you know best may become very sick, and perhaps die.  Sadly many among us do not believe such hazard is fact.  Meaning well, nevertheless they play “Russian roulette.”  What one believes is indeed a matter of life and death.

My daughter expressed her anguish well taken, that it is futile for myself or for anyone to think they are responsible to turn this set of circumstances.  Yes, I know.  While I can do very little I am duty bound to speak truthfully to the extent of my ability.  These words penned by Bob Dylan, delivered with such passion by Jimi Hendrix echo in my mind.

No reason to get excited
The thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But, uh, but you and I, we’ve been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us stop talkin’ falsely now
The hour’s getting late…

It is late.  The time is past for ‘talkin’ falsely.

These words were spoken by the Buddha fifth century BC, The Five Remembrances. 

• I am of the nature to grow old.
  There is no way to escape growing old.
• I am of the nature to have ill-health.
  There is no way to escape having ill-health.
• I am of the nature to die.
  There is no way to escape death.
• All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.
  There is no way to escape being separated from them.
• My actions are my only true belongings.
  I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
  My actions are the ground on which I stand.

— translated by Thich Nhat Hanh

Five facts regarding life’s fragility and our true inheritance. According to the Ariyapariyesana Sutta (Discourse on the Noble Quest), the first three remembrances are the very insights that led Gautama Buddha to renounce his royal household status and become an ascetic.