Another Sunday, the country is haunted by the coronavirus.  States have been encouraged to “open up” in hopes that the virus, mirage-like will disappear with the advent of normal activity.  I read in the New York Times Morning Briefing that some climate deniers and conservatives are saying the death toll numbers by the coronavirus are inflated, and the White House is listening.  Thus we continue to spiral downward…..

Today is dedicated to remembering how much we owe to our mothers.  I miss my mother.  She passed a few years ago.  I’d give anything if I could speak with her now.  She was a tough, kind human being.  Perhaps that is the highest praise that could be given.  To learn resilience, and always respond to others with kindness is something that many never achieve.  I hope that someone someday will say that of me that I was tough and that I was kind.

There is a lot of conflict in life.  Conflict is the consequence of our vulnerability, our susceptibility to our own fear and ignorance, and to that of others.  There is the conflict rising from disease, the need for a treatment to aid recovery from the onslaught of a deadly virus.  There is the conflict rising from ignorance when the economy is visibly dying and there does not appear to be knowledge or courage to mitigate the damage.  There is much conflict.  One cannot avoid being caught up even as refugees fleeing a war are involved in the mayhem caused by the guns and bayonets.  The only choice that one has is that of how we will respond.

Albert Camus describes the approach of two minds recognizing one another in a context of conflict, Camus paraphrases the philosophy of Hegel:

…..human minds in blind combat, dimly groping on the sands, like crabs that finally come to grips in a fight to the death,….voluntarily abandoned the equally legitimate image of beams of light painfully searching for one another in the night and finally focusing together in a blaze of illumination. Those who love, friends or lovers, know that love is not only a blinding flash, but also a long and painful struggle in the darkness for the realization of definitive recognition and reconciliation. After all, if virtue in the course of history is recognized by the extent to which it gives proof of patience, real love is as patient as hatred. 

— excerpt The Rebel by Camus p. 161

Camus observes that blind combat is not the only option.  The two beams of light searching for one another is an image of a tough kindness.  I like the thought of love as a choice in a conflicted situation, a long and painful struggle in the darkness.

I think this is where we are as an entire society.  Will we engage with our circumstances as two crabs in a fight to the death, or will we make common cause together, for a long and difficult struggle?

Mom, I miss you.

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(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding

by Elvis Costello

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity.
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There’s one thing I wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

‘Cause each time I feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry.
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

‘Cause each time I feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry.
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

lyrics written by Nick Lowe