Thanksgiving III
Sunday was the occasion of a mild 40 degree day. I especially enjoyed the shades of brown and tan illumined by the afternoon sun as we passed a wetland, undeveloped, tall grasses waving in the breeze. White oaks were showing spiky leaves hanging on to face the coming frost.
Everything is as it should be, even if every thing is not to my liking. There was minimal conversation about politics over the weekend. Not that the topic is avoided by family and my circle of friends. I think that we all recognize that all has been said that is sayable, and circumstances as they stand, are our lot for the time being. Self regard, personal freedom, and joy must be found within the interstices of tyranny. Life is ebb and flow, –darkness, ignorance, moronic invective entails its own contradiction. This too will pass. The world is alive, and we are alive.
Watched a Brad Pitt movie last night: FURY It is a story of survival, of love within a small five man community of a Sherman tank crew, fighting in Germany in the final days of WWII. The German army was already beaten. Remaining elements of the SS were capable of murderous resistance. They fought with all of the skill and spirit of their training by the regime that took power with Hitler as its leader. Given antecedent history, conditions visually presented by the film were as they had to be. The story telling was honestly violent, like the release of an arrow that traces a straight line to the target. I will watch the film again in due time. It is a parable of life.
The morning was spent with a son and daughter, their two spouses, and two grandchildren. The hope and joy of a child almost three and another approaching two is self-evident, palpable. Language, the magic of words, and their power to create a map of reality — lends exuberance to developing physicality; to run, jump, and to obtain the objects of one’s desire. Becoming human is a process of body, mind, speech, of emotional expression.
Life is good.
