Not much to say this morning.  It is gray, raining.  We need the rain.  I am speaking for the vegetation, trees, grass, shrubs and everything really.  Do we not all live by virtue of water?  Blood is water.

At the same time, too much water and a flood soon follows.  Too much of anything is deadly.  I heard report of flooding in the Northeast of Brazil this morning.  It is a poor area, rural, usually dry this time of year.  Many live in make-shift, hand made dwellings.  Two dams have burst adding to the inundation of swollen rivers.  The rain is expected to continue for another week.  The news report on NPR interviewed a climate change expert who said that not enough data points have been collected to attribute the floods to global warming.

Such comments are a reminder of our obsession with empirical “proof” here in the West.  There is a time and a place for the dispassionate collection of data.  These routines, usually carried out before a glowing computer screen, are irrelevant to a poor man clinging to a disintegrating house, holding tenaciously to life that momentarily is to be swept away.

What can we do to deflect the worst effects of these and other weather related catastrophes?  Can we “step aside” to dodge the bullet?  Also, as a single humanity what can we do to take care of one another?

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“Let us be human.”  is a quote attributed to Ludwig Wittgenstein that I think about often.

This tune strikes me as a superlative statement of the mindset to be cultivated if we desire to be human.  That’s a choice which must be made over and over, by each one of us.

Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Simple Man

by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Mama told me when I was young
“Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this it’ll help you some sunny day”

“Oh, take your time, don’t live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You’ll find a woman and you’ll find love
And don’t forget, son, there is someone up above”

“And be a simple kind of man
Be something you love and understand
Baby, be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”

“Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold
All that you need is in your soul
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied”

“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby, be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”

Oh, yes, I will

“Boy, don’t you worry, you’ll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied”

“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby, be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can?”

“Baby, be a simple, be a simple man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby, be a simple kind of simple man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can?”

Writers: Gary Rossington, Ron Van Zant