Peace on Earth and in my News Feed

Dear Wednesday,

It’s amazing how much you can hear when there isn’t a constant, droning, off-key noise in your ear at all times.

I’m not talking about a physical ailment, but about the saturation of news about a now ex-president that rendered everything a little soiled, a little ugly, and a lot crazy. Sadly there are still rabidly loyal soiled, ugly, and crazy supporters still in some governments and media, so I’ve fine-tuned my news feeds and sources to bypass this “news” and lo… spring flowers are sprouting from once infertile land, grey clouds are parting, curtains are being drawn, light and fresh air are flooding spaces previously heavy with toxic gasbags and inexplicable stupidity. Welcome to peace on earth and in my news feed.

These terrible people and problems won’t go away, but neither would they disappear when they spread like an oily stain on my consciousness. All my frustration and anger made not a whit of difference. Now I can make not a whit of difference without the anger, frustration, or oily stains. 

It’s nice. 

Of course, such news did serve to distract from issues closer to home, but home issues need to be heard and addressed, and locally those dealing with complicated problems are doing so with varying degrees of competence, empathy, good will, selflessness, and conscience. There is no smothering evilness or soul-crushing stupidity.

Very pleasant.

Apropos of nothing except that it is a glorious Wednesday, may I now present a few of my favourite cartoons?

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Peace!

~FP

Just So You Know

Prompt: Imagine

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Dear Wednesday,

Do you remember a time when John Lennon’s song Imagine was considered controversial?

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Christians have condemned those words as blasphemous. According to a 2015 article in The National Review “to believers of older religion its (“Imagine’s”) open recommendation of an atheist faith cannot but sound lamentable and threatening.”

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

These lines were attacked as unpatriotic. The National Review article concludes that “few songs are more divisive”.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world

This verse was condemned for its “communist overtones.”

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Did I say was controversial? This Lennon/Ono penned song is still vilified by right wing Christians and other religious fundamentalists and political ideologues. …What would Jesus think?

Relating to today’s casual prompt “imagine” in the most tenuous way is the first of these three of my favourite cartoons:

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Wishing you peace, love, blasphemy, unpatriotism, and communism,

~~FP

Another Kind of Heaven

Prompt: Passenger

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the smell. He smelled clean grass, and the pungent bark of trees, and he smelled the river. Yes, the scent of smooth rocks bathed by flowing water, the wet soil and sand of the river bank, and the roots of trees and the floating leaves and fish and frogs.

He coughed, and wiped something black from his lips, and remembered what he now did not smell: smoke, ash, gunpowder, blood, shit, fear, and decay.

Across from him, Sam sat awkwardly leaning up against a tree trunk, staring at his hands. Turning his hands over and examining the palms, and then the backs again, his fingernails lined in black like kohl on a whore. He was filthy, bloody, and thin.

“What happened, Sam?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Where are we?”

Sam looked up. “I don’t know, Peter,” he said.

Wherever they were, Peter suspected Sam had got him there. He had a good idea of where they might be. Where they came from was hell. What could this be, but heaven?

“Can you hear the birds?” asked Sam.

Peter shook his head. The last thing he remembered was the thudding sound of artillery as he crested the ridge, bayonet in hand. Perhaps a shell had hit its mark. Perhaps he was blown to bits.

“Are there birds?”

“Yes, finches, meadowlarks,” said Sam. “There was a fat robin.”

“I can’t hear them.”

“Can you hear the river?”

“No, is it nearby? I can smell it.”

They were in a small copse of birch and poplar and pine, in a wide meadow of tall grass flanked by a forest, beyond which were hills, then mountains, then mountains dusted with snow.

His left calf was wrapped in strips of bloodied cotton sheeting. He wondered why he felt no pain. He did, suddenly, feel hungry.

Sam said, “I’ll get some water, and find something to eat, in a moment.” Then his head slowly nodded and his chin fell to his chest, his mouth partly open, snoring quietly. Both of them were intimate with exhaustion, and falling asleep instantly the minute it was quiet and safe was a survival strategy.

Peter was exhausted, but he wasn’t sleepy. He turned his head and felt the rough bark against his cheek. He pulled a handful of grass and weeds and brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply. He coughed again. He stared at Sam. He looked up at a cloudless sky.

Sam had brought him to this place, this heaven. Sam was a good man. The gates of heaven would be open to Sam.

Peter was a murderer, a thief, and a liar. How is it he was allowed to sit in the cool shade, breathing, alive?

He tried to get up, but collapsed against the tree again. He watched Sam, for an hour, or maybe two, until his own eyelids fluttered shut, and he was in another kind of heaven, the heaven of dreamless sleep.

–

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• The Man Who Used to be Sam

Solitude

Photo Challenge: Solitude

 

I’m fortunate to be able to be completely entranced by subtle changes in my world. This misty morning was intensely silent and reinforced my concept of solitude, which is: Solitude is not loneliness, it is the exquisite appreciation of aloneness and quiet connection.

Vegetables and Day 10

Prompt: Vegetal

Don’t say yes to stress! How to have one day of peace!

I could have been a contender in the click-bait olympics, don’t you think?

Well, I’ve actually been fairly stressed-out this past while, what with NaNoWriMo and the elections and all that, and thought I would share yesterday’s diet and very simple routine that made me feel a LOT better, for at least a day and a half!

The routine: News-free day. No checking out websites for any kind of news, local or international. No newspapers. No TV news hour. No discussions except about how cute your dog looks when he sleeps on his back. Take a walk if you can. Pay attention to your breathing, and breathe in lots of cool, fresh air. Read something— a comic book or Mark Nepo or how about tinybuddha.com‘s Quote of the Day? Today it is:

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~Alan Watts

The diet: Avoid sugar, caffeine, and too much alcohol.

Breakfast: Avocado and Egg Toast for 2

2 pieces whole grain bread, toasted
1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced
Squeeze of fresh lemon
2 poached or fried eggs
Lots of salt and pepper
Mush half the avocado on each piece of toast and squeeze lemon juice onto each. Top with an egg, season well and serve with a hot cup of tea with honey. Note: this is delicious.

Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich, a banana, and a tall glass of cold milk.

Dinner: Grilled Salmon, curried brown rice and spinach salad with goodies of choice like feta cheese, tomatoes, cuke, sprouts, etc. (or make salmon cakes from a can of salmon mixed with egg, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and cayenne pepper). Have some dark chocolate for dessert, with a cup of milky chai tea or your favourite warming spice tea (I like Bengal). Avoid drunkenness.

Binge-watch a mystery series on Netflix, or channel surf for sit-com reruns (remember, no news). Play with your dog. Read Jane Austen or Jack London before sleeping; no mobile devices. After lights out consciously relax every part of your body, concentrating on your jaw, neck and shoulders. Have peaceful dreams.

It worked for me.