Wolf Moon

 

The Wolf Moon howls in the January night

Rising through the sky in the fullness of our sight

And in her howls we hear her voice echoing the pain

Of the fear and isolation that make us feel insane.

 

Time has slowed, the lonely hours now stretching on and on

In the greyness of the days and long darkness between dawns

Soaking in the anger of every news report

Every tweet and posted meme and scathing sharp retort.

 

Comforting hugs and touches, distanced from our thoughts

Hours of planning holiday gatherings sadly spent for naught

Weeks of isolation within our painted walls

Restricting interactions to email and videocalls.

 

And somewhere in the midst, we forget the way to live

The blessing and the gifts that these separate days can give

The chance to reimagine how the world can really be

When the walls of solitude come down and we are finally free

 

The Wolf Moon howls in the January night

Rising through the sky in the fullness of our sight

Let her voice be our reminder that our pain can be our might

If only we remember to look up and see the light.

Of Computers and Sedition

 

Sedition

[ si-dish-uhn ] 

noun

incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.

any action, especially in speech or writing, promoting such discontent or rebellion.

Archaic. rebellious disorder.

 

I am once again living in computer hell.  My son can't figure out why I can never seem to get more than four years out of a laptop, no matter how expensive it is.  I've been nursing this one along for about a year now.  It started giving me grief a week after my three year service contract expired.  My plan was to buy a new computer and send this one in for repair so I could keep it as a back-up.  I was set to do it as soon as we returned from Australia in March.  I wasn't contemplating a pandemic when I made the plan.  So I find myself limping along with the computer I have. My charging cord is duct taped in.  My system somehow manages to shut it self down several times a day with no help from me. If I'm in the middle of work, it can be a real problem, but I'm limping along.  I know there will come a day when my laptop gasps it's last breath and I won't be able to limp along anymore.  I'm hoping it will come after lockdown has ended.  It's a bad time to be trying to buy a new computer.

 

The truth is, I hate buying new technology.  It will mean I have to relearn how to use everything.  Nothing is ever the same and I am an old lady now, learning new technology doesn't come easy.  But of course every time I get a new computer, I'm also amazed at how much better they are than the last.  Faster speeds, higher resolutions, better sound.  I forget that part as I patch, patch, patch my old phones and laptops until I can patch no more. Things really need to break before I can summon the energy and the courage to get rid of them and replace them.  The good thing about laptops and phones is that when I get new ones, Jacob downloads all the good things from the last devices and puts them into my new devices.  I don't have to get rid of all my history or all of my good work but I get to choose what to move forward and what I am prepared to let go of forever.

 

Yesterday, the world watched in horror as a gang of domestic terrorists attacked the U.S. capitol, rioted and trashed the offices of the congress and invaded the House of Representatives and the Senate floors.  It was a terrorist attack incited by the highest elected official in the country.  Death and mayhem courtesy of Donald Trump.  CNN just reported the fifth death resulting from yesterday's insurrection.  An officer of the capitol police has succumbed to his injuries.

 

For four years, we have watched an ailing U.S. limp along infected with hate, lies and division, run by a pathological, sociopathic, narcissistic conman.  For four long years it has been patch, patch, patch.  Yesterday it broke.  As heartbreaking as it was to watch, I couldn't help but feel that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing that it happened.  Now that it is broken, our friends to the south have an opportunity to build a new country.  The United States of America 2.0.  They can still take all their history and all the really good parts of the old country and install them in a new one.  They can create a better, fairer system for all their people.  This is their chance to do better and be better.  But if it's going to work, it's time to face some hard truths.  It's time to stop saying "This is not who we are", because it actually is who they are right now, but that doesn't mean it is who they have to continue to be.  If they are honest with themselves they will know better and when they know better, they will do better.  It is time to stop saying that the president of the United States is the leader of the free world.  I am not American.  Their president is not my leader.  The rest of us in the developed world have figured out a few things that might help our American friends - like universal healthcare and decent gun control laws.  If they ask us for our help, I'm sure we will give it.  Canada and the U.S., siblings separated by the longest undefended border in the world, have been closed off from one another for months now, the first time in our history but it didn't have to be that way.  We could have worked together to fight the scourge of this pandemic.  But we didn't because for four years, Donald Trump has been trying to pick a fight with us.  So pathetic and so deadly.

 

But family is family.  We take care of our own.  We are always standing by to provide help, support and refuge if asked and if things get really tough, a butter tart or two.