I work very hard to be positive. I bet you do too. This month we had a lovely Mother's Day. We most of us have a three-day weekend with Memorial Day. There are graduations. People are traveling--a visit with family, trips further afield. Most everyone looks forward to summer. If you've stopped by your local garden center your senses have been filled. Hybrid begonias and peonies, lush hanging baskets, woodsy mulch. Your own garden may be at its peak. Life can be good.
But on May 2 Justice Alito's draft Supreme Court opinion was released overturning the constitutional right of women and girls to terminate their unhealthy or unwanted pregnancies--no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman or girl. Forced pregnancies reminiscent of the days of slavery.
On May 14 an 18-year-old white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Tops Friendly Market store in Buffalo, New York. . . . I started a post about this but was so depressed and angry that I put it on hold.
Thereafter on May 22 Mariupol fell to the Russians. A once beautiful port city is pulverized. Over 1,700 Ukrainians surrendered after a 3-month siege. Ukrainian soldiers are in Russian custody. What will happen to them? I think of our North Carolina port cities like Morehead City where my parents lived. We can visualize this.
Switching topics: Sleep is a great disappearing act and my mom was a great promoter of naps. So I took one yesterday. I woke up thinking I'd post something positive. But when I sat down at my computer I saw the news. Today's mass shooting (an important phrase) was at a Texas elementary school and 19 children and 2 teachers are dead. So is the shooter; again a disturbed young man, still a teenager, with easy access to weapons. He shot his grandmother as well. Too horrible to write.
It's like the 1 million US Covid death milestone, also reached this month and disproportionately high. It almost doesn't matter. Eight hundred thousand, nine hundred, what is the difference? Either every death counts or it doesn't. Either every killing of a Black person counts or it doesn't. Either every Ukrainian counts or they don't. Either every school shooting counts or it doesn't.
Another switch: It's cooled off here today. My hydrangeas are beginning to bloom. They are always bright blue by our anniversary on June 4. So, for what can I be thankful? For what can you?
Well, we are alive. We can vote. As gerry-rigged as North Carolina may be, we can still vote, all of us. There are people working in other states too. Stacey Abrams in Georgia is a force and, God willing, won't give up. In the Georgia Republican primaries Trump's choices were defeated.
My family members are healthy, most of them. Our New Jersey family is looking forward to North Carolina fishing and uncrowded beaches. Surely we can each find joy in the people we love unconditionally.
Last night we went to the band concert at the local School of the Arts. The children are from many cultures, all growing and learning together and performing with great gusto and talent. They give hope. I will admit, I looked around the auditorium just momentarily fearful of a shooter. But my faith has not been shattered. If you are a person of faith, I hope that for you too.
So . . . life goes on as it must. Let us not abdicate or despair. Rather, let us be truthful, let us be kind, let us persevere; let us look for solutions everywhere, nurture ourselves and others, find beauty to sustain us and love one another . . . . Let not one moment, or even many, define us. Let us be brave. Let us say AMEN.
Nina Naomi
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