Mass Murder of the Week: the New Pandemic
I do not want to be writing this right now. Suddenly we have become a nation of victims and willing witnesses, wondering when, how, and where the next mass murderer will strike.
It has a new flavor. We are not even sure why people are dying. In Georgia, the killer whose victims included six Asian women told police it was not racial. That’s hard to believe. In Boulder, the suspect has not attested to any reason. Why did ten people have to lose their lives when they were just going to the store, showing up for a vaccination, or just doing their jobs?
Why are we so incapable of making this stop? On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow takes us back to December 2012 and the Sandy Hook shootings, revives the sense of outrage and “never again” that gripped the country. Then Vice President Joe Biden led a task force that made a list of dozens of laws and regulations that ought to be passed. And none of them were.
What will happen this time? Will the sacrosanct filibuster preclude our taking any action? When will enough be enough?
Meeting a New Friend
I have someone special to introduce to you: A new guest contributor and long-time friend, Amber Masci. Faith and I met Amber many years ago when we went to a dream seminar the Pacific Institute for Graduate Studies in Santa Barbara. At the opening session, we were instructed to pair up with one or two others. Faith and Amber—at opposite sides of the room—wound up as the only two left. They became a dynamic duo—both fantastic dreamers and careful sensitive listeners. The three of us soon decided that we would go to an intermediate session, and even later we went to an advanced seminar, meeting once a month six times. Our friendship quickly extended to include Amber’s husband, Felix, then completing work on the advanced degree he needed to teach accounting. We haven’t been to a dream seminar in years, but we are still great friends.When I started this blog, I did not think of Amber as being a contributor. That changed in a flash when she showed us the booklet her father had compiled about Amber’s Great Aunt Margaret, and her decades abroad serving the poor and needy as a Catholic nun. This is a story that needs to be told more widely, I thought, and asked Amber if she would take a shot at it. Her story is posted today. I have not asked if she would consider making regular contributions, but I hope she does!
Featured epistle in this Keyboard
Diving into the “First Thought” among the Lojong “preliminaries” activates ancient anxieties that I had supposed had been settled long ago.?
When the author’s father compiles a booklet about her Great Aunt Margaret, who served abroad for several decades as a Catholic sister, nurse and administrator, Amber finds a new appreciation for the women who have gone before HER.
Mary looks at the main players in the emerging field of cognitive archeology
The Big Huzzah
This poem—in its way—serves as a tribute to all the parents who have sat with their school-age children, accepting the challenge of their assignments.
Til next time …
With Passover and Easter just around the corner, it IS time to think of family and friends—and of the spiritual traditions that bring us together.
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