This week I was reminded there are some things in life that are never changing. Immoveable. Not actually relative, not actually “my truth.” There is big Truth. (Echo, Echo, Echo).
Let’s talk about raising kids – they’ll always need you and sometimes more as big people than when they were toddlers. I got to go help the Big Daughter move houses from Alameda to Oakland. From an adorable little packed in neighborhood of sturdy Craftsman, decorative Queen Anne, and Film Noire Spanish Revival across the bridge to a Craftsman tucked in (tight) next to a huge Carniceria, or Mexican Grocery store complete with an open-air produce market. We had coffee and lunch near the beach and spent a great day working hard and catching up. I also got to help the Little Daughter-Drama Queen move home after a grand adventure and indeed, at 18 years old, they still need us.
Let’s talk nature – she is beautiful. Powerful. Soothingly consistent and reliable. There was a full moon last week and two days in a row I got to watch it set in the early morning west and rise in the evening west. Huge and full, and weighty. It was spectacular, set on a stage painted by the show-off universe who cast wide brushstrokes on a sunrise morning canvas and then equally showy sunsets. The purity and simple beauty renews your soul.
Let’s talk politics – necessary. Corrupt in the literary sense like all messed up and completely deranged from what it was originally supposed to be, not the criminal sense. Although that too. It has become painful and hopeless to watch. Worse to participate. And yet – we must. We must continue to read, listen, think. As much as it hurts.
I bring this up because we are printing an opinion piece this week which consistently brings out the venom and people cancel their subscriptions, which we cannot afford right now. We also cannot, as a community, afford to lose our ability to communicate with each other. To listen and to return comments with grace. The number one rule in my classroom as a Political Science teacher at the college or an English teacher at the high school was to practice Polite Public Discourse. Without it, we are lost.
Over the next few weeks, we have planned several stories that will bear polite consideration of all sides. We will continue to encourage people to pen thoughtful opinion pieces – where else can we learn perspectives different from our own? We want to hear from people who live and know things different from us. Well-rounded thinking may not change our decisions, but it gives a legitimacy when decisions are finally made.
Politics wasn’t meant to be one-sided. Getting to the middle, finding common ground, requires opposing sides.
These things I learned again this week. Or was reminded by the beauty of tearing through life.
Stepping off the soapbox now… we will continue to keep you posted,
Rachel
Rhett quote of the week: “I’m not paying seven dollars for that shirt!” At Walmart with Sloan looking at a four dollar shirt.
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