This Is My Platform

 If I were to run for public office, this would be my platform.

I will end inflation. I will lower the price of gasoline. I will make the US an officially Christian nation. I will ban all abortions for any reason, including to save the life of the woman. I will encourage drilling for oil and natural gas everywhere. I will ban all books that teach anything with which I don't agree. I will surround myself with the dumbest, most corrupt and repugnant people I can find, as long as they have lots of money to pay me. 

I will do nothing to help the poor or the oppressed. I will get rid of safety nets such as Medicare and Social Security despite the fact that millions of Americans have paid into these programs for decades. I will eliminate affordable health care. I will end public health programs.

I will encourage racism and anti-Semitism on a massive scale. After all, America should return to its foundation as a white country. And I will end all immigration.

I will ban all public protests.

Gays and transgender people can go back into the closet where they belong.

I will cancel all environmental protection programs. I will offer bounties for the killing of predators such as wolves and bears. I will sell expensive permits for hunting and trapping these animals.

In short, I will do what is best for me and for my colleagues, not what is best for the country and its citizens.

I will be a Republican.

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I have no desire to run for public office. The 'platform' above is written sarcastically about the state of the current iteration of the Republican Party.

Please, if you haven't already, vote on Nov. 8. The fate of our democracy depends on it.

May You Always Walk in Beauty

 “May you always walk in beauty.” ~ Black Elk

I love this quote from the Oglala Lakota leader Black Elk. It's such a simple yet profound statement.

Who among us wouldn't enjoy walking in beauty? There are, of course, various kinds of beauty. There is the beauty of the natural world, something I enjoy experiencing and photographing.
There is personal physical beauty, something possessed by only a small fraction of humans. And there is the beauty that comes from within.

To which kind of beauty was Black Elk referring? I don't know, but I like to think it was both the beauty of the natural world and internal beauty. Some people simply are beautiful people in how they treat others, in their kindness and generosity. Such a person can be said to have a beautiful heart.

The Dine (Navajo) people believe that to walk in beauty is to be in harmony with all things -- people, animals, nature, life. They have a beautiful prayer that reflects this belief.

This prayer is the closing prayer from the Navajo Blessing Way ceremony.

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again

Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.

In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful.

It's often not easy these days to live in harmony, to find the beauty in our world. I am fortunate to live in a place where I can see nature's beauty nearly every day. I live in the high desert, where the landscape tends to be brown and dry, but oh, what sunrises we get, particularly in the winter when there are clouds hovering around the mountain range.

Wherever you live and whatever life you lead, I hope that you will walk in beauty.

I Still Despair

 I have had this feeling for a few years, and it is getting stronger.

And indeed, world events combined with activity in the US are making this feeling even stronger.

I am in despair. I despair for the future of the United States as a democratic nation and as a nation of laws under which all are allegedly created, and treated, equally. 

I despair for the future of our planet because of our refusal to take the serious and immediate steps necessary to combat climate change. 

I despair for the future of wildlife as they struggle to survive as their habitat shrinks and as they are slaughtered to satisfy the greed of humans.

I despair for those who live their lives in abject poverty with no hope of escape. I cannot imagine trying to feed a family on a minimum wage income while facing the exorbitant prices of groceries I face each week.

I despair for the place of women in our society as our rights continue to be stripped from us. And it isn't just our legal rights that are at risk. It's something far more pervasive. 

I despair that some states are now banning books the rulers deem to be too dangerous for people to read. Do you know who else banned books deemed unacceptable? The Nazis.

I despair for the future of free elections, untainted by cheating, manipulation and voter suppression. 

I despair that, unable to win national elections, Republicans have decided to set their sights on government at the state and local levels. A prime example happened just today, when the gerrymandered legislature in Tennessee expelled three Democrats who had joined a student protest against gun violence. They overturned the will of the people who had elected these three people to represent them.

I despair for the survival of a country so deeply divided not just over politics, but over a lack of respect for science and truth and compassion and equality and vaccinations and equal rights for women, and over everything necessary for the survival of a nation when there is no longer common ground.

I despair over politicians' willingness to ignore what is best for the nation in favor of their own greediness for power.

I despair that Rethuglican politicians are working hard to disenfranchise communities that traditionally favor Democratic candidates, by closing neighborhood polling places, eliminating drive-up ballot drop-boxes, and taking similar steps that make it more difficult for the poor, for minorities and for the elderly to cast their ballots.

I despair that women still are treated by far too many as second-class citizens. It isn't only the Taliban in Afghanistan who treat women as 'less than.' Control over our bodies has been eroded by no less than the US Supreme Court, not to mention by numerous male-dominated state legislatures. 

We may lack the physical strength of some men, but we should be far removed from the days when brawn was more important than brains. We have the brains, the talent and the abilities of men. We can lead, often in a more compassionate manner, as well as men can. The daughter of a friend of mine has an extremely successful career as an officer in the US Navy. She had command of a ship during the Gulf War. She didn't receive her command because of her muscles. Her ship wasn't painted pink. She earned her position. The next position above hers is rear admiral.

So why do we women, and our male supporters, continually have to fight for equal pay and for equal opportunities? Why do we continue to allow ourselves to be seen as little more than brood mares to soothe male egos? Why do we not rise up in protest until we are given the same rights as men are?

I despair as this country moves ever closer to becoming an oligarchy, where wealth and power and control are in the grasp of only a few old, white men.

I am old, and frankly, I am glad that I won't have to live in a country that has fallen so very far from the ideals on which it was founded.

Balloon Fiesta, version 50

Today is October 1. 

The sky is clear. The sun is shining. The temperature is comfortably cool and crisp. And overhead, hundreds of hot air balloons float silently on day one of the 50th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Some 800,000 people are expected to attend this year's 9-day fiesta, along with 648 hot air balloons. This is a far cry from the original balloon fiesta, which included a mere 13 hot air balloons.

Although I stay far away from the traffic and the crowds, I often have a rignside seat from my own back yard. This morning's breeze brought numerous balloons over my neighborhood, and every so often a balloon will land on one of the unpaved roads nearby. 

One of the things I most enjoy about the hot air balloons, aside from the bright colors and seeing balloons from other nations, is the sound of the propane burners igniting to heat the air to keep the balloons aloft. The sound reminds me of another favorite sound, that of a whale exhaling as it breaks the surface of the ocean.

My dogs aren't fans of the balloons, and last year I watched as a terrified coyote fled down the road as I walked my dogs early one morning. But the two-footed animals nearby gather in yards and on quiet streets to watch the balloons float by. One morning a few years ago, a balloon from Brazil landed just a few streets away. Local folks volunteer to be part of the chase crews that follow the balloons while in flight, showing up as the balloon lands to help gather the envelope (the colorful part that is inflated) and the basked into the bed of a pick-up truck.

Balloon Fiesta is a really big deal for Albuquerque and the surrounding area, both financially and regarding visibility. Albuquerque has a major image problem due to its high rate of homicides and other crimes, so the balloon fiesta offers a positive view of the city. 

I am always happy when the event rolls around and the weather cooperates. And it's always such a fun thing to watch, for residents and visitors alike.