Yesterday, Gentle Reader, you read the bitter and sour on these pages. This morning, shall we add a little sugar and honey? I was having a reasonably involved morning and early afternoon with my clients until things ended rather abruptly at one in the afternoon, and I was feeling a little bit awkward at having all this extra time left to fill in the afternoon. I did okay, but did end up staying home, where I had paperwork, and then some research work that needed to be done on Mexican artists, since that is the series of themes for future art classes I will be facilitating, should they ever be revived (and fortunately, I'm still getting paid for it), as well as running interference with one of my building managers and a couple of supervisors by phone and email regarding domestic and work matters. The building manager did finally come in to look at my kitchen faucet, and things at work are more or less all hunky dory.
I believe I was just relaxing before starting dinner, and taking a break from the research work. I had snacked already on a banana, a dish of low fat vanilla yogurt, and now I was enjoying some roasted unsalted cashews and a cup of homemade hot chocolate, while listening to classical music. All simple and ordinary enough, perhaps a bit excessively twee. then it hit me. I am living in absolute luxury. Even though I am a low-income worker living in government-subsidized housing I have at my fingertips, such food that would have been even beyond the reach of kings and princes in an earlier time, while enjoying the ministrations of staff in my building to help facilitate my ability to go on living here.
This morning, I can type out this boring screed on a little machine the size of a sketchbook, and when I press publish, it will be read by people all over the world. On this same little device, later today, I will be chatting with a friend who lives in Colombia. If his camera is finally working, then we will also actually see each other,, though he can still see me, given that my laptop camera functions quite well.
Last night, during and following dinner, I binge-watched two episodes of the Murdoch Mysteries, on this same laptop, then listened to interesting news items on the radio, followed by a presentation about alternatives to economic capitalism for an hour, the link to which I sent to my other, and very dear, friend who lives in Colombia, which he received seconds after I sent it and will likely be listening to it this morning as part of his English practice and personal enlightenment.
Even if the world is coming to an end (and maybe it isn't!), I live in a warm, safe and pleasant apartment, in a beautiful city, and I have meaningful work, good friends, access to art materials, books and reading and resources for improving my Spanish, while enjoying good physical and mental health. And the Holy One, God, is always near. What's there not to love, to be totally thankful for! Will this all end? All things come to an end. But how? Will we beat climate change? That is an uncertainty and it's going to be a huge uphill battle, but part of the joy is in not giving up the fight. I personally think we're going to be okay. While all the scientific research and models paint a dire and frightening picture, there are times when even science isn't going to get it right, because our understanding is always going to be substantially less than perfect. My guess is that things are going to get worse before they get better, but ultimately, things are going to get better, and we re going to have to fight for it.
We will keep hoping, and we will keep fighting, and we are not going to barter off our joy.
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