Summer's Heat

Dear Maria,

Good morning! The summer air was hanging hot and humid at sunrise, and only now at mid-morning is the breeze bringing some relief. Even Max contained his enthusiasm during our daily stroll at 6:30—tongue hanging, head lowered, gait slowed.

Had the happy occasion to spend some time with my kid brother and his youngest son this past weekend. They were in Greenville, and so 28 of the clan gathered for a cookout. Of course, it was the hottest weekend so far. Of course, we stoked up two grills. Hot weather, fire the charcoal. And we even think it grilling season—heat for heat, hot hotter hottest.

How hot this summer gets, well that remains to be seen.

As for your questions—or better, your fears for how goes the world these days—I have no answers. Not that I don’t have some thoughts—okay, opinions—and you know how that goes with me.

What I can say is that I am not afraid for family and friends much beyond whatever I might have thought 5 years ago or 10 or 20. Not that the landscapes are exactly the same—culturally, politically, economically.

However, I have not yielded to fears of an existential nature—that some apocalyptic or seismic shift is about to take place. Call me naïve, or even ignorant, but since few nations disappear even as empires may rise and wane, I think the union survives.

As for day-to-day existence, our quality of life, I can’t imagine much of a redesign by broad strokes. Yes, the Information Wars rage, but I do not see a shooting war here at home. Yes, threats are being fomented here and abroad, but I do not see the populace brought to its knees in abject servitude.

Come back in a 100 years or 500, and my tiny voice could well be the small utterings of a blind fool.

We are always at now, not then and not to come. Or not much beyond, speaking for myself, another two decades or so. Not predictive, not expected—just hazarding a guess.

You might think what is unspoken here is a callousness toward the tragedies of the day. Not at all. I flinch at the ugliness of violence, I ache when I think of family and friends left behind, I yearn for peace between peoples.

But, I choose not to live life as a raw wound.

Well, that should teach you to ask for my thoughts—don’t get me started as the saying goes. I trust you and your family are doing well and will suck the marrow out of the summer season.

Wow! Just watched a male bluebird and a female cardinal sit on the same limb together not even 2 feet apart. They were staring into the neighbor’s backyard and then zoom, off they went together. I may not have seen it all yet, but that is one less item to come.

On that note, I remain yours.

srk