“When I got home I
mixed a stiff one and stood by the open window in the living room and sipped it
and listened to the groundswell of traffic on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and
looked at the glare of the big angry city hanging over the shoulder of the
hills through which the boulevard had been cut. Far off the banshee wail of
police or fire sirens rose and fell, never for very long completely silent. Out
there in the night of a thousand crimes, people were dying, being maimed, cut
by flying glass, crushed against steering wheels or under heavy tires. People
were being beaten, robbed, strangled, raped, and murdered. People were hungry,
sick; bored, desperate with loneliness or remorse or fear; angry, cruel,
feverish, shaken by sobs. A city no worse than others, a city rich and vigorous
and full of pride, a city lost and beaten and full of emptiness. It all depends
on where you sit and what your private score is.” ~ Excerpt from Raymond
Chandler’s The Long Goodbye
“We make progress in society only if we stop cursing and complaining about its shortcomings and have the courage to do something about them.” ~ Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Physician/Author Pictured here is Kikuko Shinjo, 89 years old, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. As a 17-year old nursing student she helped nurse victims of the carnage back to health. Many of them died in her care. She says she holds no grudge against America and encourages interaction between the Japanese and Americans. She has devoted her life to peace, saying, “I want all the people around the world to be friends, and I want to make my country peaceful without fighting.” Today she makes colorful paper cranes and donates them to the Children’s Peace Monument at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
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