The Unclad Soul

“Stand up at sunrise and meet what they send you.” -- Reynolds Price, Novelist

I have written about this before but it has to be said again. The murderous brutality showered upon the Palestinians by the Israeli military and Israel’s political leaders is a travesty beyond, in my opinion, any justification. Where are the voices for peace between Arabs and Jews? Where are world leaders saying enough of this bloodbath between Israel and Palestine? Where is there even a single recognizable person of influence willing to ask why Israel continues to destroy Gaza, building by building taking with them the lives of children and people simply wanting to have a normal life? Where are those voices? There are none. I understand all of the arguments against Hamas and its group of violent extremists. But there is nothing fair about the imbalance of power between Israel and Palestine. And why the world is not opposing this I cannot understand. Journalist and author Joshua Frank has made the obvious point that the continuous push of Israel to ultimately remove Palest...

"You try as a parent. You love beyond reason. You fight beyond endurance. You hope beyond despair. You never think, until the very last moment, that it still might not be enough." ~ Lisa Gardner, Novelist

“I suspect the most we can hope for, and it's no small hope, is that we never give up, that we never stop giving ourselves permission to try to love and receive love.” ~ Elizabeth Strout, Novelist

“Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.” ~ Khalil Gibran, Poet/Mystic

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants.” -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Here’s a spoiler alert: we all make mistakes. That had to be said just in case someone thinks because they have cleaned up their life or because they’ve never had an affair or never abused alcohol or because they believe in God or because they go to church or because they have money or because they’ve never failed badly that they are just fine. Maybe. But I would be cautious. Chances are they’re about to mess up sometime soon; because that’s just part of being a normal human being. There is a character in Barbara Kingsolver’s terrific novel, The Poisonwood Bible, who laments: “I've swallowed my pride before, that's for sure. I'm practically lined with my mistakes on the inside like a bad-wallpapered bathroom.”  That has it about right for most of us. A friend of mine recently went through a tough patch of self humiliation. The details are not necessary, just that he’d had a long day of good food and beer (mostly beer) and had over indulged. The situatio...