What would I write in response to the landscape around me? I have noticed a lack of birds in my garden this spring, and that my boot bird house appears to not be inhabited yet, and that my bird feeders are empty, which is likely one factor impacting a lack of birds. Yet, I walk daily past the empty bird feeder and don’t make an effort to clean and refill it. Why?
🤷🏼♀️
This is what comes to mind and will probably write about.
See you Saturday. I invited a writing friend to join.
Julie, I love all the different definitions of DRT and your expression of just how long and multifaceted recovery is from a natural disaster.
I fear that recovery from our current national disaster will be far more challenging for many reasons. To begin with, almost half the country doesn’t see it as a disaster at all, but as a triumph. So there’s the problem of perception.
When there’s a flood or an earthquake or wildfire, people aren’t cheering on the sidelines or saying it didn’t happen at all or that nothing is wrong.
And with natural disasters, they have a beginning and they have an end and then there is the recovery. Our national disaster is continuing to unfold and escalate on a daily basis, with much of the long-term damage hidden from view.
How can we get to recovery if the disaster is ongoing?
Thank you for the question, Laura. Your assessment of the hidden ongoing and future damage, and those who see it as a triumph is spot-on. The dissonance is part of the disaster.
Yes, I like that—the dissonance is part of the disaster. I know the cruelty is part of the plan, an essential part, but it feels so annihilating to me. I know cruelty is part of the human playbook, but still….like Anne Frank, part of me still wants to believe that “people are good at heart.” Not.
I'm still holding on to that hope. At least the idea that good is always possible, that stupidity and even cruelty can be transformed by good, by love. That's not without a whole lot of pain and scarring, though. For folks in my line of faith work, that's pretty much the message of this week, but that doesn't make it any easier to remember during days of despair.
Halfway through Holy Week, and it has felt truly "unholy" in so many ways...and then your post today brings a strain of redemption easing some of the pain, Julie. I don't know how or why another "r" word arose in me as reached the end of the poem and the post, but thank you for offering redeeming words when they're most needed. (And may the DRT continue in strength and perseverance to be a source of grace and comfort--to all concerned.)
Thank you SarahLee, for offering redemption as another R word, perfect for this Holy Week as we keep walking toward resurrection—and there’s another…..
Thank you, Julie, for sharing your honesty and reality through your writing. Today's post was my devotional this morning, and very much needed by me during this journey through Holy Week. Blessings to you. Laura
What would I write in response to the landscape around me? I have noticed a lack of birds in my garden this spring, and that my boot bird house appears to not be inhabited yet, and that my bird feeders are empty, which is likely one factor impacting a lack of birds. Yet, I walk daily past the empty bird feeder and don’t make an effort to clean and refill it. Why?
🤷🏼♀️
This is what comes to mind and will probably write about.
See you Saturday. I invited a writing friend to join.
Wonderful noticing. See you Saturday, and glad to have your friend on board!
Julie, I love all the different definitions of DRT and your expression of just how long and multifaceted recovery is from a natural disaster.
I fear that recovery from our current national disaster will be far more challenging for many reasons. To begin with, almost half the country doesn’t see it as a disaster at all, but as a triumph. So there’s the problem of perception.
When there’s a flood or an earthquake or wildfire, people aren’t cheering on the sidelines or saying it didn’t happen at all or that nothing is wrong.
And with natural disasters, they have a beginning and they have an end and then there is the recovery. Our national disaster is continuing to unfold and escalate on a daily basis, with much of the long-term damage hidden from view.
How can we get to recovery if the disaster is ongoing?
Thank you for the question, Laura. Your assessment of the hidden ongoing and future damage, and those who see it as a triumph is spot-on. The dissonance is part of the disaster.
Yes, I like that—the dissonance is part of the disaster. I know the cruelty is part of the plan, an essential part, but it feels so annihilating to me. I know cruelty is part of the human playbook, but still….like Anne Frank, part of me still wants to believe that “people are good at heart.” Not.
I'm still holding on to that hope. At least the idea that good is always possible, that stupidity and even cruelty can be transformed by good, by love. That's not without a whole lot of pain and scarring, though. For folks in my line of faith work, that's pretty much the message of this week, but that doesn't make it any easier to remember during days of despair.
Well, as I move into my day, I'm going to piggyback on your belief.
Love Salvage so much it aches in my heart. A prompt indeed.
I hope you get to write from that ache, Elaine. Peace to you.
Halfway through Holy Week, and it has felt truly "unholy" in so many ways...and then your post today brings a strain of redemption easing some of the pain, Julie. I don't know how or why another "r" word arose in me as reached the end of the poem and the post, but thank you for offering redeeming words when they're most needed. (And may the DRT continue in strength and perseverance to be a source of grace and comfort--to all concerned.)
Thank you SarahLee, for offering redemption as another R word, perfect for this Holy Week as we keep walking toward resurrection—and there’s another…..
Thank you, Julie, for sharing your honesty and reality through your writing. Today's post was my devotional this morning, and very much needed by me during this journey through Holy Week. Blessings to you. Laura
Thank you Laura. Blessings and peace to you too during this Holy Week.