(no subject)

So it wasn't enough to be at the beach with a hurricane on the way on the anniversay of Katrina--I'm also flying to California tomorrow. But of course that's not a real worry. I'm going for three days of teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the first time I've heard him in person, and feel very good about the trip. Also, it's practically free--flying on my son's ff miles that he piles up weekly, and staying with the grandmother of one of his friends, a 90-year old lady in an Arts and Crafts house--just what I love.

But still the day makes me think, mostly because the media forces me to. And what it makes me think, this time, is how all of you have lived through your own private 9-11, at least once--a time when something worse than all you'd ever feared crashed into your life and left you standing in the ashes. The death of a child, the end of a marriage, a horrible wreck, a fire--in your own lives, you faced the devastation, and somehow you're still here.

I don't mean to minimize the horror of it happening to all those bright young people, all at once, but the truth is, every day it is happening. We have only one individual experience of the worst, no matter how many other people are having it at the same time.

So my admiration for the celebrated survivors and non extends to all of you and your beautiful courage.

And I guess the good part of most of our individual horrors is that Bush and ABC can't co-opt them.

In totally other news, but maybe not unrelated, let me recommend Little Miss Sunshine as a funny and profound antidote.

(no subject)

A very happy birthday to gleefulfreak! I should give you something, but instead I'm using your icon. Thanks for all the beauty you bring to the world.