Reflections on Life - November 2017

REFLECTIONS ON LIFE - November 2017

REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

The ponds’ waters, visible through our bedside windows, are now dark black, appearing deeper than we know them to be.  Particularly in the early light of day, every branch and even small twigs on the surrounding maples are reflected as clearly as in a professional photo.  In the first light of day, now about 6:30am, the rising sun, still shining from below the horizon illuminate the few yellow leaves remaining.  Their deep yellow/orange hue adds a special unworldliness to the ponds’ water.  These tree reflections are dominated by one tall evergreen. More than occasionally we can clearly see surface reflections of contrails, sometimes a parallel pair or more, from jets making their way south. During these early-morning observations, Ophelia and Virginia Wolfe sometimes come to mind, though my view is of the dark waters of a pond, not a river, and although deep thoughts accompany it, they are not tragic.  Rather they serve as an awareness of insights revealing themselves to my consciousness.  One Sunday morning this month before the sun had begun to show on the horizon I sat in the faint light of Lloyd’s office adjacent to our bedroom.  There arose in me, uninvited and peaceful, a very clear and gentle awareness that Lloyd and I, our family, and all of our friends will someday die.

As I wrote in my October Reflections on China, it took Lloyd and me a long time to get back to “normal” after returning home.  It took ten days or so longer than past return flights from New Zealand, India, Africa, and Brazil for example.  I would describe it as remaining in a foggy state of somewhat “otherworldliness,” as if through some spiritual connection that impeded my getting back to the regular “schedule” of my largely unscheduled life.  After all, since leaving 30+ years in public office, “unscheduled” has been one of my primary goals. Not until Thanksgiving Day were we fully back in sync, and for that we were thankful indeed.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

The Zaching Against Cancer Foundation, which Zach himself founded about four years ago after learning his brain cancer had returned, held its annual 2K/5K/10K race last weekend.  More than a thousand participants ran this year.  Each year, the atmosphere clearly gets more celebratory of Zach’s life.  Virtually everyone present - kids, friends from high school and college, young adults and not-so-young, like Lloyd and me - has his or her own unique story of how Zach continues to show up every day as an inspiration in each and every one of their lives. 

 

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOME TOWN

The Baltimore Sun                  November 3, 2017

“Baltimore passes the 300-homicide mark”

This tragic distinction for our neighboring city took place just before local activists launched a cease-fire.

The Baltimore Sun                    November 30, 2017

“’Baltimore Rising’ tells chaotic tale of injustice”

This documentary is directed by Sonja Sohn who played a leading role in David Simon’s acclaimed series about inner city Baltimore, “The Wire.”  She interviews residents of the Penn North neighborhood where Freddie Gray, a young Baltimore man, received injuries that proved to be fatal during a ride in a police van. Lloyd and I missed the first episode of this HBO series.  We intend to go back and watch it and then the rest of the series.

Since I last wrote of Baltimore-born author Ta-Nehisi Coates who has written about Edmondson Villlage, the Baltimore Route 40 neighborhood of my childhood, is receiving increasing fame for his latest book “We were Eight Years in Power:  An American Tragedy.”  The Washington Post’s Carlos Lozada in his column last week entitled “My Memorable Books of 2017” writes “At this point, any book by Ta-Nehisi Coates is an instant best seller and borderline cultural phenomenon.” It feels so good to see a Baltimore-born and bred author receive such acclaim.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY—LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

County of Howard

Although the Baltimore Sun article below is about Baltimore City’s granting of a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) for Port Covington and the resultant significant increase in debt for the city, we in Howard County can get some idea of the results of the $90 million TIF Howard County has given to Howard Hughes Corporation for the continuing development of Downtown Columbia

The Baltimore Sun                             November 12, 2017

“Debt will grow on TIF projects”

State of Maryland

The Baltimore Sun                            November 28, 2017

“Justices decline challenge to Md. Assault weapons ban”

Some good news.  I recall clearly the vote on this assault weapons ban legislation during the 2013 legislative session.  The gun lobby was the strongest I observed during my 20 years in the Maryland legislature.

United States

CNN has been running a very instructive 30-second TV ad sponsored by the network itself and entitled, “This is an Apple”. Lloyd and I first saw it in our stateroom on the ferry that carried us down the Yangtze River several weeks ago.

It portrays a lone apple shown against a blank background with an over-voice saying:

            “This is an apple.

Some people might try to tell you that it is a banana. 

They might scream banana, banana, banana, over and over again.

They might even put BANANA in caps.

You might even start to believe it is a banana, but it’s not.

This is an apple.”

                                                FACTS FIRST

Ten thousand words couldn’t say it better.  Clearly deserving of a Nobel Prize in Literature.  Look for “This is an apple” on U-Tube.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

Haiti

The Baltimore Sun                               November 22, 2017             

”Change in Haitians’ status is urged”

I attempted to synopsize this article and can find no way to do so.  Every sentence contributes so significantly to the human tragedy that will be wrought if the U.S. administration moves forward with its announced plan to allow the temporary protection status of many Haitians, including those in Maryland to expire.  Columbia now has a Sister City Agreement with Haiti. I can see so clearly my dear friend, Father Richard Frechette living in Haiti for many years now working with local children in the hospital and schools he has established there.

GERMANY

The Washington Post                                           November 25, 2017

“Germany’s center-left party may throw a lifeline to chancellor”

I have written often in these Reflections of my deep admiration and gratitude to Chancellor Angela Merkel for her courage, skill, and determination. The lack of a conclusive result in German election last September makes her work all the more difficult. For me, she stands out as the virtual leader of the free world.

CHINA

The Washington Post                                               November 25, 2017

“In China, rule by fear and force”

Our (potential) sister city group was in Beijing just a few days before the commencement of the 19^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China where the new doctrine of “Xi Jinping Thought” was unveiled.

I don’t believe any of us who travelled to China in a visit to explore the possibility of establishing a new Columbia, MD sister city relationship had a clue, to put it mildly, about the extent to which we were visiting at such a pivotal time in the history of this huge nation.

The Washington Post                                               November 2, 2017

“Chinese universities rush to study Xi’s doctrine”               

“Critics see dogma eroding academic freedom”

“Renmin University of China (in Beijing) was the first to announce a research center dedicated to “Xi Jinping Thought.”

The Washington Post                                               November 10, 2017

“Trump’s China visit ends without incident or clear sense of long-term impact”

                                                                                              

Well, the lack of a “clear sense of long-term impact” is not surprising.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

When my mom, Helen Monnett Gilner, an avid reader who never graduated from high school, was well into her eighth decade, one of her favorite authors was a contemplative though previously worldly monk, Thomas Merton. In the 10+ years that I have been meditating, his writings have become one of the major influences in my spiritual life, right up there with Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn and Jack Kornfield.

“To be alone by being part of the universe – fitting in completely to an environment of woods and silence and peace.  Everything you do becomes a unity and a prayer.  Unity within and without.”                    Thomas Merton

In her 80’s my mom was living in an apartment in West Baltimore with my older sister, Martha.  About 20 years prior, I had shared that same apartment with her. I would often take lunch for us to share while Martha was working as the head of a soup kitchen in downtown Baltimore. One day very near the winter solstice, my birthday, I arrived very late for ”lunch” at almost 5pm.  My mom, who knew I was going to arrive late, was sitting in her favorite rocking chair in the living room near a sliding glass door that opened onto a small deck with a table and two chairs. Looking out this door, she had not yet turned on any lights in her apartment, though it was getting quite dark.  I commented that it was the first time I had seen her in this posture at this time of day.  The reply my mom made to me remains beautifully emblazoned in my mind.  “When I sit here at this time of day, I stay as quiet as I possibly can – both inside and out – and (her voice lowered to a hush) – I feel like I almost know something.”

That beautiful rocking chair with its label - MFG. by Hartwig & Kemp, Baltimore, Maryland - now gets heavy-duty use from both Lloyd and me in our family room.

So why write about this experience with my mom in the “Our Universe” section of “Reflections on Life”?  Surely some if not most of you have read of scientific research of mind-brain correspondence.  One current belief, if not fact, appears to be that “psychological states such as thoughts and feelings are real.  Brain states are real.”  (LF Barrett – researchgate.net)

So my quite unscientific mind goes to the question “how do I know that my mom’s words “I feel like I almost know something” are not out there in the universe, possibly connecting with Zach and my sister, Martha, and …………?

Now a “real” scientific article from washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science

The Washington Post                              November 10, 2017

“The strangest supernova’: A star that keeps exploding – and surviving”

By Sarah Kaplan

I can’t help but wonder what were the spiritual elements of time as described below.

“Some 500 million light-years away, in a galaxy so distant it looks like little more than a smudge, a star exploded five times over the course of nearly two years, spewing the contents of 50 Jupiters and emitting as much energy as 10 quintillion suns.  This isn’t even the first time this star has gone supernova:  Astronomers believe this same body was seen exploding 60 years ago.”

Can anyone tell me how much a “quintillion” is?

“Pools of sorrow, waves of joy

Are drifting through my open mind

Possessing and caressing me

Across the Universe

~Lennon and McCartney

Be well and love life.

~ Liz