Yuck

"It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago" 
- Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice-President


Recall that there is a saying that goes something like "every cloud has a silver lining." I think these sayings are designed to help remind us that there are better days ahead. The Buddhists have a lot of this worked out, and I do a disservice to mention it here but...

They talk about the good days and how when they are occurring, try to share your good fortune, spread the wealth as it were. Because when we keep good fortune only for ourselves, we get into that whole territory of its only about me, me, me, me. We become little megalomaniacs.

But then there's the bad days. The Buddhists say something like, those days are even better than the good ones! Because now we can really relate to the suffering that other people experience. We can now open up to others and understand that our problem is like the other guy's problem, quite literally. We can even imagine that when we experience these bad days that we can take that particular problem away for everybody, gather it all in and get rid of it. Can you imagine if everyone thought like that, sincerely thought like that.

Lately the news seems to fall into two categories, hideous and obscenely hideous, and I am not sure I can tell the difference any more. These are Orwellian times. Check out this article:

NY Times article: How the Iraq War is Increasing Terrorism

Just getting past the title reveals quite a bit. I suggest we designate 1 o'clock PM as national head slapping moment. We'll do it together as a nation, perhaps it can cause some unity. We'll make it a bipartisan thing. Hey its Sunday, relax, enjoy your day.

Artwork by Daniel Buren