Short Evening Remarks

There isn't much on my mind, at least deserving to be inflicted on readers.  Marrianna and I had a total of three medical appointments today, interspersing a quick windshield fix, lunch, and shopping.  We left home at 8:00 AM and returned at 4:30.  The best part of my day was the nap after we got home.

Among the shopping trips was one to the local quilt and fabric store, Thimble Pleasures.  We bought fabrics for baby quilts.  Marrianna has an idea for a quilt, I have another.  I think that means I will be making two baby quilts, at least.

Felix Grant reminds us that this is Hiroshima Day.  His reasons for reminding us all of this day are important and I, for one, am grateful for his reminder.  His last paragraphs:

And perhaps also the deaths by negligence while we pour funding into means of killing. Like the nearly ten million children under age five who die every year from causes which we could prevent by diverting just a small fraction of our military spending.

That's why I insist on mentioning Hiroshima Day.

It is this fact that means the most to me.  You see, I believe that we are all connected in some way, that the least of these is important, and that their life is as precious as the life of my unborn grandson.  Before someone leaps to the conclusion that this is a new position of mine because we have a grandson about to be born, you're wrong.  I've been aware of the disparities between what is spent on arms and on, for instance, clean water but also other means of improving life for people over the world, for years partly through being made aware by people like Felix.

Hiroshima Day isn't important in itself, but as a marker and reminder of what can happen, it is surely significant.  Though I am not convinced that it was necessary, that isn't important, and as Felix says, "That moment is long past."  It is important, however, to understand that the mentality that brought Hiroshima continues to be dominant.

There simply must be enough people like Felix, Doctors Without Borders, and similar agencies to remind us that our priorities are simply wrong.  As a retired military person, having worked in targeting our nuclear weapons, I understand that there must be a strong military, but surely we are so strong by now as to be musclebound, and the muscle that resides between our ears needs to be retrained.  Can we not remain strong militarily and also strengthen other parts of our universal body?  I believe we can, and must.  I saw a bumper sticker recently that said something along the line of:  "It will be a great day when our schools are fully funded and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale for its new bomber."  I like that attitude.  And I think we can do both without having to have bake sales.  As Felix has said many times, we only have to decide to do it.

Comments

[Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche]

The difference between guilt and regret is that the guilt never faces the wrongdoing straightforwardly. There's just this strong emotion of "I wish it hadn't happened. I wish I hadn't done it. I wish I had never gotten angry." Or, "I wish I hadn't done that embarrassing thing," and so on. Regret is the opposite of guilt. We acknowledge it, we expose to ourselves that we have done something harmful, and how it came about from our ignorance, but we don't get caught in emotions or story lines.