What Are You Seeing

I believe that I am..., but I dare ask the question. I just finished a brief inventory of my five senses. In the process, I find that they are all there and well. The purpose for checking involves what I've been seeing and hearing. My head is not buried in the sand, but am I really seeing clearly? I have been touched by the Master, but am 'I seeing trees or mortals as mortals'?* So many fires; so many hurricanes. It was such a long heated summer; I cannot remember when it last rained, but November finally has brought us rain in California. O, pardon me, this is not about fires, hurricanes, and rain. Or is it? Anyway, the thought of storms was just a side issue perhaps growing out of my brain being clouded and fogged by so much to do about the weather. It's been said that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. I get that. The truth is that we need to be neither fools nor angels to do the right things at the right times. Please bear with me in my muse if not my folly as I at least try to navigate through the mine fields of this brave new world of ours. By way of the news media, I have been exposed to a lot of social unrest, more than a little of protesting, and violent confrontations between people of opposing ideologies and philosophies. My sense of touch or feeling comes into play, but that's more subjective. We have been taught to control our feelings and emotions and take time out to analyze and evaluate the entire situation; let things 'soak' if you please, or let the sand dissipate as the real gold reveals itself, because there really is gold 'in them there hills'. So I'll just concentrate on the sights and sounds, because we all feel differently and have variant perspectives which demand an ear and a debate, but do not merit a fight or even a family feud on the level of The Hatfields and McCoys. Moreover, objectivity and subjectivity must find common ground if we really expect to experience peace. A few days ago, I was taken aback when I observed a news clip of a sign that read, "Don't vote; have a revolution". I tell you, when I saw it, I wanted to weep. So I'll share what I'm thinking and feeling as my humble contribution to a united America and a coexisting world. At the same time, I do not claim to be a prophet and could be wrong and hope that I am, but I sense a gathering multifaceted storm impacting the entire planet. I do not know why I am, and do not really want to be, and sometimes I wish that I was not, and I am also happy to be such most of the time, but the truth is that 'I am by natural instinct, a sceptic'. Most times I see 'a glass that is half full and filling up' to the top rather steadily, but I cannot deny that there are times when I see 'a glass half empty and evaporating rapidly'. I'm simply wondering if what's going on really is not going on, and whether what's not going on really is going on. Last spring I recall receiving a call from a friend while in a grocery store. We both were trying to adjust to the changes, and I said to him that I have the feel of being in a twilight zone. I'm certain that we are in the real world and not a twilight zone, but you would agree that 2020 is rather different and has come loaded with a lot of challenging ammunitions. Some people seem to be fixated on racial rivalry, but I see most things differently, like multiple pictures in a large picture frame. Racism is very real and is indeed a clear and present danger to a free and open society. I see 'justice hanging between' political structures of all stripes, the disenfranchised of all types, and power holders afraid to let go. And justice is crying or should I say shouting, "Look at Me; I'm the one you are looking for!". This is not a case of "my friend the enemy", because my friend really is my friend. And if we think otherwise, we all will lose a war no one can win. Yes, there are times when war, civil or otherwise, is unavoidable because some things are worth fighting and dying for. Nevertheless, may we pause and ask ourselves, "Is this the one?" I really don't believe in magic, and if there is something special, for good or bad, about the number 2020, in all honesty my friends, I have found this year to be among 'the best of times and the worst of times'. And who knows if 2021 will bring us the good, the bad, or the ugly, or all three. What I do know is that I'm seeing, and will continue to see, God plain and clear in the midst of it all. Well, now you know in part what I'm seeing; but what about you? And.... 111820PSCtest, Juxtaposition, Silent One *Mark 8:24