Boston on a Sunday Afternoon
The sun is shining. The swan boats are cruising on the pond in the Boston Commons. Joggers are jogging along the park. Children are running after ducks; parents are running after children. University students have returned en mass from summer so the hum of young people hums in Boston and its neighboring city of Cambridge, ever the student’s town. People from all backgrounds, speaking Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Russian and languages I don’t recognize pass by as I sit on a park bench.
For a moment I don’t want to think about ISIS or terrorists’ attacks or the beheadings of writers, who are friends of people I know, writers and their families whom I can’t help but think about and want to honor, or to think about those who must decide what our country does next or those who will take the risk to do it.
All this is on my mind and on the minds of people in Washington where I live. But for a moment I look out and take a breath and watch Boston on a Sunday afternoon before the world accelerates, a few days before we mark again the events of 9/11. I want to savor and remember this moment just for a moment. It is the point after all.
Joanne, Thanks for the moment of reflection. No one can doubt the ugliness of these recent events, but that is not the final chapter.
Thank you Joanne for reminding us that we also need to resist against this ugliness and brutality by not giving in to it. This who are devoted to death, should be defied with celebration of life.
Lovely thoughts. I, too, must sit quietly and absorb the beauty in nature and in my friends and family. I send this peace of mind to all those in the world living in conflict and terror.