1/8/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Sabbatical is over. Back to the grind.  I’ve got a faculty meeting this AM. I will attend in person. I will try to “be present” instead of reading emails. I will participate in the discussions. I might cry. My colleagues do not like that. It makes them squirm.

            I have come to terms with my expressions of intense emotions & sometimes explain, “I’m a Quaker & this is what we do when we speak of matters close to our hearts.”

            I hope you shed a tear or two today. An article in the Jewish Journal notes God provided Adam & Eve with tears when he kicked them out of Eden, saying, “I give you out of My heavenly treasures this priceless pearl. Look! It is a tear! When grief overtakes you & your heart aches so that you are not able to endure it, & great anguish grips your soul, then there will fall from your eyes this tiny tear. Then your burden will grow lighter.” According to a Christian site, Public Orthodoxy, “through this gift, God pours forth Divine grace into our brokenness & brings forth healing & renewal in our very being.”

            So don’t be ashamed if you get verklempt when talking about the forgiveness that the Sanders family gave to the shooter who killed their loved ones during the prayer service at Mother Emanuel.

            Will you be giving Rep. James E. Clyburn (JEB) a ride in AF1 from Charleston to Dallas so you can attend Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (EBJ) funeral? JEB & EBJ joined Congress at the same time & JEB called her a “treasured friend.” It’s disturbing that a woman who made a name for herself as a nurse, had inadequate nursing in the last months of her life. Elder care has a long way to go!!!

Please continue to do all you can to stop civilians from being bombed. ABC News reports, “Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on a village under the control of the pro-democracy resistance in the country’s northwest are reported to have killed at least 17 civilians, including 9 children.” This has to stop!

BYBS,