10/04/2024
My dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,
Have you ever been to a Grateful Dead Concert? Probably not. You were too busy going to Law School & running for office to hang out with hippies listening to music. My cousin was a Deadhead & got busted for selling pot at concerts. He was a gentle soul, but prison shut him down. When he got out, he fished, hunted & grew vegetables in MT & avoided conversation.
My husband has had the Dead on autoplay & the lyric, “a friend of the Devil is a friend of mine,’ is stuck in my head. Don’t you hate when that happens?
I’m rambling about the Dead because stories about you were scarce this morning. I watched the news conference you had at Buck’s pecan farm in GA. While I appreciated your sentiment that “we are the UNITED States of America & we can do anything,” I have heard that so many times before. It’s kind of like the lyric that’s stuck in my head, losing more & more meaning with each time it replays.
I was surprised to hear the heartfelt prayer Buck shared. While I don’t share his view that God keeps track of every twig & leaf, I appreciated his acknowledgement that he was going to need a great deal of help & it was going to come from the government. He seemed deeply grateful that you came to see him, as am I.
I have trouble believing in an omniscient God when I see the suffering in the world. It makes more sense to me to think of forces inside of all living beings that bring us together & separate us. Those that unite us are to be revered & those that alienate us are to be reviled.
Unfortunately, alienating forces have been unleashed in Burma & they are affecting everyone. AJ reported today that “Minorities suffer amid conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine:
AA & its political wing say it is committed to diversity in Rakhine, but there is scepticism among some minorities.” AA could turn out to be as bad as the junta with a new form of “dictatorship.” Please continue to monitor the situation there seeking a path to peace.
BYBS,
