July 4th: A Mixed Bag

Happy Fourth of July, 2021. This holiday this year is a mix of strong emotions for me. It’s been raining a lot here in Central Florida and will probably rain a whole lot more in the coming week. Tropical Storm Elsa is headed our way. We hope it doesn’t do too much damage as it comes up the Gulf and crosses our peninsula. We can only hope. I haven’t met anyone yet who can control the path or impact of a storm, have you? So, we wait, prepare, use common sense (is that very common anymore?) and then deal with whatever comes. Hope is our companion.

A personal mix

I remember my dad saying something like “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” He loved tossing out clichés. At the time, I thought they were boring, and they are, but usually they convey some kernel of truth in a concise but overused way. Overuse. That’s what makes them boring. We crave new ways to say and hear things. But Dad meant well, and I can’t help thinking about him today because it’s the anniversary of his passing away in 1997.

Dad was a king of clichés—”Don’t cry over spilt milk,” “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” “Just try to do your best.” I’ve often thought that on July 4, 1997, just as he took his last breath on earth, just as we heard fireworks exploding in the distance, my father—also a king of corny humor—would’ve said, “I wanted to go out with a bang.”

A mixed bag of emotion

Yes, today, I reflect on the loss of my Dad (1912-1977) who lived a full and productive life as a scientist working in public health. I admire that. Clearly, on a personal level, this holiday is always a mixed bag of honoring that loss but feeling gratitude for this country I live in as it celebrates its freedom from England’s rule way back when.

As a nation, we rejoice in gaining that independence, gaining us the freedom to rule ourselves. Some of us are well aware how fragile that freedom is, as well as how fragile our planet is as well as the limitations of man-made structures on it. Today, alongside honoring our hard-won freedom, our nation mourns devastating losses and is vexed by many unpleasant current events, most recently the tragic (and preventable) loss of life in South Florida when a condo collapsed. People died; many are still unaccounted for. Our hearts go out to the families and friends who’ve lost loved ones and those who despair, still today, as they wait for more news of possible recoveries.

Update today:

“Authorities in South Florida are working to quickly demolish what remains of the collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium tower before any potential wind or rain from Tropical Storm Elsa moves in to the area.

“The fear was that the hurricane may take the building down for us, and take it down in the wrong direction, on top of the pile where we have victims,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said in a news conference Saturday morning.

Tropical storm force winds could reach South Florida by early Monday morning. A tropical storm watch was issued Saturday evening for the Florida Keys.”

Source: Remains of Collapsed South Florida Condo Will Be Demolished Ahead of Potential Elsa Impacts, Officials Say | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

Lean to light on July 4th

I say: despite the darkness, keep the light on. Here’s a bit of light from one of my favorite poets. I keep it on my desk.

Place 

by W. S. Merwin

 

On the last day of the world

I would want to plant a tree

 

what for

not for the fruit

 

the tree that bears the fruit

is not the one that was planted

 

I want the tree that stands

in the earth for the first time

 

with the sun already

going down

 

and the water

touching its roots

 

in the earth full of the dead

and the clouds passing

 

one by one

over its leaves.

______________

Thanks for reading!

Your writer on the wing,

Charlene