Extinguish Thou my eyes:I still can see Thee,
deprive my ears of sound:I still can hear Thee,
and without feet I still can come to Thee,
and without voice I still can call to Thee.
Sever my arms from me, I still will hold Thee
with all my heart as with a single hand,
arrest my heart, my brain will keep on beating,
and Should Thy fire at last my brain consume,
the flowing of my blood will carry Thee.
– Rainer Maria Rilke
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family, Literature
Time is a funny thing.
Some years fly by. Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring and then Summer is back and over with again.
Some years seem all the same, and some years all seems new.
Some years we hope would last forever, and some years we wished had never happened at all.
And some years are all we have together, an entire lifetime.
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
With all the talk about our freedoms and after all the trillions we have spent (and continue to spend) on national defense and anti-terrorism since 9/11, you might be surprised to learn that more Americans are killed per year by their own police than by terrorist attack. In fact, if you are American you are nine times more likely to be killed by the police than by a terrorist. If you live in New York City, you are at a greater risk of being shot and killed by the NYPD than an Israeli is at risk of being killed by Hamas rock fire.
My brother, who is a public interest attorney in the Bronx, tells me that the teenagers in his neighborhood get stopped almost every day by the police. Stop and Frisk is in effect a daily police check point. Before you judge, listen. Listen to people’s stories. For example, here and here and here and here.
And I definitely recommend this or anything else by Mr. Coates. You don’t have to agree with him, but you should definitely listen. Americans have different realities. If all you hear is your own, then yours just isn’t real.
Filed under We The People
Grave Error 