Memory Skips

Nine years ago in mid-April I posted the following on my Facebook page: In the heat of the moment, the news of violence, again, what have we learned--nothing that we have not been taught before, that we share this space and time with those that will harm others--the reason will be immaterial, the damage done.

A hot take of a sort then, now cooled down by the passage of time. I can't tell you what happened then to cause my public reaction.

My first guess is the Vegas shooting. No, not even 5 years have passed.

Chemical attack in the Syrian civil war? Yes, nine years ago. In August.

Siege of Sarajevo? Not even close, mid-90s.

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting? December, 2012.

I do some more research. No, not the Washington Navy Yard attack that killed 13 and wounded 8. Maybe you remember that event was in September of 2013.

Event?

Yes, I am struck too by how I am spending my time--precious time--trying to get at whatever I was getting at back then.

Perhaps the blur of time is the ordinary outcome of life's days, hours, minutes passing by. Perhaps our mind's trick to short circuit a mental overloading--a forgetting, a letting go of.

Yet surely the war in Ukraine will still resonate deeply in 2031. Consider that date: 2031. 

Wow.

I could continue in pursuit of whatever it was that set me off. That's certainly enough of that.

But wait, there's more.

Later that day, 9 years ago, I also posted: Now if not an antidote, at least a reminder.... The gentleman who came into my home to close out my refi was accompanied by his wife. They were so gentle with one another and me, so kind, so gracious, so pleasant.... Turns out I am the second English teacher they worked with today. Something in the air, I said. Oh, yes, they answered. Their son is ready to graduate, an English major, who loves nothing more than reading poetry out loud. Indeed. So as the latest violent act thunders so, as this couple clearly understands, "Ah, love, let us be true to one another".

Yes, indeed.