Addio Bruce Kent

Dear Bruce is gone. A good friend of my father's, both gentle of nature but fierce in their desire to heal our world. In this pic he had kindly offered to pose for my first portfolio. The little white dot on the edge of his cardi is a CND badge. We are poorer without him. My condolences to his beloved Valerie.

Guardian obit

 

Remembrance Sunday/Veteran's Day 2017

Ideally I am a pacifist. And I acknowledge that I am able to hold such a view because of people who fought and died for my right to have freedom of thought.

There are not many veterans in my family, as they were mostly too old or too young for World War I (I'm still trying to figure out from a couple of letters we have exactly what happened to my grandfather Alex - he may have been a POW in Russia just before the Revolution), & during World War II if they had not been imprisoned or murdered then they were fleeing and living a refugee life. Albert's eyes were too bad for him to be allowed to serve as a chaplain in Korea, although he did try to enlist. However, his twin, my Uncle Charles, went to Berlin with the US Army in 1945, and remained as a reservist for the rest of his working life.

Charles was a physiotherapist, working with children in a Houston hospital. Every Xmas, he would don a Santa suit and bring gifts to the kids (we have some interesting photos with Albert and with me in that Santa suit!). One year, his army buddies helped him arrive in style via helicopter.

Today remembering all veterans and those who fell. Let us not waste the chance we still have to make tikkun olam in this world. Shavuatov.

Yom Kippur 5773

This may be a cheesy jpeg I found via Google, but at the same time it does convey a lot of my thoughts and feelings as I prepare for Yom Kippur.

I suspect that the foundations of peace and happiness are to be found in our selves. As we do the work that heals our emotional wounds, we have fewer issues to act out upon others, and more energy to put towards positive thoughts and deeds.

Thus may I wish us all the strength to make necessary adjustments in our attitudes and behaviour so that the next days and months may be different from those that are done.

with all best wishes for a Shana Tova

the peace sign

the bbc reports on the 50th birthday of the peace sign, harking back to its origins with the easter peace march on the aldermaston weapons factory. the full story is here.

as a matter of interest, check out the comments section at the bottom. the origins of the sign are disputed, with claims including its use as an SS regimental symbol, and a hopi indian sign.

aaaaaahhhhh, bless ...

unable to find pictures of lions and lambs laying down together, the times instead provides us with this lovely story of a pussycat who doesn't seem to know who her enemies are supposed to be:

"A cat has succeeded in repressing her predatory instincts by adopting seven chicks to rear alongside her own litter of kittens. One-year-old Nimra, from Madaba in Jordan, has been watching over her unusual litter ever since the chicks’ mother died a month ago."

if only people would believe this kind of thing is possible for us as well.