RUBIES OR DIAMONDS
The sharp cold wind penetrates through your garments
and chills the bones in what seems like a broken body.
You smile and continue on your path knowing there will
be warmth when you arrive at your destiny. This situation
is not new and you have endured it many times over the years.
Raindrops plaster you, and you bow your head as you continue on.
This is a march, a one-man parade; birds are singing and
leaves are falling, sometimes looking like large snowflakes.
To be sure, you are not ready for a diet like this.
It is still too early in the year for this kind of bitterness.
You begin to think about things beyond yourself and
know that there is plenty of hardship being felt all
around us, not only locally but across the globe as
tyrants, posing as leaders intentionally enslaving
people of one group or another. Fear is the real boss
and hopes is the only remedy, but hope remains that
unless there is intervention. Strong leaders in peaceful
countries have to stand up and take stern positions
against these enemies. Only then will the tide turn.
Terrorists are cowards at heart and when they feel
threatened they back down. If we are impatient,
they are long-term planners. Their movement
continues with new leaders and they quietly wait
for their opportunity. I look at the lake and notice
that the sun is reflecting diamonds off of the mini-waves.
Bushels and bushels of diamonds to lift our spirits and
instead of being grateful we stand, look, and wish
they were rubies, because then maybe things will change,
but it will take an investment of ruby red blood and
diamond grade weapons to make an impression on
the evil ones. How much are we willing to sacrifice?
The cost is high I think as the sun swirls a blaze of
beauty across the trees which are losing their colorful
leaves. Nature is unpredictable. It can give us sunny
beaches or raise its ugliness in the form of hurricanes,
and floods. Diamonds or rubies? We wait and react.
As in all conflicts, we fail to step back and view
the enormity of what we are doing and as we look at
things today it is doubtful that we ever will, until it is too late.
We abide.
Stanski
October 27, 2022, ^
Steve Haarman 