At The Circus
W hat was I thinking?
Too eager to accept a dare? Afraid to back down?
How absurd it all seems now, about to step out on this wire so incredibly high above the crowd.
~ by Russ Allison Loar
~ Artwork by Jolantasketch
© All Rights Reserved
# 200:
Time is fleeting
and there is so much to study and learn.
I am sorely tempted to let the laundry go.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
and there is so much to study and learn.
I am sorely tempted to let the laundry go.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
# 242:
We are living in a test tube of reality.
It’s an experiment.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
It’s an experiment.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
The Other Virus
Trump has a virus.
I do not refer to the coronavirus. This other virus is far more deadly.
The notion that the erratic course of the Trump presidency is the result of a localized infection centered mostly in the White House, aided and abetted by compliant media outlets and servile politicians, was further dispelled by the anarchistic minions who stormed the U.S. Capitol bearing Trump flags and assorted MAGA accessories.
Talk about a pandemic!
The virus that infected and elected Trump has spread to every nook and cranny of the Republic. It is a pandemic of willful ignorance, spread by those who believe their certainty inoculates them against rational examination.
Yet even the impermeable Trumplings of America are but a subset of a global pandemic of authoritarianism whose existence depends on the strangling of truth and the obedience of ignorance.
In how many countries has democracy been overtaken by authoritarianism? Too many. Who can stop and reverse this advance of totalitarianism? The United States of America comes to mind. Despite the best efforts of Trump, his minions and his compliant political apologists, our recent elections do indeed seem like a turning point, a turn away from the abyss of another Trump administration and a restoration of sanity.
But let us never forget the names of those who defended the evil untruths of the Trump administration that have torn our citizenry apart.
Sanity, leadership, character and conscience: These virtues are not Republican or Democrat virtues. They are human virtues that must guide the course of our nation. May we defend them against the evil, soulless intentions of those who would subvert our Democracy.
May we call out the defenders of ignorance. May we demand educated, knowledgeable leaders in all walks of life to speak out against tyrannies both small and large. And may the freedom-loving people of the world once again look to the United States of America as an example, not of chaos, but of enlightened governance.
The great work lies ahead. The great work calls us. We must answer.
What happens in America happens to the rest of the world.
~ Maria Ressa, Filipino journalist, author and dissident
# 238:
You ask why a merciful God
would allow such cruelty in this world.
Don't blame God for what people do.
Hell is mostly man (and woman) made.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
would allow such cruelty in this world.
Don't blame God for what people do.
Hell is mostly man (and woman) made.
~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved
Under The Bed
I remember seeing a white, colonial building fronted with columns on the day I was left at the orphanage.
At least this memory was always in my mind, but knowing how insatiably curious I’ve always been about my biological parents, my biological circumstances, I knew that I may simply have been filling in the blanks of the great mystery that was my first two years of life. After all, I have absolutely no memory of the mother I’d lived with more than a year.
One day in my early twenties I returned to the Children’s Home Society, the first time since being left there for adoption. I’d phoned a social worker who agreed to meet with me, to tell me some basic “non-identifying” information about my parents. As I searched for the address, the building came into view. It looked exactly as I’d remembered: A white building, colonial style, columns and all.
I don’t remember the foster family I lived with for the next six months and I don’t remember being taken to the home of my new parents. Many years later, my grandmother, who lived next door, told me that during the first few months of my adoption, every time the doorbell rang I’d run and hide under my bed. It took me a long time to shake that fear, the fear of losing my home once again. Even now I still get the urge once in a while to hide under the bed.
This
The profound question:
What happens after we die?
What a surprise,
If this,
Is it.
~ Text & photograph by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on photo to enlarge!
© All Rights Reserved
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)