Letter from the Vineyard

It is a little after five and I am, once more, sitting on the deck. It has been another perfect day in Claverack; the day dawned gloriously. I sat on the deck reading and having coffee before showering and heading down to church. The air was pristine and the creek a mirror, just like it is now.

From far away, I can hear an occasional truck on 23, a road to the north of the cottage. It has to be exceptionally still for me to hear one. There are birds singing and a few insects buzzing.

The entire scene is so serene; I can’t believe sometimes I am living it. Year round, I am endlessly fascinated by the changes in nature that unfold before my eyes. The sun is warm on my back but not so warm as to be uncomfortable. There is almost a suggestion in the air that a light jacket would not be unreasonable this evening.

In a little while, I’ll be heading into Hudson to meet my friend, Jeremiah, and to go to dinner. It feels like a Sunday for a trip to Hudson for dinner.

Jericho, brother to the slain Cecil the Lion, was himself rumored dead but he has been now reported alive and safe. Walter Palmer, the man who hunted and killed Cecil, has apparently, through a representative, reached out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officials who want to have a conversation with him. A petition regarding Palmer to whitehouse.gov has garnered over 200,000 signatures. The result will be some sort of White House response. The Executive Branch, as I understand it, has to give a response to any petition with over one hundred thousand signatures. This is twice that.

Zimbabwe wants Palmer extradited to face charges there. I am sure he will not want to go.

Shira Banki, a sixteen-year-old Israeli girl, has died from knife wounds inflicted when she was marching in a Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, allegedly carried out by an extremist Orthodox Jew who had recently gotten out of jail after serving ten years for having performed a similar attack years ago.

Her death and that of an eighteen-month-old little Palestinian boy in an arson attack, also by suspected Jewish terrorists, has resulted in thousands of Israelis participating in peace marches. President Rivlin of Israel has asked that the attacks “be a wake up call” for all Israelis.

It has resulted in widespread outrage in the country though the backlash against Rivlin on Facebook and other social media outlets has his security forces asking for help from the Israeli police.

In 1995, Prime Minister Rabin of Israel was assassinated as he was departing a peace rally.

All that hate and anger seem so far away as I sit on my deck, smiling at the beauty of the creek.

But it’s everywhere.

Turkish soldiers killed by Kurds, Syrians killing Syrians, IS just being IS…

My friends, Alana and Patrick, sitting on the deck with me yesterday, talked with me about how unfathomable the horrors are that men will wrack on other humans. But we do.

And we do march against the darkness, as Israelis have been doing, in the thousands. I truly believe we strive for the light though the dark souls of some would drag us down.

Tags: Cecil the LIon, Claverack, Israel, Jericho the lion, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, President Rivlin, Prime Minister Rabin, Shira Banki, Walter Palmer, whitehouse.gov

This entry was posted on August 2, 2015 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.