Nice, Nice, Very Nice... Uh-oh, NOT very nice...

Oh, a sleeping drunkard
Up in Central Park,
And a lion-hunter
In the jungle dark,
And a Chinese dentist,
And a British queen--
All fit together
In the same machine.
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice--
So many different people
In the same device. (53rd Calypso of Bokonon from Chapter 2 of Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut)

Yesterday I set my iTunes to shuffle and as I was sitting here at the computer, the Ambrosia (but very early Kansas-esque) song "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" played. I paused to listen to the lyrics (from a poem in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle) and thought to myself, what a great metaphor-- "So many different people in the same device." I'd never given that song much consideration since I first heard it as a high school kid. (I think it's time to reread Cat's Cradle and reacquaint myself with the tenets of Bokononism...)

From Nice, Nice, Very Nice to NOT very nice... At the risk of sounding as though I'm blurring that ever-shrinking line between Church and State, I feel I need to speak out against the over-paid (and in his own opinion under-played) NFL quarterback who refused to stand for our national anthem during Friday's Green Bay - San Francisco game in a sadly quixotic effort to make the point that I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder. I guess when your salary averages 19 million a year, you are free to make a personal statement to a captive audience on a national stage against the very country that allows you such a luxury in the first place. Rather than publicly disrespect your fellow Americans, the 49ers fan nation, the NFL, and the United States of America, why not channel some of that idealism (and some of that huge pie you're eating from) into positive endeavors to make a difference. Rather than sit there in silent militancy, join with the MANY others who are reaching out to the oppressed (black or white or whatever color) and into communities where there is plenty of despair and too few role models. (Maybe use those biceps for others, not as billboards for what God has done for you.) (And you were confirmed in a Lutheran church, too, weren't you? Puzzling.) As for those who would burn your jersey because you were exercising your (God-given) right to free speech, they, too, need to get a grip.

Back to Nice again... This is a pic (click to make it larger) I took on yesterday's death walk. I tried to get a good shot of a beautiful hawk in tree (as close to me as the driver in the next car over at a stoplight), but he/she took off before I could zoom in. But what a truly magnificent bird!

Oh yeah, one other Nice thing to mention. A headline in today's newspaper caught my eye: Death doulas hope to make dying easier The article printed originally came out in the July 22nd Washington Post. I was drawn to the word doula, which I learned in my recently conquered Koine Greek course means female servant/slave. The word has come to mean a woman trained to assist a midwife during childbirth. I, on the other hand, am a doulos (in more than one sense of the word!). It's a fascinating article and I tip my hat to those altruistic souls who volunteer for such a noble cause. Nice, Nice, Very Nice!

So many different people in the same device...

С Богом!