abundance, empty

Tiffany & Co. has a large ad in The New York Times (page A3, March 20, 2010) for a "butterfly brooch of diamonds and sapphires set in platinum."

"Spring Is In The Air," reads the ad's headline, accompanied by an image of the beautiful piece of jewelry.

Price?

$56,000.

Who buys this?

The same people who complain about taxes they cannot afford?

The same people who lament excess [excess!] on the part of government trying to serve its constituents?

I do not dispute the right of anyone to sell this, nor of anyone to buy this. Free market. Laissez-faire. All that. I am not disputing that right legally or morally. After all, I don't know: perhaps the person who buys this also writes, moments later, a check to Doctors Without Borders, for Haiti relief.

Perhaps.

I make no further comment.

Pause for reflection.

Reflection.

That's all.

why the rage why the fear

The recent healthcare vote was revealing.

One side enraged; the other defensive. One side spiteful; the other tentative. One side stiff; the other bending.

These perspectives were recently revealed in recent Gospels heard in church.

The Prodigal Son. The jilted brother.

Mary washing Jesus' hair with perfume; Judas counting cost.

Fear and rage.

Tears of rage.

Fear of what? Losing privilege? Fear of finding out the basic truth that life ain't fair? Fear of losing comfort. Fear of reality?

Fear breeds anger.

Fear comes from change. Some people fear it.

It is the law of nature.

Rage against it if you will; it is inevitable.

Fear not.

Healthcare?

Just a metaphor.

The Tea Party Republican House of Fear and Anger.

A house with a narrow door, a chilly hallway, a dark vestibule.

Come on in; there's always room for more fear.

Fear not, we are told.

Fear not, he proclaimed.

Seems the evangelical crowd forgot.

Fear.

Not.