President* Trump, I wonder how many people have noticed the flags outside of the Fab Fives’ (Queer Eye) Philadelphia home base – there’s a gay pride flag and an American flag. There might be a Pennsylvania state flag too; I can’t remember now and I’ve not been able to pull up a picture of their … Continue reading Welcoming flags
Peace
The fitness of friendliness
President* Trump, Remember I told you I was overwhelmed yesterday morning by having read a whole bunch of news articles and editorials about you? Well, the one bright spot was a WP article by Marlene Cimons about the idea that Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” natural selection theory wasn’t referring to an alpha male, might … Continue reading The fitness of friendliness
This is not the best we can do
President* Trump, So my starting-out typo tonight is that I accidentally entered 3030 for the date, which occasioned a very quick string of very conflicting feelings and thoughts; a spike of angsty adrenaline signaling that I’m not very confident that humanity is going to be around in 3030, a brief “serves us right” thought, chased … Continue reading This is not the best we can do
Putting down the hot coals – very reluctantly
Dear President Trump, Our church service was super brief today, lasting all of 30 minutes – I think they set a service-speed record. There was no offering time or contemporary voice, and when combined, the two youth-led sermons maybe lasted eight minutes. Given what folks have going on, I think this is all for the … Continue reading Putting down the hot coals – very reluctantly
Piecing together connection and being
Dear President Trump, For about the last year I’ve closed my walking lovingkindness meditation with the following: May we all have the courage and the resolve to be peace and kindness. May we all have the resolve and courage to accept kindness and peace. Maybe I’ve told you about this before – I’m not sure … Continue reading Piecing together connection and being
Constructive non-violence
Dear President Trump, So what to do besides send money to liberal candidates and tilt at windmills with these daily letters? I honestly don’t know at this point, but as lame as it’s probably going to sound, I decided this morning that rather than closing my morning lovingkindness walking meditation with “May our lives unfold, … Continue reading Constructive non-violence
We’ll need a very big boat
Dear President Trump, My dear oracle, otherwise known as Laura, just announced that spring starts at 8:49pm this evening, so happy first day of spring. Too bad this spring is necessarily going to be wholly unlike any other spring any of us have ever experienced. Yes, the daffodils and jasmine are blooming and the birds … Continue reading We’ll need a very big boat
Thank goodness for true leaders
Dear President Trump, So hey, I’m pretty sure being caught “back on your heels” is worse than being caught “flat footed” but neither one is good and both would be generous descriptions of your administration’s inept response to the covid-19 crisis. You see, both these idioms reference situations where someone is surprised by something or … Continue reading Thank goodness for true leaders
Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Dear President Trump, I’m hanging out upstairs semi out of earshot of Laura as she conducts her review session via Zoom with her class ahead of their online final tomorrow. I don’t know how many of her 83 students have joined, but when I was still downstairs I heard quite a few of them exclaiming … Continue reading Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Peace is higher priority than ease
Dear President Trump, I had a little-big epiphany as I was going through my loving-kindness prayers on my walk this morning. I realized that it doesn’t make sense to send intentions for my life, my family’s lives, and strangers’ lives to unfold with ease and intentions for your life to unfold peacefully – that really, … Continue reading Peace is higher priority than ease