Gratitude * Sunday
Quote of the Week
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus
Sunday Haiku
City’s gray night light
flares, explodes thunderous booms,
war-fire sparkled bombs.
Sunday Musings
We survived another American Independence Day Freedom Weekend! In my community fireworks started on Thursday and with any luck Sunday night will be the last of it.
Do you know what your freedoms are? What are your duties and responsibilities? Or your privilege – can you define that, if you have it? If you don’t think you have privilege, why not?
Loaded questions these days, but we could take the time to learn how to talk about them. The trouble with talking is most people think their two lips carry the same burden as their two ears. You have one mouth and two ears; you should be listening twice as much as you are talking. And you have millions of brain cells, so how much should you be thinking? Millions. As hard as it is to do all that thinking after listening and before opening your mouth, it’s all connected.
In America, and I imagine to some extent in other countries as well, freedom is often tied to finances. You have the freedom to take a job, but if you can’t afford to get there, your employer has the freedom to fire you for failure to show.
You have the freedom to take a Sunday drive if you can afford the car, insurance, and gasoline.
You have the freedom to rent an apartment, if a landlord will rent to you.
You have the freedom to apply for a loan, and the bank has the freedom to deny loaning you money.
You have the freedom to invest in property, but to improve it you also have the freedom to pay a permit fee for most construction, for the construction and labor, and the privilege of owning a property tax bill so you can apply for the permits. Your municipality has the freedom to deny your permit request or demand changes.
You have the freedom to purchase premium health care if you can afford it.
You have the freedom to travel if you can afford a passport and the cost of travel. If you have enough money you could choose to buy another home and live abroad, full or part time.
You have the freedom to be a consumer, and you don’t even have to know where your money goes or who made the product you purchase.
You have the freedom to educate yourself, and in this case, you can choose to invest in degreed education, or you can be an autodidact and life-long learner, or both. Teaching oneself is one of the true freedoms and there is plenty to learn.
When you learn you realize freedoms vary. Freedoms are different for people of color, for women, for the differently abled, for elders, for those who have or choose an alternative appearance, and others, to the point of being limited or non-existent. How is a black family free to buy a house if a bank does not loan money to people of color? How free are you if a bank will loan you money for this house in this neighborhood, but not that house in that neighborhood?
You have a freedom to work to earn a living, but if you sell your time to an employer, you do the job his way. Is that freedom? You have the freedom to be entrepreneurial and create your own business, but if you ask to borrow money from a bank or the Small Business Administration you have limitations on how you can do business. You have the freedom to succeed or fail.
You have the freedom to spend or save your money. You have the freedom to only spend your money now and have the option of a bridge to live under in the future. You have the freedom to squeeze two nickels together until you can create a living and save toward an uncertain future. You have the freedom to both save for the future and spend your money now. Which freedom do you choose?
You have the freedom to believe as you wish. You also have the freedom to be shocked, annoyed, dismayed, or surprised if one of your beliefs is proven wrong. You have the freedom to understand you learned something new or expanded your knowledge and move to the next level. Or not.
Within all this freedom, we have a duty to know history, to understand the mistakes and greed of our ancestors, and do our best to improve upon it. We have a responsibility to steward our earth for ourselves and the generations who come after us. We have a duty to correct the course if it has gone astray or afoul. We have the responsibility to do our best as contributing citizens and to raise our children to be so as well.
As a marginalized, low-income, academically educated and auto-didactic person I take my freedoms seriously. I consider my duties and responsibilities to be more important than my freedoms. If I don’t do my part, if you don’t do your part, as responsible citizens how can we all be free?
Color Watch – colorful attractions in my neighborhoods this week – A red hummingbird in fire-cracker colored crocosmia.
Photo by Jason Jenkins
Photo by Tina Carlson
The faces of pansies; they come in many colors, and they are all pansies, yellow tiger faces and deep blue violet. 
White and periwinkle blue. 
A heritage Clan Ferguson Scottish thistle, taller than the owner, fist size chokes, crown-like purple flower.
Photo by Debbie Jones, owner and caretaker
Current View – {These are only my opinions about movies and books, but don’t let me stop you from trying these reviewed items yourself; your opinion may differ.} Finished three seasons of Marcella (2016 – present, rated TV – MA), intense detective series and the female detective is experiencing terrifying blackouts. * Ad Astra (2019, rated PG – 13) with Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones in a mediocre story pitting son against father. Most of the action takes place in “outer” space; always interesting viewing somebody’s creation of how they perceive space.
Currently Reading – Blindness (1995, fiction) by José Saramago. Soldiers put in charge of the isolated afflicted misinterpret attempted communications from the blind internees and begin shooting because of fear of contagion. Brings up questions we are currently facing: what do we do with disease, misinformation, failed communication, and fear? * The Measure of a Man (2000, autobiography) by Sidney Poitier. Poitier muses about the growth he goes through as an actor and as a person as he returns home after years away.
This week I have been grateful for:
- Work has come my way again.
- Keeping in mind I will likely never have everything in my life under control. Somehow the duckies have minds of their own.
- Beautiful hand-made masks.
- Moving a few things around in the house and being happy with the results.
- Having the space and yard I have even if it all looks as wild as I feel.
- Not having pets this year to worry about during the loudest and longest 4th I’ve been through in the last four years.
- Seeing some fireworks from my yard.
- Nobody setting my house or trees on fire on the 4th.
- Season’s first picking of green beans, sooo good.
- The best apricots I’ve had in years. I only buy them in season.
- Water.
Hoping you have a lovely week.
Namaste. Peace. Blessings.
Floral ribbon border by Laurel Burch
Sassy Kas 