It’s hard to think about anything beyond the horror that is happening in Israel and Gaza. Always when it comes to conflict it’s the civilians who pay the biggest price. It’s heart-wrenching to listen to the pleas for help from Palestinians who are trying to find a safe place and similar pleas from Israelis who are facing similar dangers.
Reports of atrocities being carried out by Hamas are equally heart-wrenching and disgusting. How a person could be so cruel is beyond my comprehension. Beheading babies!!!!!
Why is it that some people have no concept of loving thy neighbor? And thy neighbor’s children?
For a glimpse into the very personal side of the Saturday attack in Israel, the Daily Podcast from the New York Times has Golan’s Story. This is an account of that day from one man within Kibbutz Be’eri on the border with Gaza. This is a sad, and chilling, story that people should listen to just to get a sense of war beyond just pictures of buildings being bombed.
There are certainly such stories from Palestinians in Gaza from people suffering atrocities. As I said. It’s always the civilians who suffer the most. Men and women and children who don’t want war. Who have no part in attacking others. Who just want to live in safety and peace.
To keep my ire under control, I don’t dare read too many news reports. Things will go on without me knowing, and since there’s nothing I can do to stop the horror, I’m better off being in the dark for a good chunk of the day.
To help me stay calm, I pull up this photo of the small lake I visited last weekend. It was so peaceful and relaxing on Saturday, I went back on Sunday. Maybe I’ll get there again this weekend?
Are you able to watch the news every day? What helps you stay calm?
Since I’m still in recovery mode from my surgery and tire quickly, I’ll turn this over to Slim Randles with a cute story about a golf tournament. Enjoy…
We didn’t have the Chipper Invitational Golf Tournament this year. It wasn’t a good summer for anything that takes place outdoors, for one thing. Just too danged hot.
For another, people we knew all over the world by internet or pen pals were having a tough time surviving any disaster du jour.
Thirdly, it just wasn’t a good year to celebrate Doc’s legendary pet squirrel. Chipper came to life several years ago when Doc placed an ad in The Valley Weekly Miracle offering a reward for finding his missing pet squirrel. Five dollars and fifty cents.
Since it’s really hard to find a non-existent squirrel, even in the best squirrel habitat, the reward money went unclaimed, but our valley got a new story and legend and laugh.
The Chipper Invitational Golf Tournament came about to raise money for charity. Doc and the guys each took a shovel and a t-bar fence post and walked out onto a farm for a ways and then dug a shovel’s worth of dirt, slammed in the t-post, and taped a number to it. Multiply by eighteen, and our golf course was born.
Each year “Chipper” would pick another farm, and the legend grew.
So this year we had to be content with raising our coffee mugs to the best non-existent squirrel a valley ever had, and look forward to a better summer for fun next year.
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Insomnia getting you down? Watch a golf tournament on television.