Commemoration, Art, and Protest

--You don't need me to tell you that today is the anniversary of many grim events:  the 1973 coup in Chile, the attacks of 2001, the Benghazi assault of last year.  This year, I don't have anything new to add about any of those events.  I don't feel like looking back.  But perhaps this approaching anniversary explains my recent anxiety and sort of lost feeling (see yesterday's post for more on that mood).

--I do wonder why some dates emerge as a sort of central point of a constellation of events, whether good or bad.  April 19 is the same kind of date (Oklahoma City bombings, the fiery end to the Waco stand-off, the deadly end of other sieges--Ruby Ridge?)--and it's close to significant school shootings, like Columbine and Virginia Tech.  I often feel a kind of uneasiness as the date approaches.

--Maybe I'm feeling strange because of the Libya drum beats.  Will I later wonder why I didn't mention the Libya debates in this blog?  I often go back to my paper journals looking for mention of current events, and I'm surprised to find absolutely nothing.

--Or am I feeling sad because my Create in Me friends have been at their retreat to plan the retreat, and I decided that I couldn't go this year?

--Last night, as I stared into the post-midnight darkness, I got some lines for a poem:  "I am the lost coin."  "I am the lost sheep."  "I am the prodigal child."  And this morning, I wrote a poem.  I like the idea of taking my sorrow and the world's sorrow and turning it into art.

--You might be thinking, coin, sheep, prodigal child--isn't that out of the Bible?  Why yes, it is.  I had been working on this blog post last night, and so I had those images on the brain.

--I have another line for a poem, but no poem to go along with it.  Feel free to use it:  "A quilt can be a door."

--I'm part of a group that makes quilts for Lutheran World Relief.  The quilts are sent to all parts of the world, not just where there's cold weather.  They're used in many ways.

--Will you be participating in a day of service today?  I like that way of commemoration too. 

--I have colleagues who wonder why younger generations aren't out protesting:  Libya, high tuition, whatever used to drive students to the streets.  But I wonder if that's effective anymore.  It certainly doesn't seem as effective as it once was.  It's as if the people in charge have trained themselves to tune out that kind of protest.

--But a day of service?  Could that be an effective way of protest?

--It's certainly better than blowing things up or assassinating world leaders or releasing deadly chemicals.