Water rites

 As a kid I had a scuba diver toy and I would pretend to be an underwater diver.  The depths I let my mind roam were the downstairs sink with my imagination taking me much deeper and farther to oceans abroad.  On Saturday morning cartoons my must-see was SUPER FRIENDS and my favorite superhero, Aquaman. 

As swimming season begins, I love the pool toys where the game is to throw them far and then race out, dive down and gather as many as one can.  Then, deep breath and under to bring up more. 

My childhood swimming was the Buffalo Creek and sans pool toys we played the game "Who Can Bring Up the Biggest Rock."  Same concept, yet with very limited vision due to the muddy waters and rocks of varying sizes. To be counted the rock had to be out of the water and placed on the shoreline. Competition would settle in and someone would be underwater for an anxious amount of time only to surface and sputter, "There's a huge rock, yet, I can't lift it myself. Can you help?"  Of course, we could and several bodies would dive down to the depths of the creek.

In adulthood, I have snorkled in the clear, blue waters off the Bahamas.  I was mesmerized and 15 minutes later lifted my face out of the water to find that I was a long way out to sea.  

We are drawn to water: creeks, lakes, rivers, oceans we play, pray and long to stay.

 

Today is the birthday of Jacques Cousteau hence all these ramblings about water.  Cousteau is quoted as saying, "people protect what they love."   The great Pacific Garbage Patch is an indictment on our waste and throw away society.  

Pun intended yet every reckless action we do to the environment and the waters we share has a ripple effect. the plastic garbage stretching over the waters blocks sunlight from entering the water thus stunting the growh of oceant plants and needed algae; fish digest the residue from the plastic, humans eat the fish, we all get sick.  Look to the waters for a sense of the health and vitality of the planet and take good care.

Service

 

There is a scene in the film SAVING PRIVATE RYAN that always causes me pause. It's early in the movie when the military officials arrive at the home of Mrs. Ryan. There is no dialogue, just music and the notification to a mother that her sons had been killed in the war. 

I pause because it makes me reflect on my maternal grandmother who had three sons in active duty during World War II (another son was in the CIA) and Dave, the youngest of her boys, never returned home. As the military telegram stated, "his plane was last seen trailing the formation." 

One of the wisest design features of the WWII monument in Washington DC is having carved into the walls that lead into the monument images of the sacrifices that also were made on the homefront.  Truly this was the "greatest generation" and from women going to work in the factories to the rationiong of milk, meat, eggs, gasoline and rubber the entire nation played a part. I daresay without this total effort and commitment we may not have prevailed. 

On this 77th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion, I am proud of my maternal and paternal lines' lived examples and efforts.  I want to claim that their bloodline is mine. 

Many of the members of America's Greatest Generation have passed.  We will never see their likes again.  As we continue our collective journey through this global pandemic, we need an infusion of their spirit of sacriifice and individual actions for our shared common good. 

Today is the birthday of Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund who said, "service is the rent we pay for living." My goodness.... is the rent due.