Here on a tranquil night in the Valley of the Sun our lemon and lime trees are all flowered out. During the day the bees were zipping and zig-zagging here and there; tonight the air is all soft and fragrant from the silky white flowers. It’s a calm night. The breeze that came up during the mid-afternoon has long since died down, leaving just me and a patio softly lit, the houses all around us dark and quiet. Between the surf music on the CD player and the glass of chianti dulling my senses it’s hard not to think that all seems right with the world, even when I know it’s not. How can anyone take respite knowing full well the chaos, death, suffering and sadness going on across the Pacific in Japan?

Me, I think it all just goes to show that the one thing we as a world, cultures, peoples, genders, mindsets, etc. are all inter-connected with far more than we realize is death and suffering. Certainly, there has been, and will be, death and destruction on a large scale in Japan, but the only difference between what is happening there and what’s going in Egypt and in the Middle East, or in the Jewish settlements on the West Bank, or with the struggles of families dealing with a child with cancer, or an elderly parent with Alzheimer’s, or any other combination of situations or circumstances you can put your mind around – the difference is only in the scale and scope. This life is a veil of tears, and any day you or someone you love is not in pain, or involved with someone dealing with the same, is a day to be embraced and celebrated for what it is.

That’s why I try not to take a whole lot of things seriously. In the end, everything is sh*t or going to sh*t sooner or later; think I’d rather enjoy a glass of wine, or receive a cell phone call from my friends asking how I’m doing, or attend Mass, or check in on my folks to see how they are doing, or take my nightly walk around the subdivision, or hit a few golf balls, or do whatever I can do just to clear my head. Were I a monk I would spend all my non-sleeping hours just praying for this world to a God I’m not 100% certain either hears me or cares about anything I might have to say. Who knows? But I’d still have to pray out of faith. You can look at everything going on around you and want to cry. Me, I’d rather see whatever I can do to help wherever I can in my own way while I can and just try and keep my own head above water. What else can you do?

I almost feel like a desperado under the eaves. With everything going on across the Pacific, glad I don’t live on the West Coast:

And if California slides into the ocean, like the mystics and statistics say it will…

How about that Carl Wilson high harmony background vocal? There, I feel better already – such is the healing power of music.