After this morning's brief journey through the news I am looking for my brain reset button.
People in Ulan Bator are burning coal, plastic and tires to heat their homes. People from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria, Albania are dying on the shores of Europe in an effort to find safety from war and prosecution. Sovereign Indian nations are being trampled by oil oligarchs in North Dakota aided and abetted by our government. Water reserves everywhere are threatened with poisons from greedy industries. Refugees in Australia are fenced into offshore island prison camps. Scott Pruitt, an EPA enemy has been named to head the EPA. Young African-American boys are perceived as targets for an overzealous and racist population. Veterans of our army can't get medical coverage after cleaning up the Pacific atoll we bombed into oblivion during nuclear testing. Our new president taunts and preens in his narcissistic acrimony.
They say that if it hurts your heart make art. But there are days that I just can't face it. Days when the news chokes me with despair. My friend Pat Pauly mentioned Mozart's Requiem today in her online journal. I want to offer the Kyrie, part of Mozart's Mass in C minor as balm to my darkening vision. Click on the feather to hear it for yourself.
And now I will breathe deep and proceed. After darkness comes the light.