The Worst Pies in London

Weekly Update - October 13, 2023

Next week's posts will look a little different. Instead of an essay and a weekly update, I will be sharing 3 different sets of endorsements in local political races - one for school board, one for town council, and one for mayor. For those of you not living in Chapel Hill, you can tune back in the week of October 23. For those of you who ARE local, you will get my take on local races, and the candidates I am supporting ahead of early voting.

This past Sunday, Justin was in a musical.

It wasn't Broadway or anything, just a simple church musical. Even so, it was huge for us because Justin took part in a collaborative activity with other kids, one that also involved listening to adults, practicing his part, and going to rehearsals that involved as much waiting as dancing and singing. And he did it! He did all of those things. And then performed fantastically when it was time to perform.

The show is called Tuishi Pamoja, which is Swahili for "we want to live together," and it is about zebras and giraffes learning to live together around the watering hole. Justin played Rafi, a giraffe. The main point of the story is that although we may all have our herd, it is okay - even important - for us to have friends and connections beyond just where we are comfortable.

It is not at all lost on me that as Justin and his cast mates were performing their musical on Sunday, a half a world away two major wars were in full swing, mainly because neighbors were infinitely more concerned about their own herd than creating meaningful connections beyond it. It feels at times like humanity has lost the plot, and we are frequently working to do the very things that cause us the most pain, the most suffering, and the worst outcomes. We are our own worst enemy.

What is happening in Israel is so horrific that it is hard to take in the amount of suffering that has occurred and will continue to occur. There is no end in sight that will give everyone involved a sense of peace - literally or figuratively. Conflict begets conflict and every atrocity only serves to beget future atrocities. Every rocket and every bomb creates a new combatant. Every bullet builds unyielding resentment and unbreakable resolve.

I have spent most of my life at war - preparing for it, living it, recovering from it - and there is one thing that I have learned, one thing I deeply believe to be true. It is something that has been believed by anyone who has ever experienced the direct impacts of war up close.

No one wins a war. Not any war. No one.