Brr...

Yesterday, I stood for about ten minutes waiting for the bus to a job. (Sharing the bus shelter with me was a shattered television, all broken glass and sharp metal.) It was eight AM, and about minus 5 degrees F, with a wind chill of at least minus 15. After years of living in Duluth, Minnesota, I should have been used to it, but I guess I'm no longer as hardy as I used to be. All I could think of was, if the news reports about the incoming cabinet are even partially true, and the combined wealth of only 17 individuals exceeds that of a huge proportion of the rest of the U.S. population, I guess it is safe to assume that public transportation is unlikely to be a high priority in upcoming years. Have any of these people even taken a bus or a subway in the last twenty years or so? Have they got any clue?

This weekend, I am holding the members of the electoral college in the light. It's not necessarily that I think there will be a major surprise (although that would be darned interesting! My hunch is that an avalanche has been triggered that will just have to go its course.) However, I hope that all of these folks will listen to their gut feelings and have the courage to align with the best truth they can find within them. Yesterday I heard someone say, "We were meant for these times," and that is true of all of us in our unique roles.

Speaking of Duluth, two astonishing photographs of my former home showed up online yesterday. One was of "sea smoke" (formed by frigid air hitting a relatively warm Lake Superior) parting in the shape of a heart to reveal the sunrise. The other was of a fifteen-or-twenty-foot ice-filled wave rolling down the center of the lake. Those waves used to literally crash into the beach outside my window, creating ever-changing mountains of ice. One of the things I loved about my experience out there was coming to understand the overwhelming power of nature. It's reassuring to remember that the human power games we are watching just don't hold a candle to it.

Brr...