We live in a dark time I hear this all around me.
Shootings in Aurora and Newtown. Bone-chilling testimony in the Aurora case. Blood swishing in the bottom of a police car. A booby-trapped apartment, designed to kill.
Barrel bombs. The latest from Assad in Syria. Barrels filled with nails and other implements designed to kill. Very inaccurate. Not guns but gunships turned on unarmed, innocent citizens.
Borders overflowing into Turkey. Tens hundreds? of thousands of refugees there.
A dark time.
Irans threats. Civil rather, incivil division at home here in America. Wackos: one of the kinder epithets that radio talk show hosts throw around in reference to their enemies. Enemies; not opponents.
Turkey, reportedly ruled by a scold, a man as mad at Turks as he is at Israel; yet, an American ally.
Russia, ruled by a throwback to the Soviet era, out-of-touch, uninterested in government based on the people.
Israel, developing an anti-missile strong enough to take out the missiles Hezbollah possesses in the tens hundreds? of thousands. But also waiting for the years it takes to develop such a missile. Israel, facing a moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank unwilling to negotiate; and a radical Palestinian leadership in Gaza willing to kill.
India, with its men who attack women.
Afghanistan, with its soldiers, also allies, who kill ours.
Pakistan, where it is a capital crime to convert from Islam to any other religion.
A dark time.
I noticed, however, that it was warm enough these past few days to sit outside in the sun.
I observed, as I arrived in shul in the morning, that a cadre of fellow prayers were there with me to seek the presence of the L-rd.
I found, in local grocery stores tens hundreds? of thousands of food items, an almost infinite variety capable of meeting, and stimulating, every imaginable taste.
I saw, driving west on Alameda from Havana, a breathtaking intake of the whole Front Range.
The mail brought an invitation to a Bar Mitzvah; the phone brought news of an engagement; the tailor brought a nicely repaired overcoat; the alarm clock brought notice of an opportunity to arise a bit early to study a bit of Torah; the email brought a message that our son had figured a way out of a dilemma.
The Denver Art Museum brought perhaps the most finely curated exhibit of any major artist, with Becoming Van Gogh an exhibit worthy of envy and emulation by the finest museums around the world.
The car repair guy brought relief the windshield was not cracked.
A look into Colorado history brought a forgotten prompt of gratitude, a long piece the IJN did 30 years ago on the philosemitic history of a true friend, Colorados Edwin C. Big Ed Johnson, one of two US Senators to advocate direct action to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Dark and light intermix; shadows and shades of color; death and redemption, despair and hope. History has known dark times; our time is filled with darkness, but also with penetrating glimpses of glory.
And books of beauty.
People of passion.
And kindness.
Ours is a world in which racism may still be practiced, but no longer defended.
A world with a commonplace, unpolluted intake of fresh air; an occasional stream of eloquence from judge or clergy, a serene Shabbos, a vast expanse of snow pack, a spurt of creativity, an opportunity to swim a length, hike a peak, or peek at a descending sun, gaze at a lake, frame an amazing photo, find the right word, taste a new dessert.
A dark time? Yes. But all around me? Only if I let it be so.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
