maykasing

 

Israel intensifies strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza; and who can fault their resolve, considering the unspeakable atrocities by Hamas attackers, brutally cruel inhuman acts against other humans that can only be explained by ferociousness of hatred; in my lifetime only previously seen in Germans' treatment of conquered Volk, especially Jews. Israel is right in "never again" and in either strategic or tactical terms no manner of force is excessive in eradicating such evil from creation. Israel's overwhelming response was so inevitable that only hatred could explain Hamas' stupidity in bringing this war on themselves and their people. 

Nations and Volk bring total war on themselves: read accounts of our settlement of Hamburg and Dresden. Read Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five." Some offenses are so extreme that calls for humanitarian restraint in response are misplaced. Hamas has made clear that the entire population of Israel, every man, woman and born or unborn child, is in deadly peril as long as Gaza exists. 

My moderating point of view was wrong. 

Surely I will not press Publish this morning? And if I do, surely I will come back later and modify?

+++++++++

Here in America, one tires of the arrogant political fringe, the havoc they wreak, the chaos they create, in pursuit of their extremism, they are our own American brands of certainties and hatreds. God forbid we should empower them further.

But then this is not meant to be a political blog, is it.

+++++++++++++  

Yes, it was 12:XX a.m. when I got up to sacrifice to Father Nature (Linda disappreciates my metaphor, but I'm sticking with it this early morning) and went back to bed thinking to go back to sleep. Then at 1:XX a.m. I gave up expecting and thinking to go back to sleep and got up to stay. 

What roused me? Two realizations: first that I had neglected to register Joe for the birthday drawing; AND

my brain stirring the memory that years ago, October 2010 through January 2011, I had made a point of treasuring each waking moment including getting up to participate and enjoy life instead of lying in bed: lately I've returned to that frame of mind. Time's a wasting, and We haven't much Time, so be quick, and make haste. 

In our growing up 1940s years in the old original neighborhood, next door neighbor and playmate Bill Guy was under the daily oversight of his grandmother. Bill called her Nanny, we called her Mrs Burgin. She was the mother of Bill's mama Mary Elizabeth Burgin Guy, who died suddenly one December evening in 1949, a night still fresh in my mind. From Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Mrs Burgin had removed to Panama City to look after Bill, and was a respected force among neighborhood kids on our odd side of Massalina Bayou - - Guy, Weller, Sheffield, Waterfield, Knowles. One of Nanny's commands when Bill, or all of us, responded too slowly to her instructions, was an impatient "MAYKASE!!" - - which meant "hurry up" and you'd best do so. Only years later did I learn that maykase! was Tuscaloosa dialect for Make Haste. So, I'm maykasing to participate in my allotted Time instead of sleeping through it.  

Rambling again. Where was I?

Up early. Two half mugs of hot & black along with a dark-thirty snack of liver pate on three whole-wheat saltine crackers, 

and checking out the Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. Here's that OT story of Moses' sentence of death for his disobedience to God:

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.

Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

++++++++++

a pitiful story that does not showcase the mercy of God. What happened? I'm out of Time and patience to finish the story. More later or tomorrow? Perhaps.

RSF&PTL

T88&c