July 1914, July 1939 – July 2009?

Gone are the cold and dreary rains of June. Now, all is disarmingly sunny and green on the east coast. The July weather is hot during the day, blessedly cool and sweet in the evening. We stroll languidly down leafy city streets, walk dogs, slowly lick ice cream, read at outdoor cafes. People in wheelchairs and on walkers and canes have made it through another overly long winter and are out gazing in wonder at the world as they once knew it. The shore (endless ocean blue, dotted with swimmers and boats), the mountains (swollen running rivers, sheer-drop waterfalls, velvet emerald hills), even the suburbs are radiant, God-given.

Why does all this peace-and-calm remind me, ever so slightly, of Europe in early July of 1914 or July of 1939? Not everyone is touched by war, some smartly dressed people are always dancing or feasting as other people are being murdered (we have all seen the documentary footage of the really good time some people were having while others were going up in smoke at Auschwitz or Treblinka. I was not starving while Hutus slaughtered Tutsis in Rwanda — were you?)…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>