Face

So, the expression “saving face” comes from Asian culture.

I am the proud owner of a new face!

An absolutely hideous one!!! I think it will improve with time. But, I’m stuck with it for now.

Here, let’s see if it’s any better in the morning light: it is! Either way, the one I saw last night is perfect for going around the dark spaces of Hiroshima and Nagasaki looking up people with congenital damage from the fallout out of the bombs. I am very ignorant about this, just feeling it out. Here I am this morning, if you don’t mind?

This is the beginning of the person I will be for soever how long I will live. It was a bumpy transition.

So, St Francis of Assisi said that “Sister Bodily Death is our Friend” and I have been thinking a lot about that lately as my father is 90 and I’ve burned the candle at both ends in my life for the longest time.

In the modern world there are so many horrendous forms of suffering. Mostly war related, like Viet Nam veteran experiences; the experiences in our very midst of drug addicts; brutal treatment of women; this is what comes to mind and it is so tame compared to experiencing the horror of having 75,000 and 135,000 people dematerialized in seconds by an atom bomb. They go instantly. But then some just experience the fallout and that lingers. And there are the relatives of the ones who go, the horrible loss. And the atomization of the cities. What was, gone, in an instant. I only had to look at a couple of pictures to get a sense of what it was like, so stark. I don’t have the words. The human face on it spoke quietly, a face scarred by (?) radiation burning. I don’t even know the words and I don’t know why God asked me to do this because I am not able to read a book about it to find out how to talk about it. It curdles my heart to think of it. The plague of abortion is similar in how it affects America. Tiny bodies torn to shreds and discarded in medical waste tanks. This harms our souls. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki there is beauty to be found, however horrible the suffering. When I googled them I immediately found listings of nice resort hotels which so surprised me. Its been a while I guess. Even for this. 75 years. Time heals all wounds. Still, at the same time, the next thing you see are monuments.

I will keep looking.