Saturday, December 07, 2024

Isn't it a Pity

Many years ago, I gathered seaglass from beaches around the Bay Area and got pretty good at recognizing the best tides for finding it.

One section of Ocean Beach just south of San Francisco yielded a steady harvest of the blue, green, brown and white specimens, and there was another nice spot on one edge of Angel Island.

What I liked about seaglass was how it had been smoothed and polished by the waves, sand, sun and transformed into something resembling jewels from what had once been considered trash.

You might say that that is the way of all garbage, indeed of all life. After all, from a biological perspective, the sum total of all of our ancestors and all other organic life forms is a few inches of compacted topsoil clinging to the surface of a planet hurtling its way through space.

Wherever we are headed, we’re all going there on the same flight. 

As much as we try to see ourselves as distinct individuals, we also are part of a much larger unit. And our own sharp edges and rough places will get smoothed over by time just like pieces of glass, whether we like that or not.

We could still add up to something nice, something pretty.

But for now, bad political winds have shattered us into jagged shards of glass, all too good at cutting each other rather than coming together. We’ve broken into tribes of one; even families have shattered. We are like a thousand rough pieces more than any kind of perceivable whole.

Acts of random cruelty outnumber the ever-present acts of kindness. Extremes dominate. Hate is on the loose. Killers on the road. Isolation rules. Collectivity is disparaged. There is no common square to be found, only acres and acres of silence.

As a result, there can be no “us” at this moment in America.

Isn’t that a pity?

HEADLINES:

LYRICS:

“Isn't It a Pity”

George Harrison

Isn't it a pity now isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Some things take so long but how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can't hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn't it a pity

Isn't it a pity isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back

Isn't it a pity 

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