Look Closely

 Dear you,

Yes, the beautiful may be small. But consider a couple of not so beautiful small events, symptoms of our national/global fracturing and tilt towards dystopia.  First, there is the recent fire bombing of a Unitarian Church, a church in Plano Texas.  The church is known for acceptance.  This of course includes the LGBTQ community.  Prior to the attack (luckily, no one was hurt), an anti-LGBTQ troll visited the church with a couple of wingmen. The man, Bo Alford, creates Youtubes testifying to his war on this segment of society.  The aforementioned church visit was featured on one of those videos. See NBC.com news:  "At the end of the video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times, the men stand by the church sign and ask viewers to "pray for these people," calling the church "pagan and satanic."  So yes, many see the link between the bomb and Bo.  Local authorities, however, haven't established that connection. Alford's defense, again from NBC.com. appears in an email (look for the spelling error):

“First and foremost, my prayers go out to anyone effected by the fire. As to the accusations, My channel spreads the message of Jesus and his love for us. If you watch the video you will see the members of the church having nothing but nice things to say about us. She enjoyed our conversation and even ended it with a hug. The fact we are being labeled as a hate group and being tied to this fire in any way is appalling.”

In his social media bios, Alford describes himself as, "Believer Of Christ YouTuber/ Boxer/Pro Lib Troller." His videos often feature him and his friends "pranking" politically and socially liberal Americans, particularly focusing on members of the LGBTQ community."

Oh, okay.  Not a hate group but a PRANKING group. Whew.  No problem, Bo. You are probably pranking all the educated libs with that homophone error too (effected instead of affected). Ha, ha, ha! I said HOMOphone. You are so funny, Mr. Alford. But, seriously, have you considered how your little videos encourage other idiots of your ilk to act out violently?  Have you considered your Christ and thought about the "what would Jesus do" message on that T-shirt you probably own?  Pointless to ask.

Next event, here in Seagrove Beach, FL.  My stroll studying visitor bumper stickers this week introduced me to another Texan and his point of view.  The sticker: an American flag with three words, "Jesus and Trump!"  I expected this. My assessment when I first saw the car's owner was right, unfortunately. The previous evening, I watched pelicans cruise over the coast while stationed at my south bedroom window. I heard a bang, looked down to the source of the noise, a man slamming the trunk of his vehicle. Trunk secured, he strutted to the driver's side costumed in tight denim slacks, tucked in long sleeve shirt (red, very red), pointy cowboy boots, and a big old cowboy hat.  So, what do you think my read on this guy was?  Besides the idiocy of all that hot clothing on a "feels like 110 evening", I judged him as idiotically conservative, probably a Christian Nationalist. I did a fast bias check and tried to shut down the judgment. Appearances mean nothing. Be cool, Joyce! But then, the next day, I saw the sticker.  Small but not beautiful.

I hate being right. Small sketches, big picture.

But as Kant advises, I must look for the beautiful small sketches too.  Right now, I look up and out and see clouds forming for a cooling rain, an ancient longleaf pine standing strong, cat Coco lounging on the bed, a delicious cigarette sending up smoke signals in a crystal ashtray, a happy child headed to the beach, twirling fans overhead, etc. etc. etc.

Looking Closely. 

Joyce