Of Thee

It was unexpected, nor on my agenda.

A Saturday in June should be spent looking for wildflowers or perhaps sharing a picnic lunch and a carafe of white wine with a kindred soul.

However, my focus today, June 10, 2023, was quite different and provoked by the constant and diverse news coverage after yesterday’s long anticipated indictment,.

I had not planned to listen to the rising emotions quoted from both sides of the aisle. Neither am I embedded with supporters of any of the past, present or future candidates. Yet I found myself trapped by the rising emotions on TV as I continued to listen to varied versions of an event history will record.

Nor had I anticipated the predictions of. how rapidly the cauldron of America’s anguish would reach the boiling point.

Regardless of which side of the political arena is quoted, there is pain and seemingly (at least from all media sources) volatile winds of dissension blowing across the nation,

So I sought sanctuary, and I found it without traveling to a far off monastery. Rather I found it on one of the lovely porches in the residence which I now call home

It was the music that seemed to welcome me and so I followed the invitation. The group was diverse, and although we had shared a few encounters on the elevator or in the dining room, we had not really become acquainted.

The group continued with their music, but also gestured for me to join them and so I did. And as voices accompanied by a small guitar rang out in song, my spirit healed and my fear dissipated.

None were young, nor am I. That is the reason we share this lovely refuge for senior citizens; each bringing baggage of our own as we enter.

There were no political discussions, nor indications of party affiliation, but today’s repertoire confirmed that despite the current level of volatility heard and read about, it is the American citizen who will make choices about our country’s future.

When the group ended with our National Anthem, I did not ask nor did I care about their political affiliations. However, I knew they were America’s soul. They fought the wars and survived hurricanes, floods and tornados. Perhaps some buried warrior sons or husbands.

They represent the reason the cauldron of our country’s current anguish will not spill over despite all the dire warnings. America remains “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”