Code Pink!

I had to turn on Comment Moderation for awhile. I'm getting some Asian spam. Thank you, Butternut S!


Stanton Park

Healing comes in so many forms and in so many strengths. The most heroic form of healing is probably surgery. I think of a surgeon removing a bullet from the shoulder of some army guy. Now that's heroic. Several levels down from that magnitude, healing comes in forms more common to most of us, like the taking of an aspirin, or washing a finger you cut while cooking, then applying a band aid. These are acts of healing, but maybe not so heroic.

The most gentle form of healing has to do with witnessing. I think of Walt Whitman sitting with the Civil War soldiers, giving them cigarettes and just talking to them. That was tremendously powerful healing, but gentle, oh so NOT heroic. Thanks Walt! You made a big difference, I know you did.


On the National Mall. Can you imagine walking underneath this pink bower? I did it, smiling and ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing the whole way.

In my own life I experience gentle healing every day. For example, the way my dog's ears flop up and down while he walks is so sweet, it's actually healing. Watching that flopping erases all kinds of minor scratches on my heart, tiny abrasions I am perhaps unaware of until I notice they are being healed. Thanks, Jake, for your sweet mutt ears and their healing floppage.

Every spring there is a week in Washington DC when the Pepto pink profusions of the cherry bloom bring the most delicate, loving energy into the city. Don't ask me how it works, I can't explain it, but I know in my heart of hearts that gazing up into the pink love clouds that are everywhere this week does so much good for my soul. It does. I'm sure, too, that I'm not the only one who benefits from this pink healing.

Yesterday I walked around for hours, taking in the shapes, color, the pouffiness, the pinkness, so milky sweet next to the dark trunks and branches. Fantastic! I felt like I was drinking, through my eyes, the most delicious spring elixir.

As usual I ate a couple of blossoms, tasted the bitter cherry taste. And I took a lot of pictures, too. It's possible that I'm radiating pinkness this morning as a result. Don't know about that, but I do know that I am smiling, for "no reason."

Many thanks to the cherries for doing what they do best: blooming, and filling my heart with their goodness. Bravo!!


North side of the Capitol.