What My Mom Said Job Said, and What We Did

The news of the acquittal of murderer Zimmerman, left me despondent.  My mom called me this morning after going to church and one of the first things she said was, "I can only think of Job who said 'my soul is weary of my life.'" Because I do not understand and can't properly reference this quote from the Bible, and since my mom seemed to be both pragmatic and sincere, I could only infer that  she was disgusted with the verdict.  That was pretty much the context of our Sunday conversation, and that was how we left it.  Sad, and true.

One thing that stands out to me was that soon after Zimmerman's defense began, it was the memory of Trayvon Martin that seemed to be on trial, not the man eager to get rid of crime in his neighborhood and certainly not the man who neglected to see Trayvon Martin as his neighbor, too.  And whatever one thinks about the verdict, there is undoubtedly a need for greater public scrutiny and legislative intervention in the right-to-carry policies, not to mention Florida's stand your ground laws - two things that carelessly led to a pointless fatal encounter.

I know a lot of people are wondering about humankind and whether we're going to make it.  And with a family of young kids and as a teacher of adolescents, I have to believe that we are going to make it no matter what - even if it means descending into the dark because of so many troubling aspects of the killing of Trayvon Martin and the trial of George Zimmerman.

As much as I wish it were otherwise, the truth is that this sort of news just feels familiar.  It is, to borrow a phrase from Evelyn Waugh, "merely a blow upon a bruise, just another right uppercut to the soul."  It's the end of the day now and I'm just thinking about what my mom said - It was as if she was reminding me of one lesson she learned from her own life.  That, especially in the midst of darkness, life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived - something she's had me believing in even when I was too immature to believe.  We all need strength to carry on.  

And today we found strength in our happiness outside at Devils Lake together, where the mosquitoes were biting, the deer flies were out, and the poison ivy was everywhere.  In fact, until we got there, we were all pretty lackadaisical about even going up but I'm so glad we pushed through and went because it was a relaxing fun time.  Here's what we did . . .

Used our newest Organic pad and took a nap.

Sketched the landscape and read Harry Potter.

Climbed this fun line on the 45 degree boulder. 

Admired quartzite like we just saw it for the first time :)

Problem-solved how to avoid the poison ivy at the top-out

Pulled on really tiny holds

Wrote a story and read it out loud. 

Spotted poison ivy. 

Eyed more poison ivy. 

Took the "What is NOT poison ivy" test

Tried out different settings on the camera to try to feel pro.  

Found a lone sumac at the edge of the trail.

Ran downhill pad-free. 

Felt satisfied at the end of the day.