I often find myself with emotions torn on these “patriotic” holidays. Fifty years ago, the war in Vietnam was front and center. Many my age who were there still suffer unimaginably.
Today many wars—even if undeclared let’s call them what they are—simply lurk in the background, nearly forgotten in the banality of the daily news by nearly all of us nearly all the time. The suffering, however, continues every day on all sides—not just soldiers, mainly women and children—while politicians preen and posture and shareholders profit from it all. “Where have all the flowers gone?”
As the sun greets the morning sky, I try to see the world as it really is—beautiful beyond imagining and at peace—but this morning it seems impossible.
Still Learning To See 
So grateful for your regular reminders of both the beauty and the gravity of our world. Some philosopher has to have noted more eloquently than I can the importance of being cognizant of both. This piece is a wonderful illustration of the theory – the vertiganous perspective of the hard and unforgiving rock paired with the beauty of its abstracted, color-based composition. Learning to see indeed!
Life is beautiful: from white pines in silhouette against the cumulus, to schist hardened to slate and ground to pebbles by the waters of time. Life endures and so do we in spite of all we do; perhaps because in addition to hate and greed we also have compassion and a love of beauty. Thanks for sharing both thoughts and for helping me see.
Holly
(Angel in the dust)
To have you as a friend and have you share your art is the best therapy for dealing with this world. Thank you John, Happy 4th. Dianne