The day did not begin well. While reaching for a dish in the cabinet I knocked down a large pot which fell forcefully on my ring finger, pressing it on to the blade of my smoothie maker, leaving me in pain with a large and bloody gash. Then I discovered that we are out of toilet paper. Then I found out I had gained a pound right before Weight Watchers weigh in. All of which made me late for a dentist appointment. Little, really minuscule meaningless  annoyances that left me stressed as the day was beginning.  But I was alive and she wasn’t.

The fact is that no amount of small things can distract my heart from the fact that my dear friend and former parishioner, Dr. Ching Ling Kung  has died. She who made me part of her family. She who was like another sister to me. She of shared confidences, had a massive stroke that did so much brain damage that she never regained consciousness. At first she was on a ventilator. And after that was removed, she lived for three days as family and friends kept vigil, her children at her side around the clock until she breathed her last breath.

On Thursday, May 11, after cremation, she was laid to rest where her husband for many years, and father of their children, John, Lee is buried.  Her children with the help of her current minister, Allen Fairfax, with me as his side-kick, will celebrate her life in a memorial service this Saturday.

I was not ready for Ching Ling to die. She was in church on Easter Sunday and seeing her was a joy and such a given of life. Somehow, I expected her to always be there. She with the healing hands and loving heart for so many of us. Trained as a doctor in China,  she practiced and taught acupuncture in Boston and was an herbalist. She studied Chinese philosophy that was far over my head. I knew her as a mother who loved her children and grandchildren fiercely, her friends with an unwavering loyalty and worried about all of us. Her daughter says she is in a better place, and I agree with her, knowing as a person of faith I should, but that truth will have to grow in me. Right now I am coping with the loss of her.  Later I will celebrate her old and new life.

As a Minister, I have officiated at many funerals. And as a family member attended still others including that of my younger brother. What I am discovering is that Ching Ling’s death seems to stir thoughts about my own death as non of the others did. Maybe for all of us, the death of a friend is often the death of a peer and that seems very close. So as I pray for and encourage her friends and especially her children, to live into the future as she would want them to, I think of my own family.

I want to live as long as I am given to live. Even bad days are a gift of life. And I want my family to live fully into their lives when I am gone. As another doctor friend says, we always have to leave in the middle of the play. While we are here, life is precious. I think my worrying about those I love is just an expression of how much I love and treasure them.

Ching Ling has journeyed home into that Mystery we can only see dimly where love beyond our imagining abides.

Until that time comes for any of us, we have work to do and lives to live, and love to give. Let us hold fast to our precious days in time and space, in finitude, for it is here that we hone our spirits and walk firmly in the footsteps of all who have gone before, paving the way for all who will come after. Embracing this life as the beginning of eternity.

It is Easter night and I am weary but happy as I write. It has been a good day: meaningful worship, time with family and friends, telephone calls. My heart is filled with gratitude. I find myself especially grateful for our sons who have brought me so much joy, taught me so much, and been at the heart of my life. They are good people, each in their own way. Adults of whom I am proud.

Of course, while many celebrate, Easter day does not suddenly erase all pain, sadness, loss, brokenness for everyone.  I am aware that Easter, resurrection, new life, takes place over time. Easter can come into our lives at any time of year. Surprise and the power God has to raise the dead in life and beyond it is forever with us.

What I come away with is that what Easter is all about is the ultimate triumph of love and life, in little and large ways. What God has done, God continues to do and will.

And there are flowers and candy.

Today we took our dog to “get her hair done.” The groomer is very considerate of her age and all went well. She is now shorn, comfortable, and beautiful. We also got cartridges at Staples, food at Trader Joes, and worked on Income Taxes. In between we grabbed something to eat. And, oh yes, a conference call about a church we love. This is what retirement is like for us at the moment. And I am grateful that we are still doing as well as being.

But it is Holy Week and in the past, at this time of year, when I was working, I would be overwhelmed with preparation for and leadership in worship services, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Goof Friday, then Easter. Not now. Now I am running around with ordinary things…like everybody else.

So this is what Holy Week is like for most people. The events in Jesus’ life, lived so long ago, that led to his crucifixion and resurrection are not so in front of me.  They are more, well, off to the side. In fact, the recitation of such a time of violence and violation in Jesus’ lie is something I would rather ignore. But, we will be attending Maundy Thursday services and will keep Good Friday privately.

The suffering of Jesus reminds me of the suffering of so many people throughout the world today and in the annals of history. How do we bring an end to human induced suffering?

I actually believe that the crucifixion of Jesus helps us answer this question.

As I force myself to focus on Holy Week, I see the once warrior God who became the   crusader Christ,of our faith, turning the tables on our reliance on power;  God’s offering God’s own life for love of humanity and ultimately mocking the worst that human power can deliver, death. Divine Power speaking to human power and giving hope to the seekers of peace.

The cross, it seems to me is God acting and suffering with a love that seeks to end human suffering, not perpetuate it, that offers forgiveness and grace, and in pursuit of justice seeks not revenge but redemption.

God does not go easy on sin but shows its cost in vivid detail on the cross. Even God s not spared.  With the dawning of Easter day, comes the truth that God has power over death.  God’s power is life giving even when the end seems final. God incarnate has the last word.

But it seems to me that the message is not just about the end of life and conquest of death itself, it is about what we end up believing about power as we journey through life. Human power and violence is a dead end, empty, for those who exert it and those who believe in it.

Somehow, this message has meaning for me as I go about the mundane details of living and working. It gives me an insight into the mystery of God, the nature of goodness, the meaning our lives can have on earth, and the hope that comes from knowing that the chasm between heaven and earth is more of a veil that can be lifted than a wall that cannot be breached.

And while it took the violence and violation that Jesus’ endured at the hands of corrupt human power during holy week to bring home the message that God’s power is non-violent, the enduring message is that the worst that human power can deliver is powerless in the face of Divine power, that power for peace and good that we are capable of embodying, however imperfectly.

Human well being can only be brought about by the pursuit of justice and peace and the practice of compassion, mercy, and grace.  The enduring and triumphant power of the life force embedded in humanity through God’s love cannot be stamped out.  Suffering is not God’s will and yet, when it happens, God is there for God was there. And Easter will dawn.

When I finally stop to reflect on holy week, these are my rambling thoughts, some of them. These happenings of another time during what we have come to call, Holy Week, can, for me, enhance, enable, and ennoble even the most trivial aspects of daily life. The God these times help reveal,  as the veil in the Temple separating the Holy of Holies from the people is torn in two at Jesus’ death, accompanies me through life, is my compass, and my peace.

Since the Inauguration of President Trump, I have been reflecting on how much of our modern communication relies on texts and tweets. President Trump being famous, of course, for doing end-runs around the media with his tweets. Which of course they report.  Fragments, one liners and slogans are gaining power. They have always had some appeal.

Fragments. I have become aware of how many conversations that I have are mere fragments of thought and feeling. Words, sometimes taken out of context, sometimes superficial, sometimes meaningful, but incomplete. I long for, I begin to realize a real conversation. But then, I have to be open to saying what I think and talking about how I feel and be open to really listening to another. That sometimes leads to alienation when I want to keep the peace.

For instance. Okay. You say you don’t believe in God, but just what God, or concept of God, or religious perception of God, do you mean? Or religion. What do you mean you don’t trust it? Or, you believe in spirituality, not religion. Do you believe in learning but not schools? Or health but not medicine?

Or, how are you doing? Fine. But, that is not really true. You are struggling with some health issues. I can understand not wanting to talk about it, but just some basic information would help me connect to you.

I want to know my children as adults and I want them to know who I really am. Not sound bites or another’s impression.

Being a grandparent seems to require some circumspect, fragmentary communication too. A grandparent has to be sensitive to their own children’s boundaries for their children. We proceed with caution. Fragments. No complete thoughts about concerns, or even dreams. Or the context of life and values within that context. Being human yesteryear has connections with being human today. There is a conversation. Fragments won’t do.

What seems like long ago, I listened to TV ads as we entered the heat of last stage pre-election campaigning. What do you mean you stood up for women when you voted against Planned Parenthood? What’s up? Or what do you mean “Make America great…again?” Militarily, morally, economically, what? When was it last great?

How can we settle for one liners when the world and issues and we are involved in are complex? Of course, too many words can obscure the truth of who we are and what we really think or feel too.

I know that love lives beyond words. I love beyond words. So does faith. But words can be a means to deeper connection when we are willing to take the chance of using them. I know that some things are better left unsaid, or are beyond words. But most things?

Do we not talk because we don’t want to expose ourselves, or are afraid to really know one another, or don’t want to disturb some equilibrium? Or, is brevity better because we are so busy or so very private?  Or do we use fragments because we can, because we have smart phones we can dumb down.

I suppose electronic media has contributed to the “life in fragments” thing. But I don’t remember too many substantive conversations with folks back in the day either. Maybe it’s not just a now thing or even a then thing. Face to face conversation is not always easy. And connecting the dots and giving voice to how we feel is often hard.  If words and thoughts are hard, at least being together matters, even if its by Skype.

I guess that no matter how good communication gets, there is so much more left to say. That’s the mystery of being human and the nature of finitude. But, let’s be more courageous about communication. Tweets are for the birds.

President Trump’s ban on immigration from seven nations, with an emphasis on Muslims is a threat to our democracy and an action we should all fear. The protests and alarm of so many Americans is heartening and hopeful. We care. Our freedoms matter. We have principles that need to be upheld like valuing diversity, showing compassion, supporting religious freedom, and rejecting outright racism under the guise of “Keeping America Safe.”

If we as Americans want to be safe, we must face the fact that most mass shootings in the United States had nothing to do with radical Islamists. That is not to say that radical Islamic militants, or the radical Christian right, or Jewish extremism are not a threat to peace around the world. But guns and our fascination with violence in the United States threaten our peace and do not keep us safe. If we want to keep America safe lets take on the American Rifle Association, violent video games, and the endless offerings of TV shows based on violent crimes albeit in an attempt to solve them.

But, I digress.

Back to the Executive Branch of our government. We cannot go about life as usual when out of the blue come executive orders that ought to make even faithful followers shutter. We know where religious discrimination can lead. We have seen genocides in our time, and the devastation and death associated with self serving dictators. And we have said, never again.

Consider this. Chaos might just be what the Trump administration wants, along with the press that accompanies it. And how about distracting us with what the right hand is doing while the left hand works its deception?  As long as some, or even half of the American population can believe in propaganda and one liners to defend the most heinous of actions, “Make American great again,” and “Keep America safe,” and who knows what comes next, President Trump has carte blanche to do whatever he wants. We must be vigilant.

Knowing something about the world of religion, I am familiar with false prophets and dangerous charismatic leaders who develop and control cults. This feels a lot like that. I tremble. I am with those who are desperately trying to hold on to sanity amidst the clever tyrannic madness that is at work and seems confident in their power to work over our minds and take over the national  agenda.

I pray for the survival of our democracy which rests with an awakened public and a bipartisan Congress able to stand up to the Executive Branch and if needed, the defense of an independent Supreme Court.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump, women owe you a vote of thanks. Your off hand statements, made public, objectifying women as sexual objects available to you at your whim, has allowed the sexual discrimination issue shoe to drop for us with a loud thud.

It has been clear all along that economic issues and reproductive issues are key for the liberation of women. Sexuality issues, not so clear and not so easy to talk about. Women are encouraged to be desired and beautiful, sexual.

When  Bruce Jenner became Caitlyn Jenner, she became a “beautiful woman,” dressed in a sexy outfit on a Vanity Fair cover. That is what defines desirable womanhood after all. One step ahead for the transgender community and one step back for women.

Women have been and are encouraged to pay great attention to how we look. And the social norm for defining beauty is, well, skin deep, and unattainable, even unhealthy, for most women. Of course, it totally ignores other key and more important aspects of being: simply having value as persons, being endowed with a variety of gifts, living as whole persons for whom sexuality and spirituality can be integrated, both important. Reducing women to sexual objects is the other shoe of sexism.

Of course, sexuality and its expression is an important part of who we are as human beings. As women, we want to own our bodies and enjoy them.  They are ours to share as we please. This turns out to be harder than it should be. Because sexuality is important, it is all too easy to misuse and abuse it. And in this day when we are supposedly all more sexually liberated than our forebears, it is hard to set sexual boundaries and address sexual ethics. Donald Trump is helping us figure out what they are.

It is wrong for men to see women as sexual objects even if they say they love them.  Most men know this intellectually. The trouble is, Trump represents a cultural reality that still plagues us, the conflagration of power and sexual entitlement.

Trump is quick to deflect criticism of him by pointing out ex-President Bill Clinton’s sexual transgressions. His too are wrong which doesn’t let Donald Trump off the hook.  It is wrong to engage in sexual activity, even where there is consent, where there is a professional power relationship…not to mention a marriage. It is wrong to exploit people in your care or employ, be they students, patients, clients, or young aides.  Sexual harassment. Where there are spouses involved, they are violated too. Are they really supposed to look the other way and share the blame even when they may be experiencing  lasting trauma themselves?

Sexual issues are the “other shoe” in identifying matters at the heart of discrimination against women because of the many many ways in which they tug at an important part of our identity. We can affirm our sexuality without being defined or exploited by it, or encouraged to use it for material gain.

How can we stop the sexual abuse of women and some men whose bodies are violated for pleasure, punishment, and the exertion of power from incest and rape to sexual harassment, to human trafficking, to daily insults. We need to name the offenses, prosecute them to the fullest extend possible. We need to distinguish between pathological behavior and healthy sexuality.

We want to affirm sexuality and enjoy its expression in healthy reciprocal relationships of consent. To do this we need to confront the objectification not only of women, but of sex. Sexually abusive people mess not only with our bodies but with our minds and psyches.  The sexual abuse of women functions to keep women in their place and elevate men’s entitlement.

Of course, sexual discrimination and  the violation of women and children is nothing new. It is age old and world wide. Still, it garners headlines in recent US history. Lawyer Anita Harris confronted now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with sexual harassment. More recently, we have had to confront pedophilia among priests, and following that, date rape on campus, and sexual violations by teachers, coaches, therapists, clergy and on and on. Now Donald Trump with his easy access to women mind, makes public a generic kind of the objectification of women. He calls it “locker room” talk, or is it prep school chatter. He digs the hole deeper.

What Donald Trump has enabled is the surfacing of and reflecting on these matters by sensitive and sane women and men. People who have had sexual sins perpetrated against them with which they have lived silently are speaking out.  They speak out to finally liberate themselves and future generations from sexual violations too often taken for granted as inevitable.

A Minister friend is led to recount never spoken of unwanted sexual assaults and the affect they have had on her life. A teacher friend becomes more conscious about how he is  “seeing” his female students. A parishioner who was dying recounted the affairs her husband had had over the years about which she had never spoken felt unable to shake the “traumatic shock” that had haunted her life.  A relative expressed the trouble he had forgiving his wife for her unfaithfulness.

I remember things still on my mind that I never told anyone when they happened. Men exposed themselves on public transportation when I was commuting to High School. I turned away and thinking of them as perverts, I never  spoke out and not wanting to talk about it, didn’t report it.  There were other stranger violations and a violation by a therapist that I never said anything about those either. These experiences  left me with a feeling of vulnerability and confusion. I chalked it up to being a woman in our society and went on with my life. Now, thanks to Mr. Trump, I feel the anger of having been violated. I want to stop other men from demeaning women. I want the world to pay attention to how serious Trump’s sexism is.

So now that the shoe has been dropped quite visibly in public, we are called upon to address sexual discrimination in earnest, not only for the exceptionally heinous situations some women have faced, but for the daily ways in which women of all walks of like have been objectified and violated and diminished. We will reclaim our sexuality and celebrate its expression with those who respect and love us. We will be grateful for the men who stand with us.

Donald Trump has done us another favor. He has allowed us to talk about sexual morality without sounding prudish. We have too often silenced ourselves for fear of being sexually prudish or perceived as “goody two shoeish.” Those who turn away unwanted advances are not cold, they have self respect. Those who do not find men making unwanted sexual advances are not sexually unattractive (which is about more than breast size, weight, or age.) And men like Donald Trump are not just being men, they need to be called out for being the sexual predators they are.

One Biblical incident comes to mind as I think about these things. As a minister I often wonder what Scripture has to say. I think of Jesus saying to the crowd about to stone a woman caught in adultery,  “Let those without sin cast the first stone.” And everyone puts down their stones. These are pretty universal issues.

I wonder, where the man was with whom she was caught. Did he have a wife? Why isn’t he being stoned. And I know the answer. That was a sexist culture. The thing is, even in that patriarchal context, Jesus stood up for the woman who was about to be stoned, not to excuse her sexual transgression but to call the crowds attention to their own sins and the injustice of the situation.

Jesus knows what we all know if we stop to think about it. At some level, we are all complicit in sexual sin and discrimination against women, even if our sin is simply accepting cultural norms. Do we know the serious effects of sexism in society? Like racism, it is deeply embedded in all of us and in our society. Those who suffer most are those most violated. But we are all hurt and diminished by it.

It is essential to social well being, and the liberation of women and men together, to sort these things out. Sexual discrimination stands in the way of seeing women and men as whole people and experiencing the pleasure and fulfilling intimacy that can be ours through the healthy expression of our sexuality. We do know this if we stop to think about it.

I confess, I found myself reacting emotionally as long silenced issues surfaced in me the night of the second Presidential debate. Trump was clearly in the wrong. Of course, so had Bill Clinton been. Now why was Trump trying to hang her husband’s offenses on Hillary Clinton? Why were we even  talking about sex front and center in a Presidential debate?

In many ways, this election was a show down between machismo and women’s liberation. Patriarchy is as important as any other issues facing our nation and world. Gender equality will go a long way toward addressing poverty and violent mind sets around the world.

So I wade into deep waters and many things rise to the surface. As I do, I experience a new personal freedom and new hope for society. Thank you Mr. Trump for going public with your sexism. If you win the election today, Secretary Clinton, governing will not be easy, but the glass ceiling needed to be shattered and the majority of Americans agree.

I listen to friends and colleagues who went to the Women’s Marches Saturday and as the week goes on, I am increasingly filled with gratitude and hope for who all these people were: kind, connected, patient, loving and what they stood for, justice and our democracy of inclusion, health care for all, peace, clean air and more good things.  Twelve people from our small New England Presbyterian congregation were there and that makes me proud of us.

Unable to march, I stayed home and watched the throngs of people with excitement and gratitude. This is the United States I know and love.

You know, in addition to the crowds in the streets, there were other people joining in as they could. A friend on the West Coast, who can’t be named because publicity for their event was not permitted, gathered 75 people in her Senior Center and they held their own event. They made signs, they walked through the corridors of their residences and then gathered in the auditorium to talk about their hopes and dreams and commitments for the future. Many of us retired folk were there in the day when rights were won that are now being challenged!

As the insanity of the actions and perspectives of President Trump continue, with his “alternate truths,” I can look back on Saturday and rejoice and look forward in hope knowing that we are not going away. We will overcome!

This new people’s revolution to keep the United States on the path to true freedom belongs to young and old and all those in between. We will stand up for one another.

And, as I am beginning to realize, we had all better begin to brush up on economics. After all, for our President and many of his colleagues, its about money, not human rights.

I can’t march with women all over the United States and other parts of the world who are sending President Donald Trump a message. We are not going back to the old days when women were second class citizens. But I can write and join my voice with theirs. The days when the Great White Male prevailed in grand militaristic and authoritarian style are over. Blessed be the great men of justice and peace whose day must come. And blessed be the women who have overturned centuries of injustice against women, other minorities, and people of all faiths or no faith who understand that the world belongs to all of us . We stand together.

Let this be a day of rejoicing for today, we have once again found our voice. When President Trump points to the crowd and declares that “This is the day that the people controlled this nation.” and again, “A nation exists to serve its citizens.” let it be so. Women are in the streets to claim our voice. We are half the people and we are related to the other half. We are citizens and sympathizers, and we are grateful for the eight amazing years President Obama served our nation in spite of all attempts to boycott his work.

We are not going away. We are not turning back time. Not after all the energy it took to help make America great in moral leadership and vision. When we return from the streets to our homes, we will be living full lives and watching and working toward a United States that does not veer from its democratic path, its progress toward inclusion, and its respect for nations pursuing peace even as we must.

We are beyond living in a time when the privileged few can flaunt their wealth as if it mattered. They will be judged as we all will be by the moral compass by which we live, not the power we exert. Being first is an empty, if not ridiculous, goal. Life is not a sport. Cooperation, working together for the common good is more to the point of survival with meaning and the gateway to inner joy.

So we flaunt the people’s power as we crowd the streets of our nation to protect our freedom. Not everyone stands where we stand. We are a divided nation. But be sure of this. We care about everyone’s freedom and the protection of our democratic way of life for everyone. If there are broken places, let’s fix them. But for God’s sake and humanity’s soul, we are not returning to patriarchal power under the guise of Patriotism.

It is worse than I thought. As I listened to Donald Trump’s inaugural address I could not believe this was happening in the United States. A man with the mind of a dictator was elected and inaugurated as President and without apology laid out a nationalist, militarist, populist agenda. (Which populist?) He called us to Patriotism, as if he knows better than anyone what this means, and it felt as if there could be, should be no higher loyalty.

This wealthy man who brags about his hotels and casinos, who hasn’t paid taxes for fifteen years, stood there and castigated “Washington” for forgetting the little person. Just exactly who has forgotten whom?

When the wealthy few live off the backs of the common people, how can we blame government for that? Maybe for some of it. Maybe for not requiring those wealthy few to pay their fair share, or be accountable to “the masses.” Will our new President see to that? Or will he take away the little millions have, like health care?

If we are all to be “Patriots,” and I am not talking football, he says he has turned power over to us. We can tell him what to do. What? After announcing that we would have a strong police force and military to protect us, he threw God in too. God follows the power.

Our new President seems to think that God has a preferential concern for making America great, first, and maybe, even though he did not say this, rich like him. But that is delusional and simply wrong thinking. I think great means morally right not just militarily strong. I don’t want America to be the bully on the world stage.

The raised fist at the end, and the constant use of the word  “Movement” does not signal a people’s movement even though he calls it that. Some may feel he is on their side and represents their values. But he is not one of them, not even their sugar Daddy. “Movement” signals something else to me. It seems to be the movement of a patriarchal monarch and his team, determined to cap their glory by becoming leaders of the world through American power. Even though I tremble, I am angry, I am all but speechless, I hope I am wrong.

Maybe it serves us more liberal middle class folk right for not seeing this coming. Americans, citizens of the United States that is, secretly and sometimes quite obviously, think wealth is harmless and wealthy icons are worth our interest. And maybe we were not enough focused on the working (or not working) poor. Or willing to admit that we are closer to them than we think.

Moderates, conservatives, and liberals who have a different view of American “greatness” now have to band together beyond Movements (without losing the gains of movements) to protect human rights and religious freedom and promote peace.

And by the way, “making America great again” should not be confused with “making America Christian again.”  The Separation of religion and state has not been overturned.

It all happened so fast. We came home from a brief trip to the grocery store and found our dog, Miranda in distress. It was Friday at 4:30 before a long holiday week-end. She had just come back from the groomers two ours ago. Fortunately the Vet agreed to see her. An X-ray later and we were on our way to the pet emergency center where we were told she needed major abdominal surgery or she would be euthanized. Of course, we decided on surgery even though she was a large 13 year old dog,  old for a dog of her size.

She was operated on that evening and after I spent a sleepless night, I called in the early morning  hours to see how she was doing. Her recovery was on track and somehow, we got to day two. They said she was whining. She never does that and I felt that she was missing us. They assured us that her pain was being controlled. No way to explain to a dog what is going on and how lovingly (and anxiously) we are standing by,  or how she needed to be where she was for now.

I am not adequately able to describe our emotions which were both tumbling over and on hold so we could function.

When family, friends, or parishioners are in the hospital, I can talk with them. They can usually understand that stabilizing them and their spending as much time under expert care as possible is important. Not so with our dog who could not understand where we were! Before 24 hours were up, she was on her way home with us, wobbly and unable to even get in the car without help. But the Vet dismissed her and like magic, the whining stopped. Our bond is strong,

We normally sleep on the second floor of our home where she also has a dog bed. Not now. Now we were on dog watch and I was sleeping on a mattress on the first floor in the room with her. On the second night home I was wakened by her standing over me and panting. On the theory that she was in pain I gave her pain medication and anxiously called the hospital to see if that seemed right to them. It did.

One son’s family came to see her the next day and I am sure that helped with her healing. The day after that, another son and family came over and with that she was on the road to full recovery and returning to her normal self.

I go into this detail surprised that we are all rallying around a dog. And, my husband and I paid more for her surgery than we would ever have thought possible if we had contemplated the matter under non-emergency conditions. But I would do it again.

In some ways, our care for all of God’s creatures is connected.  We as humans have a close connection to animals and to our mutual habitat.

The fact is, we owe our dog, and we were fortunate enough to be able to pay for saving her life and to have had good and expert doctors to do the work of caring for her. Miranda has been through thick and thin with us. She has been faithful, loving, gentle, and kind and amusing. And a good traveler. She has gone almost everywhere we have gone and been a companion and my “familiar.” I have gotten over the extravagant cost of the surgery by now.

People from other countries are often puzzled by our devotion to pets in the US. And so they should be when we over pamper our pets. But, we were not pampering our dog, we were saving her life. It is just too bad that it costs so much to do so.  So many people even in the US could not make the choice we did.

It’s like dental care. Who can afford the more complex treatments like root canals and implants. When people go to Veterinary School and Dental school, are they aware that they will never be serving the working poor? Clinics for the poor are wonderful. However, there is a class gap in care. Maybe we should consider universal dental care.

But back to Miranda. Two years later, she is still with us and we are so grateful for every day we have with her. We thank the Vets and nurses who cared for her and we thank Miranda for being so lovingly resilient.