In The Long Run

It's a cold night in The Mother City. Maybe I'm just getting old but I'm finding this winter harsh. The bite in the air, the pervasive wet, the wrenching lack all conspiring to rob my step of its promise of spring. I find I'm sustained by my own memories of braving element and surviving condition that behaved for all the world as if it held a personal vendetta against my family and myself. How obstacles were overcome; conceits challenged; a plan was made. Yes our environment often evoked the description 'miserable', but that is not indicative of a people's ability to rise above restraint and resistance to fashion a meaningful existence. Which is why when in our moving on we are expected to forgive and forget that which was, I find it impossible to let go of that which inspires me - an ability to pull through under the most dire circumstances, a proclivity for endurance that seems almost detrimental to self, and a capacity for personhood that defies material measure. While it should always be of concern that it should be required, there is much also to be admired about people's capacity for battling, surviving and overcoming the storms. And whilst for some the charity of responding to symptomatic need seems to ameliorate the glaring inequalities of daily existence, it is the lack of effective, long-term solutions that must trump any agenda addressing approach and aspiration. Be safe this night. Be warm. Be loved SP 08.05.14