It's a winter ritual: Sitting around the warmth of the pot belly stove, an old man tells his friends that it was so cold last week that he chopped up his piano for kindling. One of his cronies asks: "How many cords did you get"? The response is the same each year: "One...it was flat".
The telling of the joke every year, in the darkest days of the winter, is a reality check. If anyone laughs, it would be a sign that his memory was failing! His friends would nod to each other. It would be a signal to exercise a little extra caution. The condition did not have a name other than "getting old". The "laugher" would not be allowed to walk home in the evening by himself. Easier, and more humane, to take a detour and accompany a friend to his house in the evening. The alternative may be a search of the snowdrifts in the morning for a corpse.
I have my own ritual, not to test if I am old, or feeble. That will come soon enough. No, my test is to see if I still have a soul. The test came early this morning, just after midnight. The test came this year as a news flash I caught on the Internet. Years ago I served in the Peace Corps, a volunteer teacher in the old Republic of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Africa.
The headline by the Associated Press: Dungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Early in the morning the warnings came: Rebels, of the Lord's Resistance Army, notorious for vicious attacks on civilians, were advancing on this eastern Congolese town of thatched roof huts along the winding Kibali River. Aid workers alerted nearby U.N. peacekeepers, but for hours no one came. So tens of thousands of townspeople fled — on foot, on bicycles, on motorcycles, anything to escape. Some did not get out on time and were slaughtered on the spot. Others were abducted and killed in the bush.
More than 1,500 civilians have been slaughtered since September, many hacked and clubbed to death in unspeakably brutal attacks, according to humanitarian groups. Aid workers and others say the U.N. force and Congolese military received almost daily alerts as the death toll mounted and the rebel offensives multiplied.
Critics say the 17,000-member U.N. mission has foundered despite being the largest and most expensive in the world — and with the strongest mandate ever issued to U.N. troops to use force to protect civilians.
Since 1998, the International Rescue Committee estimates that an astonishing 5.4 million people have died in Democratic Republic of the Congo from war-related causes, particularly from hunger and disease.
Am I surprised that this U.N. mission has foundered despite being the largest and most expensive in the world? Was I moved to tears that people, (perhaps my students, boys and girls that I may have taught many many years ago) are being butchered in the night? Did I pass the test? Am I still a human being?
You may also enjoy reading: The people bowed and prayed
Also, may I recommend for your enjoyment: Charlie don't surf
See links for all the Genesis posts to date: Genesis Through My Eyes
Fortune has allowed me to come full circle and return to my earlier interest in photography. I am at that age were some weight loss would be beneficial. I certainly don't believe all photographers need to starve, but my initial goals are realistic, if not humble. The industry has changed tremendously, but the possibilities are unlimited. I am grateful that my parents' gave me a generic name. It's allowed me to explore numerous paths unhindered.
"I continue to seek exquisite beauty in my images, exploring all techniques, old and new".
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