Two new stones

Yesterday my twin daughters each buried their first pets - Lucky the hamster, and Patch the hamster. Lucky had died in the winter when it was too cold to bury him, and we had kept him in a sealed box in a basement freezer and had been putting it off. Then Patch died on Saturday and it was time.

I have no trite commentary on learning the meaning of life and death from the point of view of a 7-year-old girl. I have simply to report that two new stones were added to special spots in our garden. Like my patio, and everything we ever do, these stones also will not last. I know this.

But here is what my daughters thought and wrote themselves on the new stone markers.

RIP
Lucke
He was a
varey grate
pet. Aug 2008


RIP
This is where Patch lies
he died on August 10
on saturday 2008. I loved
him a lot. he was a very
nice hamster. I also care
about him. Amen

Well said

Not often that I find myself in such agreement with someone who spent 15 years at the New York Times, but this bit by Chris Hedges is simply amazing in it's strength and quiet passion.

He even sums up with the that quote from Niebuhr, reminding me to put it permanently over there to the right.

"Investing in People"

One common conclusion is that since "things" do not last, our real investment must be in "people" in the lives and loves of family, friends, community, etc. Fair enough, but the point here was never to start knocking what we do with our lives in the first place. This isn't about "materialism" or "ambition." It's simply an observation that pretty much anything we do will vanish at some point.

Even if we focus totally on people, and then measure it by all our ancestors and all human history to come after us. Whether we strive for humanity of the future to become more loving, more open, enlightened, loved, whatever, none of them will last any of the destructions listed here either.

Make it a tower of people and it's a still a tower that's coming down some day.

Just saying...