Witness—"Bombs Bursting in Air"

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”

                                      -Elie Weisel, Nobel Peace Prize 1986, Author, Holocaust survivor

“America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”          -Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran

This past fourth of July our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, was sung at ballgames, parades, and celebrations for the birth of our nation. The anthem was conceived in conflict as Francis Scott Key watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the war of 1812.

Today we find ourselves still looking to “bombs bursting in air” as a way to settle conflict and project dominance over other people.

In June the president of the United States called off a military strike on Iran with 10 minutes to spare because a general told him that at least 150 people would die. Do we need more dead bodies as a way to solve problems or can we look to diplomacy and peaceful negotiation as a means toward a more humane path?

The Consequences of War:

• America has been at war 222 out of the 243 years since 1776.

• More than 1.1 million Americans have been killed in US-involved wars.

• American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)—4,435 deaths

• US—Civil War—(1861-1865)—620,000 deaths

• WWI—(1914-1918)—20 million deaths (military and civilian)

• WWII—(1939-1945)—70-85 million deaths (military and civilian) (3% of the world’s population)

• Korean War—(1950-1953)—5 million deaths (military and civilian)

• Vietnam War—(1954-1975)—58,200 (US military deaths), 3.2 million South and North Vietnamese deaths (military and civilian)

• War on Terror (2001-2019)— Iraq (295,000 deaths), Afghanistan (147,000 deaths), Pakistan (65,000 deaths), and Syria (560,000 deaths)—[figures include military and civilian deaths]

 Statistics: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Centre for Research on Globalization; www.battlefields.org;  www.census.gov/history/;  history.com; Costs of War, Watson Institute, Brown University; Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

WITNESS

Millions of masticating termites in the fertile grasslands form fortresses of mud.

 Massive stone watchtowers rise from the desert floor to guard ancient cities.

 Species and civilizations vanish in a flash or a millennium leaving little trace or legacy.

 Since the creation—domination, destruction, extinction—a cultural/biological lexicon.

 A passage to be mourned, an incidental casualty—Darwinian law.

 The anonymous soldier—a shopkeeper, a school teacher, a laborer caught in an ideological battle of wills.

 Unwilling victims,asked to stand as sentinels don a protective shroud.

 They stare into darkness,track the constellations, and listen for aberrant sounds.

 They become the fallen, remembered by their families—a footnote in history.

 The shroud remains—silent, unwavering, waiting for a new day.

Jeff Key’s work can be seen at:

•GearBox Gallery—“Art + Movement”

• 770 West Grand Ave., Oakland, CA 94612

• August 15-September 7

Do You Believe in Magic

“What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.”

—Harry Houdini

The mind is a complex instrument that is capable of processing thought, recalling memories and inducing dreams. We see and hear things that require reasoning and interpretation. That mechanism sometimes short circuits and the results are ambiguous.

In these days of uncertainty we strive to believe in magic—the ability to wave a wand and eliminate poverty, provide health care for all, end war, and restore the planet’s health.

Table Mountain, Capetown, South Africa

Do You Believe in Magic

Jesus emerged from the flames of Notre Dame

plain as could be—a message to his modern-day disciples

that miracles can happen if you look deep enough

into your heart and mind.

Angels still walk the streets, tipping their hats

as they slip between nooks and crannies

smiling with that covert look that says,

“Top of the day. You know I’m with you.”

Walls reverberate with a familiar timbre

speaking in tongues from apparitions

restless with illicit prophecies stolen

from the night preying on daylight.

Mountains step up their dance,

swaying to the torrents of a winter wind,

then gently sashay into a samba when spring arrives

with a new partner for this season’s jig.

Take tragedy and turn it on its end—

fate is but another card manipulated by sleight of hand.

You see an ace but it’s really a queen.

Your eye—a polyglot for deciphering reality.

                                                                               

    (Excerpt from Do You Believe in Magic?  by Jeff Key)

Some use slight of hand to derail these lofty dreams—make us believe that the division of wealth is a Darwinian phenomenon, insurance and pharmaceutical companies can heal the sick, corporations are people, tolerance toward others impedes rights, and fossil fuels still define the planet’s progress.

The Loving Spoonful in their ‘60’s song asked, “Do You Believe in Magic?” We like to believe that magic still happens, but it will only transpire if people are able to see beyond illusion and find truth in the eyes of that elusive rabbit popping out of a magician’s hat.

Saints and Sinners—Brexit

Brexit is the other face of the refugee crisis—tensions that lead to stasis, external risks that lead to asymmetric shocks. —Emmanuel Macron, President of France

Oceans rise, empires fall—We have seen each other through it all. —King George III of England (from the play Hamilton, lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda)

Brexit? What is it and why should we care?                                                                                   
In June of 2016 the citizens of the United Kingdom voted to exit the European Union (EU).  Was it because of immigration issues fueled by the EU’s open borders, the EU’s monetary demands, globalization, fear of the EU’s encroachment on Britain’s national sovereignty, independence for Northern Ireland and Scotland, or all of the above?

As the Brexit resolution winds down to its October 31^st deadline, and the EU holds it Parliamentary elections later this week, we are left to ponder the consequences?

Saints and Sinners—(left to right)  Sir Isaac Newton, Queen Elizabeth II, Bronze Woman (commemorating the first public monument of a black woman [African-Caribbean] in England), William Shakespeare, Emmeline Pankhurst (leader of the British suffragette movement), Queen Elizabeth I, Mick Jagger (in the rafters), Henry VIII, Peter Pan, Charles Darwin, Princess Diana, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill.
                                 
When we Americans look in the mirror do we see striking parallels with the UK?—The rise of nationalism, fear of immigration, economic insecurity, no confidence in the political establishment, anti-elitism, a proliferation of “fake news” on social media.

A tale of two countries—How do we move forward?   We ask the same question on both sides of the pond—How does a nation that was once a strategic world power pull itself together, regroup, and become relevant again? 

We need to reflect upon bygone dynasties and shaky democracies with a resolve to work toward the establishment of governing bodies that take into consideration the dignity, respect and best interests of its citizens—an optimistic roadmap as we move forward.