Wouldn't it be wonderful?

Margie was napping when I arrived for our coffee date, but she rousted herself mightily. The weather from the “Bomb Cyclone” that paralyzed Vancouver BC and Seattle was gentle with us, and the rain actually stopped as I was leaving my place and only started as Margie and I were walking home from the café.

Margie’s social training runs deep, so as usual, she asked me questions about how I spend my time and what interests me. She always knows my name and that we are very good friends, but every week she is surprised to hear about my life. What did you do for a living? Did you go to summer camp as a child? Do you have children? This time she had a new question, “What do you like to remember?” 

I told her I love remembering the years I spent in southern Africa. She was astonished to hear I had lived there, and right away she asked about language. I told her South Africa has eleven official languages, and most people speak at least four or five of them. “But that sounds overwhelming! How do children ever sort that out?” I told her the children have no trouble with it, and at that point she gazed out the window, conjuring a part of the world she has never seen, and I pulled the camera out of the bag.

“If the children learn to speak several languages, that means they open their hearts to each other, doesn’t it? A language is a culture, so they learn each other’s cultures. Is that right? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole world was like that? If everybody spoke multiple languages and respected each other’s cultures and nobody had to dominate anybody?”

Yes, I said. Yes, Margie. It would be wonderful.

Sadly today our government vetoed a ceasefire in Gaza and voted to ignore Bernie Sanders and our Oregon Senator Merkley and keep sending weapons to Israel for genocide. I am not surprised but I am sickened by it. Also today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the day we set aside each year to mourn transgender people murdered for being who they are. Apart from Margie, a heartbreaking day. I have been listening to the new Jon Batiste album on repeat for the past two days, and it is some shelter from the bad news.