2001-12-27

I hate to be so dark and morbid. sorry.

And so it begins again.

Two nuclear powers reach the brink of war. I wonder how far it will be taken this time? will nuclear war be averted? Will India and Pakistan settle their deep-rooted disputes? All I can hope for is the former. I doubt that peace will be achieved in my lifetime. But one can hope, so I do.

Everything seems so different now. I remember that idyllic summer day, the last day of vacation where we skipped through Washington and sang on the metro. That was August 30th, I believe. I remember getting our picture taken by the zebra. I remember the rhino streched beneath the shower. And I remember the prarie dogs, and their "jump-yipping" or whatever it's called. there was one prarie dog just plopped down on the dirt, and liz said that everything in the world must be okay if a prarie dog can just plop down. and I thought what a wonderful thought that was.

I wonder if a prarie dog had plopped down twelve days later.

My mind wanders to a commercial I once saw. I don't remember what it was advertising. there was a man looking deeply into an aquarium, at his happy little fish, while on the tv the news was on and talking about all the horrible things in the world. Car accidents, murders, war, plague. the fish then said, "everything's ok in here!"

That reminds me of the story we read last year by willa cather; neighbor rosicky. and her analogy comparing an aquarium to a city. it is so artificial, she said. so if a fishtank is a safe, isolated place, and a city is a fishtank, why does everything bad happen in a city?

I can only come to this conclusion: the best place to live is in a fish tank in the national zoo in washington dc. just make sure there's no pirrahnas. so make sure it's the FSH tank in the bat cave. if fish have no eyes, they can't see you and eat you. I'm sure they're peaceful fish anyway, but just make sure. Willa Cather said it was better to be isolated from the world and ignorant of the accidents, murders, wars, and plagues. but is it really? if everyone were ignorant of the bad things in the world, who would stop it all? sometimes I wish I were a fish in an aquarium. most of the time, though, I don't. not that I think that I can singlehandedly stop everything, cos no one can. but everyone should try.

it takes a second to say goodbye, say goodbye, oh oh oh, push the button and pull the plug, say goodbye.

**~Peace on Earth~**