Sorry to all and sundry for being scarce. Your pains, pleasures, and other p-words have not gone unnoticed. Just lots of work to be done. I’m like Gandalf that way…maybe more like Sir Ian McKellan’s Gandalf, the one that takes only a few edits instead of 17 years to get back to you. (Oh boo hoo, you Fourth Age purists — you loved it, baby.)
Anyway, now’s the day when we folks in the US o’ A make a big to-do. Luckily it’s turned out to be a good day so far.
Space Shuttle Discovery is in orbit, safe and sound. Not a peep from that stupid fuel tank. Yeah, I know — it’s obsolete tech, never worked right, we have no business in space, yadda yadda. The crew are fine. With luck, they’ll be just as fine in three weeks.
I wanted to note the holiday this time. Â Here’s a special something…for George and Karl.
The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
The language is not Narn or Human or Centauri or Gaim or Minbari.It speaks in the language of hope. It speaks in the language of trust.
It speaks in the language of strength, and the language of compassion.
It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.
But always it is the same voice.It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us.
And the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born.
It is the small, still voice that says we are One.No matter the blood, no matter the skin,
No matter the world, no matter the star,
We are One.
No matter the pain, no matter the darkness,
No matter the loss, no matter the fear.
We are One.Here, gathered together in common cause
We agree to recognize this singular truth and this singular rule:
That we must be kind to one another.Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us,
And each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation,
The fire that will light the way to a better future.We are One.
–J. Michael Straczynski
Babylon 5:Â “The Paragon of Animals”
And yes, I’m still angry.