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Letter: Everything will be fine, still knowing it won’t be

I’m in San Diego with family and about to return home to Maui.

We’ve been traveling and teaching for almost three weeks and are so looking forward to being back to our beloved home for over 50 years, back with some of our kids and grandkids.

Looking out on the Pacific Ocean, it’s quiet; the ocean and sky a beautiful blue, the early morning sunshine starting to light up downtown in the distance.

Every now and then, the silence is interrupted by the local train coming by.

It’s not windy here, so if it wasn’t for news reports, we’d have no idea that two hours up from here, Los Angeles is on fire.

If you’ve seen photos, you see how large an area has been burned to nothing, and still the fires continue.

In some way, we could say the whole world is on fire now, dealing with the intense climate changes, political instabilities, economic disparities and social injustices. The earth itself is hurting.

And for the most part, we continue on as if everything will be fine, knowing full well it won’t be. Knowing that our children and grandchildren will likely have a much rougher ride than we do.

I don’t want to hear this. You don’t want to hear this. But we can only ignore or avoid what is happening for so long.

I find myself on my knees in tears for all our grandchildren and their children.

It forces me to confront what is most important.

Reverend Bodhi Be

Haiku

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