Marvelous stained glass window fronting the Mennonite Church on SE 35th ( I just love those Mennonites!)
Drowning man, kick upward once more! Defy mid-winter despair! Laugh! Laugh, as Éomer laughed on the fields of Pelennor when he beheld what he thought to be the bloodied corpses of sister and father-uncle. His grief and wrath drove him on, after that. "Weep not over much," said he to his men, weeping as he spoke.
So, to thee, green-eyed, ever-grudging comrade, stingy with thy respect, thy courtesy --to thee, Dark Lord, with thy many minions, mistaking the blight thou spreadeth among the people to be thy will, thy doing --to thee hopeless, sneering cynic who will not believe in the goodness of brethren because of what it may reveal about thyself --and to thee, piteous, aggrieved self, more Ahab than Quixote --I ask: What is purchased with these afflictions?
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, SE Harrison Street
Detachment is no defense. I know well enough that people demand emotion, are exquisitely conditioned to elicit such, should it not be readily forth-coming. I find there is more danger than reward in isolation.
Nor can one forever wield the poisoned weapons of ridicule and scorn. They are demon-forged blades that drain the soul of the champion.
But the drowning man will grasp at whatever may come to his flailing hand.
Sunnyside Cententary United Church, SE 35th and Yamhill
Spring still will come. And then, won't we feel foolish?
(Play us out, lads.)