Memorables from this week:

"You look at certain things and they is just certain things. Look at them another way and certain things add up to one big thing, one terrible thing, all the more terrible because you never add them up before."
(--from "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James; pg.180)

Do the math.

"The white bird in the sky is crying.
The kite is high, it's flying - reach it."
(--from my six year old Granddaughter; origin uncertain)

Do I reach for the bird? Or do I reach for the kite? I find it difficult to console (or appease or soothe), and to fly, simultaneously.

"...police come right 'round to where me be and drag all of we to jail... [but] ...This wasn't no police, this was soldier. ...Soldier don't act like we is crime and them is order, soldier act like we is enemy and this is war."
(from "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James; pg.185)

To maintain order? Or to make war? The decision is made in the mind and realized on the street.

Is there a thread?

There are things; lurking; between the lines. Between Big and Terrible. Between Crying and Flying. Between Soothing and Reaching. Between Policing and Soldiering. Between Order and Chaos. These are just a few examples.

Crime is not always the Enemy. Sometimes Power is the Enemy. Sometimes Order is the Enemy. Sometimes Crime is just a thing; a definition; a mentality; an unnecessary intolerance. Sometimes the Entanglement is a big thing; sometimes, a terrible big thing.

Between the lines is Not the Enemy. Even when between the lines adds up to a big, terrible thing, it also has the potential to pull us toward resolution. "Just Things" cannot add up to increase, but instead lag behind to bloat power; whereas "between the lines" runs alongside and a little ahead to show the way. So sometimes the Math (that disentangles, adds, and reorders both the things and the in-between) is a good thing; sometimes a terrible good thing.

Moving forward is good; even when it seems to be bad. Running in place is bad; even when it seems to be good. Change; evolve; progress. As opposed to: resist; evade; give up.

It is okay to walk out; as long as I am moving, forward. It is okay to be kicked out; as long as I recognize the future. It is not okay to stay, if I am stuck in today. (Today is yesterday.) It is not okay to stay, simply because I am comfortable. It is okay to stay; as long as I recognize the future, and as long as I am moving forward.