There's a good deal of anger in that sky

FTLComm - Tisdale - August 15, 2000

As we left the Tisdale hospital after visiting Phillip Lindenbach last night this was the sky that loomed in the West. Phillip is making outstanding progress, for a man of such formidable capabilities he is discouraged at what we all consider remarkable improvement and he had just been speaking about the futility he feels in spending so many years encouraging and explained what he considers a more sensible view of the world. Phillip worried out loud that the forces of avarice and greed so much overwhelm the message of people first and gentile fairness to all. It seemed so fitting to emerge from his room and see what looked a lot like a very controlled but angered sky. The torment of being able to see and understand things yet this brief illness clouds Phillips mind and impedes his ability to pull up the facts and figures with his usual quickness. I teased him by pointing out that now he knows what it is like to be average. Phillip cherishes his insight into world and political matters and is angrily annoyed at the limitations he perceives as a result of his stroke which by our standards appears to be remarkable minor. The picture on the right was taken only a few minutes later as we got back to the house and to me this images signals hope as the moon is seen sneaking up over the horizon like a shining ball ready to illuminate what could be a very dark night.

The same moment I once again looked skyward to the West where the dark mass that could bring more rain was lifting and the lost and abandoned cumulous fragments floated only a few hundred feet above us. Life's like that. the forces that seem so overwhelming so intense, so crushing can fade leaving only their residue behind all that is necessary is to stand up to those forces and assert the principles that we all know and accept. Last night the President of the United States after eight of the most successful years in America's history addressed his Democratic convention and warned of the gathering forces that could undo the success that he feels he has been able to achieve and he urged the Democrats to get to work and elect members to the house and Senate as well as ensure that Vice President Al Gore is elected to a new third consecutive Democratic presidency. As he quoted the statistics that tell the impressive success of American financial success he wanted people to remember what is important, that America is a better country. It disappointed me that he did not issue a challenge to his fellow democrats to push America further toward making their land more civilised, more human and more accepting. It can not be said to often and we must say it ourselves over and over to make sure that we know each of us can make a difference. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for the good people to do nothing."