7/25/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

                  “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times… in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." Do you know who penned those lines in the 1850s?

            Those sentiments still ring true. Living within the tension of joy & sorrow has me feeling like a Bucky ball, 60 atoms held together by the strength coming from tension.

            I am feeling the weight of the starving children at Patient’s Friend Hospital in Northern Gaza whose photos in the AP brought me to tears. I am feeling the anger of your decision to lift the sanctions on Min Aung Llaing’s cronies. I am baffled by your attacks on the renovation project of the Federal Reserve Building when you know how construction costs have skyrocketed in the past few years.

            As I grapple with this negative news, I am buoyed by the prospect of spending the morning with Rose, the 5-year-old daughter of my mentee. My husband has set up a cooking station for her so she can flip her own pancake. I am eagerly awaiting my upcoming family reunion in Dunbar.  I am enjoying the abundant tomato harvest that our cooler than normal July has ushered in. I look forward to babysitting some puppies tomorrow.

            Positive news also tempers the disheartening headlines. The CSM reminds me of a yearlong Youth Peace Mediators program in South Africa & a push for “spiritual diplomacy” at the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions where Rabbi Daniel Rowe said, ““Perhaps it is time for people of faith to step forward. We can rise above crisis to say, ‘You are not my enemy, even if we deeply disagree.”

            As I navigate the paradox of the complexities of life, I am drawn to Aristotle’s idea of eudaimonia which suggested that living in accordance with one’s own beliefs & passions is the key to well-being. What are your thoughts on that?

Have fun in Scotland & remember our various mantras including WINTA & T + H + K = L.

BYBS,

RCA