Wordplay: Fear of falling, fear of love, fear of both….
Whales: Want anchovies? Open up!
A Bryde’s whale and seagulls feast on anchovies in the Gulf of Thailand, on September 9, 2014.
Bryde’s whales are a baleen medium seized whale with dark grey colour and a white underbelly and live in tropical to temperate waters. An estimated population of 30 to 35 Bryde’s whales are commonly seen along the upper Gulf of Thailand coastlines, between March and October.
The Bryde’s whale is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which prohibits international trade of any parts of the animal. (photo: EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT)
Thoughts: As we rise toward remembering….
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Poetry in music: John Denver, with “Rhymes & Reasons” & the “Prophet”
This song’s royalties have gone to UNICEF since John Denver wrote it, which makes a good song a little bit better, hey – I’ve always been reminded of the part of “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran called “On Children” when I hear it & sing it, so I’m offering a little mashup here of the two…for you, with the colours of the rainbow & the music of the mountains….
Rhymes & Reasons
John Denver
So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that youve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend
And you wonder where were going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason
And it’s you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
Theyre a promise of the future
And a blessing for today
Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And its colder than the sea
It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way
On Children, from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.”
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
ENC: Let’s find a place for everyone….
In this section of Brother Ian, we take a peek at the things that people don’t seem to want to examine. Sometimes we take a long look; sometimes, it doesn’t take that long.
But it’s there.
ENC: Keeping the Earth safe from humans…starts here, a tree at a time.
In this section, called “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” we join with those who cry out/whisper/proclaim – “That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
When we see things with new eyes, and act, we have a chance.
Poetry through music: “Pray for Peace,” with Reba
Reba McEntire tells the story – she says:
The idea to write the song “Pray For Peace” came to me last year as I was walking on our place in Gallatin, TN.
For days I’d sing, “Pray for Peace,” over and over. It wasn’t until several months later did the other parts start to fall in place.
Some, not until we got into the studio to record it.
I feel this song is a gift from God. I have never worked on a song as long as this one.
It went from a bass drum, fiddle and singers to guest artist singing with me, adding more instruments and even a choir and a bagpipe!
It’s an act of perseverance, prayer, hope, fellowship and mostly love.
Whales: Good news, all around…
First – the blue whales – they’re back!!!!!
California blue whales, the largest animals on Earth once driven to near extinction by whaling, have made a remarkable comeback to near historic, 19th-century levels, according to a University of Washington study released on Friday.
The recovery makes California blue whales – which study authors say now number about 2,200, or 97 percent of historical levels – the only population of blue whales known to have recovered from whaling.
“The recovery of California blue whales from whaling demonstrates the ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management and conservation measures,” said Cole Monnahan, a University of Washington doctoral student and lead author of the study.
There’s a new killer whale calf in the Salish Sea….
Looks like the welcome news is…the baby looks healthy! The numbers of the Southern Resident Killers Whales (SRKW) have dropped to around 78 (they were in the high nineties around twenty years ago), and have been assigned to the US Endangered Species list.
This past week, several whale watch operators (I think Jim Maya was the first) reported an apparent calf – see the peach-coloured spot in the picture? That’s customary for newborns.
The new orca’s mom is from L pod – L86 – and has been given the number L120. It’s L86’s second calf, which is good, as the first calf often is the weakest of the kids any given killer whale mother produces. That wasn’t the case with L86’s first calf – hers died because of human activity.
L86’s first calf (named Victoria or Sooke, L112) died two years ago from some sort of percussive force (here’s the 2012 story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, and the more detailed and better writeup by Monika Wieland, when it happened).
Grim stuff.
Here’s more about the new calf with the Pacific Whale Watch Association, and the Center for Whale Research.
A couple of weeks ago: Killer whales bothered by humpbacks (that’s backwards!)
Here’s video of an extremely rare happening – humpbacks apparently bugging orcas, down near Monterey off the California coast in the States. Click here to see the videos.
Thoughts: Randall’s desert island….
Whenever someone says, “Wow! There’s such a calm evening! Nothing going on!” looking over the ocean, I tend to think of Randall Munroe‘s reminder:
Funnier & Wordplay: Tell me now, text me later…LYA
It’s good to have friends who can help translate….
See if this helps….
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.