PARIS, AND ALL THE OTHER PLACES.

 Paris.  Beirut.  Iraq.  Syria.  Egypt.  All have experienced horrific violence recently, making so much of the world so sad, and leaving us all asking why.  Not just why on an intellectual level (all the political/economic/faux-religious causes) but why on a human level.  Why.  Just, why.

Makes me feel as though there is little I can do.  But there is something we all can do:  work on ourselves; watch our thoughts and our speech.  I need to remember to do this every day.  I do not always succeed.  My hope is that we can be kinder to each other.  Be more compassionate.  I am not talking about becoming doormats for violence; tough love is warranted when needed.  But coming from love, not from hate.  (I know it is hard to imagine coming from love right now, with some of what's been going on.  But if we act from hate only, we are no better than those we criticize.)

So easy to say.  So hard to do.  Please take one moment to watch this video (2 minutes) about a man who lost his wife in the Paris attacks.  As I said, so easy to say, so hard to do--but he is doing it.  May the Goddess help him in his effort.

Thinking about this, I created another zendala today based on yesterday's class.  It is barely a zendala because there is only one tangle in there, but the tangle matters.  It's called "Paris," and was created by Ina Sonnenbrand after the tragedy last Friday.  So if you look closely, you'll see it in the mandala in two of the layers.  It's based on the Eiffel Tower.  My heart goes out to France.  And Beirut, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and on and on.

Tangle:  Paris, by Ina Sonnenbrand.  Microns 1 and 01, Prismacolor pencils, Moonlight Gelly Pen, and a Pentel Brush Pen that was basically too dry to use.  Gamisol was used in a few places as an experiment.

Below is the same piece, but "painted in Waterlogue," an iPhone app I played around with.  It made me think of all the tears we have shed over this kind of violence.