Burning sunrise, burning cats

Glowing horizon
Blood red reflected o’er land
Reflected on white.

I love watching the sun come up especially on a clear, crisp morning. If I was a painter, I think that’s all I would paint. Sunrises are always different but I love the red-orange fiery ones the best. 

Have you ever heard the saying of …red skies at night, sailors delight; red skies in the morning, sailors warning?  Seemed true enough when I lived near the coast but not here on the prairies.  Instead, while reflected in the snow & icy river the red sky seems to speak of a brilliant day to come.

Seems as if nature is the only brilliant aspect left in this world though.  When my youngest son was small, he used to go up to the tv when the news was on and shut it off.  Makes sense when you think about it and yet over the years, we began watching the news again.

Really though, what is there on the news which makes it so important to watch?  Why do we feel we just have to watch it?  Today, there was more information about the kids who broke into a house twice over the holidays.  They burned the family’s cat alive in the microwave during their second break-in.  What words could even describe that act? Morbid. Disgusting. Sick. Sad.

I didn’t need to hear about it even though it happened in a town near here.   I didn’t need to watch the interviews with acquaintances of the accused nor hear a university professor proclaim that stating the accused names on Facebook and what should be done to them was akin to bullying.   Is it?   Or is it a way of dealing with the horror?  We have laws here which prevent the names of youths from being published. We have laws which say that everyone is innocent until proven in a court of law to be guilty.  Sadly though, while the laws do protect the innocent, they also seem to overly protect the guilty.  I wonder if those kids had been guilty of similar incidents.  

I didn’t need to hear and imagine what that poor cat suffered through.  I didn’t need to think about the torment the family has to endure – they’d arranged for a friend to come in and feed their cat while they were gone over the holidays.  Now, every holiday season now will probably be tainted for them.  I don’t know if they had children; how could they even begin to explain the horridness of what happened to their beloved cat?

No, I didn’t need to watch the news.  There was also something the announcer said was good but the other announcer stated that although it had a good ending, was just as horrible as what happened to the cat.  Five lil black puppies were thrown down a temporary outdoor toilet!  Thankfully, someone heard them and 4 were rescued quicky while the 5th was rescued with more equipment.   While I’m pleased the pups were rescued and proclaimed healthy, it was dismaying to even think of someone dropping them in there to begin with!  Nope, I didn’t need to hear that.

I tried to listen for the good news – surely there must be something! But no, I only heard about those killed in avalanches, two more of our men killed in the war which no one really seems to understand and homes flooded out due to fast-warming weather.

No, I didn’t need to hear any of that either.  The sports and weather came on next but I’d lost interest at that point.  I wondered why I’d originally fussed that I’d missed the first minute of the news.  Had there been anything good on during that minute?  Somehow, I doubt it.

Perhaps I’ll begin turning off the news when it comes on or better yet, not turning on the television to begin with. I won’t read the newspaper either.  I could remain blissfully unaware of the horrid acts of others and just enjoy the sunrise. 

I wonder though, was the red sky in the morning actually a warning afterall?  A warning that inhumanity is occurring once again.   Perhaps the glistening in the snow wasn’t the reflection of the sun but rather just it’s tears.

Another aspect of life

While others dream on
A new vision takes it’s hold
Rivers winding through.

It’s strange how simple haiku works as a muse for me.  Any vision – any dream -can often lead to a circuitous journey which might meander to and fro before it finds it’s true pathway. Following along that journey though requires a beginning – a starting point.  Like the rock one might perch on just before scampering down a  slippery mountain slope, my muse shows glimpses of the various pathways ahead, of rivers to cross before reaching the final shores.

So here it is in the middle of the night and rather than dreaming my own dreams, I’m sitting here chatting to the darkness. Tis a strange journey my muse has sent me on – it doesn’t feel like making a journal entry and yet it’s not like chatting on a forum either.  Interesting.

At this point, I have no idea what I’ll be entering in here nor how often. I’ll probably only post when the sounds of the night are in the distance. In the summer, crickets chirp away at each other, the odd coyote calls in the distance.

 Not now though – now, the only sound is the steady stir of traffic zipping off on their own journeys – somewhere.  Cold air carries their hum over here easier than in the heat, I s’pose. There’s a whole different world of workers out there in the night. I’d love to sit and ponder about them but another time perhaps. For now, I’ll just wonder what thoughts tomorrow will bring.