the weight of things

it's nearly five in the morning. i'm sitting quietly with a mug of tea just thinking...it's growing light and the wood pigeons are already filling the woods that surround the lawn with their chattering. i was on the phone for a few hours with my brother in long overdue conversation, and in the course of which he sent me to the bill moyers section of the PBS website. he has grown to be a big fan of this man and i can already see why.

ewan suggested i start by heading to the archive for Moyer's conversation from late april with jon stewart. so as soon as we said our goodbyes and he went to bed (may i remind you he is in Ontario and therefore 5 hours behind me) i stayed up and watched the programme.
it is quite remarkable - both insightful and sobering. Jon Stewart claims to be, 'just a comedian'; Moyers disagrees. i think it's fair to say their conversation proves Moyers right. this is intelligent and articulate deconstruction of politics under the Bush adminstration, the war in Iraq and the role of the American media. somehow, it is simultaneously gentle and incisive.

you can watch the interview by clicking here. it is so very worth it.

and then can i recommend this interview with Steve Earle from The Independent. thanks to JDD, and again ewan, for making sure i read this.
during tuesday i found myself writing a stream of meaty thoughts and emotions in response to this superb piece, but had to stop... for... well... frankly... weeping. for a whole load of reasons i think, but mostly, in a moment akin to something Stewart talks about with Moyers, that i have not felt in some time... a kind of grieving... not the isolated lonely grieving when it is your own loss you are lost in, and god knows i'm sick of being in that place...rather, a sadness that comes when you catch yourself feeling empathy with the inexorable suffering of others, a grief made stronger when accompanied by the guilt that one does not feel it everyday... perhaps because if you did, you'd 'be rocking back and forth in a ball' with no words. perhaps this why Buechner says, the gospel as tragedy is the silence of the nightly television news with the sound turned off.
this is not the first piece i have read about Earle's very personal perspective on the death penalty or on his experiences with addiction and living on the streets - i think i may have even posted one on these pages before. but as ever, it too is remarkable and sobering.

i'll come back to my thoughts tomorrow. i guess i mean later today.
now it's time to lie down and rest. my brother will be rising before me i'm sure.

Peace,

LB