Wednesday, October 11 in DC National heading to Denver
hi. I’ve hustled the Metro to the airport getting ready to board for Denver via Minneapolis for Regis University’s Trustee meeting beginning this evening. In place of a usual poem, I want to forward this email from a life long friend, who works with immigrants in the Bronx. Often when she writes her stories are of hard moments in hard lives, almost always flavored with kindness that often anoints refugee lives. Today, though, Gerry turns the weekly trash pick up into hints of beauty, maybe more than hints.
thanks for writing this Gerry.
john sj
ps. Have a blest mid-week October day
> I hesitated to send a word this morning with the fires in California, the loss in Puerto Rico, and the pain of Vegas which weigh heavily on all of us. I decided it important to stay in touch because we need each other.
> Coming to work today , the sky was an artist’s palette of magenta being brushed in huge strokes. I was already on a high when I left the house, you can imagine how I rode up and down the hills.
> Today is Wednesday, wet garbage pick-up in our neighborhood. Given we are 9 adults and 2 children living in community, we create a lot of trash. This morning when I checked the three containers in the kitchen, each one had been changed with new recycle bags. Then out on the street, the bag of cuttings from cooking was ready to be taken. I was IMPRESSED…
> I have grown to appreciate the job of the sanitation people. There are funny moments when I have run after the garbage truck on Saturdays to offer a token of gratitude and tell them how grateful I am for their very hard job, especially picking up all our trash. This has led to our giving thumbs up on some days as we pass each other.