2025 Life Logs, Day 61: From Rally to Oscars and In Between
Date: Sunday, March 2, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Cold, Winds 15 NNW; High Temp 29, Low 14 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The Stand Up for Ukraine rally outside the Waquoit Congregational Church at noon today was well attended and inspiring. So many people came and as we all sang Pete Seeger’s anti-war song ”Where Have All the Flowers Gone” you could feel a bond being formed between all of the people. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame, died in January of this year, but the sound of that trio singing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” lives on. Yarrow’s parents were Ukrainian-born and he made it known that the song was partly based on a Ukrainian poem about the futility of war. Today, Ukrainian flags flew in the wind as people held up their handmade signs in support of Ukraine.
I was glad to see that our US representative, Bill Keating, was present and he spoke out strongly in support of Ukraine. My favorite sign of the day said, “Tyranny requires your fear, silence and compliance. Democracy requires your courage.” These words were spoken by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker last week. We all need to have the courage to get out and stand up for Ukraine and stand up for our democracy.
Fast forward to tonight’s Oscars Awards. I was particularly touched by the acceptance of the Oscar for Best Documentary. It was the Israeli-Palestinian film, ‘No Other Land’. I loved what one of the people accepting the award said, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
And there were so many other very respectful and passionate pleas for all of us to value kindness and truth. I was so excited that Adrien Brody won for best actor in The Brutalist. At the end of his thank you he said, “This is, you know, it fills me with great joy, but I am also filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time. And, you know, my experiences in making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at times of war, and the repercussions of war. And whomever you believe in, if it’s God or Allah, may He watch over you. And let’s pray for a peaceful and swift resolution. Thank you.”
In between the rally and the Oscars, I continued working on one of my winter projects. And, indeed, it did feel like winter today. Heather and Jed went out to check on the damage caused by last Sunday’s brush fire that got out of control in the lot where their sailboat, Ardenna, is spending the winter. The fire destroyed their dinghy, dinghy motor, and boom. The picture Heather sent showing their inflatable hard bottomed dinghy totally gone (except for the hard bottom) literally sent me to the verge of throwing up.
It is hard to look at such devastation, but at the same time, Ardenna is just fine. When you think of all the devastation caused by the wild fires in California recently, it puts things into perspective.
