My heart breaks as I view the setbacks in the effort to stem the flow of oil gushing from a well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico that was dug by BP.  The spill reflects all the terrible man-made things we have done to destroy our Earth, and it sickens one’s stomach.   The poor people in the Gulf Stream, as if they didn’t have enough woes caused by the flooding in 2005 when we hadn’t adequately prepared the dikes and area to handle the natural catastrophe.  We have not taken the steps to protect our natural resources and we have made what we have vulnerable to the exploitation by corporations who seem to care about nothing but making money.   We will be a cursed people if we continue this way and not take care of all the richness in nature that was once ours.  How can one watch the video of the oil gushing out of the well and not cry as we realize that all the cursed oil will stay in the waters, perhaps forever, and destroy wildlife and living things in the ocean?  How could we have done such a terrible thing? We are a cursed people.   We should cry in shame and despair; we do not deserve what we have been given.  Heartbreak, heartbreak!

How do you feel?

I read a letter where someone used the phrase ”A House of Memory.”  It struck me as a beautiful phrase, even though I wasn’t sure what it meant.  We all have memories — of people we love, of things we have done, of the way we have lived our lives — and l guess these memories will always be stored within us.  Is each of us, then,  a ”house of memory” or is it actually a physical place where we should store our written and drawn memories?   Again, I’m not sure, but I have a gut feeling that a house of memory is something each of us must build, whether inside ourselves or externally, in a physical setting.

I realize I am writing about something that is hard to pin down, but it seems important. I think memories are what make us as human beings — how can we forget what is important, what we have experienced, whether good or bad.   I’d welcome your own thoughts about what you think a house of memory is.