The colors of stained glass, the architecture , the precise dimensions, niches in the carvings, oh the history, in mere seconds the Notre Dame Cathedral, via its spirals, could no longer be defended by the Gargoyle, as even they witnessed the embers of decades of beauty and purpose rise to the sky, perhaps finding some place in someone’s Heaven, gathering there to tell the myriad of stories. A few days before for a weekend, when religious men and women were to gather and seek comfort in a story of a Miracle of Death, Resurrection, and Salvation. As the lunar calendar permits, this same weekend another group of people wants to celebrate their new beginning, but with history Many of their historic synagogues ravished by fires and destruction alsoThe Passover Story which begins when the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, starts worrying that the Jews living in Egypt will outnumber his own people. ... One baby, named Moses is saved and adopted by Pharaoh's own daughter. When Moses grows up, he's told by God to command Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Both stories of Promise and of Miracles celebrated in different hallowed halls in which different Gods reign, both stories resonate.
Three churches in Louisiana charred not only with burning embers of rotting wood, but the gasoline of hatred, the three churches seemingly of no concern to the public at large, none with the exact artistry of stained-glass art pieces, or the centuries-old momentum of history, but a destination which felt as cozy and safe has being held in your mother’s bosom. Towns and villages in Puerto Rico, filled with congregants praying to the God of their choice, still finding piles of molded piled up wood and cracked pieces of cement. Children left orphaned, or with lifelong PTSD in Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia Iraq, Afghanistan no longer can they hold their parents’ hands but if they wish to speak to their God, the Mosque which delivered a sanctuary for some security vanished b bombs of a perceived enemy and Con artistry of men who played God. Children in rural America, seeking health care, food, clothing, a gathering place for friends and family, barely surviving in families with the burden of bills weighing them down. There God shackled to a run-down church if in fact, the landlord has not locked the doors! Kids in urban America, no use for the abandoned decayed churches, lumps of land useful for only the cockroach or rat to pay homage to mother nature. Brown poisonous water flowing in many of the churches in Detroit, no Easter Parade here.
And yet, after the disaster at the Notre Dame Cathedral we see dozens of millionaires, some billionaires, eager and able to use their tax free dollars, the money from their secret offshore bank accounts, laundered money, money never used to pay fair enough wages, or healthy enough working conditions, ALL of them handing cash in uncountable sums, to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. This IS a season of Miracles, at least within the Jewish and Christian world, but where is the motivation, the magic, the money during the rest of year, for the common people at least thrive, flourish and be held in the deepest respect as human’s sharing a dying planet, hoping for more. Are not all of the hues, and puzzle pieces of glass the same as the myriad of human beings on this planet, should NOT all of us with the assistance of those who HAVE the means, be put back as one as whole again? If you celebrate the Easter Season, or the days of Pesach it is your time to rejoice. How do the rest of the inhabitants of this shared place celebrate their lives?
