Ariana Grande Returns

Manchester revisited - Ariana Grande has arrived back in Manchester, U.K. for a benefit concert she is performing on Sunday. My friend Seth and the rest of the production staff from the original show are also back in Manchester. It's got to be a bit of a weird feeling, going back to the city once again. I'm not sure if they are doing the performance at the same arena, but just being in the city has got to stir memories and nightmares for everyone concerned.

Ariana Grande walks down from her private jet as she begins to
prepare for a benefit concert she will hold on Sunday for the victims
of last week's bombing in Manchester, U.K. 

I think it was good for my friend to get back hone to Colorado for a while - visiting his wife, his horses and the other assorted pets they have on their land in the Rocky Mountains. There's something solid and dependable about the mountains, despite landslides, avalanches, and the occasional flood or forest fire. Of course, disasters can happen any place and at any time, but if it is a natural disaster, it somehow seems easier to bear. The disasters caused by people ... those are the ones that are the hardest to overcome.

Natural disasters are devastating. These pictures are the before and after
from a tornado that hit North Texas in May, 2013. The destruction is
monumental, but nature doesn't plan to put on a bomb and walk into
an arena full of children to kill as many people as possible. Nature is
destructive, but not targeted. Nature can be forgiven. 

Television will often show the scene of a natural disaster - the aftereffects of a tornado or a burning hillside in a forest fire for example. Of course, if you're a human being, you feel for those affected by such events who may now be homeless, having lost everything to nature's fury. Those who are the instigators of disaster, however, don't deserve to be called human beings. The bomber in the Manchester Arena explosion was human in appearance, but his interior was devoid of that spark that makes us human. This was no caring individual, this was a calculated, cold-blooded killer of children.

This obelisk of Hatshepsut would have been defaced
except it was never finished. The stone itself broke
off on the other side. Most of her monuments had her
name defaced by her son when he finally deposed
her and took the throne for himself. 

In ancient Egypt the very name of one who angered the gods would be stricken from all records and never mentioned again. It would be as if he or she had never existed, and through that damning silence, they were also damned in the afterlife. It's starting to seem like this effacement of all history and the silencing of all mention is not a bad idea at all. For people who thrive on publicity, the lack thereof might be the way to scatter their power. But could that lack of publicity actually happen in today's information age?

It's Friday and I'm back to pre-Memorial Day weight once again. I'm working on breathing bilaterally and my swimmers turns in the indoor pool. Unfortunately, my swimming days are almost over before my trip out of town. I'm already missing the water and I still have three days of chlorine left. Silly me! Enjoy your day!