Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

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29

May

2019

The oneness of life and love

Author: Jim Taylor

God is love, I hear, over and over. God is love.

            I wonder what the speaker's definitions are.

            About God. Do they mean the traditional God, the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God who knows everything, created everything, and still controls everything? Including playoff games…?

            That's a comfortable notion, I suppose, if it lets you blame God from everything that goes wrong, from avalanches that wipe out holiday resorts to tsunamis that flood a nuclear power plant and poison the entire Pacific Ocean.

            To say nothing of demented people who run down holidaying crowds with a truck, or open fire in a movie theatre, or abuse small children.

            "God moves in mysterious ways," they will say. "I guess we'll never understand God's will...."

            Such a belief may offer comfort, but it's not a God of love.


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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: life, God, love

26

May

2019

U.S. legislators see women as slaves

Author: Jim Taylor

Women in eight U.S. states have now been told that they have value only as wombs and child-care workers. Eight states have now effectively banned abortion, in what appears to be a coordinated attack on the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision that made abortion a constitutional right.

            Arkansas and Utah moved the permissible date up to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri moved it up to six weeks, when the embryo’s heartbeat can be first detected -- before many women even know they’re pregnant.

            Alabama enacted the most stringent restrictions, banning abortion entirely. At any stage.

            After the Alabama votes, gloating representatives declared their legislation a triumph for human rights. For protecting the most vulnerable members of society.

            But the smirk on the face of those representatives as they faced the media’s cameras told the real story. It said, “Ha! Gotcha, you bitches!”


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22

May

2019

Items for the recycling bin

Author: Jim Taylor

Joan went to put some dishes back onto the top shelf in her kitchen. And discovered that a smoked-glass bowl had broken in half.

            We have no idea how, or when, it happened. It could have been yesterday; it could have been years ago.

            The bowl belonged to my mother, who died in 1972. We’ve kept it, all these years, because it was hers. We kept several things of hers, because every time we used them, those things reminded us of her.

            More accurately, perhaps, we kept them because they reminded us that we loved her.

            Many of her things we inherited from her have gone, now. We still have her Indian trays and coffee tables. And her silverware -- that needs polishing regularly -- and her teacups. But the milk jug is long gone. So is a vase we particularly admired.

            Joan handed the broken pieces of the bowl to me. “I suppose I could glue it together,” I said.

            “It’s not worth fixing,” she replied. “Just recycle it.”


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19

May

2019

No guarantees of safety in bush flying

Author: Jim Taylor

The news that two float planes collided in the air and crashed, near Ketchikan, Alaska, took me back to my own exposure to bush flying on the north coast. (Funny how that happens more and more as I grow older.) For about four years in the 1950s and ‘60s, I got flown around northern B.C. by some of the best pilots in the world – which is why I’m still here to write about the experience.

Since the accident, flight companies in Ketchikan have been deluged by people calling to cancel bookings. Or seeking assurances about safety.

                   In bush flying, there is no assurance of safety. Never.

                   Safety depends on the quality of the plane and the skill of the pilot.


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17

May

2019

Unrequited

Author: Jim Taylor

I offered you a lake of love

Clear, deep, sun-dancing,

Refreshed by mountain streams. 

 

You waded in up to your ankles, 

Then you shook the water off your feet

And dried between your toes.


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Categories: Poetry

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