Weather vagaries, lily talk

It is snowing in Johannesburg today and the homeless are cold and without shelter. It is scorching hot in much of the U.S. In Lebanon the heat would be unpleasant enough without bombs adding to the heat in every sense. Southern China is preparing for another deadly typhoon.

Here in Switzerland, the rain has finally arrived, after too many dry weeks. I look at this lily, which has a wonderful perfume, and the magnificence of the raindrops on it, and I wish that all those people's lives will get back to normal soon, and that they will be able to stare at a flower with a happy sense of wonder at nature's bounty. Meanwhile, I think we have an obligation to do our best to help them reach that point. As someone I interviewed not long ago said about the aid work he does, "I often think, why them? Why not me?"