June 30, 2018.06.3

   This is too good to pass up. From the 19^th to the 24^th I was back in Mthatha. Visiting friends, bringing old clothes to the poor in the village next to Landsend, getting to know our new postulants, 2 from Nigeria and one from Togo, and having a talk with my provincial, Fr. Chikadi. But the main reason was for the meeting of the Board of Management of Sabelani Home, Fr. Guys guys and their ongoing living out of his mission, to reach out to the poor kids who have no chance to get and education, and try to make them aware of their role in society as bringers, especially through their education, of love and hope and good values. That was on the 23^rd. It usually closes with an evening meal with those who are still in the house as well as those who are friends or are part of the extended family of Sabelani. In this instance, after the meeting, at the meal, I was introduced to the new girlfriend of Musa and also a girlfriend of Odwa. We concluded the evening (after the meeting) with our usual respect to the ancestors, usually with a bit of Jack Daniels, which has become very expensive, but this time we satisfied ourselves with a bit of Johnny Walker. I don’t think the ancestors were upset. It was too late for me to travel back to Mthatha at that time of night so I slept at Abbot Francis Home intending to head back to Mariannhill after Mass at the convent the next morning.

     After the Mass on Sunday morning, I said goodbye and hopped in the car for the trip back to Mariannhill. I won’t go into details here but when I got back home I realized that the small missal that I use for Mass at the hospital every day, was left behind, and the daily prayer book (breviary) too. Damn. Getting old. I organized another small missal here and was given an alternative prayer book by Bishop Lobinger, my neighbour, so I survived. However, on Friday the 29^th, I had a memorial service for a lady who had passed away at the sisters guest house, Tre Fontane. Ha. Of course, I forgot to take my garb (Alb) with me.

    When I got up this morning, I had prepared some stuff for the postulant where I was to have Mass and on the way to the car, I wanted to pick up my alb (which usually hangs next to the front door, but it wasn’t there. I thought that I might have taken it to the chapel, but when I checked, it wasn’t there either. So, it was then that I realized that I had forgotten it at the Tre Fontane, in the sacristy there. OK, we will forget it since it is too early to find sister who has the key to the sacristy. (it was about 5:30 in the morning).

     On my way to the garage where my car sleeps, I pressed the remote but didn’t hear the usual squeak, and wondered why. When I opened the garage, I realized that there was no squeak because the battery was dead …again. Damn again (excuse the French). I had left the lights on for the whole night after I put the car in the garage before supper. The model is too old to remind you that you left the lights on . So, off we go, marching to the postulants, a hefty walk for a guy my age, but still possible. So we had Mass with the postulants, a bit late, with no alb, just a stole. No problem. I think the Mass was valid in any case.

    After Mass, I walked back to the Old Folks’ Home and, as I walked in the door, felt a call from the Lord to have a quick sit down session. So I just hung my jacket on a rail as I came in the door and headed for the throne room. After that I went to breakfast and explained about my dead battery and Bishop Lobinger volunteered to use his car to jump start mine. I have jumper cables. But then when I want to go out the door to push my dead vehicle out of the garage to a place where he can connect with me, I discover that I don’t have my keys to the house. Did I leave them in the door by mistake when I came in. I retrace my steps and to no avail.

    So we get the car started and I head for TreFontane to pick up my forgotten alb (it is, by now, a reasonable 9:45am). Hooray, it is there. On the way back, I get a phone call from Sr. Nokwanda that the sisters gave my small missal and breviary to the Father are Abbot Francis Home. So I phone Fr. Urs to ask him to fetch these things (his is presently in Mthatha, but is in charge of the Retreat House here at Marianhill) and bring them back when he comes back on Monday. Hooray. Three things accomplished. 1) battery charged.  2) Alb returned 3) the forgotten books will be returned on Monday (keep you fingers crossed). Now, the last things, the bloody keys. Where the heck could they have gone. Then, I check where I had quickly discarded my jacket and there they were on the floor right where they had fallen out of my pocket. So that is number 4. All accomplished. Thank you Lord.

     Bad start to the day, but it seems to be improving. Do some of you have similar experienced. Some call it AAADD. Age Activated Attention Deficite Disorder. I will explain that another time. Enough for now. I have an evening Mass in English at 5:30pm and it is now almost noon. And tomorrow, I have my usual 8am Zulu Mass at Savannah Park. A fancy name for a  spread out housing project, all hills. Have a great weekend if you still read this on Saturday.

Love and Peace, Cas.

June 14, 2019

     Trump’s triumphant meeting with Kim John Un. Some thoughts. I am glad that, now, our attention will be turned to the World Cup in Russia, and he won’t be seen in the news with the frequency he has been the last weeks.

   First, I remember when I was released from prison in 1987, I spent almost a month in DC, mostly out of the office of our Michigan senator, Karl Levin, now retired. One of the visit I made was to the State Department to emphasize to them that no matter how they chose to see it, the fact was (as it turned out) that the ANC would be the next government (it was listed, at the time, as a terrorist organization). So, they had better start planning to meet the leaders and plan together for the future.

     I think it is out of the negotiators text book, that, one way or another, you have to meet your enemy, and do your negotiating. Shouting at each other, insulting each other, making fun of each other, brings no results. Getting together, as uncomfortable as that may be, is necessary.

     Trump likes to drive home to his fans, and to all those who are subjected to his photo ops, that he is the one who is responsible for forcing Kim (Rocket man) to the negotiating table, with his constantly increasing sanctions. However, he must have forgotten that the sanctions, no matter how heavy they got, didn’t stop Kim for testing his ballistic missiles, and trying to  miniaturize his nuclear bombs, until he was able to target any place in America. AS I see it, it was then that Kim could say, OK, now I am ready to meet and talk…in spite of all the sanctions and threats. Once he had this ace in his arsenal, he had some bargaining power and could afford to agree to a meeting with the very enemy who had threatened to annihilate him and the whole country (remember, we had an even bigger, nuclear button).

     There is no doubt that Kim won big in that meeting (nice words….they had all been said before…. But no real substance) since he (cold-blooded dictator that his is, with the blood on his hands of many, including members of his own family, and millions in prison, and millions more suffering starvation, etc. etc. etc.) was now seen by the whole world as an equal to the American president, unbelievable three weeks ago. What his father and grandfather only dreamed of, he managed, by pushing his nuclear program and ballistic missiles program.

     To see how Trump, who flayed his allies, especially Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron, not to mention the former presidents and their advisors (they were all stupid and he, genius that he is, used his super intelligence to accomplish what they were never , to accomplish), on the one hand (still fresh from the G6 +1 meeting) and then praising Kim to the skies and inviting this great young man to the White House. Holy Moses. I was getting sick watching all this.

     However, as I said in the beginning, I always believed that it is the only way to resolve anything, by sitting down and discussing with your worst enemy. I would have done it in a different way, though. I would have had private meetings with him, not covered by the news, so that things could be discussed and hammered out outside the glare of the cameras. Later, if something came of it, there might be some open news, but without a lot of fanfare (but I doubt of Trump would even think of that…he needs fanfare, and drama, and attention).

    It is ridiculous that, once the meeting was over, and he had taken credit for, unilaterally have engineered this meeting (you remember the on again, off again approach) that has now made the world safe from nuclear war. (Wow, what a jump forward.) It was also quite amazing that he could now quote, almost verbatim, Kim’s words that the military training exercises were provocative, by even calling them “war games”. Hey, whose side are you on? And besides that, his two Asian allies, who have most to lose if there is war between N.Korea and US, were never even consulted when it came to cancelling these training exercises, which keep their troops in tip top shape in case something happens, since they will be the first ones to experience the damage.

     From Kim the terrorist rocket man to Kim the hero for all the world to see, made possible through the unbelievable intelligence of Genius Trump.  Don’t you think that they both deserve a peace prize?

   

Otherwise, I have been busy with pastoral work, work in the garden (jungle),  and other odds and ends. Believe it or not I have been reading a book called “Saving Capitalism…for the many not the few” by Robert Reich. th he says that the more money you have (big companies and big banks, etc.) the more power you have to make new rules that will help you to get even more wealth, at the expense of those who don’t have money, and therefore, don’t have the power to make the rules of the game that lead to the obscenely rich and the increasing number of those in one or other degrees of poverty. Interesting.

    But I have to go now. I will continue when I get another break. See you later. Cas.