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NOTHING BUT BEAUTY

It's hard to keep politics from being onyermind these days, not just because the politicians seem to be dismally below average (I grew up in the shadow of what was the oldest political machine in the country, so I'm not much of an optimist in this regard anyway). Still, it's hard to ignore all that hot air and lie breath and bad vibes and horrible karma coming to roost atop the chicken coop of the world, it's unfair to all those who yearn to pause now and then and focus a good long gaze and remark upon, say, those tiny looklike violets coming out of the ground right there at this time of year, isn't that amazing, and the color of that gingko tree over there against the dark green of the cedars, what a sunbeam to the heart, and who'd like to keep on going just in that vein for a while, but sooner or later they see a headline or hear folks talking or walk by a blabbering tv or a smarmy radio and realize to their horror it's all true, and that there are people who actually love and honor and hang on every word of psychociphers, when wildflowers and gingko leaves and bright red berries in the forest and clouds gilded in red gold by the just-gone sun are so much more real, so straight from the same long ago as ourselves and with nothing but beauty to offer, our hallowed governing institutions have become so homely in comparison. Is that truly the best we can do?