Easter 2023

Early spring garden

I pass by this lovely garden on my walk home from the Rose Garden twice a week. I have been watching this place continue to grow more beautiful by the day, and I know it won't be long before I am seeing more blossoms appear. Our tulips are actually beginning to show their pretty colors, just a little, after having endured a long and cold winter and spring so far. I don't remember it taking such a long time to see the usual spring flowers emerge from winter's sleep. But today is Easter Sunday, a day that brings many memories from earlier moments in my life into my consciousness. 

I was not raised in a religious home; my mother had been raised as a Catholic and married outside of the Church. My father had never been exposed to religion as he grew up, and Mama, who was in love with him, married him anyway. I don't know what my grandparents on my mother's side thought about it, but his mother didn't seem to have any objections (my paternal grandfather didn't seem to have any say in the matter). It was one of those quick wartime romances, with Daddy being in the Air Force and Mama becoming a housewife. I was born almost exactly one year after they married. They were married for almost four decades before Daddy died.

I was given a very happy childhood, with me not doubting my parents' love, and when I was a toddler of two, my little sister was born. We moved around a lot because of Daddy being stationed in different places, and when I was three, we moved to Puerto Rico, and we lived just a few blocks from the ocean. It was an idyllic childhood, as I look back, but many people would not have found it to be so, since stability didn't come from our residence, but from each other, and we lived each day as it came. My playmates were often speaking a different language from me, so I learned to speak Spanish at an early age. I've forgotten most of it now, but the language is not unfamiliar, and when I hear it spoken I can understand some of it.

Easter Sunday. When I was growing up, we had new outfits and shiny patent-leather shoes, and Easter baskets filled with hard-boiled eggs (which we dyed and decorated in the days before), pretty fake grass, chocolate bunnies and candy. We didn't go to Church, so I'm not sure what we did after all that preparation.

Easter Sunday long, long ago

But it really didn't matter. We did what everyone else did, except for the church attendance, and I was very happy and content with my life. I didn't know anything else, so I never felt deprived, and Mama was very proud of her two little girls. She sewed a lot, and I think she might have made those dresses for us. In any event, Daddy took the picture of the two of us, situated in front of our car and our rented home behind. We lived in military housing, but Mama was a wonderful homemaker and knew how to make everything feel just right wherever we lived. 

Today, both my parents are long gone, although when I think of Easter, I think of them and realize they still live in my memories as if they were still alive. Last night I dreamed of them, so they are not far away at all. But much time has passed, and now I am feeling the years as they settle around my shoulders. The world has changed so very much, and since that picture was taken, the world population has exploded, and because of the internet, we are now able to see what is happening from one part of the planet to the other instantaneously. I think of those two innocent children and am so very glad I was one of them, able to enjoy such happiness, unclouded by world events.

I make an effort to leave what is happening in the world out of my blog posts, since I get more than enough of it on my laptop, or watching the news of the day, and I don't need to be reminded constantly about how many people don't have much happiness in their lives. There is little I can do about it, but I do spend some time every day in contemplation and prayer. Since I am trying very hard to practice ahimsa (compassion for all living beings), it doesn't help to allow myself to get mired in sadness. I can choose instead to look at the bright side of life. So that is what I choose.

I think we need to do some deep soul searching about what's important in our lives and renew our spirit and our spiritual thinking, whether it's through faith-based religion or just through loving nature or helping your fellow man. —Louie Schwartzberg

Yesterday I watched a favorite show, the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard, which is the final rendition of my old friends from Star Trek as they finalize the journey of many decades. I started watching the original series and then moved to The Next Generation, then the subsequent series as they evolved. I enjoyed every one, and many of the characters feel like old friends. Just like me, they are now old and the series is letting us wrap up all their journeys in various ways. This one brings back some characters from Deep Space Nine, as well as Next Generation. And Patrick Stewart (Picard) is as old as I am, and looks every day of his octogenarian years (he's 82).

For those of you who aren't familiar with Data and Lore, they are both androids who were created by Noonian Soong, with Data being a major character throughout the series. He has always wished to be human, feeling the lack of his ability to feel anything at all. Lore was Soong's experiment with an emotion chip to allow him to feel, but he was evil, while Data was an innocent. In this latest series, both of the versions of the android were put together into one brain, with a barrier between the two. In an attempt to bring back Data, they decided to remove the barrier and hope for the best. Either Lore would overcome Data, or vice versa. It didn't seem very hopeful, since Data's positronic brain had an ethics chip that wouldn't allow him to kill anyone, even Lore.

[Warning: the next paragraph is a spoiler alert! Don't read it unless you care to know what happens.] The two of them begin talking to one another, with Lore confident he would prevail, but Data began to share his memories with his brother, things that he cherished and people he cared about. Lore accepted these memories, since he had been jealous that Data was so loved. You might guess what happens: Data and Lore become one, with Data's consciousness ascendant. It was so wonderful to see that outcome, and to know that Data can now feel everything his brother felt.

It made me realize that humans really need ethics to become truly human and able to experience love and compassion. It's the same thing as ahimsa: dynamic compassion is essential to becoming a kind and loving person. When I fell asleep last night, I experienced joy in realizing that humanity is indeed capable of great love and great compassion.

With that, dear friends, I will leave you to have your own Easter experience, and truly hope that it is a good one, surrounded with lots of Easter happiness and joy, punctuated with the occasional chocolate bunny. Until we meet again, dear friends, be well. I wish you all good things.