Sunrises and October 7
I wake early. Sometimes I struggle to stay in bed to push myself to sleep longer and I make a deal with myself that at 6:00 – I will give up. This time of year, I beat the sunrise. This morning that was a gift. I wish I could have captured the colors on my phone. I’m certain if I belonged to a different generation, I could have manipulated all the settings and got the hues. Believe me my image above is lacking. It was so powerful, I went out on the balcony with my laptop and just let the shades of aqua, mauve, pink, yellow and purple move my fingers around the keyboard.
When it was over and the sun began to peak its way above the horizon, chasing the colors of dawn to daylight, I went back to listening to an episode of a NY Times video called “Hard Fork.” The segment was called, “AI: Cute or Maybe Catastrophically Dangerous.” I have a few take aways from my time spent (wasted?) watching. One: I am overwhelmed by what I do not know. Two: I think I am clever using Claude. I am already behind the curve. It’s time to give my life over to “Muse”. Muse is described as your private personal agent. In its creator/publicist’s words: “For us, Muse gives us back the scarcest thing we have: time with the people we love.” (https://introducing.muse.ai) Three: From making reservations at the hottest new restaurants to managing your bills and expenses, you have to sacrifice a great deal of privacy although maybe that’s an old-fashioned word that exists only in my imagination. (They already know everything about us.) Four: And this one’s a question raised at the very end of the episode. When your girlfriend is recovering from surgery and you order her flowers – does it matter if Muse did it or you personally went to a florist or picked up the phone or clicked on a website.
I guess it’s all about intent and the amount of effort you are willing to exert and maybe how important your girlfriend is to you. I was in Costco on Friday morning and I walked by the floral display and thought, I should get some for Eileen which I did on the way out so they wouldn’t get mangled by the paper towels and Kleenex. More thoughtful than Muse? More touching?
This is the week we begin reading Torah all over again. This is the Shabbat of creation. The text begins with the words: “When God began to create the heaven and the earth …” The Rabbis wonder why God created. Why is there existence at all. Why humanity. Why life. One of their answers is that God was lonely. Another answer: We are here; we live; we exist. Stop arguing and do something about it.
I am finishing these words on October 7th. The darkness of that day with all its tragedy and all its pain is still with us. It is not to be forgotten. Neither the spiraling war that ensued with all its destruction and pain on all sides. But I can’t linger there. I need the sunrise and the human reaction to beauty and awe. I need the light that daily emerges from darkness. I need the hope and the faith that we are here: let’s do what we can to make it better. I’m not sure I have a good answer to the flower/girlfriend question. I just know it is good to buy flowers and it is good to notice the dawn. It is a prayer for tomorrow.
