Category: Daily Life in the USA

Fratelli Tutti: Kindness

Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from the frantic flurry of activity that forgets that others also have a right to be happy. Often nowadays we find neither the time nor the energy to stop and be kind to others, to say “excuse me”, “pardon me”, “thank you”. Yet every now and then, miraculously, a kind person appears and is willing to set everything else aside in order to show interest, to give the gift of a smile, to speak a word of encouragement, to listen amid general indifference. If we make a daily effort to do exactly this, we can create a healthy social atmosphere in which misunderstandings can be overcome and conflict forestalled. Kindness ought to be cultivated; it is no superficial bourgeois virtue. Precisely because it entails esteem and respect for others, once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the ways ideas are discussed and compared. Kindness facilitates the quest for consensus; it opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges.

Pope Francis, in Fratelli Tutti, §224

Louisville Changes

Sunday I took an early morning bike ride to Louisville’s South End where I used to live. I couldn’t believe how much it has changed since I resided there! Particularly my attention was caught in what used to be a lower moderate income residential area–and now is a HUGE parking lot for the University of Louisville which has take over a couple square miles of real estate. This is a view from a brand new overpass (named for Denny Crum, famed UofL basketball coach) on a brand new major thoroughfare through the area.

The view of the other side of the overpass is of a new L&N Stadium adorned with all the advertising of the big corporations that helped build it.

Coming off the overpass, I turned north and went along the main entrance of the stadium. U of L is a basketball school but they did all right by the football team, too!

Indivisible Palooza

Fratelli Tutti’s spiritual basis for the Palooza rally (described in the post after this one).

“Social love” makes it possible to advance towards a civilization of love, to which all of us can feel called. Charity, with its impulse to universality, is capable of building a new world. No mere sentiment, it is the best means of discovering effective paths of development for everyone. Social love is a “force capable of inspiring new ways of approaching the problems of today’s world, of profoundly renewing structures, social organizations and legal systems from within”.

Pope Francis in the Fratelli Tutti encyclical

Indivisible Palooza

The event had speakers and music inside the venue we used and outside at 12 booths like this one where people could get information and discuss many issues.
The last speaker of the day was one of the most engaging. He probably should have been scheduled earlier in the afternoon because by the time he spoke it was closing time and many people had left. (This was the first Indivisible Louisville rally and the organizers learned a lot today.)

An important part of such rallies is meeting fellow activists. I met two sisters I knew from Pewee Valley and Dan, a member of St. Lawrence, my first parish assignment.
Quite a few of us rode our bicycles to the venue, a small brewery in a downtown neighborhood with adjacent abandoned buildings and factories. Quite a setting!

Indivisible Palooza

Tomorrow the democracy-supporting group Indivisible is having what they are calling a palooza, a community gathering with music and food and speeches to encourage the general public to stand up for democracy and the rights of us as citizens. Today volunteers for tomorrow gathered to hear from the organizers what their roles will be tomorrow.

One third of the volunteers coming for the training today were Dittmeier related, brothers and sisters, a niece, and a cousin.

Website Comments

I have always considered my website just a website and not a blog as most people call it. In my mind a blog indicates an ability to respond with comments, but I’ve always had that turned off because I was afraid of the time it might take to respond to comments–which I generally feel I must do. But now, without some of the pressure of deaf work in Cambodia, I have turned comments on. You may not see the comment box unless you scroll to the end of each day’s message but it’s there now!

Biking

I am REALLY enjoying commuting on my e-bike! Yesterday I rode 30 miles going to a doctor appointment in the morning and then to a computer shop in the afternoon. Google Maps’ bike routes take me through parts of Louisville and various neighbors where I’ve never been before.

I’m having a few problems, though. The display screen on the handlebars (for speed, gears, lights, etc.) is showing the wrong time zone. Tonight I was looking through the bike manual and found where I need to connect the bike app on my phone with the electronics on the bike, and it’s supposed to correct itself automatically.

(Unwanted) Night Light

This is my bedroom at Nazareth Home Clifton. It’s quite simple but just what I need–except for the brilliant security light shining into my room from the wall across a little courtyard. The light wouldn’t be so bad except that the blinds are plastic and translucent, i.e., they let light through. The security light is bright enough that it casts shadows in my room even with the blinds closed. My sister Mary has access to some light-blocking curtains and I’m waiting till she can pick them up.

Guess where it’s from?

When I got my new e-bike—a top end Trek model—I didn’t pay much attention to any of the labels on it. But then a day or two later, I noticed it was made in Cambodia! I knew bicycles are becoming a major export from Cambodia but didn’t know they were making high-end models and I certainly never thought that I’d end up buying one of them in Louisville!