Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us. We taste only sacredness. – Jelaluddin Rumi
Brown Booby (picture by Aviceda)
With a call towards migration, I now am on St. John’s, U.S. Virgin Islands. I come here to serve a small Unitarian Universalist congregation, study, reflect, and quite frankly pursue pastimes that invite sun burns. When telling people that I was heading here for 12 days I mostly received comments such as “tough luck” or “it must be rough” or “sure, working hard.” These islands have a reputation for vacations, peace, and “getting away from it all” and I too hope to regenerate my spirit and heart.
It didn’t take long. On the ferry ride over from St. Thomas a Brown Booby flew with us. This marine wonder mirrored the freedom that I have felt when swimming and snorkeling in southern climes. Surely here peace and love will fill my heart.
That evening I check out the St. John newspapers and talk to a few locals. Their news is full of deadly car accidents propelled by the confusion of alcohol, drugs, gangs, murders, robberies, and “progress” taking away their pristine paradise. It didn’t take long to remember that there is joy in sorrow and sorrow in joy and even here in my little apartment overlooking the sea, I see, overlooking pain in paradise. May we never overlook the hurt and the darkness so that wings may always fill our hearts and fill the skies.
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