A jewel

Opinion

Sometimes it gets rained on. At other times, the cold winds of winter whip it. That just makes it more resilient. Sometimes it’s out for hours in snow. There are other days when the sun heats it to its very core. On all of those days it seems to glow from deep within, light coming from some well of calm, exciting brilliance.

Its light sometimes shines all over the world, especially when C-Span is there. Sometimes, its light burns the way a candle in a window glows, its steadfast warmth welcoming the weary and frightened.

The jewel has many colors. They glow in beautiful browns, rich ebonies, The colors have, as well, a sun-burnished gleam of copper, the glow of ivory, and lovely rays of amber, amber-tinged shades of pink, and glowing yellow and tan.

Day by day, the jewel is getting brighter. The ruling class can no longer hide its existence. The jewel frightens them. They, especially, understand the power of its penetrating brilliance. The exploited of the world look at the jewel and praise its beauty. It does not frighten them. It’s brighter than anything ever dug out of a mine owner’s means of production by an exploited worker. It is a jewel unlike any other. It’s a working jewel, showing us the way out of the catastrophe of imperialist war. We must blind the warmongers with its ever more brilliant light. It’s a funny jewel. The more varied yet coalesced its colors appear, the brighter it shines.

While it is a thing of natural beauty, its maintenance requires diligent action. If its light is ever successfully dimmed by red-baiting tactics and other tactics of division from those it frightens, they will then be free to slaughter innocent human beings for oil. They would love to splinter the beauty of the antiwar movement into millions of separate pieces. Working together, we will keep it whole and brilliant; and, with it, we will lead the world away from absolute catastrophe.

Barbara Jean Hope is a reader in Philadelphia. She can be reached at Bjhope2000@cs.com