Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Sibling Rivalry - Bible Reading

The story of Joseph and his coat of many colours is emblazoned on the memory of children from Sunday School days. When I was young every one that I knew went to Church on Sunday. Possibly it was the effect of World War II still being felt; the loss of life was horrific - men, women and children and the numbers were in the millions. We will never know what was lost but what was not lost was our desire for peace. World War II brought about a longing for permanent peace and so the United Nations was born. The League of Nations was a try at that desire for peace but the desire wasn't strong enough and it dissolved with the drums of war in the 1930s. But the United Nations continues to be the hope of every school child in my day that one day there could be peace on earth and our relatives would not die on the battlefield fighting greed because that is what Nazism was and is - greed for land. But back to the story and it is a sad one; jealousy for a younger brother who was a favourite of the father. First of all I think that it is a sin to have a favourite child personally. No child should be preferred above another - all children should be equal. But life doesn't always flow that way but the results of such favoritism can be disastrous. It is a story with a happy ending eventually but the trials that had to be gone through were enormous. 

Cloudy today and my second cleaning day. The basement and it is easier, no walls just one big room and it is now three quarters empty and it needs to be almost empty before I can move from this house. Most of it can not come with me. That is the comfort of old age perhaps knowing that in your downsizing there is a finality always ahead of you so that it is easier to let go of the memories that a basement can hold. 

No work yesterday but the cleaning went well and today should also flow along nicely. This summer is very different from last summer. I still was finding it very hard to manage Edward's many projects but this summer has the reminder of the purchase of a broken up research portfolio belonging to another which I worked on last summer. What a dreadful thing to happen to carefully sought data on the part of someone. It is better to have a contingency plan for your research at least the original records part so that the material goes to a repository where it can be used or to a relative ready to pick up and run with that research - two choices really. 

On to the day, Tea is cool enough to drink and setting up the robot vacuum to clean the basement rug is the next step and then breakfast. No work on the book today either unless it is later in the day. This one will be busy. 

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