Palm Tree Power or the year in review, part two

I have a fetish for Palm Trees. I love the unusual way in which they grow- barely rooted and tall with feathery fronds that cast dappled shade. I planned on making this post a humorous examination of my attempts to acclimate the Palm Tree into my Faux Caribbean lifestyle here on the Coast of Illinois. But life had other plans and today I am not feeling very tropically footloose.

Thanks to a purely selfish act of violence two lives have been forever changed. And by extension, many other lives have been affected. Violence is acted out for one of two reasons. Someone either wants something which is not theirs or they do not want someone else to have what they can not. I don't know the 'why' of the act which has hit too close to home. It will never make sense so it does not matter.

I do know this: you did not just pull a trigger. When you selfishly fired that gun you lit a fire in the hearts of so many people in this world and because of that fire a wave of love and support has been sent out into the universe which will far surpass any small, petty, selfish reason you had.

And that is why I am still calling this post Palm Tree Power. Palm trees grow tall and straight, but they are also shaped by the conditions surrounding them. They may grow bent and crooked but they remain strong. Their fronds are sturdy enough to roof the huts of shipwrecked vacationers and sound enough to carpet the triumphant ride for a Carpenter and his donkey as He returned home. In nearly every faith the Palm symbolizes victory, life and peace.

I have a Palm Tree necklace which I wear to work when I am feeling the need for encouragement from a Much Higher Latitude. And to that end I wish you all Palm Tree Power.

Victory.

Life.

Peace.