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From chaos to kosmos

In the beginning there was tohuwabohu. Then God created Heaven and Earth and separated the land from the water. He was being creative, not knowing what would become of it. It was and is a process. I like the idea that we are still in that process. The more chaos, the brighter the silver lining. We are still in the middle of creation, it will never end. And by everything we do, we can influence the outcome. God gave us a free will, trusting us. Let us use it! In my mind, many things come together right now. If you listened to the news just these last days - wow! The hearings about Jan. 6th and all the testimony. Mr. Trump unhinged, but so many followers still denying it. Putin`s mafia state neglecting any humanity. Making innocent people die for his own power. Ghislaine Maxwell going to jail for 20 years, after Me Too finally worked. The patriarchy coming to an end, with the influential guys kicking and screaming. Mexican immigrants dying in a truck after some greedy people promised the
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Women`s Rights, of no interest

Did you see my facebook post of today, the day after the Supreme Court`s decision? I am really puzzled about America. Where is this going? At school I learned a bit about the American Constitution, written in 1787 by men only, and referring to "persons" only as men. (Compare Art. 1, The President- He shall, He may, HIS death..., or in Section 6: "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which HE was elected..." and "no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during HIS continuance in Office..."). There is one exception, though, referring to slaves: Art. 1, Section 9 says "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year 1808, but a Tax duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person." Such "imported persons" could be both men
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About the concept of war, and injuries, and the stupidity of it all

Once you acquire a bad injury and need the help of caring people, you are deeply grateful for them. They try to get you back on your feet, cheer you up, feed and pamper you. My old bed neighbour(my age, haha, old) even had a friendly crush on our young male nurse and made him sign her an autograph. What I mean is, this is an extraordinary situation and everyone is happy when it is over. But it is wonderful to get help, although you hope it will never happen again. Now imagine some old power-crazy guys, solitary, mistrusting, unloved men mostly, who need to show the world how mighty they are. More influence, more land is what will show their grandeur. They will not negotiate with their adversaries, no, only a war can solve a conflict! They build or buy weapons, form an army of (mostly) adventurous young men, and invade their opponent`s country. This has been the accepted solution since many centuries, even milleniums. Hitting your neighbours on their heads will make them (um, they are
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God laughs at my plans, says Robbie Williams

And isn`t that true! We think we have a say about what is to happen next in our lives, but far from it. If it had been up to me, I would have taken the fast train to Paris on the 8th, meet my sister-in-law from Zambia there, watch the fantastic exhibition at the Grand Palais Éphémère of African art, with my sister taking part... Yes, all was planned, hotel booked for three nights, train tickets ready, suitcase packed, and then, in the night before, I had just occurred to me to take my mobile off the loading hook, to really get everything right. And that did it. I tripped over the suitcase (what is a suitcase doing there!?) and knew right away that now it was over. My arm was broken, I got operated, had to stay in hospital, no travelling. I am all right now, more or less, still in pain, but on the healing path. What shattered me most is this incredible interference into my well-set plans! I was angry at myself, at my Guardian Angel, why was I not watched better? - But WHAT if I was just
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Fairytales are good for children, Bruno Bettelheim wrote a whole book about it. And I agree. Only in me they had the effect that from an early age on I believed in wishful thinking. I still do, secretly. I will be 74 in two days (but only on the outside) (and if nobody looks, I am still skipping), but in many ways I have remained the little girl who marvels at the world as it is - and wonders how she can change it for the better! You see, I was born only three years after the end of WW II, when my hometown Hamburg was still in ruins. In the streets you often saw men with only one arm or one leg, and some, like my best friend`s father, would just sit at the table and never spoke a word. It should have been hopeless. But it wasn`t! Germany got immense help to rebuild its economy from America. The Marshall Plan was incredible, and so were all the Care Packages that American families sent to German families, which helped many children to survive. I will never forget this. I fell ill with t
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Tutorials!

Although Blogger still shrugs its shoulders and says, THAT blog address? No, that doesn`t exist - I will just carry on for a while, chatting patiently with myself, getting some sense into my always rather entangled thoughts. It helps writing them down, the advisers say. And though I distrust any kind of "Advisers" or even "Influencers", this is a piece of wisdom which I find true. What I, however, really like on the internet are all the wonderful tutorials they offer, even for free (or for data, possibly). And TED talks too. What a great invention! You can lern the most amazing things! Today when I came home I was looking at the two pieces of flowery material, fabric, what do you call it? (My English is torn between British and American, and on top of that even old-fashioned. I learned it in the sixties). The things that I bought from the odds-and-ends-table, which I can seldom resist. Today in the sunshine I felt like sewing me some nice new summer skirts, that`s
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Real Letters

I have friends who write me real letters, on paper, sent with envelopes and stamps. I love them! The letters and the friends. So of course I am writing back, and I always take my time, talking directly to my friend as if we were chatting over a cup of tea. They tell me that they always smile when they open their mailbox and find one! Some tell me they keep my letters, and read them again, isn`t that sweet? One old lady had her daughter read my stories (about herself, things she had told me about her youth which I had remininiscented) on her deathbed. When I spent my high-school year in PA at age 16 (I, the German girl from Hamburg, was invited by a lovely old American! Incredibly wonderful!), I wrote many letters to my best friend Ulla who also stored them and later gave them to me, as a memory. Last week I took my time and copied them onto my email account, just for the fun of remembering and maybe sharing them with my future great-grandchildren. Haha, I was so wise at 16! If I couldn
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