Midsummer, Full Moon Approaching and a World Full of Peril: Hope Holds On

      The moon holds sway over the tides and maybe over people. Lunacy is a term coined to express this. " I cannot help, but wonder at the beauty of the moon. It shines down upon us with no judgement of us. Rich, poor, in love, lonely, well, sick: it cares not who we are, but sends its silver beams as magic balm if we will but lift our eyes up, clouds willing. So Shakespeare said:  ....there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (Hamlet,2,2) Perhaps the moon, "the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb",is too maligned when we thrust upon it responsibility for our own shortcomings and lack of moral strength. (Romeo and Juliet, 2,2) 

 There has been so much violence and loss in the world lately with many shot as in Orlando and Nice and Turkey, and others with targeted shootings like the mother, Sara Baillie, and her daughter,Taliyah Marsman, in Calgary just this past week, police shootings on both sides and the "honour" murder of  model Quandeel Baloch by her brother in Pakistan. We mourn those lost and promise to not forget, but so many do forget as time passes and the next wave of violence hits somewhere else. I went looking for quotations to inspire me and found these: 

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small,
large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force;
never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” 
― Winston Churchill“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” 
― Dale Carnegie“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi
So I will look up at the moon tonight and think of all those I love all over the world who look upon the same moon whether it is at the same moment I gaze at it or not. The moon links us all in the coolness of its light which sets the stars off like an opal amongst diamonds. What beauty and love there is in this world. I will hold to that.