In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

341 April Fool My friend was found to have a tumor. Yesterday, surgery. Today, a promising prognosis. A week ago—nothing. Then suddenly surprise and shock and finally, thank God, relief. Who relishes bad news befalling friends? But why surprise and shock? I’ve known for decades how the unexpected rules our lives for good or ill despite our hoping otherwise. Confronting this absurdity, I’ve learned that wisdom matters little, and virtue even less in making sense of such intrusions. Intrusions? What if they’re not? What if the folly of our dreams and wishful planning or the utter vanity of thinking what will be will be are truly the intrusions? Or if our thoughts and acts are mere reprieves— like dalliances indulged by dilettantes— before the unavoidable and likely? I’ve said these things before. They leave me trapped between conviction and confusion. 342 Meanwhile, the world remains the world where pink and white umbrellas of the Japanese cherry flourish in furious bloom. The squawks of jays and robins overwhelm the tweets of lesser fry. And daily after school my neighbor’s daughter with Down’s Syndrome plays on her backyard swing. All afternoon she knows the bliss that only the unknowing know and swings and swings and swings. ...

Share