THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26
THE FLOWER is the photo du jour. The images I have had in my head today have been associated with the movie Slumdog Millionaire and a couple of days Margaret and I spent in Mumbai four years ago. Bob Smith has written to me about the film, and I feel compelled to share what he wrote....about SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the movie
Bob Smith, Pennington, New Jersey

Knowing the world to the extent that I do and worrying about the way we are heading with global warming, limited resources, a population that won't stop growing rapidly, I wonder how many generations in the future will it take before our descendents are "slum dogs" scrambling around for food and shelter.   How long will it take before the sins of our generation seriously endanger the life of another in such drastic and horrible ways?   I'm being too pessimistic, but the movie did get my mind cranking in that direction.  Also, destiny, that sense there is something/someOne controlling the path we take in life, it's what I have to put up with on a daily basis.  We call it "God's will" and it is an excuse for not changing self or situation.  "Guide us, O God, to be and do what You would have us be and do..."  When nothing gets done...it's in the context of God's will.  Proposition 8...God's will.  It's not articulated is such a way, but patterns of behavior reinforce it over and over again. The hopefulness of the movie was in the unconditional love Jamal had for Latika.  His willingness to place himself in danger in multiple ways for the one he so completely loved was a ray of hope throughout the movie. I do believe in such love and it's life changing consequences, but resignation to destiny scares me. The Taj Mahal Hotel and the Gateway to India on the waterfront of Mumbai. Dhoby Ghat is the site of Mumbai's remarkable laundry industry. It isn't far from where some of the film was shot.