Big doings in Washington today: President Obama hosted a meeting at the White House with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader.  It occurred to me as I listened to news reports that perhaps I should lend the President an artifact I got in Bali forty-five years.  According to Balinese mythology, the Barong, a physically ugly representation of a good spirit is supposed to keep evil out of the house, or to neutralize it if it manages to get into a room. The classic Barong mask is designed to be worn in a dance, but mine is actually a bell meant to be hung over a window in tropical Bali... the Barong's tongue is the clapper that clatters in a breeze.  It hangs over the door to my home office.

Whatever happens

in any place

with any people

around any issue

shows who has power,

so

encourage many voices to say

what happened…

The scribe with pen and paper

interprets for the community

what happened after the fact,

and remember…

it isn’t what happened

so much as what they say happened

that matters a hundred years from now.

And

don’t forget…

it’s the artist with pencil or brush

or camera

who has the clearest vision.

Maybe I should send along our Susanne's little ceramic owl...

It reminds me not to take myself too seriously. 

Nah... It might lose its innocence in Washington.