Whistle Blowers

The first sound I heard as I lay in bed this morning after I had reached up to turn on the radio was that of whistles being blown in many parts of China.  When the newscaster  explained why, I felt exhilarated. The term whistle blower has almost been worn out, but to actually hear the sound of whistles, each one being blown by a real human being in memory of a fellow human being who died of the disease that he had had the courage to declare to exist and then been forced to recant in a written statement gave me a thrill such as I haven't felt in a long time. I think I was especially moved because last evening as I continued my feeble effort not to lose the little Spanish I have by reading some news in Spanish I had read a report on the death of Dr. Li Wenliang that included a quotation from him that appeared on a Chinese portal, Caixin, on January 30,

"A healthy society must have more than one voice."

Dr. Li's comments could also be applied to the Republican Party in the USA. 

It may be debatable who is "the most powerful man in the world"; I for one would like to see a Xi Jinping and Donald Trump 'duke it out'. But one thing is sure; neither the US nor the Chinese society is in very good health at the moment.

Keep blowing those whistles.  

The Great Outdoors

As exhilarating as the sound of whistles in the morning is the sight of Montane Spruce at the top of Silver Star. This is a picture of Lynne among the ghosts. These trees spend their first winters bent over like fiddleheads by the weight of the snow at the top of the hills. For the rest of their lives they are as upright as minarets even though huge blobs of snow build up on their branches.