Iris and I must ride the Ferris wheel

Those of you I know in real life (which includes some kinds of knowing-online, us being the kinds of people we are) have probably already been told repeatedly "you should read David Chess". I'm not sure if you've followed up on that, though, and according to my logs there are actually several dozen people I don't know reading this on a regular basis, not to mention a couple thousand a day looking for bittorrent porn or Catherine Zeta-Jones pregnant & topless or whatnot.

So -- read David Chess

Tonight's writing is a good example of why. It's real, it's touching, it's smart.

Long-time readers of this log will recall our theory about how the world is run by pretty high-school girls (pretty in the "right there behind their eyes" sort of sense)

I'm glad to have the chance here to establish my spiritual bona fides, despite my tendency (which I have no intention of repudiating here) to blame many of the ills of the world on people's belief in various Imaginary Friends in the Sky (IFITS).

...

The Quaker IFITS is one that I can heartily subscribe to; entirely (or sufficiently) compatible with my own imaginary friend. The Goddess Ariadne and the God of the Quakers would have no quarrel, and each would gladly accept the other as an avatar or an alias. These Quakers, anyway.

This is the good kind of IFITS, the kind that you can't talk about for awhile, and then in the same breath say "and so because Ralphie here is a heretic, we'll be burning him at the stake next Wednesday".

So there I was standing on a dock on a lake in Vermont, stark naked with five stark naked Quakers (well, one of them was wearing a hat, and I didn't actually check to make sure they were all Quakers, but you get the idea), and it was amazingly wonderful, both because it validated that bit of my own self-image that says I'd be perfectly comfortable in such a situation (since I was) and because of the general sense of warmth and fellow-feeling associated with the other fuzzy pink blobs on the dock there (stark naked means no glasses, too, after all).

(I will freely admit to finding the two female fuzzy pink blobs even lovelier than the three male ones; no sense pretending to be any more abstract than I am.)

Today is of course Memorial Day and the President has suitably proclaimed it.

Throughout our history, the decency, character, and idealism of our military troops have turned enemies into allies and oppression into hope. In all our victories, American soldiers have fought to liberate, not to conquer; and today, the United States joins with a strong coalition in the noble cause of liberty and peace for the world. On this day, America honors her own, but we also recognize the shared victories and hardships of our allied forces who have served and fallen alongside our troops.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 26, 2003, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. I urge the press, radio, television, and all other media to participate in these observances.